NETGEAR GS108 ProSafe 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch
by Netgear
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List Price: Our Price: $58.99 You Save: $11.00 (16%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $35.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of NETGEAR GS108 ProSafe 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch
Customer Review: What a difference!
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently had a big workstation crash that forced me to revisit my home network after 10 years. One of the additions was a Western Digital ShareSpace 4 TB 4-Bay Gigabit Ethernet Network Attached Storage with RAID 5 - WDA4NC40000N. When I plugged in the array and started moving files back onto my NAS, I found that things were going too slow. The new NAS has gigabit ethernet. So I started looking around. Well, I quickly figured out that my home routers and switches were way way out of date. I had a 10MBP switch and a 10/100MBPS fast switch and a 10/100 routher: wow slow stuff.
So I went on Amazon and ordered two of these netgear Gigabit switches and a Linksys by Cisco WRT320N Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router.
Well, in less than 20 minutes literally I now have a network that screams!!! I'm getting about 350MBPS so things are nice nice.
I'm really glad that I've upgraded my network equipment.
On these switches:
PROS
-metal construction very solid
-cool to touch even when running
-autocrossover - so you don't have to have special cables to link switches or lose ports to uplink use
-very durable (one of my fast switches was a netgear and it's been going strong for 10 years alone in my basement!!)
CONS
-none (other than technology does age so expect to have to replace in 5 to 10 years with the next big advance)
Customer Review: quiet, reliable, not hot
Summary: 5 Stars
UPDATE:
I originally rated this five stars, but I'd lower my rating to four. This is a rewritten review.
We have used several of these and also the GS105 (5 port version) both at home and in a small business network. They work very well but we have had issues with them failing after many months of use. We have had three fail at different times in the same way. They go into a state where they keep resetting themselves continuously; all of the link lights will blink on and off, and the switch is essentially non-functional.
We returned (RMAed) one without issue. On the bright side, there was no difficulty obtaining a replacement from Netgear, but it does take some time and effort to go through the process and send them the failed unit, and we haven't bothered with the two others that failed. At current prices, here on Amazon for example, the cost of buying a replacement versus the time and cost of going through the RMA process has gotten to be about comparable for us.
Unconfirmed reports from other sites indicate that Netgear claims to have addressed the underlying cause of this issue and that units manufactured in 2008 should not display this problem. It is the case that all of the units that failed for us were purchased in 2007 or 2006.
I still like these boxes overall, but would be great to hear from others either of better alternatives or experiences with recently purchased (2008) units.
Customer Review: Solid performance, compact form
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this GS108 to replace an overheating Netgear GS605 switch. This switch's metal casing and design seem better suited to dissipating heat than the plastic casing of the GS60x series.
While both GS10x and GS60x are comparably priced gigabit "dumb" switches from Netgear, the GS10x switches feel much more solid as if they were business-grade products. The GS10x (this switch) also supports jumbo frames unlike the GS60x, which should make for better peak gigabit performance. Unless the asthetic of the white case appeals to you, the GS10x is the superior choice over the GS60x series.
As others have noted, the photo here is out of date, the current model of this switch is a compact fanless form-factor barely larger than the width of the 8 network ports. Since there's no fan, there's no noise at all. The only drawback to this compact design is that the activity/link LEDs are now built into the port and are all one color. You can't tell at a glance if the port is connected at 100Mb or 1000Mb... That minor quibble aside, this is an excellent product, highly recommended.
Customer Review: Gigabit made simple
Summary: 5 Stars
This switch is exactly what I expected it to be: solid. Just like the other Netgear equipment I've used, the GS108 is completely hassle-free. My whole house was literally wired for gigabit Ethernet in no more time than it took to plug in the cables. I took it out of the box, plugged in the power cord, and plugged in connections (including a router and the patch cables to the rooms in my home), and went about my networking. It's completely idiot-proof, since all 8 ports automatically detect connection speed and uplink/downlink (meaning that no special cables are needed to hook up additional switches or routers). Plus, the indicator lights show which ports are in use, and at what speeds (10Mb, 100Mb, or 1Gb).The form factor is great, too: At about 9 inches wide by 4 inches deep by 1 inch thick, it's small enough that I was easily able to place it inside the structured wiring panel, and so light that a little heavy velcro holds it fast. Plus, it doesn't put out a lot of heat; even with the door to the panel closed, it feels warm but never hot to the touch.
Customer Review: 7 months uptime - no problems!
Summary: 5 Stars
I replaced a Netgear 5-port Fast Ethernet switch on my desk with this one to get more ports. What I did not count on was the increased speed of a gigabit switch. I frequently sync my desktop Windows email and files with my laptop (MacBook Pro running OSX plus Windows via VMWare Fusion). Both systems have gigabit Ethernet adapters so the transfers are breathtakingly fast through the switch. Just checked a recent sync log. 106 music files -- 490+MB data -- in 14 seconds.
If I ever got ambitious, I'd move this switch down to the basement and put it just downstream from the FIOS router, then use it to connect all the Ethernet drops from various rooms in the house so any in-house system-to-system wired link would be gigabit. I'd still need a multiport gigabit switch at my desk, though -- probably another Netgear.
Like many other users, I unpacked the box, plugged in the power and cables and started using it. Haven't touched it in six months. A great product.