Looking for any recomendations !!

On Thu, 8 Jan 2009 02:51:33 -0800 (PST)
Marge  wrote:

> Looking for any recomendations !!

Is it worth paying a premium for an 8 port router when you can get an 8
port 10/100 switch for under a tenner or gigabit for £30?

"Rob Morley"  wrote in message 
news:20090108115411.51427a21@bluemoon...
On Thu, 8 Jan 2009 02:51:33 -0800 (PST)
Marge  wrote:

> Looking for any recomendations !!

Is it worth paying a premium for an 8 port router when you can get an 8
port 10/100 switch for under a tenner or gigabit for £30?

Perhaps the original poster doesn't realise you can join them together ?
You can have as many switches (ports) as you like all linked to a single, 
cheap router (maybe the one you already have !)

On 8 Jan, 13:43, "Quagmire"  wrote:
> "Rob Morley"  wrote in message
>
> news:20090108115411.51427a21@bluemoon...
> On Thu, 8 Jan 2009 02:51:33 -0800 (PST)
>
> Marge  wrote:
> > Looking for any recomendations !!
>
> Is it worth paying a premium for an 8 port router when you can get an 8
> port 10/100 switch for under a tenner or gigabit for £30?
>
> Perhaps the original poster doesn't realise you can join them together ?
> You can have as many switches (ports) as you like all linked to a single,
> cheap router (maybe the one you already have !)

Yes I know I can buy a switch, at the moment I have a two spare
routers used as switchs but I would prefer one piece of hardware with
one power supply. 3 routers, 2 used as switches gives me 9 ports but 3
power supplies !!

With more & more hardware being dreated with net connectivity (cameras
etc) I asumed there would be more of a market for larger socket
routers which would start to reduce cost?, I don't know how many 8
port routers there are available or what cost they are thats why I
asked(I have searched but port numbers doesn't seem to be an important
sale criteria)

Particularily interested in anyone who has a Gb 8 port router to get
insight into cost & reliability.

Marge wrote:
> On 8 Jan, 13:43, "Quagmire"  wrote:
>> "Rob Morley"  wrote in message
>>
>> news:20090108115411.51427a21@bluemoon...
>> On Thu, 8 Jan 2009 02:51:33 -0800 (PST)
>>
>> Marge  wrote:
>>> Looking for any recomendations !!
>> Is it worth paying a premium for an 8 port router when you can get an 8
>> port 10/100 switch for under a tenner or gigabit for £30?
>>
>> Perhaps the original poster doesn't realise you can join them together ?
>> You can have as many switches (ports) as you like all linked to a single,
>> cheap router (maybe the one you already have !)
> 
> Yes I know I can buy a switch, at the moment I have a two spare
> routers used as switchs but I would prefer one piece of hardware with
> one power supply. 3 routers, 2 used as switches gives me 9 ports but 3
> power supplies !!
> 
> With more & more hardware being dreated with net connectivity (cameras
> etc) I asumed there would be more of a market for larger socket
> routers which would start to reduce cost?, I don't know how many 8
> port routers there are available or what cost they are thats why I
> asked(I have searched but port numbers doesn't seem to be an important
> sale criteria)
> 
> Particularily interested in anyone who has a Gb 8 port router to get
> insight into cost & reliability.


Personally, I'd add a decent sized switch to your network rather than 
replacing your router/switch/modem combo.

I'd get a seperate switch, with as much capacity as you think you might 
need now and some years into the future.

I installed a few years ago the Netgear fs516 16 port switch. It works 
great !  Looks like Netgrear have now replaced it with the Netgear 
JFS516. Should cost somewhere around £55.  If you can afford more ports, 
then buy something a bit bigger.

I think at the time, I needed around 8 ports, so bought a 16 port 
switch. There's quite a few ports in use now (certainly more than 8, but 
can't be bothered counting them !).

I've got my livingroom PC into an ethernet homeplug set-up at the 
moment, and am very very pleased with the performance. I got fed up of 
poor performance wireless, and wasn't going to get a timely opportunity 
to lay a wired connection to it.

May well replace the kids wireless connections with ethernet homeplug as 
well.  I may never need more than 16 ports if I end up adding more 
devices via an ethernet homeplug type setup (only one of them needs a 
connection in the switch, any other devices bridge to the one plugged 
into the switch). Wish the homeplugs were a bit cheaper, I definately 
jump in an buy another 2 at least. I'll wait and see if they come down 
in price a bit more.

Each to their own as they say.

Cheers.

Thanks, I do think that a 16 port switch could well be my next best
option,
Like you said extra ports for future expansion, I agree its just the
fact of still being another peice of hardware to power & find space
for.

Of the 2 best options I think No1 would be an 8 port router because
there is enough sockets for what I need, it would be 1 piece of
hardware with 1 power supply.
No2 would be a 16 port switch fo future expansion.

The homeplug is a great alternative to wireless, I found wirless
frustrating at times, especially when my sons Wii needed system
updates. I have wired all rooms now & each room as a very simple
splitter which means the kids can only use 1 piece of hardware at a
time, stops them leaving the PC on while playing on games machine,
they have to make a choice :o)

The worrying thing is that I have had no replies from anyone using an
8 port router !
As no-one gone one or are they all so happy with their networks that
the never search networking groups ?

