Marginally OT: Gb SOHO switch recommendations

tried google? "8port SOHO Gb switch" plenty of hits

-Lasse

I bought a pack of cheap TRENDnet 8-port G-bit switches to upgrade the network- I think they were like ~$30 apiece. So far no problems after about a year. They run cool and have a metal case. A have a vague recollection of suspicion of a network type problem that could be firmware related, but can't recall what it was (needed to be reset when switches plugged into switches?) but no issues atm. It's not like they're much trouble to change if they do eventually croak.

No idea how they compare in actual throughput with the more expensive ones, but don't really care much, I think it's always limited by the computer etc. at either end.

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

That sounds a lot like this one: TRENDnet #TEG-S80TXE (without my glasses, that's my best guess as to what those little squiggles seem to say! :> ). I think it's been in service about a year (hopefully you will have better luck! :> )

Previously, I lost a Cisco SD2008 (8 port Gb) and, before that, a Cisco SD216 (16 port 100Mb). Before that, I think it was a linksys switch. Etc.

All were SOHO devices (because of size and where I wanted to hide them). All were in nice, room temperature settings. Not tucked into an area with poor air circulation, etc.

And, while all ports may have been *cabled*, it is rare for me to have more than a couple-three actually pushing much data at any given time (the switch is considered more of a "cabling convenience")

Agreed. I'm more interested in the d*mn thing continuing to work!

The present unit appeared to be reseting itself periodically. And, unpredictably. I.e., perhaps three times in quick succession... then operate fine for a while, etc.

The actual reset seemed to be a brief event -- O(a few seconds). All port lights on, then off, then return to the normal "activity" indications.

I will try to make some time to pull the lid off and see if anything obvious -- chips glowing cherry red, blown caps, etc.

Annoying! (i.e., not much to learn from that experience -- just a general time-waster!)

Yeah, but that doesn't tell you anything about *quality*! Even "reviews" are useless -- unless the device has a problem out-of-the-box, the reviewer is likely to just see it doing what it *claims* to be able to do. He's not going to be able to report on "high failure rates", "short lifetimes", etc.

And, if you go looking for "problem reports", you only hear about folks who are dissatisfied with their purchase (folks rarely report back some time AFTER their purchase to say: "6 months and still happy"; "13 months and no problems"; etc.). Since you have no idea of the total population size, no way to put those reports in context.

A couple of years ago, I went through five different SOHO routers trying to find one that actually did port forwarding correctly for arbitrary ports. It was a nightmare. When you find one that works, buy five of them to keep in the freezer. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

Agreed. And this applies to damn near EVERYTHING, nowadays! Food, clothing, equipment, etc.

I'm annoyed that I can no longer buy the walking shoes that I've been very happy with. The idea of trying on potentially

*hundreds* of different shoes in search of The Right Style (why are there SO many different shoes???) is almost paralyzing! :<

OTOH, I did exactly this recently with a USB hub -- selecting one that I *knew* worked well in my application -- only to discover that the manufacturer had changed the implementation without changing the model number in any way. Of course, the new version did *not* work! :<

"Thanks for rewarding my loyalty!"

I like to find something suitable for a job, and then standardize more or less for life:

Regular Colgate toothpaste Thinkpad T42p laptops (I have probably 10 in various states of repair) HP and Tek boat anchors

etc.

My 20-year-old son says I'm actually an Amishman, because that's exactly what they did, circa 1850. ;)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510
845-480-2058

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

Close, but no cigar. TEG-S80G. Dell had a sale on them for C$29.95 w/free shipping.

Some people have been reporting problems, but the vast majority are happy - in fact it has the highest user rating of any 1-12 port switch.

Ratings on yours:-

They show summaries as 5 eggs rating vs. 4 eggs in 395 vs. 84 reviews, but actually the average ratings are almost identical:

Eggs S80G S80TXE

5 317 60 4 30 16 3 8 1 2 15 3 1 25 4

Avg. 4.51 4.48

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

Yes! And the cheapest Walgreens toothbrush.

--

John Larkin                  Highland Technology Inc
www.highlandtechnology.com   jlarkin at highlandtechnology dot com   

Precision electronic instrumentation
Picosecond-resolution Digital Delay and Pulse generators
Custom timing and laser controllers
Photonics and fiberoptic TTL data links
VME  analog, thermocouple, LVDT, synchro, tachometer
Multichannel arbitrary waveform generators

I was happy with it for > a year. I was also happy with the

8 port Cisco Gb. And the 16 port before that. Unfortunately, I fell *out* of happiness with each of these :<

So, ratings appear to not mean much. :< (as you would expect from people who self-select to rate a product).

I think I will just have to bite the bullet and put in a commercial grade switch. For now, I pulled out a 100Mb switch so I can take that one out of service. I'll have to look to see if the problem is a flakey wall wart, bad caps, something running a bit too hot, etc.

Or, downgrade to 100Mb fabric and just use sneakernet when I need to move really *big* things!

