4 ms·

Minor Quibble: £85 is not a cheap ethernet switch. It's an entertaining and informative read, but it's more like low-end datacentre hardware than that cheap €2

• bserge 5y ago
  My favorites are TP-Link's WDR3600/4300, AC1200 and AC1750. Yeah, not switches per se, but $20-40, Gigabit Ethernet, dual band Wifi, very stable and fast with OpenWRT, can do anything. You can daisy chain a few of them if you need more ports, it's rather fun.
  • potiuper 5y ago
    Or instead of being a penny pincher get an AX wireless router and not contribute more ewaste.
    • brnt 5y ago
      Which would you recommend?
      • potiuper 5y ago
        The AX series is the current TP-Link offering for most use cases starting at ~$80: https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=50012120%20100158096%20601356803&Manufactory=12120 https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?N=50012120%20100158096%206013568... In addition, the AX3200 Belkin (RT3200) is $100, and the $140 Linksys (E8450) are both listed as supporting OpenWRT.
        • danhor 5y ago
          It seems like at least the TP-Link AX50 won't have openwrt support anytime soon (or more likely at all), so even worse for long usage times.
      • thedougd 5y ago
        The EAP660 is pretty good. I replaced a few mesh routers with a single EAP660 on a second floor ceiling. I like that they allow you to run a single one without a controller. I'm happy to no longer tie my router to my access point as it was getting to be a bit too much effort to make changes or upgrade before I split their roles. No WRT support, but I don't think that's a concern for just an access point.
    • sbierwagen 5y ago
      If you really are futureproofing, note that most AX (Wifi 6) equipment today doesn't support the new 6ghz frequencies recently allocated to wifi. For that you need "Wifi 6E". Of course, 6E stuff is quite expensive right now. (Expect to pay $400+ per node)
    • bserge 5y ago
      Heh, I only have 4 of them and they're not going out of use anytime soon. Bought all of them used, of course. One works as a main router for a fiber Internet connection (via a dumb SFP-Ethernet D-Link switch), 2 handle the "Intranet" 1 house + 1 workshop (Wifi bridge via one band) computers, printer and NAS, and one is with me, acting as a repeater bridge. If I buy anything new it'll habe to support OpenWrt or I stick with AC1750s lol. Even Wifi N 300 is enough for my needs, computers are wired and my phone doesn't need AC speeds.
• throwaway35i2 5y ago
  it's cheap compared to the £3,000 one normally pays for datacenter switches.
  • rusk 5y ago
    > it's more like low-end datacentre hardware yep covered that
  • iso1210 5y ago
    £3k for just a managed access switch seems a bit high, you should be able to get a 48 port 1G juniper ex3400 with 4x10 uplinks for about £1500 (of course proper switch prices are always hidden in layers of mystery, which really pisses me off. Fortigate nearly lost a sale when they couldn't even give us a ballpark figure upfront)
• dsr_ 5y ago
  It's an amazingly cheap 10g switch. (It has 4x10g along with the 1g ports). It's even a very cheap fully managed switch.
  • justinsaccount 5y ago
    It has zero 10g ports: N1108T-ON: 1GbE Port Attributes Multi-speed: 8x 10/100/1000Mbps half/full duplex RJ45 ports 1GbE Port Attributes Single-speed: 2x 1000Mbps half/full duplex RJ45 ports Integrated 1GbE SFP dedicated ports: 2 Integrated 10GbE SFP+ dedicated ports: N/A
    • dsr_ 5y ago
      My mistake. OK, it's just a reasonably cheap fully managed switch (at 85 pounds, anyway).
      • gertrunde 5y ago
        Easy mistake tbh - the larger switches in the range (i.e. 24 & 48 port models) do have 4 x 10Gb ports, and aren't much more pricey.
• teh_klev 5y ago
  Well it's cheap'ish for a managed gigabit switch...and "managed" is where you begin to add $$$, even in cheapo world. Also current price on ebay for a refurb N1108T-ON unit is 360 quid, so I reckon relatively speaking you could say it's cheap.
  • gertrunde 5y ago
    Yeah, I found the same thing on the prices - but interestingly looking at completed sales, prices are more like ~£100. I'm assuming something has recently changed to make people mark them up more, and no-one's biting yet.