Avid Contributor I

Recommendation for new Gigabit Switch

21 replies
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I'm thinking of replacing my old/slow unmanaged switch to which I connect my two Play:5s so I'm looking for a recommendation.

Briefly, my setup is as follows:
BT HomeHub 5
Unmanaged 100BaseT switch connected to HH5 and the following connected to the switch
- two Play:3s, in stereo
- macMini
- DVD Player
Also wired directly to HH5 are
- NowTV box
- BT TV box
On the wifi
- one Play:1 in kitchen
- one Play:1 upstairs
- a variety of MacBook Pros and iPhones

I've read various posts in the past talking about managed switches, VLANs (especially where NowTV is involved), etc so I'm curious as to what the current advice is. Would anyone please recommend a managed switch for me? I'd also need to know whether there is any specific settings I need with respect to getting my Sonos to work optimally with it.

I know Curry's (in the UK) sell the TP-LINK TL-SG105E for £25 - so I'm imagining something like that. Annoyingly, that switch has the ports and power socket on opposite sides. Ideally I'd like one with all the ugly cable stuff on the same side so that I can make my rat's nest look tidier.

TIA.

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C

CaptainNuggets

Lyricist II

Hello! So I don't have a recommendation for a managed switch, but I do know that they need to be configured for STP.
https://support.sonos.com/s/article/2118?language=en_US

Also you need to make sure to configure the ports on the switch

Below are the ports that Sonos uses:

TCP/IP:

80 (Internet Radio, updates and registration)
443 (Rhapsody, Napster, and SiriusXM)
445 (CIFS)
3400 (incoming UPnP events - Sonos Controller App for Mac or PC)
3401 (Sonos Controller App for iOS)
3445 (OS X File Sharing)
3500 (Sonos Controller App for Android)
4070 (Spotify incoming events)
4444 (Sonos update process)
UDP:

136-139 (NetBIOS)
1900 (UPnP events and device detection)
1901 (UPnP responses)
2869, 10243, 10280-10284 (Windows Media Player NSS)
5353 (Spotify Control)
6969 (Initial configuration)

hope this helps

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

I know little about managed switches but when I went shopping for one a while back I discovered that a number of them have very noisy fans that make them unsuitable for using in a shared space. The Dell I first got (PowerConnect 2824?) was noisier than everything else in the room combined and went back in the box to be returned five minutes after I plugged it in.

I'll be following this topic as a good managed switch is still on my radar as my Dell PowerConnect 2816 while quieter than the other is still pretty worthless to me as it takes longer to activate a connection than it takes my systems to boot, often leaving me with no live net connection at boot. I should ebay it or something but I keep thinking I'll find a home for it.

Kenv

I am pretty sure that you don't need a managed switch, although I don't know anything about VLANs for Now TV. I have an unmanaged Netgear GS316-100UKS 16 port switch with currently 37 wired and wireless devices running live on the network plus a further 25 devices connected but not active at this moment (e.g. televisions currently turned off or in standby). These devices are connected in many cases to subsidiary switches which connect up to the Netgear GS316-100UKS. All of my switches are dumb Netgear switches. Whilst the GS316-100UKS is pretty new it replaced a similar dumb Netgear non gigabyte switch which I have used on my network over the last 7 plus years with the only problems being caused by a BT HH3 router.

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

I looked briefly at Now TV to see if I could figure out the VLAN requirement and didn't see anything.

https://infogalactic.com/info/Now_TV_(UK)

AjTrek1

I use a Netgear Nighthawk S8000 model GS808E. I have my Boost wired through it in a 3 level home. The boost and the switch are on the lowest level. I might add that the UpLink port is connected to my ASUS AC5300 router which has a 1GB connection via Google Fiber (ISP).

The switch is easily managed via its IP address with the ability to prioritize ports and other settings.

Cheers!

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.

P

ploppyAuthor

Avid Contributor I

The Nighthawk looks impressive but it's not cheap - £75 or thereabouts?

I'm now wondering whether a managed switch is overkill for me. I don't have 4K TV, or any gaming equipment, and I'm not going to be using Sonos at the same time as my NowTV or BT TV - because they're in the same room. My concern came from a discussion a while back about NowTV stealing bandwidth by being "always on" even when it wasn't.

Maybe a simple unmanaged Gigabit switch would be good enough for me - may be enough of an improvement over my old 100BaseT switch?

A

amun

I'm now wondering whether a managed switch is overkill for me......
Maybe a simple unmanaged Gigabit switch would be good enough for me - may be enough of an improvement over my old 100BaseT switch?

I don't have any managed switches - they always seem overkill in a domestic environment to me. Most streaming devices don't even need gigabit, as they'll never saturate a 10/100 switch, but I do have gigabit switches on my more load heavy devices (PC, NAS, etc).

AjTrek1

I don't have any managed switches - they always seem overkill in a domestic environment to me. Most streaming devices don't even need gigabit, as they'll never saturate a 10/100 switch, but I do have gigabit switches on my more load heavy devices (PC, NAS, etc).

I would agree that most do not need a managed switch in a home environment IMO for one main reason (and not to be critical) ....they most likely wouldn't know what to do with it

I offer the following not for justification but to illustrate a scenario wherein a novice (in a home environment) may want to consider a managed switch and have someone knowledgeable set it up.

In my case my Asus AC5300 router as good as it is just doesn't have enough ports_4 not including the WAN. Two of the 4 are used with my Netgear 104 NAS in Link Aggregation mode. In addition to the NAS the Asus supplies bandwidth to an Ooma Internet Phone and the NetGear Switch which handles my Roku, Apple TV, Amazon FireTv, Sonos Boost, Xbox, PS4 and an Arlo Camera system. So as you can see the necessity for a switch. The Netgear S8000 allows me to adjust the bandwidth or rather prioritize the ports for connected devices.

The S8000 is more expensive than an unmanaged switch but given the number of bandwidth hungry devices I employ it's well worth it's $80-USD price. FYI, the gaming version GS810 EMX which looks identical in appearance sells for $235_USD. Now that's overkill unless you really, absolutely, unequivocally need it!
🆒

Cheers!

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.

A

amun

The Netgear S8000 allows me to adjust the bandwidth or rather prioritize the ports for connected devices.

Which is fine, if you need that facility - most people don't...

P

ploppyAuthor

Avid Contributor I

I've been looking at the BT 5 (or 😎 port switch - £15 and £25 respectively. I don't know who makes them - it won't be BT, so it'll be a rebadged unit from one of the usual suspects, I expect. Reviews seem OK. And it has the power input and RJ45 connections on the same side! That might seem a shallow requirement but I don't want my TV unit looking like a server room! Anyone know anything about them - good or bad? It's surprising how many bad reviews there are of some of the other cheaper brands, like TP-Link, D-Link, Zyxel, etc.

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