Easily add up to 8 devices to your home or office network. Simply
plug-in to instantly connect devices to your network.
Review: Does what it should and does it well - 8-Port - VERY
IMPORTANT: This review is specifically about the 8-Port switch.
Many features and considerations regarding this switch DO NOT
APPLY to other options, especially the 16 and 24-Port versions.
Updated May 28th 2015 due to specification changes. It's an
unmanaged switch. It gets data from place to place with Plug and
Forget simplicity. Why buy this over the less-expensive SE2800?
There are several reasons you may want to. Read on...
«««««««««««»»»»»»»»»»» The Praise (Good Things)
«««««««««««»»»»»»»»»»» + All metal construction for a sturdy
switch + Runs cool + Gigabit capability + No Head-of-Line
blocking, contention handling, and flow control + Uplink
Autodetection (MDI/MDIX) + QoS handling ««««««««««»»»»»»»»»» The
Raze (Bad Things) ««««««««««»»»»»»»»»» - Inconsistent product
package content inclusion «««««««««««««»»»»»»»»»»»»» The Haze
(Things to Consider) «««««««««««««»»»»»»»»»»»»» * Unmanaged
switch * Port lights on the front, cabling on the back * External
power converter »»»»»»»»»»» The Details... I said it at the top
and I will say it here again: This review applies ONLY to the
8-Port version. The 16-Port and 24-Port versions have
substantially different features and specifications and this
review cannot accurately inform you on them. With that being
said... It was time to move from an integrated wireless router to
a separate Wireless Access Point , Router , and Switch. I didn't
want to spend a lot of money, so I snagged an SE2800. Then I
returned that, did some better research, and I grabbed this. One
month later it's been put through the basic paces and I can give
some information and things for people to consider. The one and
only disappointment I've had with this switch is that I ended up
acquiring three of them (for various reasons) and one package did
not contain the rubber feet. Sealed package. No feet. Sad me.
Otherwise, I am quite very happy with this switch. Automatic
MDI/MDIX detection is pretty standard these days and simply means
that you can plug in an uplink without having to worry about
whether it needs a crossover cable. Quality of Service (QoS)
tagging is a very good thing to have if you do anything with
in-home video or audio streaming. It helps ensure that
time-sensitive data gets to where it's going without waiting for
things like that huge file you're copying to the other computer.
After all, the wait is only a few fractions of a second, but
that's enough to make your video all blocky and icky. The 8-Port
version has an external power supply and the ones I received are
skinny to the left. This is a great way to keep the transformer
away from the plug beneath or above the one used, but iff you
have side by side plugs on a power strip, this will end up
blocking the leftward plug. It's also nice to note that the
8-Port switch has a very clean face. It is made to be a desktop
switch, with wiring and cables in the back and a clean front to
give basic connection information. This does create a less-ideal
situation if the switch is wall-mounted, as the wall mount holes
will only accommodate mounting with the cables up or down. As a
person with cats, I have to have the switch well off the ground,
and this makes viewing the status lights impossible without
standing very close to the switch to see the top surface, or
mounting it with the cables up which I personally do not prefer
to do. I would have loved to have had sideways mounting options.
Ahh well. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» Why not go cheaper? Now I am a frugal
person. I originally got the Linksys SE2800 a a local store but
then that was returned in favor of this. But why? Why would I
spend nearly an extra 25% (at the time of writing) on this
switch? Simple: My network is important to me. My network is also
important to my wife. My wife is important to me too. That and
the fact that if the network has problems, I get to sleep in the
car. This switch does not bump up the price just because of the
metal case versus the plastic mushroom-case on the SE2800. There
is more to it. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»» FEATURES! But what
do they mean? Both switches will deal with Quality of Service
(QoS) tagging. That is important if you do anything like
streaming video, voice calls, and other time-sensitive things on
your network. But this switch has some extra things that make it
that head above the other. --- "Non head-of-line blocking
architecture" This one is nice. Now, mind you, this will only
affect you if you have more than two things connected to the
switch, so if you are just using it to pipe data between two
computers, you can ignore this feature. But if you are using a
lot of ports, or especially if you have a file server or other
network device that has a lot of traffic going to it, this
feature will give you an improvement in network performance. When
two or more pieces of data arrive at the same time that need to
go to the same place, the switch can only send one at a time.
Head-of-line blocking (HOL Blocking) means that while it makes
the second (and third and fourth) arrival locations wait, it also
makes the pieces of data BEHIND those initial pieces wait too. By
avoiding head-of-line blocking, the switch is able to move other
data in front of the pieces that have to wait and send them on
their way without impacting network speed. This is like the
waiting spot at McDonald's drive through. Somebody ordered $50
worth of stuff, so they can wait there for it to be ready while
other people who just wanted to get a drink are able to be
handled without having to wait. --- "Full-duplex IEEE 802.3x flow
control" (and the rest) Notably, it's the "And the rest" part
that is important here. The SE2800 does support 802.3x, however
there was no indication that it would deal properly with
half-duplex backpressure and especially broadcast rate control.
The SE2800 is not an incapable switch. This is just a
more-capable switch. In all honesty, in most home-use cases,
you'll never encounter a need for this, however if you know you
need it, or ever do encounter a case where it is helpful, it will
save you a tremendous amount of sadness. It's a fancy way of
saying that the switch helps take more intelligent control of the
traffic in the event of something unexpected or mixed old and new
technology. Overall, in testing, the core of the switch runs
cooler and this switch has more switching capacity than the
SE2800. »»»»»»»»»»»»»» Built metal tough I mentioned I have cats.
Nightmare creatures from beyond the void whom I love dearly, but
their destructive prowess cannot be topped by anything short of a
bulldozer driven by a maniac elephant. Even their fur is a bane
to computers. Remember that SE2800 I returned? Plastic. Yeah...
It was not pretty. »»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
Summary - Worthwhile for a stable, reliable network
«««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««« I love my wife and she
loves me, but that won't stop her from getting grumpy if our
network has problems. I don't like a grumpy wife, so this switch
has been an excellent solution. The additional features it
carries over the SE2800 also make it a very worthwhile investment
despite its higher cost. The best part is that the cats have not
yet succeeded at even dinging it. Take a look at the info I give
you and you should be able to tell if this is the best purchase
for you. If there's not enough information, let me know what
questions you have and I'll try to find out and let you know. As
always, please let desertcart and I know if my review is helpful
to you. If it's not, let me know why in a comment so I can give
better information in the future. I monitor my comments and reply
to questions, and I do updates on reviews when I am able.
Review: IT's easy to use and is high quality equipment - works
flawlessly. It's an add on to a router or gateway that adds, in
this case, 8 connections to other an ethernet based router or
gateway.
