Customer Reviews

NETGEAR FS108 ProSafe 8-Port 10/100 Desktop Switch

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Features 8 ports of 10/100 Full-duplex ability. It comes in very durable metal casing and feels somewhat heavy. It is truly plug and play. Compared to my generic (TrendNet 5-port 10/100 full-duplex switch) it blows it out of the water. I get better pings across my home network and when loaded with 7 computers transfering files at 100mBits full-duplex it shines! The only con is that it runs HOT! Be sure to place it where it can breathe and not next to anything heat-sensitive.

The NetGear FS108 is a great Fast Ethernet switch for small workgroups, featuring a sturdy construction (from the metal casing to the RJ45 connectors) and excellent performance. Packet forwarding rates are what you would expect for under 10 dollars per port, and I experienced no problems whatsoever in hooking up machines with many different brands of network cards. Even mixing cards with different speed ratings caused no issues, unlike with some other cheap 10/100 Ethernet switches I could mention. The only concerns I have with this unit are that it sometimes seems to forward certain unicast packets to all switch ports for no apparent reason, and that it runs extremely hot, as another review already mentioned.

As for some negative points mentioned by the other reviews: the switch works just fine with non-Windows machines (I would expect someone running multiple OSes to be able to troubleshoot simple connectivity issues, without resorting to technical support, which typically tends to be "Windows only" for pretty much *any* product...) and, while indeed not supporting full-duplex 100Mb/s non-blocking switching across all ports concurrently, this is not something you would expect from a workgroup-class switch anyway, nor something most users will ever need.

In short, if you're looking for an affordable way to build a well-performing small 10/100BaseT network, the NetGear FS108 is the way to go!

This is a great product. I would highly recommend it. You can easily put it anywhere. Never had any problems with it. Nice form factor, and great LEDs to let you know what is going on with it.

This 10/100 megabit switch is great if you are starting to feel the squeeze of a 10 megabit network. If you're like me, it getting pretty old moving huge scanned pictures and other large files around the home LAN. At 10 megabits, it typically took me 20-30 minutes to get a CDR worth of scanned images over to my CDR writing machine for backup. Well, not any more!

Since I hooked up my FS-108, I can move a CDR worth of images or MP3 files (650 megs worth) in about 3-4 minutes instead of that 20-30.

This switch is a piece of art. Built like a tank, incredibly solid and small for what it does. No fan, so it makes no noise whatsoever. The switch hooked up painlessly and worked flawlessly from the get-go.

Please note that they are and apparently have been shipping a later model than that pictured/described. The box is marked ProSafe 8 Port Fast Ethernet Switch FS108 v2. The unit is smaller (6'W x 4"D x 1"H), in a metalcase and has an external power supply (wall wart). Here is a link to HP's site;
http://www.netgear.com/products/details/FS108.php

It requires no configutation to set up as all ports are auto sensing for speed (10/100Mbps) and Auto Uplink for connection to PC, Modem (cable/DSL), or other devices with either straight or crossover cables. Simply plug and play in about 5 to 10 minutes.

Speed tests indicate no change in upload/download for my PC. It runs very cool as opposed to reports on other Netgear models. Have only had it installed a short time so I have no reliability info. Note that the warranty on the unit is quite long (5 years unit, 2 years power adapter)

An incredible product, currently running on a home linux network, works great and stays up and working for long, even for burning CD-ROMs through NFS... Great product!

Nice little Ethernet switch box. No set up required. Just plug it into an Ethernet network. It appears to work just as advertised; I can transfer files between computers at near 100 Mbps. Note that although the model number has remained FS108, my newer box purchased Mar-2002, has a small power brick and runs nice and cool. I had an older FS108 that had a way bigger power brick and ran hotter than you would expect, as mentioned in earlier reviews.

I have purchased many switches and have found the Netgear ones such as this 8 port to be very dependable. As with all lan switches however, even these are vulnerable to electrical surges so they should be installed behind high quality surge protection.

...I ordered a Netgear FS-108 which worked perfectly out of the box and has continued to work without one single hitch ... I'm about ready to buy another Netgear unit and the warranty ... is five years on the Netgear versus one on Linksys.

Using router to connect between two houses on my property. Using this 8-port switch on one end with 300 ft of CAT-6 between it and another Netgear router. Works great!