TP-LINK TL-SF1016DS 10/100Mbps 16-Port Unmanaged Switch, Metal Case, Power-Saving TP-LINK TL-SF1016DS 10/100Mbps 16-Port Unmanaged Switch, Metal Case, Power-Saving

Pros: Once again I decided to wire my house to install this switch. I started with six computers connected to this switch, now there are a total of 12. The computers are connected to televisions throughout the house and now I have computers for my banking and business transactions attached to it. This switch pulls the load and I have not had any slowdown of service and I am able to work from home and there has never been a problem with the attached computers. I will keep my house in a wired configuration for all the desktops and entertainment computers.

Cons: None

Other Thoughts: I think that it is well worth the additional time it takes to wire your house and set up a wired network. It had been a while since my house was all wired and now that I have rewired it and I have settled into it there is a noticeable difference with speed of downloads on the desktops that are wired and when I use the wireless features installed in them. The switch is great, love it.

Pros: I tested the TP-Link model TL-SF1016DS 16-port, 10/100 Mbps network switch. This switch features a solid metal case, that is suitable for placing on a desktop, a shelf, or for rack mounting. Rack mounting brackets are included. Has a self-contained power supply; no wall-wart to misplace. There is also a grounding tab to ground the unit to the ground buss on a rack cabinet.

While the market for 10/100 Mbps switches is some what limited with the cost of gigabit hardware coming down steadily. There are still specific locations where these switches are very beneficial. If you are distributing a high speed Internet connection to motel/hotel rooms, or to seats in a classroom, or dormitory, to tables in an Internet cafe, gigabit speeds would be over-kill. This switch could also be located at the end of a gigabit trunk-line to divide the bandwidth evenly between various end-points. It would also be useful for surveillance systems, where moderate bandwidth is suitable. I would not recommend this switch for users who are attached to a file-server and need to move a lot of large files back and forth. I would not recommend it for HD audio/video/gaming networks. This would make a great switch for home network use.

The following features make this switch a cinch for most end-users to install and get-up and running in very little time. The unit includes: auto-negotiation, auto MDI/MDIX, half or full duplex connection support, power saving features, plug & play. Includes a detailed instruction manual, a rarity in today's world!

Cons: This is a minor Con, I prefer the link LED's to be part of the RJ-45 sockets. This gives immediate feedback when a network cable is plugged in and a connection is made and an LED lights up. No need to decipher a huge bank of LED's off to the side. The more switch ports, the more confusing the matrix LED displays become.

Other Thoughts: TP-Link offers 24/7 product support! How many competitors offer that?

I have been using one of their Gigabit switches in my home business and its been completely flawless so far. I don't expect anything less from this switch. My wife has not complained once about her Internet being down. That's a good thing! Highly recommended!

Pros: Great price from Newegg. Decided to wire my house to test the speed of this switch. I have a total of six computers connected to this switch. These computers are connected to televisions throughout the house. It shows no degradation when sharing movies from one computer to the next. I decided to set up a peer to peer system at this time. This switch is worth the money and the time it takes to wire your house in prep for the change-over from wireless.

Cons: The time it takes to go from wireless to wired network. Not any fault of TP-Link or Newegg.

Other Thoughts: I will continue to run this setup for the rest of the month and then I will compare numbers with a new wireless setup. If you are building or renovating I think this switch would be ideal as a backup for any wireless system. I haven't had a truly wired system since 2000. This switch has me thinking that I should wire all my computers into this network (three other desktops).

Pros: Inexpensive. Quality construction; all steel. Attractive finish. Internal AC power supply, therefore no need for DC adapters. Comes with sturdy mounting hardware for rack mount in equipment rooms and also stick-on rubber feet for desktop placement. Packaging was well done, with high density foam protecting the unit. The instructions are the most detailed I have ever seen for a unmanaged switch...usually if a true plug and play product like this comes with instructions at all it is very brief. Not this product, it comes with a 18 page instruction manual that covers everything from installation to lightning protection--the detail is astounding. Quite a bit of information is provided on best practices for indoor AND outdoor cabling plus mitigation of electrical, ESD, and lightning issues. Present on the rear of the switch is a grounding terminal for use on an equipment room ground bus if additional grounding is needed above and beyond that provided through the AC connection. I had no issues with reliability during my testing. It simply works. For a larger well connected home or small business requiring less than gigabit bandwidth bandwidth per connection yet more than the usual 4 or 8 ports supplied on the typical router I recommend this product.

Cons: The only con is that there is no LED activity indicator for 100Mbps vs. 10 Mbps. Of course, good luck finding a 10 Mbps networking card anymore, so the LED is not critical but it would be nice for us OCD folks. I find nothing worth taking an egg off for.

Other Thoughts: Testing was conducted in the following environment:

1. Hotel, 20 rooms
2. WOW 15Mb down 2Mb up cable internet connection
3. ASUS RT-N66U Dual Band router, as DHCP server, and providing office-use-only wireless networking
4. TP-Link 16 port switch as the only wired device connected to one of the 4 ports on the router
5. 4 X EnGenius B/G/N EXT 202 AP's connected to TP-Link 16 port switch providing wireless service to the hotel guests (all use the same SSID)--the AP's use proprietary POE or Power Over Ethernet
6. A credit card machine connected to the TP-Link 16 port switch
7. Video surveillance system connected to the TP-Link 16 port switch

The wireless network has approximately 13 surfers going through the EnGenius APs at any one time.

The TP-Link 16 port switch performed flawlessly. I would have liked to have tested ALL of the ports simultaneously but the environment that I tested this device in is probably far more representative of what this product would be most suitable for.

This product is likely not suitable for medium and large business use unless the business in question is not using an existing gigabit switching fabric. So, this product is definitely aimed at a pretty specific market.