this post was submitted on 27 Aug 2023
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My work gave me a L2 switch because they were going to toss it out. Is there any reason for me to use that over the built-in switch from my ISP's router/modem?

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

More ports? Faster ports?

More total throughput between pairs of ports that want to talk to each other at the same time maybe?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Also while unlikely, if it's PoE you can power stuff with it

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It is PoE but I don't have any PoE-powered devices.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Now you need an access point.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The two main benefits I see are:

  • A dedicated L2 switch is probably going to be faster when transferring between two connected clients
  • You could set up VLANs, if you have a desire to. Not sure if your wifi router has that option.
[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

And the most obvious one: you can connect more devices! The reason why I have one tbh.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

probably going to be faster when transferring between two connected clients

Pretty much all switches are wire-speed these days, even the cheap ones.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

By "wire-speed" do you mean they're just as fast as if you didn't have a switch in between?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes :)

A gigabit switch is going to give you the full 1Gbps between any two ports on the switch. Same with 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps switches. You should see very little variance between different switches.

Usually the only time you'll find slower speeds is if it's a router rather than a switch, and the ports are all routed. This is uncommon, and for example a 5-port router is usually really a 4-port switch plus a router in a single device.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Just gonna play devil’s advocate here.

If it is not a fanless switch, it is going to make a hell lot of noise.

Also consider your electricity bill. You will probably be better off buying a small Netgear from Amazon for 30 bucks than having an old Cisco 2960S running 24/7.

So, what switch is it exactly?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

It's a D-link DGS-1210-28P. in terms of power, without PoE it's a max of 30W, according to their website.

You're right that it is pretty noisy. If I decide to use it, I'll probably swap out the fans for something quieter.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I agree. Unless there’s a definite need, the most tangible difference may be in the electric bill.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Having more than 4 computers wired directly because the ISP provided one only has 4 ports? That's all I got.