Netgear ProSafe GS108 vs TP-LINK SG108 - 1 GBPS Port Switch

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My local area network consists of three switches: a TP-LINK, a NETGEAR, and a TRENDnet. All are 1 GBps un-managed switches. The TP-LINK switches are the most affordable - starting under $20.00.

All of the switches are compatible with the router, a TP-LINK ER605 and are compatible with my TP-LINK access points. Additionally all of the switches are fully compatible with fiber optic media converters, on my network I choose TP-LINK media converters.

While the TRENDnet switch has an SFP module port, enabling live time fiber optic direct connection, neither TP-LINK or NETGEAR switches have SFP module ports. A media converter is required to connected these un-managed switches to fiber optic.

Indicator Lights

Both switches have indicators lights while it should be noted that the NETGEAR switch has more useful lights. Each port on the netgear has two lights, that are very easy to see. If the port only has one light, it means the link is only 100 mbps while two lights for the port means 1000 mbps. Quite useful.

The TP-LINK switch has lights that are barely noticeable. Having the two indicator lights on each port is very useful - it immediately tells me if I have a low bandwidth data link which tells me if I have the wrong cable or a bad cable. Without running a single speed test I know if I have a slow connection.

The pictures above are of the port indicator lights. The TP-LINK circled in green and the NETGEAR pointed out in red.

Hardware Weight and Quality

The NETGEAR switch is literally twice as heavy as the TP-LINK switch. The quality is better on the Netgear Switch - the case is literally thicker metal than that of the TP-LINK.

	NETGEAR GS108	TP-LINK SG108
Number of Ports	8	8
Bandwidth	1 GBPS	1 GBPS
Indicator Lights per Port	2	1
Management	Un-Managed	Un-Managed
Cost	$50.00 USD	$18.99 USD

What are the switches good for?

Either one of these switches are good switches. Both are fully compatible with standard networking protocols and can achieve up to 1 GBPS across the ports. Good for desktop computer, wireless access points, and servers.

I utilized the TP-LINK un-managed switch for my Dell Poweredge R820. Today I use the 5 port TRENDnet switch for my server, the server hosting this website.

• Wireless Access Points
• Desktop Computers
• Security Cameras
• Raspberry Pis
• Print Servers
• Servers

What Both Switches are Missing

While both of these port switches offer basically the same functionality they are missing an SFP port, which is why I use the TRENDnet 5 port switch for my server needs. In my case I wanted fiber optic cabling ran into my server room, which consist of a Dell Poweredge R820.

The dell powerdge has 4 x 1 GB ethernet network interface ports which is useful to split up the bandwidth of the virtual machines that are running within the server. I wanted to run fiber optic to my server as opposed to cat 5 or 6 because the fiber cable is a lot easier to mount and run behind stuff and lighter in weight. Additionally the fiber gives the server more bandwidth, even in single mode simplex.