NETGEAR FS105NA Switch 5Port Metal
by Netgear
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List Price: Our Price: $24.98 You Save: $17.01 (41%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $13.77 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of NETGEAR FS105NA Switch 5Port Metal
Customer Review: Definitely improves performance for a small LAN
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a nice, compact 5-port plug-and-play switch that definitely improved the speed of my local PC network. I read a review where this switch runs hot. I have all five ports in use and its running around 99F degrees. My DSL modem with just two ports in use actually runs hotter (101F). Okay, four degrees but you can tell a difference when you touch them. The FS105 switch does not interfere with AM radio reception as my old Linksys 5 port hub especially at the upper AM radio band. Perhaps it is the metal box of the FS105 that provides better shielding. Its nice that Netgear gives me the screws and wall anchors for mounting the switch to something either wood or plaster. But is it too much to ask Netgear to include a mounting template (piece of paper) so I can put those screws exactly where I need them with less fuss than measuring and guessing?
Perhaps I should not be disappointed that the FS105 I got is not the same one as pictured on the Amazon page. That picture shows an uplink button and the unit is wider. I connected a cable from my DSL modem/router's uplink port to the first port of this switch and it works just fine.
If you only need four to five ports, this is a very nice non-managed switch. And did you know that according to Netgear, the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) is twice that of either the FS108 (8-port version) or the FS116 (16-port version). It may make more sense to buy two of these switches from a reliability sense.
Customer Review: So far so good...
Summary: 5 Stars
There isn't really much to say about a switch, it has one simple job and as long as it does it that's what counts (A switch for those who are not certain is easiest to explain by saying it is akin to a power strip, you can plug all the machines you want into to it, but if you don't plug it into a managed source of signal such as a router or server it is like expecting a surge strip to provide power and work when it is not plugged into an AC outlet). If you want to split one LAN Drop (Network plug in) at for example at your entertainment center and hook up your PS3, Cable/Satellite box, Internet ready TV, A/V receiver with internet radio, etc. This is for you because all a switch does is take the one IP address assigned to it by the host system and share it out over all devices connected to it (while they are turned on and seeking connection of course, it doesn't allot bandwidth to devices that are not currently asking for any).
Bottom line is this does the job so far and is well constructed, at this very moment unit has been plugged in for almost two weeks and is cool to the touch (I have it wall mounted behind my TV were it gets plenty of airflow) so time will tell but I have seen units like this in multiple brands at customer sites (I'm a network tech) work for years, if this one fails in an abnormally short time I will revise my review to reflect the time and details/circumstances of the failure.
Customer Review: Good, but aging
Summary: 5 Stars
So far, I am impressed with this switch. The small footprint and the ease of installation is really something to behold. It has been reliable as well, as a small, unmanaged switch should be.
I debated on whether to get a gigabit switch or a fast ethernet (100Mbps) switch. I decided to be cheap and went for this little switch. I also have an old 10Mbit ethernet switch by Netgear; that only had four sockets, and one had to be designated for uplink. That little switch was the part of a reason for taking the Netgear, though; it was small, and it was reliable. In that regard, the switch did not disappoint.
What did disappoint me was, though, the fact that file transfers between two peer computers (i.e. not to the Internet) took longer than expected. The peak transfer rate could not go beyond 10MB/s; that is expected, and totally fine for my DSL (and for streaming from one computer to another, to an extent) but I found it to be sluggish, as the transfer rate I had from an external USB to hard drive could go for 30MB/s or higher.
I gave full marks due to the fact that it was a great switch for its class. The problem is, though, that the class itself is showing signs of age. For those of you who would like to set up a home server, I recommend you make a jump to the realm of gigabit ethernet.
Customer Review: Wow! This little switch is a lifesaver!
Summary: 5 Stars
Many moons ago, I bought a television that had a ethernet port and decided to go with a hard-wired solution from my router upstairs. After drilling a couple holes in some walls, pulling out the staple gun and running about 50 feet of CAT-5 around the perimeter of the house into some wall jacks, I had a nice little set-up going and the television was streaming video and firmware updates without a hitch. Then came Christmas, and my Grinch wife (joking, honey) bought me a XBOX 360 and suddenly, the one hard wire wasn't enough anymore. For security purposes, I didn't want to deal with setting up a WI-FI system in my house, so I bought this little Netgear FS105NA Switch and plugged one wire into my wall jack, one wire into my TV and one into my XBOX. Everything worked without a hitch. Then I decided to join the rest of techno-savy and bought a Blu-Ray player and a receiver that also had ethernet ports and suddenly, I'm using all 4 available ports on this Netgear Switch. In the past 3 months I've been using it, it has worked without a hitch. My entertainment center is all hard-wired, works super-fast and is 100% reliable. This little gizmo is a great deal, it couldn't be easier to install and uses hardly any electricity. Netgear gets an A+.Customer Review: EXACTLY what was needed.
Summary: 5 Stars
I needed to be able to connect components in my home theater system and this was PERFECT for the job. Yes, there are a couple of these even cheaper, but sometimes you do get what you pay for. This is a hefty little box for the size and it feels quite solid and well made. While I agree with a couple comments regarding the location of the power plug, it was not a deal killer for me at all. It sits back behind everything and is in no way an eyesore among my TV and game gear. I have it connected to an XBox, my DVR, a Sony BluRay player and have one port still available if I ever decide to connect my TV. I ran an ethernet cable from the modem/router in my media room into the family room via the attic, and once connected, all components worked immediately with no issues at all. We ended up using the extra port for a few days while we were having problems with our wireless network before the replacement router arrived, and the connections on the notebooks were excellent as well. (Wireless module had gone out, ethernet was still working fine obviously!)
This is an WONDERFUL deal for the price, especially with the rebate.