The FS108 Fast Ethernet switch brings the 100 Mbps switching technology and simplifies it for the small office marketplace. The FS108 provides a cost effective way to instantaneously boost network performance while preserving your network infrastructure, including installed cabling and desktop software and hardware. Since each port is auto-speed- sensing, installation is plug and play and each connection can easily be upgraded from 10 to 100 Mbps.
1 Netgear Equals Superb Service
This holiday season I was a good santa and purchased numerous wireless networking products for my various family members. Sure it was partially a selfish act as I wanted to be able to easily connect when I went to visit, but for the most part it was just an act of giving. I purchased mainly G products and they varied from routers to USB adapters to PC Card adapters. I did also purchase a couple of B products for those in the family that already had some wireless networking products (yes, I know they are backwards compatible but I didn't want to take any chances).
Only two members of the family had installation problems (considering my family is very non-technical I was quite impressed) and those two people both had yet to upgrade to Windows XP SP2. The rest of the family members were up and running within minutes.
As for the couple of family members that did have problems, well they called me first (of course) and I told them to just run back through the installation procedure again. This solved the problem for Uncle Dennis but Grandma Joyce still couldn't get it to work properly. I reluctantly told her to call Netgear's technical support (hey the reviews on Amazon haven't been too pretty for their tech support). I however was quite pleased when an hour later I got an email from Grandma Joyce thanking me for the great gift. I called her back and she told me that after fiddling with the settings with the Netgear people she was up and running within 30 minutes.
Overall, I consider this the ultimate test of product quality and support and I would give Netgear two thumbs up.
I hope this review was helpful to you in putting your mind at ease regarding ease of setup and trust of technical support if needed.
2 it's good, but pls get 2A power supply instead
I purchased this switch 3 years ago
happy with it, however, the supplied power adaptor seems not to provide enough current, it runs hot
it seems to have more current power adaptor to run (at least 2A, do not use the supplied adaptor)
now I install it vertically on the wall, just warm to touch (just use 3 out of 8)
for more stable operation, a stronger power supply is recommended (at least 12-15V 2A)
3 Great and solid performance
An incredible product, currently running on a home linux network, works great and stays up and working for long, even for burning CD-ROMs through NFS... Great product!
4 Why buy Netgear over Linksys?
...I ordered a Netgear FS-108 which worked perfectly out of the box and has continued to work without one single hitch ... I'm about ready to buy another Netgear unit and the warranty ... is five years on the Netgear versus one on Linksys.
5 Simple Plug and Play
Nice little Ethernet switch box. No set up required. Just plug it into an Ethernet network. It appears to work just as advertised; I can transfer files between computers at near 100 Mbps. Note that although the model number has remained FS108, my newer box purchased Mar-2002, has a small power brick and runs nice and cool. I had an older FS108 that had a way bigger power brick and ran hotter than you would expect, as mentioned in earlier reviews.
6 Solid performance for small networks
The NetGear FS108 is a great Fast Ethernet switch for small workgroups, featuring a sturdy construction (from the metal casing to the RJ45 connectors) and excellent performance. Packet forwarding rates are what you would expect for under 10 dollars per port, and I experienced no problems whatsoever in hooking up machines with many different brands of network cards. Even mixing cards with different speed ratings caused no issues, unlike with some other cheap 10/100 Ethernet switches I could mention. The only concerns I have with this unit are that it sometimes seems to forward certain unicast packets to all switch ports for no apparent reason, and that it runs extremely hot, as another review already mentioned.
As for some negative points mentioned by the other reviews: the switch works just fine with non-Windows machines (I would expect someone running multiple OSes to be able to troubleshoot simple connectivity issues, without resorting to technical support, which typically tends to be "Windows only" for pretty much *any* product...) and, while indeed not supporting full-duplex 100Mb/s non-blocking switching across all ports concurrently, this is not something you would expect from a workgroup-class switch anyway, nor something most users will ever need.
In short, if you're looking for an affordable way to build a well-performing small 10/100BaseT network, the NetGear FS108 is the way to go!
7 Not compatable
Just a warning to those who don't run Widows. I purchased this switch to use on my home network which consisits of MAC OS X, Solaris, OpenBSD, and Linux. This network was running fine on a hub, but it didn't run at all with this switch. I talked to NetGear and they told me my OSes were not supported by there equipment. I find that statment pretty suspect as a switch is a switch. But at anyrate they were unwilling to help me out. So if you don't run windows don't buy NetGear.
8 Great Switch! But runs HOTTT!
Features 8 ports of 10/100 Full-duplex ability. It comes in very durable metal casing and feels somewhat heavy. It is truly plug and play. Compared to my generic (TrendNet 5-port 10/100 full-duplex switch) it blows it out of the water. I get better pings across my home network and when loaded with 7 computers transfering files at 100mBits full-duplex it shines! The only con is that it runs HOT! Be sure to place it where it can breathe and not next to anything heat-sensitive.
9 Netgear's FS-108: a 1st class switch at a fantastic value
This 10/100 megabit switch is great if you are starting to feel the squeeze of a 10 megabit network. If you're like me, it getting pretty old moving huge scanned pictures and other large files around the home LAN. At 10 megabits, it typically took me 20-30 minutes to get a CDR worth of scanned images over to my CDR writing machine for backup. Well, not any more!
Since I hooked up my FS-108, I can move a CDR worth of images or MP3 files (650 megs worth) in about 3-4 minutes instead of that 20-30.
This switch is a piece of art. Built like a tank, incredibly solid and small for what it does. No fan, so it makes no noise whatsoever. The switch hooked up painlessly and worked flawlessly from the get-go.
10 FS-108 Has A Small Backplane That Causes Long Delays.
Netgear's switch can use a larger backplane. I put this switch to the test and found that it cannot support my busy network. I called technical support for assistance and received a rep. who told me that I needed another switch because the backplane found in the FS-108 is not big enough for my network. If it cannot support 8 computers - Why build an 8-port switch? This is a waste of money and time!!!
11 Nice Switch!
This is a great product. I would highly recommend it. You can easily put it anywhere. Never had any problems with it. Nice form factor, and great LEDs to let you know what is going on with it.
12 Does its job well
We use it at home and it does a wonderful job. No bottle necks while games or heavy transfers are happening. :) Compared to an 8-port hub, this is a better long-term solution.
