Network Switch Roundup

Before we get to how the results boil down, take a look at the hub statistics. As might be expected, the hub's throughput of 76 MBps is about 94% as fast as the average of the times posted by the switches in the same test. Now look at the hub under load. It's speed of 28.88 Mbps is 35.38% of the average speed of the switches under load. This illustrates what we said earlier about the differences between the two devices. The increased traffic caused by collisions and broadcasts drastically affects the performance of the hub under load. The hub that we used sells on buy.com for $134.99, exactly the price of the most expensive switch we tested. There are less expensive hubs out there, but you won't find any that are so inexpensive that they justify the loss in performance. For our money, we'll take the switch every time.

Now on to the switch summaries:

Category	Best	Worst	Margin (%)
Fastest (loaded/unloaded avg)	D-Link DSS-8+	Netgear FS-105	2.3
Performance drop under load	D-Link DSS-8+	Netgear FS-108	1.3
Bang for the Buck ($ per Mbps)	Linksys EZXS88W SMC 6308tx	SMC 6308tx	19.5