Gigabit switch

I'm considering investing in one of these 16 port gigabit switches.

My home network is pretty simple so no need for a managed or smart switch and any VOIP or other traffic management can be handled by my Billion router.

Has anyone had experience of TP-Link switches. What should I be looked out for spec-wise?

Don't know about the 16 port switch but I have a TP-Link 5 port gigabit switch and it's works just fine

Mine aren't gigabit, but I've got a couple of 5-port 10/100 TP-Link switches; plug in, switch on, forget

Times are changing. I paid the same for an 8port Gig switch 3 years ago. Now you can get 16ports for the same cost.

Just go for it

Think I will get that switch I mentioned, it looks like a quality bit of kit for a very reasonable price. Thanks for all the feedback guys.

Just remember to put EVERYTHING through the switch except your VOIP connections. That way the switch to router traffic will only be internet up/down traffic and DHCP queries rather than local traffic.

Good point and I do that anyway. I don't have an VOIP traffic (yet) but that does raise a question about POE: if I eventually get VOIP telephones they may well be POE, but can I use a power injector over my existing cat5e cable and still get gigabit speeds? Does my patch panel need to be POE-certified/compatible? I'm assuming the switch does?

Reason I say to put VOIP direct to the router is that is is effectively separate from the rest of your network and does not have any local traffic.

As for POE there are different adapters out there. If you use one which injects power onto te line, it should/could only present data and no power to the switch . Does the patch panel need to be? Not really, you are only using low voltage but just choose appropriately.

I am about to install a couple of VOIP base stations here, they can use POE but as there is real power close by there is no need.

As long as the POE is 802.3af compliant (which most are these days) the yes - gigiabit is possible with POE.

I just googled it.

No your patch panel doesn't need to be specially rated for PoE / gigabit, as long as all 8 wires are connected correctly.

PoE 802.3af (or .at) works at gigabit speeds if the switch and device are both gigabit (i.e. same as for none-PoE devices) and are set for auto negotiation (no doofing around with manual speed and duplex).

If you only have a few PoE devices then injectors will be ok but there are plenty of choices for gigabit switches (unmanaged or managed) with PoE on some or all ports.

Common variations:

• 4 standard + 4 PoE ports
• all ports PoE but not at full power on all at the same time
• all ports PoE and capable of full power to all (sometimes called max power or MP)

Examples:

TP-Link: Unmanaged

Netgear: Unmanaged Smart

Cisco: Unmanaged SG100D-08P Smart SG200-08P Managed SG300-10P/10MP

Edited by prlzx (Wed 20-Feb-13 20:18:08)

Thanks for all that very useful info

I only bought one the other day, the SG1016D from Amazon, my first TP-Link one, I've always had Netgear before that, it comes with brackets for fixing in a rack and stick on feet for standing on a desk, I just plugged the line from the router into LAN 1 and then all my other stuff into the other ports, no problems at all - and it looks and feels much more sturdier than the Netgear ones I have had previously

If you are after a reliable switch that is a bit of a bargain get a HP 1410-24G. Its gone up in price recently and is now around £130, but it sells in the US for about $230. Exactly why its so cheap in the UK god only knows, but its a damn good switch that has high switching capacity (48 Gbps) a Lifetime Warranty with Next business day replacement.

Its an absurd switch for the money that's even before you know its also a managed switch.

Have 2 of them operating at our place and they are truly faultless, zero issue equipment with 100% up time. Really you are almost stupid to buy any other switch given how cheap these are; I would really love to know actually why they are so cheap in the UK as its really odd. Note the 16 port version isn't so much a bargain and is only £10-20 cheaper, but is half the physical size.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Reason I say to put VOIP direct to the router is that is is effectively separate from the rest of your network and does not have any local traffic.

As for POE there are different adapters out there. If you use one which injects power onto te line, it should/could only present data and no power to the switch . Does the patch panel need to be? Not really, you are only using low voltage but just choose appropriately.

I am about to install a couple of VOIP base stations here, they can use POE but as there is real power close by there is no need.

Hmmm. let's say you have 5 snom360s in your network; you can't connect them all to the router and therefor a switch would be necessary.

True, but is always a case of designing/building it in the most effective/efficient manner.

In reply to a post by dogcat:

... a HP 1410-24G... high switching capacity (48 Gbps) ... that's even before you know its also a managed switch

HP's website says this:
"HP 1410 series switches are unmanaged Gigabit Ethernet and Fast Ethernet switches"
Do you mean some other model?

48Gbps isn't really high switching capacity, because it is a shorthand for saying the backplane supports 1Gbps flowing into (a port) and out of (another port) at the same time for each and every port. So for a rackmount switch with 24 (full-duplex) ports, it is what you should expect.

Edited by prlzx (Thu 07-Mar-13 21:45:40)

In reply to a post by dogcat:

If you are after a reliable switch that is a bit of a bargain get a HP 1410-24G. Its gone up in price recently and is now around £130, but it sells in the US for about $230. Exactly why its so cheap in the UK god only knows, but its a damn good switch that has high switching capacity (48 Gbps) a Lifetime Warranty with Next business day replacement.

It's not a managed switch though and it's almost twice the price of the TP-Link I'm considering, even factoring the lifetime next-day warranty, it's still not great value.