Looking for the right 16-port switch

[McCordRm]

I'm wiring my new home with Cat6, running multiple lines into each room-

one for TV, multiples for computers, etc.

 

Anyhow, I'm getting AT&T U-Verse (only option at the moment). I already

have a central location for everything, so I want a reliable- and fast-

Switch. I'll run one cable from the modem to the switch which everything

else will plug into.

[Marshall Veteran]

Netgear switches have never let me down, they're always a safe bet - http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-ProSAFE-16-Port-Ethernet-Desktop/dp/B000063UZW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404099797&sr=8-1&keywords=netgear+16+port+switch

[McCordRm]

Here's the one I'm looking at:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/netgear-prosafe-16-port-10-100-1000-gigabit-ethernet-switch/8363086.p?id=1177718059038&skuId=8363086&st=16-port%20switch&cp=1&lp=5

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

For unmanaged switches, Netgear's ProSafe line is going to be hard to beat.  I recently used some a couple of D-Link's version (DGS-108 and -105, I think) and those seemed to work well, too.  Slightly larger dimensions than the equivalent hardware from Netgear.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

[conna]

Netgear hanging on my wall. Takes the heat. 

[MikeChipshop Member]

Netgear switches have never let me down, they're always a safe bet - http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-ProSAFE-16-Port-Ethernet-Desktop/dp/B000063UZW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404099797&sr=8-1&keywords=netgear+16+port+switch

 

Going to second this post. Always run true for me also.

[+InsaneNutter MVC]

The TP-LINK TL-SG3216 16-port Pure-Gigabit L2 Managed Switch would be a good choice if you want a managed switch, we have the 24 port version in the office and its been great.

 

Everything can be configured from the web interface:
 

[DKAngel]

ive got a soho tplink unmanaged 8 port gigabit and the 2 of them work a treat

[+BudMan MVC]

I would really suggest you look to getting at min a smart switch if not fully managed L3..

Something like the SG300-20 should work, it's about 2x that one you linked too - but more ports, can be L3 - really puts closer to an enterprise sort of switch for a very small budget..

You will be thankful down the line if you need to troubleshoot or vlan, or just learn about networking spending the money a switch with some features when your talking about more than a handful of devices.

[McCordRm]

So this would fit my needs, then?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122058

[+BudMan MVC]

no that is not even smart, its a nonmanaged switch (dumb).

This would be a netgear smart switch

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122599

Here is question for you - are you really going to use up 16 ports from the get go? Maybe buy a smaller port smart switch to get it into your budget, and if you need to add ports later you could just add a dumb switch or another 8 port smart/managed, etc.

Do you really have use of 16 ports today? Or are some of those jacks going to be empty?

Example - under 200$

http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-SG300-10-10-port-Gigabit-SRW2008-K9-NA/dp/B0041ORN6U

Too your door - this is rocking switch at that price point!

[McCordRm]

Ah, I didn't catch that it was unmanaged. Grr...

And yes, I will require a lot of ports. Hell, I'm looking at a 24-port now that I'm

running through all the stuff I need.

 

I have three bedrooms: One master and Two guest. Each of those will have three drops: One for TV, two for guests. (Since most guests are couples)

The Living Room requires 5: One for TV, One for Media PC, One for me, and two for wife, guests, etc.

The "play" room will require five drops for LAN gaming and the like. (My friends tend to come to my house for that, and often)

I'm going to drop two in the kitchen- the fridge will need one soon if the wife has her way. (And, you know, if I want to get laid.)

And then the input port for my modem/router.

 

So yea, lots of drops. I'm definitely getting a 24-port. I do not want to have to add switches around the house.

 

 

*EDIT*

Here we go... maybe?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833150156

[shastasheen]

I'm in the same situation as the OP. I'm building a new house and the builder can run cat 6 everywhere. I'll be using WiFi only for tablets/phones. Every other device will have a dedicated port almost exactly as described by McCordRm. WiFi can be great in the right environment, but in a congested neighborhood and a two story house performance is spotty to say the least.

[McCordRm]

I hate using Wi-Fi, and I don't run Data on my phone from home since I'm always in front

of my computer. Thus, no wireless in my house.

[+BudMan MVC]

Sorry but the sg100 line is UNMANAGED.. So now you need 24 ports?

