NETGEAR FS105NA Switch 5Port Metal
by Netgear
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of NETGEAR FS105NA Switch 5Port Metal
Customer Review: A solid performer
Summary: 5 Stars
This review is for the FS105 v2 as depicted in the picture, not for the one shown in the manual that is currently (9/12/2009) available for download from the Amazon product page.
This switch was purchased to replace one that only did half duplex 100Mbs. The switch routes video and data to a multi media server, so having full duplex was important to me.
I agree with other reviewers the this device is built like a tank. It does not get hot at all: I measured 86F at its hottest spot (bottom) in an 82F environment.
My unit was shipped with a tiny power adapter that angles sideways. When used in a regular powerstrip it does not obstruct any other outlets. (In case your powerstrip has its outlets angled sideways, you'll probably end up using 2-3 outlets.) Doesn't match the picture of the brick in the official (v2) manual for the device, though. The adapter only gets warm to the touch.
There has been some misunderstanding in other reviews about not being able to use all ports. THIS IS NOT TRUE. All ports have an auto-MDI/MDI-X capability (the "Auto Uplink" feature), so there is no special port reserved for uplinks to other switches/routers that, when used, would take out the ability to use one of the other ports on the switch. What this means is that you can use all 5 ports, no matter what you intend to use them for, connecting any/all to either other routers/switches or to regular devices like computers, network printers, etc. I confirm this using 4 devices and a router hooked up to the switch, with the router plugged into any of the 5 ports.
Functionally I have nothing to complain about: the HD video streams and NFS & SBM/CIFS data all stream through the device nicely and without interruption, which is really all you can ask for in a switch.
I personally like having the ports and LEDs on the front of the device, but that's because I am not using it on my desk. The configuration makes it very easy to see which UTP cable is live & sending data.
Pros:
- Built like a tank.
- Does not get warm.
- Works well.
Cons:
- Can't really see if a port is running at full or half duplex.
Customer Review: UPLINK DETECTION DID NOT WORK
Summary: 1 Stars
I recently upgraded to a 20 Mbps cable modem. Since my hub was an old 10baseT hub, I needed an upgrade to take full advantage of the larger cable modem bandwidth. This Netgear FS105NA switch should have been perfect, since my cable modem account includes 4 real IPs, and I have a mix of 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps devices.
Rather than the older hubs which require you to either push a switch to convert one socket to an uplink or to use a special socket for the uplink, this one is supposed to detect uplink devices automatically. It didn't. Installed per instructions, with two 100 Mbps computers and the cable modem, the switch started the rapid flashing of negotiation, but never stopped. I never got a connection. With just the two computers attached, and no cable modem, the rapid flashing happened only briefly and the two computers could talk to each other fine - but of course I couldn't access the internet without the cable modem.
I suspect some of those who have had success with this switch have not been stressing its full capabilities. In particular, I suspect few have uplinks operating at 100 Mbps rather than the slower 10 Mbps, since broadband speeds above 10 Mbps have only recently become available.
I'll buy a crossover cable - the old style of handling uplinks, by making them look like downlinks - and see if this switch will work properly with the cable modem when all the equipment looks like downlinks. In the meantime, I've gone back to an old 10baseT hub for now.
Edit: a crossover cable for the connection between the switch and the cable modem seems to have worked. There's still a fair amount of rapid flashing even when the connection is not being used, though, so I can't say I'm filled with confidence. If you do go for this option, I recommend buying color coded cables - for example red for the crossover cable, and black for everything else.
Customer Review: If all life was this easy . . .
Summary: 5 Stars
This was so easy to set up that it was comical. I think just about anyone could understand the directions in the small installation guide. 1. Unpack the box. (OK, I was able to do that without instruction.) 2. Prepare to install the switch. (I did a few moments of meditation and was ready.) 3. Install the switch and connect the other devices.
That was it. Everything worked! Besides that, the unit is very well constructed and compact. Now, if it will just last. I wonder if some who had failures put it somewhere that prevented it from cooling. They warn about that in the "manual."
Here's how I'm using it. We recently bought a BluRay player that had Netflix streaming. This is a big house and I had to move the wireless cable router closer to the room where the player is in order to receive the wireless signal. When I did that, it caused two concerns. First, my older desktop Mac didn't have wireless so I went for a bridge. (Cisco/Linksys) The bridge is much more powerful sending/receiving than a wireless USB adapter. FAR MORE! Also, more expensive, but worth it. The desktop had been connected to the wireless router via ethernet in the same room.
The second concern was that the laptop Mac was in a corner location where it was very much blocked by several walls and it wasn't picking up a strong signal from the router on the far side of the house. I didn't want to use a repeater/extender because I understand that they cut the bandwidth, so I bought this switch. I plugged the bridge into one of the ethernet ports, the desktop into another and the laptop into a third. When I connected the power, everything worked with no further ado.
If all of life was this easy, I wouldn't have anything to complain about. It's so easy that even a caveman could do . . . Uh Oh! Sorry cavemen.
Customer Review: A good, solid switch. A little nicer than others.
Summary: 5 Stars
With switch prices coming down to about $10-per-port, it's hard to justify buying anything less than a 10/100-switch for all but the most cost-conscious buyer.As most 5-port 10/100 switches have the same capabilities and cost about the same, there's not much to distinguish one from another. Still, I particularly like the Netgear FS-105 5-port switch. Like other products from Netgear, this switch is a little nicer than the competition because it has:
- Nice sturdy metal construction instead of plastic. The case also has a grounding tab in case you're using the switch in a (electrically) high-noise environment.
- Connection status indicators built into the jacks, so you can easily tell which cable is connected and is active. (The "vistajack" feature.)
- Right-angled barrel power connector which reduce the likelihood of disconnecting power accidentally.
- An easy-to-access switch to toggle port 1 between station mode and uplink mode. Unlike some hubs where two jacks are wired together, this design prevents accidentally shorting a station to an uplink.
- Screw-mount notches on the underside allows for easy attachment to the wall, underside of a counter, etc.
With a 1000-MAC address buffer and 200 Kbytes-per-port packet buffer, this switch can easily handle the typical traffic load of small- and medium-sized networks.
The Netgear product is not the cheapest 10/100-switch (check out the D-Link Fast Ethernet Switch, for example), but for overall design and value-for-money, I still like the Netgear the most.
Customer Review: Super solid switch at a low cost -- 10/100, not gigabit ethernet
Summary: 5 Stars
This Netgear model has been around for a while. I use a lot of them in my small business. They're very handy to park on conference tables and desks to provide wired internet connections for multiple people. It's a very solidly built model (all metal), with a no-frills industrial design and small footprint. Installation is a snap -- just plug in the power supply, connect your PCs/peripherals with regular patch cables, and your done.
Two issues:
1) This is not a gigabit switch, just an old-fashioned 10/100 switch. If you're just using it for internet connections, that's probably fine, since you'll be limited by your internet speed anyway. But if you're running a gigabit ethernet and want to move gigs over the network quickly, you'll need a faster switch (assuming all the other gear on your network is also gigabit speed).
2) I have had a couple of this switches fail over the years, and it's always been the power supply that failed, not the switch. Given how cheap these are now, I'd suggest that you buy a spare, just to have the spare power supply on hand, if you can't afford to have a network failure for more than a few minutes. If the power supply fails, you can plug in a new power supply in under a minute, which is easier than replacing a whole switch. I don't want to make it seem like the Netgear power supply is unreliable -- I've had two power supplies fail over the past four years. I just wanted to provide a bit of useful "just in case" advice for small businesses.