Best Network Switch For The Money???

[alexinsandiego]

I need a server mounted network switch for up to 48 ports. I have the space and it could be 2x24 or 4x12

I just want a quality switch at a great price. I honestly don't know the difference between all of the options available.

Please provide some advice,

Thank you,

[_McGoo_]

Not that I have an answer, but what speeds are you after? Do you need a managed switch? Layer 2? Layer 3? Might be a start in narrowing down your choices.

[johnwill]

Well, I'd probably go for the 2x24. As previously stated, you need to detail the requirements for the switches, there's a wide variety in available products.

[alexinsandiego]

Since the original post I have done some research and realized there are thousands of different options!

Here is what we currently have, I would like to replace it with something comparable that is a quality switch.

We currently have a
LinkSys Ether-Fast 3124 Unmanaged 24 Port 10/100 Ethernet Switch

1. What would you replace it with? The same thing?
2. Are there better switches for the money?
3. Can a different switch or new switch speed up our Internet speed?

I just plugged two computers into a new 8 port switch I have to test it out and those two computers seem to have much faster Internet now.

Thank you,

[johnwill]

Well, I don't know how you're plugging things in to make it faster, so we'd need to know more.

For local network speed, I'd be looking at a switch that has at least a couple of gigabit ports for better throughput to the server.

You may want to consider switches that has stacking capability and also two gigabit feeds from the server. This will give you a big enough pipeline from the server to avoid a bottleneck there for file sharing. Truthfully, I'd probably be buying gigabit all around if I were upgrading, they're not that much more money and it'll give you some "future proofing".

[alexinsandiego]

So could I use a switch like this?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...000&CatId=2797

Or would you recomend that all ports be 10/100/1000Mbps like this one?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...868&CatId=2797

Thanks for the help,

[johnwill]

If I were upgrading, I'd go for the second gigabit model, that will allow for the future.

[alexinsandiego]

So i went with this switch by D-Link,
http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=338

Seems to be doing the job, one thing I noticed is that users using remote desktop are saying that the connection is much faster. Would this make a difference if we were using a 10/100mbps switch before this on a T1 line with about 20 users?

[johnwill]

You have potentially removed any local network bottlenecks, so that would result in performance enhancement. If you have enough local traffic to cause congestion on the local network, it could affect the T1 traffic.

If the folks are using remote desktop within the local network, clearly gigabit connections and minimizing any bottlenecks would make a significant difference.