Netgear GS105 vs GS105E Gigabit switches

Qtx · 21-05-2013, 15:38

Need to get a new basic switch and looking at these Netgears the only obvious difference is the E version has a couple of management features such as QoS and VLAN and some minimal power saving on shorter cables.

Has anyone used either of both of these switches and have any advice regarding them? Do the power saving features effect performance for example, or does only the E support jumbo frames kind of stuff.

Only a little purchase but not had to buy a little switch for some time now!

MovedGoalPosts · 21-05-2013, 16:25

In theory, reading the specs, both have power saving functions. The main difference is the E version has other toys which take the device from being unmanaged (i.e it treats all traffic with the same priority), to a managed capability (you somehow get a control interface to set up QoS and other stuff). I suspect very few home networking people would need to worry about that.

But the question is whether you even need Netgear, where you pay for the name, or a lesser brand such as TPLink, or Tenda would do. Interestingly, although bought a few years ago now (at a lot more money than they cost today), for our the NTHW clan's gaming LANs I bought 3 8 port Netgear gigabit switches (plastic cased versions). I later bought a couple of much cheaper 8 port Tenda gigabit switches. The Tenda ones seem to work much better, both in correctly sensing the gigabit network connections when Netgear often dropped back to 100mbit, and in terms of data throughput (we often shift a few hundred gigs of data as everyone leeches between the gaming session).

Qtx · 21-05-2013, 17:30

I did read the differences on paper but actual users input always tends to give extra real life info. I'm guessing there is no time-lag when a port wakes up from sleeping for example but if there is, someone is likely to know. Switches don't have much to comment on but you never know

Found the netgear switches in the past to be reliable and not get hot, which is why I was looking for another similar tiny one with metal case. Then saw there was the E version which apparently supports jumbo frames (although it wasn't in the spec) and should give better throughput.

So didn't really consider the Tenda or TP-link ones although as far switches go, there shouldn't be much difference. Interesting to know if anyone has had the auto-negotiation problems with this particular switch.