Yup. All my socks are the same color, T-shirts are black/navy/white, (actually, neighbors threaten to buy me a red shirt just to shake things up a bit!) same eyeglass frame (style) for 35 years, etc. Life is too short to waste it *shopping*/deciding! :>

Hi, Don:-

It's rounding in this case. 4.51 appears as indistinguishable from perfect and 4.48 as less than perfect. I always look at the breakdown and tend to discount people who are b*tching about rebates, that don't sound like they know what they are doing etc., and rate more highly those who sound credible (there's always some percentage of whiners who are never happy, and equally some percentage who seem quick to post a positive review..) Looks beautiful! Nice carton! Can't wait to plug it in! ;-)

The ratings there have saved me a few times from buying bad stuff, especially hard drives. A lot of folks work their hard drives a lot harder than I do, and in much bigger numbers, so infantile failures tend to be detected early. Somtimes, not always, when Newegg has a shell shocker deal, there's a d*mn good reason why they are almost giving something away.

In this case, people mentioned the switches running hot (your one).

What are you going to buy?

Best regards, Spehro Pefhany

--
"it's the network..."                          "The Journey is the reward"
speff@interlog.com             Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog  Info for designers:  http://www.speff.com

I don't see an appreciable difference in rated power consumption. The case is "warm" -- but, I could leave my hand/tongue/otherbodyparts on it almost indefinitely.

Dunno. Stepping up beyond the SOHO kit means managed switches, fibre uplink modules, etc. More fluff than I really want. :< I had deliberately split the office into 100Mb and Gb segments so I could "trim downward" *its* requirements (I'm even looking at *10Mb* fabric for the VoIP and automation parts of the house hoping I can find some PoE kit for cheap at the slower speeds -- phones don't need Gb cable! :> )

I have a Cisco 2960mumblemumble to service the house as a whole -- which is colossal overkill (since most of the data pigs tend to reside *in* the office). If I can upgrade it to a PoE model, I'll leave it where it is (though dreading that decision as it will eat batteries!). Otherwise, I might buy something else (slower/less power hungry with PoE) for the house and move the other into the office (where PoE is unimportant but Gb is more useful!)

[but, its big/bulky... the little SOHO switches are *so* much easier to accommodate!]

I need to figure out what is really happening with the switch before moving on with another purchase. Is the UPS misbehaving? Is the wallwart? Or is it the switch? Foolish to discard on inconclusive data (OTOH, I have no desire to make a career out of troubleshooting it! All of the previous switches just got

86-ed when they started acting up!)

"File bloat" is just getting out of control! The more space you have, the more sh*t you stuff in it! Doesn't matter if that is real, physical space or virtual space on a medium! :<

Netgear? FYI we had a 5 port Gb netgear switch fail after 9 months, seems to be a common issue. The 8 port swtches are better, but I see there are issues with them too. The 16 port switches we have not failed yet. ( I have three stacked on one another, so they get toasty)

Cheers

All of my socks are the same color (black) and all of my slacks, other than jeans are black. My shirts are all different colors; some stripes and some solid color. If I didn't wear black slacks I'd come up with some crazy combinations. I can't see color worth a damn in the mornings. ;-)

Mine vary over time: all beige; all navy; all white; etc. I buy several dozen of at a time and discard the previous (since every pair in a batch is of the same age).

I don't wear "dress slacks" or "dress shirts" -- jeans + T-shirt. Or (VERY rarely) a 3-piece suit.

Aside from navy/black confusion, I can usually sort out the color differences. But, I don't want to *bother*! Much easier to just grab two socks and *know* they are the same color -- even if they were in different drawers! :>

I got tired of having to pair up socks after wash: Is this beige sock the mate of this *other* beige sock? Or, are they *different* "beiges"? (I'd been known to wear socks of different colors with no concern for the resulting mismatch (until someone would invariably notice and

*lecture* me on the Earth-shaking consequences of my blatant disregard for "proper sock pairing" :< )

(Ditto shirts, pants, etc.)

As long as they are clean and reasonably unwrinkled, suits me just fine! :>

I have this:

Also the 5 port version. A friend bought the same units. We're going on about two years on them with no issues.

If you go to Pro-vantage, they have D-link gear in metal boxes, more SOHOish. I got my KVM from Provantage (metal cased ATTEN unit), but haven't bothered with switches since I've had good luck with every switch I bought. I can't say the same for wifi routers.

Hey, you can get Netgear in metal cases, and I won't take netgear for free.

Evaluating electronics gear takes time. When I worked in datacom, we would set up bench tests to run gear for weeks to get decent bit error testing. Nobody wanted to get sued, so the results were always kept in house. Basically you wanted to make sure your bit error was on par with the competition, because the vendors will try to get a better price on your chip by threatening to use XYZ chip. We had working models of competing chips so that we could demonstrate eye patterns and such. Some stuff was better, but those chips also cost more.

Regarding companies changing the guts of a item with the same model number, welcome to the 21 century. They even market the same item at the same time with different chip sets.

D-Link DGS-1008D been running cold here, 24/7 for maybe three years.

This is a low power 'Green' switch that runs cold, plug power pack is a switcher running just slightly warm to touch.

Yes, but it slows things down a fair bit.

Grant.

Is there any chance that there's a phone line plugged into one of the ports? they don't like that at all. Tends to kill one brand of comercial switches in a couple of weeks,

100-base-T doen't use the middle pair so 100Mbit switches are immune.

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?? 100% natural

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