Netgear’s switching gear just works

With most of the computers in the house able to network via ethernet at gigabit speeds, I’ve used a Linksys gigabit router to connect them. It doesn’t affect web surfing speed, which is constrained by the much slower cable modem, but it’s great for backing up files from one computer to another (someday my NAS will come!).

A few months ago, however, something like a power surge fried the Linksys. A quick check of Amazon’s helpful customer reviews favored Netgear’s gear, so I grabbed an 8-port switch (technically the GS608). Pulled it out of the box, plugged in the wireless router and various computers plus our VOIP box for Gizmo Project and — alright — everything just works — and with a few ports to spare. Sweet. Of course, it doesn’t fit as snuggly and or look as pretty sitting under the Linksys router…oh well. Here’s Netgear’s own page describing the switch.

Now to update my favorite hardware page.