This switch is exactly what I expected it to be: solid. Just like the other Netgear equipment I've used, the GS108 is completely hassle-free. My whole house was literally wired for gigabit Ethernet in no more time than it took to plug in the cables. I took it out of the box, plugged in the power cord, and plugged in connections (including a router and the patch cables to the rooms in my home), and went about my networking. It's completely idiot-proof, since all 8 ports automatically detect connection speed and uplink/downlink (meaning that no special cables are needed to hook up additional switches or routers). Plus, the indicator lights show which ports are in use, and at what speeds (10Mb, 100Mb, or 1Gb).The form factor is great, too: At about 9 inches wide by 4 inches deep by 1 inch thick, it's small enough that I was easily able to place it inside the structured wiring panel, and so light that a little heavy velcro holds it fast. Plus, it doesn't put out a lot of heat; even with the door to the panel closed, it feels warm but never hot to the touch. NETGEAR GS108 ProSafe 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch
This product works well for me. I have three wired computers connected to it as well as my Netgear WG102 wireless access point. Upstream from the router is my Netgear FR114P wired-only router and from that my Motorola SB5100 cable modem. I've had this setup for 6 months now and no lockups or wierd reboots from any of the equipment. After dealing with flakey networking problems for almost 3 years from various equipment, I now swear by Netgear "blue box" equipment. (And I've had issues with Netgear consumer "white plastic" equipment, among other brands of consumer equipment.)
Giving it 4 stars as other gigabit switches now have more cache than this model.
Very disappointed. I have other Netgear components on the network that have worked flawlessly for years, but this particular model does indeed have the issue many people have reported about disconnects. I could see how an average email checking / web surfing user would not care much about it, but I use software for work that requires a full restart when disconnected, so this switch drives me absolutely crazy.
Every few hours everything attached to it just disconnects, as if they are plugged into nothing. Sometimes it comes back up in about 2 minutes, about 25% of the time I need to unplug the unit and plug it back in to get it to reconnect to the computers again. I am back on Amazon to find a different switch and figured I'd warn everyone that this one is headed for the trash bin here. I still believe Netgear makes a great product, just this particular unit is flawed. Funny sidenote, actually disconnected me two times while writing this, don't think it wanted me to warn everyone about it. :-)
I installed this switch in a home network with four PCs and a network-based printer. All in-wall wiring and patch cables had been upgraded to Cat6 wiring. I am an expert user with over 15 years experience setting up networks.
After running for a few minutes, all of the lights on the GS108 would start flashing on/off/on/off once per second, including lights on ports that were disconnected. All of the PCs connected to the GS108 would report that a "network cable was disconnected."
I contacted Netgear support. This is apparently a common problem because Netgear didn't even ask me to troubleshoot anything. As soon as I described the symptom, they said they'd need to replace it.
Netgear offered me the choice of inexpensive ground shipping (7 to 10 days to receive the new unit) or a very expensive price for an overnight replacement. There was no middle ground such as two or three day shipping.
The replacement I received had the same problem.
This problem has been reported by other users on other sites. Given Netgear's inability to solve the problem and their ridiculous shipping rates to replace a critical network component, I recommend staying away from this GigE switch.
I threw away the GS108 and purchased a Dell PowerConnect 2708, which costs 50% more but has better performance and includes free overnight replacement shipping if you run into a problem. The 2708 has run flawlessly since I plugged it in.
I bought this GS108 to replace an overheating Netgear GS605 switch. This switch's metal casing and design seem better suited to dissipating heat than the plastic casing of the GS60x series.
While both GS10x and GS60x are comparably priced gigabit "dumb" switches from Netgear, the GS10x switches feel much more solid as if they were business-grade products. The GS10x (this switch) also supports jumbo frames unlike the GS60x, which should make for better peak gigabit performance. Unless the asthetic of the white case appeals to you, the GS10x is the superior choice over the GS60x series.
As others have noted, the photo here is out of date, the current model of this switch is a compact fanless form-factor barely larger than the width of the 8 network ports. Since there's no fan, there's no noise at all. The only drawback to this compact design is that the activity/link LEDs are now built into the port and are all one color. You can't tell at a glance if the port is connected at 100Mb or 1000Mb... That minor quibble aside, this is an excellent product, highly recommended. - Gigabit - Gigabit Switch - Netgear - 8 Port'
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