If you want cisco, here is what I would suggest

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/813294-REG/Cisco_SRW2024_K9_NA_SG300_28_28_Port_10_100_1000_Gigabit.html

My point is are all of those ports active currently? You don't have guests in all your guest rooms using all those ports at this point in time do you?

Really 2 wired ports for guests - are they bringing over their desktops? While I can see having a drop in the room, and also can see wire to your TVs, console devices, etc.. For guests -- wireless would be more likely used.

that SG300-28 is going to cost you like $400.. Depending on how many core devices you have that you would want to put on your actual lan, you could do a smaller port managed switch and then add unmanaged for the guest network. The switches would still be in the same core location - just all the connections to guest ports could be through unmanaged switch, which uplinks to your managed switch, etc.

[McCordRm]

Of course every port isn't going to be filled every day... but so what? The point is having them available when

I need them. And as stated, I will need them.

 

Also, I hate setting up Wi-Fi networks. Maybe I like to wear tinfoil hats, but I really don't like broadcasting

my home network to the neighborhood/neighbors. It may be a 1 in a Billion chance someone comes

along that actually knows how to hack it, or even cares to, but I'm not going to be that one guy.

 

As for "managed" over "smart", the smart switch seems to offer what I need. The more advanced stuff

from a fully managed switch is way over my head- thus, unnecessary. (As far as I know). My network

is going to have these devices hooked up:

1. TVs for internet connectivity for stuff like firmware updates, Netflix and other Apps, and access to the HTPC.

2. HTPC for internet connectivity (updates and the like) and access to the network to stream the media.

3. PCs- desktop and laptop.

4. Appliances (like the fridge, eventually). Right now, there aren't a lot for reasons for this, granted, but

I'm future-proofing (see: speculation) as much as possible.

 

*EDIT*

Forgot, my internet modem will be plugging in, of course.

And if I'm missing something about fully-managed switches, let me know. From everything I've read, they're

necessary for stuff like setting up virtual tunnels and the like... which I can't see myself ever needing.

[+BudMan MVC]

The SG100 is DUMB!! It doesn't even have a web ui

Your wifi does not have to be connected to your network, just uses your internet.

My point is if the switch ports don't have active use - you could save up to buy the correct switch, just use some dumb switch for now.

What is your budget? If up to $400 I would go with the sg300-28, if you have a lower budget what is it and I can look around. But at that port density your going to be over $200 even with dumb switches.

[McCordRm]

I really didn't want to go over $250.

What am I missing about the switch I posted a link to? It clearly says "Smart" under Management Type.

[+BudMan MVC]

its mislabeled

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/small-business-100-series-unmanaged-switches/index.html

Ease of use: Ready to use right out of the box, there is no software to install and nothing to configure

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/switches/small-business-smart-switches/prod_ov_C22-587115.pdf

While they might stat "smart" they are just dumb switches

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/switches/small-business-smart-switches/prod_ov_C22-587115.pdf

Ease of use:

The Cisco 100 Series works right out of the

box, with no software to install and nothing to configure.

Each switch port independently sets itself for the optimal

speed and determines whether to run in half- or full-duplex

mode automatically

There is more to a smart switch then just vlans, talking about being able to set port speed, being able to priorities traffic from one port to another port, view statistics and or errors on a port. And while you might not think you need vlans - with 24 some devices, of all different types and worried about security to the point your not even going to run wireless because someone "might" hack it.. Your just going to put everything on one broadcast domain?

Its your money - if you don't feel you have any need of even a smart switch - then by all means buy a dumb one. Might as well just buy the cheapest 10/100/1000 model on newegg that has the port density you need.

Here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704065

$98 5 stars 23 reviews..

Edit: BTW - since you brought up your security concerns, devices that are most likely to have problems are the devices like the internet refrig you mention. TV's, etc.. These sorts of devices are rarely secure and become targets for exploits, etc. Isolation of these devices from your devices that store your data, like your normal pc, your nas, etc. would be common security practice - vlans ;) And don't be surprise when that shiny new internet ready frig only has wireless ;)

A wired house is a great/smart idea!! And wire is always better than wireless - but wireless is a big aspect of ease of use and not going away. While I completely agree anything that doesn't move should have a wire. Kind of hard to use my tablet with a wire. So with the use of smart switches (vlans, acls) Decent AP with wpa2 as your wireless security, with either 802.1x or secure psk - there is really little concern of breach. And if done right - only thing that happens if breached is they could use your internet connection. Since your network is isolated from the wireless.

