NETGEAR 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch (GS208) - Desktop, Ethernet Splitter, Silent Operation, Plug-and-Play

I installed Netgear 8 port to expand the Netgear R6700v3 router outputs with 1G port to improve my home network backbone to 1G to reach 4 corners of the house. This particular 8 port switch at the router and the center of distribution.. The switch performed wonderfully. Read on for how I evaluated the switch. -- These are very small and light, much smaller then the impression left from viewing the pictures. -- There is nothing more to the installation then plug it in and power it up. -- Its connects to all 8 ports almost instantly. I reach back to plug it in and view the front and all the ports were connected . -- The ethernet ports on the rear are well labeled and the numbers easily read. -- What is a true convenience is that the lights on the front phsically match the port on the back. Many other switchs reverse the order and its a total annoyance. On this switch draw a line from the port lights to the connector to know which connector is was activity light. nice! -- The front lights are easily seen. The ports show different colors for the speed, green for 1G and yellow for 100m. -- Very very light and can be easily attached to desktop using double side foam tape and it holds in place when cables are attached. -- How about speed performance? I have all 8 ports used to include a TV, Blu-ray player, 2 home security DVRs which (all 100M ports) are all streaming video for this test. The TV and the Blue-ray are streaming 4K UHD video. In addition I have a laptop (with 1G port) and the R6700 router (also 1G port) connected plus 2 standalone IP security cameras (100M ports). The port light colors were correct, Green for the router and PC and yellow for all others. I could tell no difference in the 4K streaming user interface or video performance when connected through the 8 port switch or when connected directly to the router. Every device connected through the switch performed perfectly without any hint of data slowdown. I did a speed test from my PC for the broadband service and I hit the maximum data rate provided by the ISP. One thing could be improved: -- I wish there was something to attach them to a surface. There are no mounting holes . Its a smooth small box. Conclusion: Other than some 2 sided tape for mounting this is a perfect, fast and economical plug and play 1G switch.

I’ve been using this NETGEAR 8-port gigabit switch in a small home office setup, and it has worked flawlessly. It allowed me to connect multiple network devices at once and keep everything running smoothly without any configuration needed. Setup was completely plug-and-play—just connect the cables and it works immediately. All my devices stay stable on the network, and speeds have been consistent for everyday use like work, streaming, and file transfers. It’s a great solution if you need to expand a limited number of Ethernet ports without dealing with complicated settings. Compact, quiet, and reliable—exactly what I needed for a simple home network setup.

This switch was brought due to the fact that I have a wired network that runs from my computer room thru the trailer where I live. I have three computers (Win XP Pro SP3, Win Vista Ultimate SP2, and Win 7 Ultimate SP2), a Sony Blu-Ray Player, a Netgear 4 port router, a WD NAS Storage Drive, three printers (HP-6940, HP-8100e, and Panasonic Panaprinter KX-P1080) and a Linksys 5-port switch. The addition of a print server to better use the old Panasonic printer required another port and due to the setup a different switch was needed since the 5-port switch loses a port since is has to leave one port open as an uplink to the router which leaves it with only 4 ports instead of 5. I got this switch since it answered my need for a 8 port switch and one that doesn't have a set uplink port on the switch. This item replaced the old Linksys switch which was moved to the kitchen network drop to provide an additional set of network ports there as that is where the HP-8100e is located and that's where I normally work on systems when I'm repairing them or cleaning them up which requires a network connection to check out the networking. The installation was straight forward. I turned the power off to the old Linksys switch and unplugged it's connections and mounted the new Netgear switch in it's place and plugged in the stuff I needed to it. After turning on the Sony Blu-Ray player so it would be live on the network when the switch was turned on, I plugged in the Netgear's PS and everything came up with no problems. This switch services the WD NAS drive, the old Linksys switch's uplink from the kitchen, the Sony Blu-ray player, a Dell Dimension 4300 Desktop computer running Win XP SP3, and the Panasonic print server. (The other two computers and HP-6940 printer are on the router's three other ports.) I really didn't need the gigabit switch as a 10/100 would have worked out OK, but now I'm a bit happy that I got it. I've had no trouble with it since I installed it and it continues to work as it should since I plugged it in. A good buy!

