Low cost smart switch
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I am looking for a smart switch to hide behind my TV. It needs to support VLANs for my AP. It will have a TV, DVR, AP and uplink.
I have seen that there are issues with Netgear and TP-Link. What is a reasonable choice for the brand?o||||o
7100-1u -
I like the D-Link DGS-1100-08.
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@bingo600 said in Low cost smart switch:
I like the D-Link DGS-1100-08.
I got a used Cisco SG200-08 - works well in my Lab!
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@andyrh said in Low cost smart switch:
It needs to support VLANs for my AP
Are you using unifi for your AP, if you want to continue into their infrastructure - their little mini switch is like $30, and you can even power it via poe if you want. Is only 5 ports, but for behind a tv should work..
Its not all that feature rich, and its a bit of a pain in setting up vlans.. But it is cheap ;) and its a tiny little thing.. Great for if you have space constraints.
Im a fan of the cisco sg300 line (eos though) I have little sg300-10 in my av cabinet. And my main switch is a sg300-28.. But they can be a bit pricey if you really just need vlan support.
The mentioned DGS-1100-08, is prob good choice.. for cheap and get the job done little switch.
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Thanks for the suggestions. I thought Unifi required a 3 digit price...
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@andyrh said in Low cost smart switch:
I thought Unifi required a 3 digit price..
no they have this.
https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-switching/products/usw-flex-mini
I was actually surprised how tiny it is.. If you have a controller running already, and just want to do some vlans hanging off pfsense.. it would work.. At some point going to replace the switch I have behind my tv now, the dlink model linked above. I had it in my office/ computer room for a bit playing with it.. You can not really prune vlans on it, so the uplink is going to be all vlans, you have to prune them at the source into the mini switch. There is no way to only allow vlan a and c out of vlans a,b and c. But you can then put a port on it only in vlan c.
If you have your foot into the unifi space already with AP and you are running the controller (atleast for configuration) - It would be a low cost viable option from my play time with it. You can do vlans on it. Since you can power it via poe, and its a such a tiny little thing if for sure has some use cases, especially at that price point.
If your not already into the unifi space, I sure wouldn't suggest it since you need to run their controller software to manage it. Unlike some other $40 smart switch that you could manage via a web gui on the switch.
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I have 2 Unifi APs and the software on a VM somewhere. Too bad that little switch does not pass through POE, then it would be perfect. I will have to use an injector for the AP.
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@andyrh yeah if could also power something poe that would be the cats meow for sure ;) heheh
But thought you wanted for something for behind your tv? Is that where your AP connect to the network?
I need a little switch behind my tv because the tv is wired vs using wifi, and I have a shield tv behind there as well that also like to use wired vs wifi.
To me wifi is for mobile, if it sits in 1 spot it really needs to be wired ;)
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@johnpoz I had 1 AP, but due to the house construction there was a dead spot near the TV so I added a 2nd AP behind the TV since there was a switch there. The cable goes to the AP (PoE) then passes through to the switch.
Recently the connection to the AP dropped to 100Mb. I thought it was a firmware thing, but I just tested some things and it appears the cable in the attic is the issue.
There is a dumb Netgear back there and I am not sure if the VLANs will pass through to the AP if I reverse the cabling so I was preparing for "it does not work". But I like that little Unifi switch and may get one anyway.
I will have to re-run that cable which sucks. I may live with the 100Mb for now, it only hoses the really good 4k stuff, normal things don't know the difference. -
@andyrh yeah unless your doing some really high bitrate stuff off say your plex 100mbps is enough. My tv only has a 100mbps interface ;) seems stupid to me - I mean really how many pennies more would it cost to put in a gig interface into the damn thing.
The shield is gig, but normally just use the built in apps on the roku tv. The shield was gotten more as a play/test thing - haven't switched over to actually using it.. But its there if apps on the tv piss me off for some reason ;) hehe Got it on sale, and I am sucker for new toys ;) so couldn't pass it up..
Its slick and all - but teaching the wife a new interface is not normally a enjoyable experience ;)
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@johnpoz Yep, not a problem until too many are playing games or watching videos on phones and iPads... Unless the cable fails it is likely to stay in place for a while.
But there is always hope that tiny switch will hear 1Gb calling through that cable. -
