switches- does it matter for home?

[wp746911]

I have a new house with a new woman- I'm gonna run at LEAST 5e, maybe 6a throughout the house. I am looking at 16 port switches- does it really matter which switch i get? The zyxel 16 port GS1100-16 is on sale for $50. There is a netgear gs116na for about $100 after rebate, and a cisco sg100-16 for about $140. Does it really matter for a home network? I'm getting 1gbps fiber installed in the next few months (in ridgeland, MS with c-spire) so I need a great network to not waste the speed. Thoughts? Splurge for the cisco or just get the zyxel? Or go with the middle of the road netgear? I have the money for whatever, but dont like to waste $$.

 

[abailey]

If you are going to get nice wiring and a nice internet connection I would get a managed switch. Even if you never use any of the layer 2 functions like VLAN's, Link Aggregation, QOS, etc it is worth it for the built in tools to help you trace down problems in your network when they crop up (from bad cables, bad NIC, network loop, and throughput problems) Also you can get some decent managed switches now for not too much more than a quality unmanaged switch. For home use my favorite switch is TP-Link, followed by the Cisco 200 series switches. I have two TP-Link switches in my house. One of them is the TP-Link TL-SG2216. It is a fantastic switch. You can even name your ports in the software so when you bring up reports about your network you know what you have connected to each port.

 

[thiggins]

There are no significant performance differences in unmanaged 16 port Gigabit switches. You can buy based on price, brand preference and warranty.

Smart/managed switches are another matter. Then you need to look at features supported and the admin interface.

 

[azazel1024]

If you are going to get nice wiring and a nice internet connection I would get a managed switch. Even if you never use any of the layer 2 functions like VLAN's, Link Aggregation, QOS, etc it is worth it for the built in tools to help you trace down problems in your network when they crop up (from bad cables, bad NIC, network loop, and throughput problems) Also you can get some decent managed switches now for not too much more than a quality unmanaged switch. For home use my favorite switch is TP-Link, followed by the Cisco 200 series switches. I have two TP-Link switches in my house. One of them is the TP-Link TL-SG2216. It is a fantastic switch. You can even name your ports in the software so when you bring up reports about your network you know what you have connected to each port.

Well crapfire. I didn't realize that. Is this only through their admin software, or can you do it in the admin webportal too? Now I need to run home after work and check my SG2216 (also HUGE fan of it. I also have a Trendnet TEG-160sw...which is meh. Fine and nice because I got mine (v2) used for like $50 shipped, so I can't complain, but my SG2216 is nicer. I am debating getting an SG2424 to replace both, or just another SG2216 to replace the TEG160ws at some point. Maybe when I can get a used SG2216 for cheap).