?Plastic or Metal Ethernet Swith Housing?

[Fred Moore]

I'm about to buy a gigabit Ethernet switch for my home network. I can
get one with either a plastic case or a metal one. The metal one is
about twice the price. Is there any significant benefit to the metal
case? I presume it helps protect against RF interference, but is that
normally a problem?

(The metal case has the LED indicators next to the ports, whereas the
plastic one has the LEDs on the front and the ports on the back. I don't
really care either way.)

Here's the Amazon link to what I'm considering:

<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KFD0SYK>

Thanks for your comments.

[Jolly Roger]

On 2016-12-02, Fred Moore <fmo...@gfcn.huh> wrote:
> I'm about to buy a gigabit Ethernet switch for my home network. I can
> get one with either a plastic case or a metal one. The metal one is
> about twice the price.

They aren't actually the same model, though, right? The older models do
tend to be more expensive than newer ones.

> Is there any significant benefit to the metal case? I presume it helps
> protect against RF interference, but is that normally a problem?

Doubt interference would matter, but metal is more durable than plastic.

> (The metal case has the LED indicators next to the ports, whereas the
> plastic one has the LEDs on the front and the ports on the back. I
> don't really care either way.)
>
> Here's the Amazon link to what I'm considering:
>
><https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KFD0SYK>
>
> Thanks for your comments.

I've had a Netgear GS608 running at home 24/7 for the past 8 years
without issue:

<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007SQEPU>

I've used the both the newer white plastic and the older blue metal
Netgear switches (many different models), and haven't noticed any real
difference between them other than the obvious ruggedness of the
all-metal units, which doesn't really matter much considering switches
don't get physically handled all that often.

--
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my ravenous SPAM filter.
I often ignore posts from Google. Use a real news client instead.

JR

[Lewis]

In message <eadvkc...@mid.individual.net>

Jolly Roger <jolly...@pobox.com> wrote:
> On 2016-12-02, Fred Moore <fmo...@gfcn.huh> wrote:
>> I'm about to buy a gigabit Ethernet switch for my home network. I can
>> get one with either a plastic case or a metal one. The metal one is
>> about twice the price.

> They aren't actually the same model, though, right? The older models do
> tend to be more expensive than newer ones.

>> Is there any significant benefit to the metal case? I presume it helps
>> protect against RF interference, but is that normally a problem?

> Doubt interference would matter, but metal is more durable than plastic.

>> (The metal case has the LED indicators next to the ports, whereas the
>> plastic one has the LEDs on the front and the ports on the back. I
>> don't really care either way.)
>>
>> Here's the Amazon link to what I'm considering:
>>
>><https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KFD0SYK>
>>
>> Thanks for your comments.

> I've had a Netgear GS608 running at home 24/7 for the past 8 years
> without issue:

> <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007SQEPU>

> I've used the both the newer white plastic and the older blue metal
> Netgear switches (many different models), and haven't noticed any real
> difference between them other than the obvious ruggedness of the
> all-metal units, which doesn't really matter much considering switches
> don't get physically handled all that often.

I swapped all my cheap switches for Netgear "ProSAFE" switches.

The biggest difference I've noticed is that machines do not randomly stop
seeing the LAN and I never have to reboot the switches.

But I have dozens of devices on my LAN, and cheapo switches really only
seem cheapo when you have a lot of traffic.


--
I think I found your marbles.

[ErikRS]

Hm, I don't think that the housing material itself matters anything, so
there must be other things in the electronics that gives the difference
in price.

I have had the Netgear Gigabit switch myself now for the last 3 years
and it's working great.

Cheers, Erik Richard

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Erik Richard Sørensen <mac-d...@MOVEstofanet.dk>
NisusWriter - The Future In Multilingual Text Processing - www.nisus.com
Openoffice.org - The Modern Productivity Solution - www.openoffice.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[nospam]

In article <o1sdeg$k5c$1...@dont-email.me>, Fred Moore <fmo...@gfcn.huh>
wrote:

> I'm about to buy a gigabit Ethernet switch for my home network.

welcome to ten years ago.

> I can
> get one with either a plastic case or a metal one. The metal one is
> about twice the price. Is there any significant benefit to the metal
> case? I presume it helps protect against RF interference, but is that
> normally a problem?

the case material doesn't matter (other than heat dissipation).

however, the quality of the components are likely different, which
*will* matter.

> (The metal case has the LED indicators next to the ports, whereas the
> plastic one has the LEDs on the front and the ports on the back. I don't
> really care either way.)
>
> Here's the Amazon link to what I'm considering:
>
> <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KFD0SYK>
>

it's probably fine. most devices these days use the same board,
especially the consumer stuff.

[Neill Massello]

If you're willing to spend more, may I suggest one of the Cisco small
business switches: metal cases, run indefinitely without rebooting. The
8 port Gigabit model runs $50 to $60.

