Customer Reviews

Netgear ProSafe Ethernet Switch (GS116NA)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Netgear is supposed to have a 5 year warranty (2 on the power supply). I had one of these for about 18 months. Over the last months it's been increasingly flaky, every week or two it just hangs and needs to be unplugged and started again. It doesn't matter how much it's in use (it's done it when we've been on vacation with minimal network traffic).

I called Netgear to get it replaced, but they told me that it's not meant to be plugged in all day, so they won't fix it. Unless you actually unplug all your network equipement when you are not actively using it (I didn't think so), then I highly recommend avoiding Netgear products.

Im with Bjorn, after 2 weeks of use i noticed that i had to unplug the thing after 72hrs of use. Now after 7 months i have 8 dead ports. I have always trusted Netgear, but the last 3 items i have bought from them have failed in less than a year. I don't mind tossing paper cups, i don't expect them to last very long, but swithches and routers, i expect to at least get 3 years out of them.

Right from the start, it could not be easier! If you are looking for an economical 16-Port GB switch the GS116 is an excellent choice. Simply plug it in and it works! I have installed the switch down stream from my 4-port cable router. The auto-sensing port configuration works as advertised. No problems intermixing 10,100,1000 devices. Further, the automatic uplink to the router was completely seamless without the need for a turn-over cable.

Again, if you are looking for a dumb 16-port GB switch, I highly recommend this one.

I've used several Netgear products, including this 16-port 10/100/1000 switch as well as the Netgear 4-port 10/100/1000 mini-switch, and I've never experienced any problem. I suspect that some of the failures you're reading about have to do with inadequate ventilation. This is a fanless switch, and if you don't have it located in an area where it can dissipate heat, you'll see that it gets very hot. This can also occur when you pile stuff on top of the switch, as might happen if you locate it in a closet, or put another heat producing device on top of it, like a cable or DSL modem. This caveat is also included in the setup instructions, so it's ultimate location should be taken into consideration prior to your purchase.

Many other switches, e.g. the D-Link 16-port 10/100/1000 have an internal fan, and have less of a problem staying cool. The problem with the fan is that in a small office, the noise can get very annoying. In addition, the fan also needs room to vent the hot air that accumulates inside the switch, but at least it can have small other heat-producing items rest on top of it. In my old network setup with a D-Link, I have a cable modem and a Vonage router resting on top of the D-Link with no heat problem. I can't do that with the Netgear switch as it immediately gets too hot, and transfers the heat up into the other devices. Not good!

This switch has the right features for most users, most notably auto-sensing on each port to figure out whether it's a straight-through or cross connect. One LED on the port indicates a Fast Ethernet connection and two LEDs indicates a 1GB connection. I no longer have any 10 MB devices, but presumably the LED on one side would be amber.

I think this switch is a good value for the money. If you can leave it in an environment where it has adequate ventilation, the Netgear 10/100/1000 desktop switch is an excellent, quiet, space-saving choice for a home network that offers a lot of room for expansion. I'm glad I bought it.

RELIABILITY
Out of 6 Netgear GS line switches, I've had 2 fail outright and one requires reboots.

2 GS108 isolated for iSCSI. One requires a reboot every few months.

2 GS108 switches at a different site. One failed such that all of the link lights flash at the same time, network drops each time, completely unusable. Power cycle doesn't help. Power it off and unplug it for an hour, and it will work for 20-30 minutes. It took 12 months to fail, but I had swapped it in the middle with the working switch during a facilities move.

One GS116 uplinked to a JGS116 and used to feed the back office PCs and laptops failed the same as the one GS108 failure above. This is in a different city than the GS108. This worked fine for 6 months.

One GS105 which works fine after 2 years, but is not left on full-time.

One JGS116 (bigger case, has heat sinks and fans) works fine for several years.

All switches have plenty of ventilation.

In summary, the GS1xx line seems to have a 50% failure rate after 6 months of power-on time. The retail versions have a lifetime warranty, but cross-ship is $20. The JGS1xx switches (with fan) seem to be much more reliable.

PERFORMANCE
iperf 94-96MB/sec - Source Linux (Lenny), Celeron D 2.0, Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5754
iperf 45MB/sec - Source WinXP SP3, P4 3.2GHz, Intel Pro/1000

Summary: Pretty good for a desktop switch.

Pros: Nice compact form factor, no fan noise, functions well before it fails.

Cons: The power supply died after two years (the unit I bought warranties the power supply for only two years, so I was out of luck). Got it going again using a high quality replacement power supply. Now, a few months after that, no more gigabit connections, and other connection problems. Found out that the Netgear GS switches suffer from electrolytic capacitor failures after a couple years (also see reviews of GS108). Got it going again after soldering in new higher-rating capacitors. We'll see how long it goes from here.

Other Thoughts: I suppose many people might expect ~ 2 years from non-enterprise grade switches, but I was hoping for better from this unit. Mine is an early version with 5 yr. warranty (2yr power supply), I hear the newer ones are lifetime.

Had the 8 port Prosafe managed switch. Needed more ports so I purchased this one. I copy a lot of large files and noticed this switch is slower than my 8 port (5 minutes instead of 2.5 minutes per 2GB). Still, much faster than 100 meg switches!

Got it managing 10 nodes of intense traffic (mostly to an Access database) and its been doing great. Network speed increased up to 5 times using Intel and Netgear's network adapters. No problem uplinking or with mixed 100 and 1000 mbps computers working at the same time.

I purchased this unit a couple of years ago, to install in the basement and serve as the main switch for my home network. It is powered off a surge-protected power bar, and in fairness, has been working with excellent performance 24/7 ever since... until yesterday.

Yesterday, the GS116 stopped responding (power LED is on, all port lights are off) and a high-pitch hissing noise is coming from the wall-wart power adapter. Not an expert in electronics, but that power adapter is toast...

I'm reading elsewhere that power adapter failures are common across all Netgear products, and that Netgear doesn't recommend leaving their network equipment connected all the time... which is an obvious cop-out. Who makes computer network equipment that shouldn't be plugged in more than a few hours per day? Especially a component that is clearly intended for serious hobbyists and small business users?

It shouldn't be hard to obtain a replacement 12V power adapter for my unit, so that'll be my next best option. For the rest of you out there looking for a 16-port switch, I recommend you go with a vendor that makes a reliable product and stands behind it... including the power adapter.

This couldn't be easier. I was a little surprised to get no instructions with this, but it turns out you don't need any. Just start jamming cables in the ports and it does the right thing. Even mounting it on the wall was easy. I have had this powered on continuously for about 4 months now with no trouble.