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
)
>
> 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)