[shastasheen]

I run a full SCCM 2012 server lab in my home for work. I may need a VLAN to partition off the DHCP server in the lab from the rest of the network. Aside from that I wont be doing anything exotic, but I always over buy on gear anyway. I'll probably get the Cisco 28 port in a few months. Thanks to the OP and all replies - very informative thread.

[McCordRm]

######ing Newegg, gotcha. The "mis-labled" sucks. Thus, I come here to ask. heh

I'll have a look at what you posted.

[McCordRm]

its mislabeled

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/switches/small-business-100-series-unmanaged-switches/index.html

Ease of use: Ready to use right out of the box, there is no software to install and nothing to configure

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/switches/small-business-smart-switches/prod_ov_C22-587115.pdf

While they might stat "smart" they are just dumb switches

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/switches/small-business-smart-switches/prod_ov_C22-587115.pdf

Ease of use:

The Cisco 100 Series works right out of the

box, with no software to install and nothing to configure.

Each switch port independently sets itself for the optimal

speed and determines whether to run in half- or full-duplex

mode automatically

There is more to a smart switch then just vlans, talking about being able to set port speed, being able to priorities traffic from one port to another port, view statistics and or errors on a port. And while you might not think you need vlans - with 24 some devices, of all different types and worried about security to the point your not even going to run wireless because someone "might" hack it.. Your just going to put everything on one broadcast domain?

Its your money - if you don't feel you have any need of even a smart switch - then by all means buy a dumb one. Might as well just buy the cheapest 10/100/1000 model on newegg that has the port density you need.

Here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704065

$98 5 stars 23 reviews..

Edit: BTW - since you brought up your security concerns, devices that are most likely to have problems are the devices like the internet refrig you mention. TV's, etc.. These sorts of devices are rarely secure and become targets for exploits, etc. Isolation of these devices from your devices that store your data, like your normal pc, your nas, etc. would be common security practice - vlans ;) And don't be surprise when that shiny new internet ready frig only has wireless ;)

A wired house is a great/smart idea!! And wire is always better than wireless - but wireless is a big aspect of ease of use and not going away. While I completely agree anything that doesn't move should have a wire. Kind of hard to use my tablet with a wire. So with the use of smart switches (vlans, acls) Decent AP with wpa2 as your wireless security, with either 802.1x or secure psk - there is really little concern of breach. And if done right - only thing that happens if breached is they could use your internet connection. Since your network is isolated from the wireless.

No, I know I don't want a completely "dumb" switch... but I figured a "smart" switch would be fine. The issue was

that Newegg mis-labled the one I posted and I thought it was a smart switch.

 

Right now, I don't have any wireless-only devices (like Tablets) except my phone, and I don't transfer data

over it from home; I don't play games or anything on it. However, the appliances issue may come into play

at some point if the fridge (for example) ends up being wireless-only. But if that happens, I'll end up grabbing

a small wireless router to put in the kitchen (centrally located in my one-story house, anyhow) when the time

comes. This would give me wireless for those devices and separate it from my other devices (to the best of 

my knowledge).

[+BudMan MVC]

its not so much mislabed on neweggs part, cisco in their documentation calls it "smart" but it is not inline with industry standards of what constitutes a "smart" switch ;) They clearly say unmanaged, and it has no UI - so its not a smart switch by any means.

edit:

"This would give me wireless for those devices and separate it from my other devices (to the best of my knowledge)."

Without vlans - and connected into your wired network, how would that wireless network be isolated from the rest of your wired devices?

[McCordRm]

Wouldn't the router be able to pull the internet connectivity, while at the same time assigning its own

IP Addresses to the appliances? And thereby creating a sort of buffer between the applicances and

the rest of the network?

 

Oh, and as a side note: so given that my option above isn't "smart", what would you go for in the

$250 range?

[+BudMan MVC]

you prob be hard pressed to find that port density with good feature set at that price point.

Your router supports vlans? Are you running dd-wrt or something? While yes if your router does support multiple network segments or vlans - you would then need a switch that also supports vlans to be able to use them from the router if connected to the same physical switch. You could always isolate with different switches for each segment. Or connect your AP directly to the router that supports vlans.

Let me look for something in that price point and that density.

edit: I would prob go with this at that price point

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833150157R

GS724T-300 - ProSafe? 24-port Gigabit Smart Switch

I posted the wrong link ;)