Switcher??

[Rafa]

Thought there was a thread here about network switches. Anyways, what is a decent one to get? I'm a newb at the networking stuff. Thinking of maybe a 12-14 port box, simple setup. Not wanting to spend a lot of $$. My linksys is out of ports. Plan on adding more devices in later this year.

[LeXXon]

Looking for Gig or 10/100? Do you need it managed? Have a price your looking to spend around?

[LeXXon]

For a 10/100 switch I would go with the following -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833156279

For a Gig switch I would go with the following -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817111030

Just kinda depends on what you want and need. There are tons of switches out there, you can always find something similar to another of course for possibly a cheaper price.

[Rafa]

Budget is around price on that 1st link. I can do $70 or less. Basically, whatever my linksys wrg54 can do, but more ports. Something simple that I can connect another pc, sat receiver, game system, etc. Don't want overkill. Not sure what you mean on 10/100, and gig? I've seen it, but never really read into it.

thanks

[LeXXon]

They are different speeds on the network, mostly used for file transfers.

[Rafa]

So basically, even if I get one that is a gig, it's only going to be limited on what my router is? Pretty sure my router is 10/100 then.

[LeXXon]

I believe if you only have your switch plugged into the router, the connection in between your switch and router will be 10/100, all others communicating over the switch should be gig.

I haven't tested that before, but that is how it should work...technically :P Plus its never a bad thing to have a gig switch laying around.

[Rafa]

So if I were to get a gig switch, would it be better to hook everything up to it, then have the router hooked up to one of the ports on the switcher? Or is that even possible. If I can, would it be difficult to make any changes to router/switcher/pc to make everything work?

[LeXXon]

Yes, you would want to hook everything to the gig switch to use full gig in between your devices, the only connection that would be 10/100 would be the connection in between your router and switch ( if you have any downloads that run at a speed of 12.5 megabytes/sec or faster you would be capping yourself, but I don't believe you have a 100Mb source running to your house for internet).

Basically all you want is the speed in between your gaming devices to be fast, going to the router shouldn't matter due to the internet not being as fast as the network and all the router actually does is hand out IP addresses and help route data.

[Ratt]

Stop saying switcher.

[Rafa]

Stop saying switcher.

SWITCHER...SWITCHER

LOL....don't know why I have a habit of saying that.

[Rafa]

Yes, you would want to hook everything to the gig switch to use full gig in between your devices, the only connection that would be 10/100 would be the connection in between your router and switch ( if you have any downloads that run at a speed of 12.5 megabytes/sec or faster you would be capping yourself, but I don't believe you have a 100Mb source running to your house for internet).

Basically all you want is the speed in between your gaming devices to be fast, going to the router shouldn't matter due to the internet not being as fast as the network and all the router actually does is hand out IP addresses and help route data.

cool..thanks

[craig]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833156251

I have one of these. Excellent 8 port gigabit switch for a great price. For $70 you could get two. After using a port on each to wire them together and one to go to the router you will gain 12 more ports.

Just plugging a device in a gigabit switch doesn't make it faster though. If you computer has a gigabit ethernet card but your laptop is only 100mbps, then that transfer will only be 100mbps.

You can plug your slower devices directly into your 100mbps router and plug the gigabit ones in your new switch. That's the setup I have. I have a Linksys WRT54GL (tomato firmware) with aTREDnet 8-port gigabit switch.