I finally upgraded from an old Linksys 100Mbit switch to a ZyXEL GS-108 Gigabit switch and the network is now flying along. I tested it before and after and the old switch was transferring files between PCs at the expected 12.5MB/s. With the new switch I'm getting about 70MB/s, so a big improvement. The theoretical maximum for Gigabit is 125MB/s, but I suspect the HDD transfer speeds are reducing this a bit. Still, it is much faster.
I decided to upgrade as my old Linksys switch was dropping out sometimes and needed restarting to get the network back up, so was probably on its way out. And all my PCs now have Gigabit network ports, so thought it was a good opportunity to upgrade and speed the network up, and also worth upgrading from a 5 port to an 8 port switch for a bit more flexibility as I'm always running out of ports.
I've always bought Linksys network hardware in the past, but when I starting looking for Linksys Gigabit switches I was disappointed to find they didn't have many, and the reviews were really bad for those they are currently making, with customers saying they overheat and fail a lot... very sad as Linksys used to always be the best to buy.
Some more research and the Netgear GS608 and GS108 seemed popular. Many people replacing their failed Linksys switches with them! But the plastic case for the GS608 was reported by many to get very hot and some overheating problems were experienced, so not perfect. Their routers that use the same casing also gets very hot so it seems to be a design issue. The GS108 in the metal case doesn't seem to suffer from the overheating, but still had quite a few people saying their failed within 2 years. I couldn't find any other makes that seemed to have any better reviews so decided on the Netgear GS108.
I was about to order one, but thinking it was a little expensive, then at the last minute I stumbled on the ZyXEL GS-108B. I'd forgotten to look at ZyXEL hardware, and all the reviews were good for this switch, with many saying they bought one after their Netgear switch had failed, so that sounded good. And it got better. The ZyXEL switch has a solid metal casing and is much cheaper then most of the other makes, and a lot cheaper than the Netgear switches. I got mine from Amazon for £26. Well worth it.
So it seems in order of quality switches are currently Linksys --> Netgear --> ZyXEL with people upgrading from one to the next as they fail, ending up with the ZyXEL ones.
What make switch/s are you using, and have they been reliable?
Also, does anyone know of an ADSL router with a built in Gigabit hub/switch? They all seem to still only come with a 100MBit hug which seems silly these days.
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