NETGEAR 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch (GS208) - Desktop, Ethernet Splitter, Silent Operation, Plug-and-Play

I installed Netgear 8 port to expand the Netgear R6700v3 router outputs with 1G port to improve my home network backbone to 1G to reach 4 corners of the house. This particular 8 port switch at the router and the center of distribution.. The switch performed wonderfully. Read on for how I evaluated the switch. -- These are very small and light, much smaller then the impression left from viewing the pictures. -- There is nothing more to the installation then plug it in and power it up. -- Its connects to all 8 ports almost instantly. I reach back to plug it in and view the front and all the ports were connected . -- The ethernet ports on the rear are well labeled and the numbers easily read. -- What is a true convenience is that the lights on the front phsically match the port on the back. Many other switchs reverse the order and its a total annoyance. On this switch draw a line from the port lights to the connector to know which connector is was activity light. nice! -- The front lights are easily seen. The ports show different colors for the speed, green for 1G and yellow for 100m. -- Very very light and can be easily attached to desktop using double side foam tape and it holds in place when cables are attached. -- How about speed performance? I have all 8 ports used to include a TV, Blu-ray player, 2 home security DVRs which (all 100M ports) are all streaming video for this test. The TV and the Blue-ray are streaming 4K UHD video. In addition I have a laptop (with 1G port) and the R6700 router (also 1G port) connected plus 2 standalone IP security cameras (100M ports). The port light colors were correct, Green for the router and PC and yellow for all others. I could tell no difference in the 4K streaming user interface or video performance when connected through the 8 port switch or when connected directly to the router. Every device connected through the switch performed perfectly without any hint of data slowdown. I did a speed test from my PC for the broadband service and I hit the maximum data rate provided by the ISP. One thing could be improved: -- I wish there was something to attach them to a surface. There are no mounting holes . Its a smooth small box. Conclusion: Other than some 2 sided tape for mounting this is a perfect, fast and economical plug and play 1G switch.

This switch was brought due to the fact that I have a wired network that runs from my computer room thru the trailer where I live. I have three computers (Win XP Pro SP3, Win Vista Ultimate SP2, and Win 7 Ultimate SP2), a Sony Blu-Ray Player, a Netgear 4 port router, a WD NAS Storage Drive, three printers (HP-6940, HP-8100e, and Panasonic Panaprinter KX-P1080) and a Linksys 5-port switch. The addition of a print server to better use the old Panasonic printer required another port and due to the setup a different switch was needed since the 5-port switch loses a port since is has to leave one port open as an uplink to the router which leaves it with only 4 ports instead of 5. I got this switch since it answered my need for a 8 port switch and one that doesn't have a set uplink port on the switch. This item replaced the old Linksys switch which was moved to the kitchen network drop to provide an additional set of network ports there as that is where the HP-8100e is located and that's where I normally work on systems when I'm repairing them or cleaning them up which requires a network connection to check out the networking. The installation was straight forward. I turned the power off to the old Linksys switch and unplugged it's connections and mounted the new Netgear switch in it's place and plugged in the stuff I needed to it. After turning on the Sony Blu-Ray player so it would be live on the network when the switch was turned on, I plugged in the Netgear's PS and everything came up with no problems. This switch services the WD NAS drive, the old Linksys switch's uplink from the kitchen, the Sony Blu-ray player, a Dell Dimension 4300 Desktop computer running Win XP SP3, and the Panasonic print server. (The other two computers and HP-6940 printer are on the router's three other ports.) I really didn't need the gigabit switch as a 10/100 would have worked out OK, but now I'm a bit happy that I got it. I've had no trouble with it since I installed it and it continues to work as it should since I plugged it in. A good buy!

There isn't much to say about a switch other than "does it perform?". In our case, the answer is yes. We have a number of switches running all over in order to spread internet throughout the building in various and sometimes odd ways as we set up all sorts of situations for the benchmarks that go down within these walls. We test all sorts of products and scenarios, and sometimes you need wired internet in places that weren't originally designed to have it, or we find ourselves tapped out. In these situations, we buy a switch, since they can be moved around and re-purposed later anyway. The Netgear GS208 switch seems to be doing its job just fine. We have seen some of the comments about dropping packets and other connectivity issues over time forcing you to cycle power. Personally we haven't seen this, although thanks to those comments, it is on our radar in case it does. If we do run into anything like this, we will make sure to update the review with additional information and score adjustment if needed. So far though, it has been running for days without any issues and will be running for weeks non-stop for its current use. We have plenty of time to discover any anomolies. Like any normal switch, everything is plug and play outside of the power switch on the side having to be turned on (most of your basic switches don't have this). The price is also in the right area, currently around $15.99, which is just right for having 8 ports. Ryan Sanders - Editor - Poc Network // Tech **If you have found our review helpful, please vote it as helpful below so I know. This helps me provide quality feedback in the future.

Bought this to support my NVR, gaming PC and second router. I always found that adding a switch like this increases all the wired lan speeds. We currently own a home hub 3000 from bell and being directly wired to it sometimes doesn't give the full speeds but with this little guy, it makes everything better. Try to buy it on sale as it gets discounted quite a bit. Also this one is better for a clean setup as there is status lights for ports located in the front. The power and lan ports are in the back. I ended up buying some double sided Velcro to mount this to my NVR so nothing moves and it's a completely clean setup. It lacks mounting holes but that can be easily fixed.

Good

I needed this product to hard wire my ps3 ,my AV Yamaha receive,r PS4 and my video camera system , to take the load off of wifi. works as it was intend to. and i still have room for a few more devices if needed in future.. looks great too with lights on the front and wire plug ins on back . for a better visual . nice product . Seems well built.

Works great but missing holes for wall or under desk installation. I had to go out and get miself some double site velcro to place on wall. I do not understand why this was missed in the design. All m'y préviens purchases fron neiger had such Mounting holes...

absolutely hassle free and seamless connection. just plug and use it!