<https://www.amazon.com/SYSTEMS-Gigabit-Ethernet-Desktop-SG110D08NA/dp/B00V8IZ7JM/>

[Alan Browne]

I had a rather cheap plastic housed 1 Gb switch downstairs run for very
long times w/o reboots. (Power failures were the only cause of
reboots). D-link, IIRC.

--
She hummed to herself because she was an unrivaled botcher of lyrics.
-Nick (Gone Girl), Gillian Flynn.

[Alan Browne]

On 2016-12-02 13:11, Fred Moore wrote:
> I'm about to buy a gigabit Ethernet switch for my home network. I can
> get one with either a plastic case or a metal one. The metal one is
> about twice the price. Is there any significant benefit to the metal
> case? I presume it helps protect against RF interference, but is that
> normally a problem?

I'd worry more about the quality of the company providing the switch
than the case. Plastic is fine - these devices are properly tested,
shielded inside where needed (more for emitted than received
interference, mind you) and pretty immune to normal levels of
interference that one would find at home or in an office environment.

Netgear used to have a spotty record wrt to WiFi devices - transmitter
would fail early (in 3 years or so). That said I traded a computer case
for a used Netgear WiFi from one of my employees. Ran that for a few
years, I gave it to a friend of mine some 6 years ago and it's still
going fine. Sample of one mind you.

We have a Netgear WiFi (w/ Gb Ethernet) at work that's been running for
over 2 years (some reboots). No issues.

[Jolly Roger]

Same here with my aforementioned plastic-housed Netgear switch. It's been
going 24/7 for years with 4-5 ports in regular use.

[Snit]

On 2016-12-03 14:11:21 +0000, Alan Browne said:

> On 2016-12-02 13:11, Fred Moore wrote:
>> I'm about to buy a gigabit Ethernet switch for my home network. I can
>> get one with either a plastic case or a metal one. The metal one is
>> about twice the price. Is there any significant benefit to the metal
>> case? I presume it helps protect against RF interference, but is that
>> normally a problem?
>
> I'd worry more about the quality of the company providing the switch
> than the case. Plastic is fine - these devices are properly tested,
> shielded inside where needed (more for emitted than received
> interference, mind you) and pretty immune to normal levels of
> interference that one would find at home or in an office environment.

Exactly what I'm thinking. Great minds think alike. :)

>
> Netgear used to have a spotty record wrt to WiFi devices - transmitter
> would fail early (in 3 years or so). That said I traded a computer
> case for a used Netgear WiFi from one of my employees. Ran that for a
> few years, I gave it to a friend of mine some 6 years ago and it's
> still going fine. Sample of one mind you.
>
> We have a Netgear WiFi (w/ Gb Ethernet) at work that's been running for
> over 2 years (some reboots). No issues.

Good choice, Netgear still makes quality products. Choice comes with
pros and cons... and you cannot just count the choices and know if
their are too many or too few for any given purpose / goal. I forget
which "advocate" it was, but one said they would just go with sorting
products by some parameter and picking one of the top three. Came down
to the choice over whelmed him.

--
"When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The
foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them
as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God." --
Leviticus 19:33-34

[Alan Browne]

On 2016-12-03 17:47, Snit wrote:
> On 2016-12-03 14:11:21 +0000, Alan Browne said:
>
>> On 2016-12-02 13:11, Fred Moore wrote:
>>> I'm about to buy a gigabit Ethernet switch for my home network. I can
>>> get one with either a plastic case or a metal one. The metal one is
>>> about twice the price. Is there any significant benefit to the metal
>>> case? I presume it helps protect against RF interference, but is that
>>> normally a problem?
>>
>> I'd worry more about the quality of the company providing the switch
>> than the case. Plastic is fine - these devices are properly tested,
>> shielded inside where needed (more for emitted than received
>> interference, mind you) and pretty immune to normal levels of
>> interference that one would find at home or in an office environment.
>
> Exactly what I'm thinking. Great minds think alike. :)

Great minds think differently (actually).

[Snit]

On 12/3/16, 4:20 PM, in article
WoSdndrp1pTTzt7F...@giganews.com, "Alan Browne"

<alan....@freelunchvideotron.ca> wrote:

> On 2016-12-03 17:47, Snit wrote:
>> On 2016-12-03 14:11:21 +0000, Alan Browne said:
>>
>>> On 2016-12-02 13:11, Fred Moore wrote:
>>>> I'm about to buy a gigabit Ethernet switch for my home network. I can
>>>> get one with either a plastic case or a metal one. The metal one is
>>>> about twice the price. Is there any significant benefit to the metal
>>>> case? I presume it helps protect against RF interference, but is that
>>>> normally a problem?
>>>
>>> I'd worry more about the quality of the company providing the switch
>>> than the case. Plastic is fine - these devices are properly tested,
>>> shielded inside where needed (more for emitted than received
>>> interference, mind you) and pretty immune to normal levels of
>>> interference that one would find at home or in an office environment.
>>
>> Exactly what I'm thinking. Great minds think alike. :)
>
> Great minds think differently (actually).

