[geeks] Managed gigabit switch recommendations for the home?

[Phil Brutsche]

Joshua D. Boyd wrote:
> But of course, things can be much cheaper on eBay.

Tell me about it, I got a Dell 10/100 24 port managed switch (model
3324) for $100 off eBay, and a Dell 5324 for under $300 on eBay.

> I see a manged 8 port SMC GigE switch on ebay with a BIN of $130.
> Although I can tell you that the fan in that model is rather whiny. 
> I see the fiber version of the same product for $125BIN.
> 
> I see what appear to be a lesser SMC managed switches (the one I have
> and refer to above has features like QoS and jumbo packet support) with
> a BINs around $250.  Maybe you consider SMC to be less quality than
> NetGear.  All I know is that mine works fine.

They're all the same in my eyes.

Why?

Badge engineering: they're the same basic switch. The low-end
manufacturers all farm out the design of their switches to a small
number of OEMs. Just about the only input the vendor has into the switch
is the software.

At one point in time you could load SMC firmware on a Dell (and make it
one heck of a lot more reliable!), and the boot ROM messages on my
Linksys PoE switch (model SRW208P) look one heck of a lot like the boot
ROM messages on the Dell 5324 at work.

Like I said, it'll probably be fine for home, I had lots of reliability
problems with the Dell at work before it was relegated to my test env.

I replaced it with an HP and simply don't worry about whether it will be
locked up when I get in the next day.

-- 

Phil Brutsche
phil at tux.obix.com