I got this Netgear GS208 as a replacement for a Netgear GS608 v2. After ~20 years, that older switch started to refuse to negotiate links at 1GBps. So this switch fixed all those problems. I plugged in everything I could think of - including a touchy USB-C docking port with built-in Ethernet. All devices connected and negotiated at 1GBps with various Cat 5 cables. The good part is that it is dead easy to install, works flawlessly, and I think it might use only a fraction of the power that the older unit did. The power supply is 12V .5A (6 Watts) where the old one was 1A (12W). I dinged one star on quality of material for lack of metal shielding around the ports. There is not one piece of metal showing on this switch. The case, the ports, and the power supply are all plastic. The older unit had metal shields around the Ethernet ports, and these connected with the shielding found in some Ethernet cables. Even the similar GS308 has metal shields on the ports. I went with this choice because the it is the least expensive version that has the indicator lights opposite from the ports (and cables). I prefer to have the lights opposite the cables, because I place the switch under my computer, and this lets me see the status of the ports and hide all the wiring at the same time. (See my picture) Which leads to a disappointment. The status lights are basically for link or no link. They do not show link speed. My GS608v2 had different colors for the indicator lights to show the speed in addition to the link. I was expecting this to be the same on the GS208 and was disappointed when it was not. I dinged a star for value because of this. While I was digging in to the documentation on the lights, I also noticed that this product (GS208) is end-of-life from Netgear. Which leads to the overall rating. I don't think I would buy this again, I would probably try to buy a used GS608v3 or earlier version of that switch which shows the link speed with dual color lights. I will keep this switch and will use it for as long as it keeps working. However, I have to give 4 instead of 5 stars for overall rating - especially since even Netgear isn't interested in selling them anymore. For the ecology minded - the packaging was entirely recyclable - both the paper box and plastic bags. No Styrofoam! (As an aside, prices vary a lot on Amazon for all these switches, so you might be happier after you shop around.)

There isn't much to say about a switch other than "does it perform?". In our case, the answer is yes. We have a number of switches running all over in order to spread internet throughout the building in various and sometimes odd ways as we set up all sorts of situations for the benchmarks that go down within these walls. We test all sorts of products and scenarios, and sometimes you need wired internet in places that weren't originally designed to have it, or we find ourselves tapped out. In these situations, we buy a switch, since they can be moved around and re-purposed later anyway. The Netgear GS208 switch seems to be doing its job just fine. We have seen some of the comments about dropping packets and other connectivity issues over time forcing you to cycle power. Personally we haven't seen this, although thanks to those comments, it is on our radar in case it does. If we do run into anything like this, we will make sure to update the review with additional information and score adjustment if needed. So far though, it has been running for days without any issues and will be running for weeks non-stop for its current use. We have plenty of time to discover any anomolies. Like any normal switch, everything is plug and play outside of the power switch on the side having to be turned on (most of your basic switches don't have this). The price is also in the right area, currently around $15.99, which is just right for having 8 ports. Ryan Sanders - Editor - Poc Network // Tech **If you have found our review helpful, please vote it as helpful below so I know. This helps me provide quality feedback in the future.

My computer system seems to be constantly growing, and I ran out of ports for the ethernet system. I purchased this one because it is a major brand, and was reasonably priced. It’s unmanaged, but works exactly as it is supposed to do. Very happy with the purchase.

Ethernet switches should just work. This one does. No setup, no hassle, and excellent value for money. I chose this one because 1) Its white, to match my Sonos Connect and disk drive server. 2) It has lights on the front, to tell you which channels are active. This to me was a big seller. The switch is visible on my office work surface. It replaced one that had stopped working and I hadn't noticed for a week, because the only lights were on the back of it. I had not accessed my server (my backup service just said it had failed to back up, but gave no reason why), or my audio receiver streaming service, and my Sonos simply reconfigured to go wireless (which stopped my CR200 remotes from working - which was the behavior that finally raised my attention). I like to see the front lights to insure things are active at a glance, without having to ping. This product fits the bill.

This thing works as expected. I opted for it because it was the cheapest one and my old one got squished by shifting furniture so I had to replace it asap. Prior reviews were scary but I bought it anyway. The one thing I did find wrong with it is that... one of the indicator lights on the front never lights up. The port works perfectly. (I have my ROKU connected to it) Movies stream fine from the far off depths of the internet to my TV through the port with the broken (missing?) light so I can't complain too much. Everything else connected through this switch works as expected too. I've had it about two weeks now, (almost) and so far no issues. I did not have to contact tech support. I have no idea why Amazon thinks WiFi signal would apply to this Ethernet switch but value for the money is awesome! Even if it dies on me in 6 months, (which will make me update this review), I will still consider the $16 I paid to be reasonable.

Con este switch Netgear Gigabit es posible conectar dispositivos directamente mediante cable Ethernet. Simplemente lo conectas a la corriente y listo. Le conectas los dispositivos que quieras tener directamente a internet. Tiene 8 puertos en su parte posterior, 1 switch on/off en su lado derecho. No hay que instalar software y esta listo para usar. La velocidad de internet no varía al conectar los dispositivos. Me gustó este producto y es un buen precio. En su parte frontal se ilumina un indicador en color verde donde te das cuenta si tiene un dispositivo conectado en el puerto correspondiente.

Works great

Good

Bought this to support my NVR, gaming PC and second router. I always found that adding a switch like this increases all the wired lan speeds. We currently own a home hub 3000 from bell and being directly wired to it sometimes doesn't give the full speeds but with this little guy, it makes everything better. Try to buy it on sale as it gets discounted quite a bit. Also this one is better for a clean setup as there is status lights for ports located in the front. The power and lan ports are in the back. I ended up buying some double sided Velcro to mount this to my NVR so nothing moves and it's a completely clean setup. It lacks mounting holes but that can be easily fixed.

Excelente compra, funciona perfectamente y la instalación prácticamente es plug and play !!