Agreed. So you know: the post you responded to was not mine... Carroll is
playing with socks in COLA and apparently not getting the attention he
wants. Ten to one he is the one forging me.

[Fred Moore]

On 12/2/16 2:16 p, Jolly Roger wrote:
> On 2016-12-02, Fred Moore <fmo...@gfcn.huh> wrote:
>> I'm about to buy a gigabit Ethernet switch for my home network. I can
>> get one with either a plastic case or a metal one. The metal one is
>> about twice the price.

...

>> Here's the Amazon link to what I'm considering:
>>
>> <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KFD0SYK>
>>
>> Thanks for your comments.
>
> I've had a Netgear GS608 running at home 24/7 for the past 8 years
> without issue:
>
> <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007SQEPU>
>
> I've used the both the newer white plastic and the older blue metal
> Netgear switches (many different models), and haven't noticed any real
> difference between them other than the obvious ruggedness of the
> all-metal units, which doesn't really matter much considering switches
> don't get physically handled all that often.

Thanks to all who chimed in. I'm going to go with the plastic GS208.
Seems to be a newer version of JR's GS608.

Thanks again!

[Electric Comet]

On Fri, 2 Dec 2016 13:11:41 -0500
Fred Moore <fmo...@gfcn.huh> wrote:

> Thanks for your comments.

the better question

since consumer devices all have to pass FCC et al approval

how good is the software running on the device

some of the proprietary stuff is no good and some of the open stuff
is no good

openwrt has a good rep

[Alan Browne]

On 2016-12-05 12:11, Electric Comet wrote:
> On Fri, 2 Dec 2016 13:11:41 -0500
> Fred Moore <fmo...@gfcn.huh> wrote:
>
>> Thanks for your comments.
>
> the better question
>
> since consumer devices all have to pass FCC et al approval

FCC in consumer goods is for emitted radiation (and maybe conducted)
that might interfere with other devices, especially radio receivers. FCC
doesn't care a wit if some company makes crap that gets interfered with
- that's the manufacturer's and user's problem.

> how good is the software running on the device

Why the first thing to do is turn off all the "helpful" features and
build from basics.

Or, replace the s/w with DD-WRT or Tomato if possible. (Shop for a
modem that can take supported DD-WRT or Tomato).

[Electric Comet]

On Mon, 5 Dec 2016 16:06:20 -0500
Alan Browne <alan....@freelunchvideotron.ca> wrote:

> Or, replace the s/w with DD-WRT or Tomato if possible. (Shop for a
> modem that can take supported DD-WRT or Tomato).

tomato has been dead for a long time and openwrt is the best choice

dd-wrt has done questionable things

[nospam]

In article <o271fm$7sb$5...@dont-email.me>, Electric Comet

<electri...@mail.invalid> wrote:

> > Or, replace the s/w with DD-WRT or Tomato if possible. (Shop for a
> > modem that can take supported DD-WRT or Tomato).
>
> tomato has been dead for a long time and openwrt is the best choice

tomato is not dead

> dd-wrt has done questionable things

so have you.

[Neill Massello]

Electric Comet <electri...@mail.invalid> wrote:

> how good is the software running on the device

I've never come across a firmware upgrade for a consumer-level unmanaged
switch. The software comes, take it or leave it, with the hardware. So
the only things worth talking about here are the reputations of or
personal experiences with particular models and brands.

[Alan Browne]

Tomato may be dead - yet my Sabai router was updated over the weekend
with a tomato based upgrade. Not dead when it works.

--
"If war is God's way of teaching Americans geography, then
recession is His way of teaching everyone a little economics."
..Raj Patel, The Value of Nothing.

[Alan Browne]

No experience with switch f/w updates, but router updates are very
common. Did one over the weekend. Also did an office router a few
months ago.

[Neill Massello]

Alan Browne <alan....@freelunchvideotron.ca> wrote:

> No experience with switch f/w updates, but router updates are very
> common.

This thread is about switches, not routers.

[Alan Browne]

No shit - but really - do you think there are no switch updates?

[Neill Massello]

Alan Browne <alan....@freelunchvideotron.ca> wrote:

> do you think there are no switch updates?

I have never seen a publicly avaialable firmware updater for an
unmanaged, consumer-level switch. Have you? If you want an update, you
buy a new switch.

[Alan Browne]

I'm too lazy to go looking. But OTOH: So What? I used to have an
unmanaged 1 GB 5 port smart switch. Plugged it all up and forgot about
it. If it was doing anything wrong I couldn't tell. What does one need
in a small home or office network that needs managing?

And that perhaps is the point. Managed switches are more complex: they
need a UI (to manage the settings); they are more complex in what they
are expected to do with the myriad settings from the user and therefore
more likely to expose bugs that need subsequent fixes.

None of this at all has anything to do with plastic or metal. Just
getting a good, preferably "smart" switch to dispatch the packets right.

Go with the reputable makers. Not with the enclosure material.