Netgear GS105 5-port Gigabit Ethernet Switch

I bought this as a last resort trying get an ethernet switch that would work with the BT Home Hub without requiring a PhD in computer science. I've tried a couple of switches including a fairly expensive Linksys one to no avail. Tried setting the access and security settings and could see the various units enabled on the Home Hub setup page. Nothing seemed to work. And I don't think that I'm the only one with issues given the monumental pile of frustration built up on various forums regarding the BT Home Hub.

Anyway I decided to aim low. By that I meant a switch which is as basic as you can find but also a decent brand name. Hopefully I figured by avoiding all the bells and whistles that many switching devices have it would work.

And it does. It comes with no software - a bonus in my mind and almost no instructions beyond plug it in. I did and it works. No setup, no messing around setting up the Home Hub online access or any other nonsense. I plugged in the internet cable from port 4 on my hub and the computer cable into the switch. Powered up and 60 seconds later I could surf as normal but with the added advantage of a few extra ports for the plethora of computers I have at home plus all the other internet based systems one accrues such as a PS3 and BT Vision box. I'm chuffed to bits and if I could give this a big sloppy kiss after all the previous frustrations I would.

Anyway a bit more info. It's small - about the size of a couple of cigarette packets. It's really well made - and by that I mean it's in a solid steel case and looks quite industrial. Nothing fancy but has a good workmanlike design.

Bottom line is that it provides four extra access points to the net - plus home networking of course - with no fuss at all even with a BT Home Hub.

Having bought two of these for a home system (instead of the 8 port version), the unit does what is says on the data sheet. Why buy? well, the purchase was on the basis of reliable use of these units for commerical purposes over many years.

It is not the cheapest five port unit you can get, and it still needs to use an external power supply (internal would be better, but that costs more - see the 8-port version).

Using its 1GBit LAN has allowed a home 1GBit NAS to be more of a pleasure to use.

Any units now purchased come with a lifetime warranty (two years for the external PSU) - lifetime support is what consumers want.

The unit is in a metal case and this reduces any RFI noise as well as making it more robust. All switches should come in metal enclosures, rather than some of the flimsy plastic units at the very cheap end of the marketplace.

You should not have any problems with this unit. If it is like the others purchased and used, it will work for years quietly and efficiently.

OK, it's a switch (which means it's like a hub, but allows a mixture of 10MB, 100MB and 1GB connections without slowing anything down).

It's small, neat, needs no configuration. I upgraded to a 1GB switch as I'm now using a network attached RAID system for storage of photographs. moving gigabytes of data around at 100MB gets tedious (and almost comatose over wireless LAN 802.11g), so the 1GB network upgrade was a must. As a result it's better performance than using a USB 2 drive.

Connects to my router, wireless access points and computers no problem. Runs a little warm, but having used it for four months so far, I've had no problems at all. It's never locked up or anything in that time.