Looking for store/hardware suggestions for a multi-port switch

[Eyeless Blond]

So, it looks like the electricians who wired my parents' house decided that installing seven rooms with LAN connections really meant: 1) only installing wires in five rooms, and 2) not wiring them together in any way, shape or form. There are in fact 10 female connectors dangling in the wire closet, each with the CAT5 cable--no, not CAT5e or CAT6, CAT5 wires, specifically against our instructions and current wiring recommendations. Most don't even pass basic continuity tests, so even if they were male connectors I'd have to rebuild the connections from scratch anyway.

It has now apparently become my job to clean up and fix everything, but I'm a little out of date when it comes to this networking stuff. I have an old pack of CAT5 modular jacks and a wire crimper (though those may need an upgrade too) from my high school days; what I really need are:

* Recommendations for a good multi-port switch (two 8-port switches would work if they were chained together, but I'd prefer a 12-port switch if possible.)
* Recommendations for good (online or B&M) stores to shop for said switch.
* Insight into more recent developments (last decade or so) in networking. Are these 802.11n routers worth looking at? How about Gigabit Ethernet? Can you get a gigabit ethernet signal through regular old CAT5 wires?

Thanks for the help all.

 

[Eyeless Blond]

Oh, right, forgot to mention. I did a little research on the subject myself, and am looking at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817130105
-this as a low budget switch, or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...16833156211&Tpk=TEG-S8
-two of these with a crossover cable for Gigabit speeds, if that's even possible.

I'd say at the moment my biggest priorities when it comes to the switch are:

1) Heat. This switch/set of switches will be stuck in a rather small wire closet, and I don't want them to overheat.
2) Price. We already spent enough on the shoddy electricians' work; I'd like to get a good deal if that's possible.
3) Future-proofing. Yeah, I know, CAT5 wiring isn't the best for this, but at least gigabit ethernet, if that's possible, will stave off obsolescence for a while.

Anything I'm forgetting here?

 

[Eyeless Blond]

Oh, right, one more question: is it worth the hassle of getting a patch panel, or should I just plug the wall cables directly into the switches themselves?

 

[spidey07]

Get a small patch panel or just get female keystone jacks and punch down (NO CRIMP!). Then use patch cables to your switches.

Also, you don't want to use a crossover cable with gigabit ethernet. It has a built-in "auto-crossover" built in.

I couldn't imagine worrying about temperatures, it's all solid state electronics and as long as it isn't 130 degrees with 100 percent humidity you're fine.

Me personally? I'd have the electrician out there ASAP to do the job that was specified.

 

[Eyeless Blond]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Get a small patch panel or just get female keystone jacks and punch down (NO CRIMP!). Then use patch cables to your switches.

Also, you don't want to use a crossover cable with gigabit ethernet. It has a built-in "auto-crossover" built in.

I couldn't imagine worrying about temperatures, it's all solid state electronics and as long as it isn't 130 degrees with 100 percent humidity you're fine.

Me personally? I'd have the electrician out there ASAP to do the job that was specified.

Heh, yeah, well he seemed to get all confused when I mentioned CAT5e and CAT6 cable; I'm not sure he even knows how to wire this stuff correctly.

So, patch panel/female jacks and patch cables, huh? May I ask why not just crimp male ends and plug the wires into the switch directly? It seems that would cause the least amount of crosstalk and interference to me, but maybe I'm missing something?

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: Eyeless Blond

Originally posted by: spidey07
Get a small patch panel or just get female keystone jacks and punch down (NO CRIMP!). Then use patch cables to your switches.

Also, you don't want to use a crossover cable with gigabit ethernet. It has a built-in "auto-crossover" built in.

I couldn't imagine worrying about temperatures, it's all solid state electronics and as long as it isn't 130 degrees with 100 percent humidity you're fine.

Me personally? I'd have the electrician out there ASAP to do the job that was specified.

Heh, yeah, well he seemed to get all confused when I mentioned CAT5e and CAT6 cable; I'm not sure he even knows how to wire this stuff correctly.

So, patch panel/female jacks and patch cables, huh? May I ask why not just crimp male ends and plug the wires into the switch directly? It seems that would cause the least amount of crosstalk and interference to me, but maybe I'm missing something?

Don't "I think, I guess, I figure, 'this makes sense to me'" when it comes to cabling.

Will you be just fine just crimping ends onto the cable? Maybe, lots of room for error and it is not category rated if you do.

The category rating is great, as long as you follow proper installation. Go outside of that and you have a "category nothing".

why do you think there are electrical codes? Because if you follow them they are guaranteed to do as they should.

Could I wire solid copper wire from a 120/20 amp circuit across my lawn with 14 gauge wire and attach an oven to it? I sure could. would it work? Probably.

 

[robmurphy]

Check Ethernet connections in your PCs before you get the switch. If most of them are not Gigabit then its not worth putting a gigabit switch in. In the UK 100 BT switches in 16 port versions are relativley cheap comared to 16 port gigabit switches. I have just used a Linksys SR216 (16 x 100 BT) on an instalation and its working fine. I have a cheap generic 16 port 100BT switch at home and that works fine. Both of these switches are unmanaged though, so you have no control over access, port speed, etc.

I would however make sure that the wiring is done to at least Cat5E. You can change the switch in a few minutes, but changing the installed cabling will be much more of a pain so it will be there for a long time.

If all the Ethernet connections are gigabit then check the jumbo frame support and if they all support Jumbo frames then get a switch that does as well. Check that the jumbo frame size supported on the switch is big enough for the jumbo frame size on the PCs Ethernet conections.

Rob.

 

[HVAC]

Sounds like a contractor needs to get their ass chewed.

 

[robmurphy]

I've just checked the newegg adds. Kit is the US is very very cheap compared to the UK. My Netgear GS608 (8 gigabit ports) costs about $80 here. The Linksys SR216 (16 100 BT ports) was about $90. Gigabit costs much more here in the UK.

The Trendnet Gigabit switch looks fine, and costs $17. From the look of it I would get the Trendnet switch, and if you need more ports add another one. 2 of them will work out the same price as the 16 port 100 BT switch. The switches support 9728 byte jumbo frames which is as big as I have seen on gigabit switches.

Rob.

 

[kevnich2]

But if you actually need 16 ports and you daisy chain switches, remember that you lose a port on each switch through daisy chaining (2 8 port switches in essence becomes 1 14 port switch with 13 available ports because you also have to factor in the loss of another port to the uplink on the router so if you plan on having 16 networked pieces of equipment, take that into account.