Marge wrote:
> Thanks, I do think that a 16 port switch could well be my next best
> option,
> Like you said extra ports for future expansion, I agree its just the
> fact of still being another peice of hardware to power & find space
> for.
> 
> Of the 2 best options I think No1 would be an 8 port router because
> there is enough sockets for what I need, it would be 1 piece of
> hardware with 1 power supply.
> No2 would be a 16 port switch fo future expansion.
> 
> The homeplug is a great alternative to wireless, I found wirless
> frustrating at times, especially when my sons Wii needed system
> updates. I have wired all rooms now & each room as a very simple
> splitter which means the kids can only use 1 piece of hardware at a
> time, stops them leaving the PC on while playing on games machine,
> they have to make a choice :o)
> 
> The worrying thing is that I have had no replies from anyone using an
> 8 port router !
> As no-one gone one or are they all so happy with their networks that
> the never search networking groups ?
> 

Ok, I'll bite :-) I have a cheap e-buyer 8 port 10/100 switch which does
everything I want. Before I retired, I used similar products as
"emergency expansion" when I looked after the network at a local school,
again 10/100. None of the items caused problems (directly, though
plugging a patch lead into two sockets on one cheap switch causes
network mayhem :-( )

Netgear 516 and 524 type switches are much better build than the
cheapies, though I used 726 switches (24 at 10/100 plus 2 at 1000 for
cascade) in the school - there was never a need for gigabit generally;
fileserver access was only affected slightly at lesson change (lots of
save data, logout, login and load data). Many of these switches have a
management interface and you can assign sockets to different "virtual"
networks, which are effectively like separate switches.

You may not have a temperature problem, but fanless switches run cooler
by design and we had switches with fans that overheated (original
installation before I started). They also have integral PSUs whereas the
small cheapies have wallwarts.

Unless you want to pay a premium for gigabit, bear in mind that 100Mb
links are far faster than current internet connections, so that is the
bottleneck - unless you intend transferring lots of data across the
network :-) Remember also that a decent switch will be capable of
handling multiple full speed duplex links without perceptible slow down.
A 24 port 10/100 switch, for example, will have a 2.5Gb backplane to
transfer data.

Apologies if that's more than you want :-)

-- 
PeeGee

"Nothing should be able to load itself onto a computer without the
knowledge or consent of the computer user. Software should also be able
to be removed from a computer easily."
Peter Cullen, Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist (Computing 18 Aug 05)

On 12 Jan, 11:54, PeeGee  wrote:
> Marge wrote:
> > Thanks, I do think that a 16 port switch could well be my next best
> > option,
> > Like you said extra ports for future expansion, I agree its just the
> > fact of still being another peice of hardware to power & find space
> > for.
>
> > Of the 2 best options I think No1 would be an 8 port router because
> > there is enough sockets for what I need, it would be 1 piece of
> > hardware with 1 power supply.
> > No2 would be a 16 port switch fo future expansion.
>
> > The homeplug is a great alternative to wireless, I found wirless
> > frustrating at times, especially when my sons Wii needed system
> > updates. I have wired all rooms now & each room as a very simple
> > splitter which means the kids can only use 1 piece of hardware at a
> > time, stops them leaving the PC on while playing on games machine,
> > they have to make a choice :o)
>
> > The worrying thing is that I have had no replies from anyone using an
> > 8 port router !
> > As no-one gone one or are they all so happy with their networks that
> > the never search networking groups ?
>
> Ok, I'll bite :-) I have a cheap e-buyer 8 port 10/100 switch which does
> everything I want. Before I retired, I used similar products as
> "emergency expansion" when I looked after the network at a local school,
> again 10/100. None of the items caused problems (directly, though
> plugging a patch lead into two sockets on one cheap switch causes
> network mayhem :-( )
>
> Netgear 516 and 524 type switches are much better build than the
> cheapies, though I used 726 switches (24 at 10/100 plus 2 at 1000 for
> cascade) in the school - there was never a need for gigabit generally;
> fileserver access was only affected slightly at lesson change (lots of
> save data, logout, login and load data). Many of these switches have a
> management interface and you can assign sockets to different "virtual"
> networks, which are effectively like separate switches.
>
> You may not have a temperature problem, but fanless switches run cooler
> by design and we had switches with fans that overheated (original
> installation before I started). They also have integral PSUs whereas the
> small cheapies have wallwarts.
>
> Unless you want to pay a premium for gigabit, bear in mind that 100Mb
> links are far faster than current internet connections, so that is the
> bottleneck - unless you intend transferring lots of data across the
> network :-) Remember also that a decent switch will be capable of
> handling multiple full speed duplex links without perceptible slow down.
> A 24 port 10/100 switch, for example, will have a 2.5Gb backplane to
> transfer data.
>
> Apologies if that's more than you want :-)
>
> --
> PeeGee
>
> "Nothing should be able to load itself onto a computer without the
> knowledge or consent of the computer user. Software should also be able
> to be removed from a computer easily."
> Peter Cullen, Microsoft Chief Privacy Strategist (Computing 18 Aug 05)- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

Sorry PeeGee that you feel the need to bite?
Information is interesting but irrevelant.

I'm simply asking for anyone who has an 8 port router to give
preference.