Once I realized how to login to it, it worked great. Very happy. To get in to it, you need to
1) isolate your switch so it is not plugged into the router.
2) Setup your computer with a static IP of 192.168.0.100 and subnet 255.255.255.0.
3) Then plug your computer's cable into any of the switch's ports and enter 192.168.0.1 in your browser's address field
4) UserID and Password is Admin and Admin
Once you are in, you then can change the unit's Username, password, IP address and subnet to anything you like.
Plug the switch back into the router, switch your computer back to DHCP or however it was setup to before and you are off and running.
This is the average joe review for people who doesn't have much background in networking. Are you one of those people who purchased a Velop mesh wifi unit and found out it only has 1 lan port? Well get this switch and problem solved. There is no software or complicated set up. Just plug this unit in and let it do its thing. Do you need to set up POE security cameras and you need more ports? This switch will solve that problem too, provided you have a power injector for your camera. Does your wifi router have problem streaming 4k content and you want to switch to a wired option? This switch offer peak rate at 2000Mbps. If you are like me and have your movies on a hard drive connected to your router, this lan switch will let you access and play 4k movie super smooth on a wired connection. The best part of this switch is the plug and play feature with minimal or no tweaking necessary. Thank you to you smart people out there who made this switch idiot-proof for people like me.
I have had this switch in my garage for almost two years for surveillance cameras and it gets hot in there (the garage is not cooled). I lost connection to two cameras yesterday when it was over 100 degrees outside and determined the switch was the issue. I went to my sweltering garage and that was when I saw that sunlight was shining directly on the switch through a window. I touched the switch and it was very hot. It was absolutely baking - I wish I had a thermometer. I could not believe it was functioning at all. I moved the switch out of the sunlight and let it cool overnight. I checked my cameras this morning and all were working.
I had expected this switch to fail the first summer it was in the garage because of the harsh conditions that it certainly was not engineered to tolerate. I am impressed it is still working. If or when it does fail, I will replace it with the same model.
Works great for my house
These TP-Link 24-Port Gigabit unmanaged switches are great. Just plug them in and walk away. Come back a few years later if you need to upgrade. Mine are in a very small wiring closet, vents but no fans, conditioned space but not chilled, i.e., office temperatures. I do power them through a pure sine wave UPS, but that's the only "special" thing I do with them. I've been using these for year and never, ever, had a lick of trouble. Not once. I have bought them before and I will continue to buy them as long as they work and preserve the price-value they currently enjoy. Great product!
2018-01-05 UPDATE
I'm 2-years in on my first unit and 1-yr+ on my second one. I have these arranged in a bridge fashion with xx-ports going to unit #1, xx-ports going to unit #2, and a patch cable linking the two switches. I have had Z-E-R-O problems with these systems. They are fast and they work without any worry or maintenance whatsoever. At this point I'd call these BULLET-PROOF.
Feature Product
- PLUG-AND-PLAY - Easy setup with no configuration or no software needed
- ETHERNET SPLITTER - Connectivity to your router or modem for additional wired connections (laptop, gaming console, printer, etc)
- 8 Ports GIGABIT ETHERNET - 8 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit auto-negotiation RJ45 ports greatly expand network capacity
- STURDY METAL CASE - Fanless Quiet Design, Desktop or wall-mounting design. Operating temperature- 0 ̊C to 40 ̊C (32 ̊F to 104 ̊F); Storage Temperature: -40°C~70°C (-40°F~158°F)
- RELIABLE - IEEE 802.3x flow control provides reliable data transfer
- TRAFFIC OPTIMIZATION - 802.1p and DSCP QoS enable smooth latency-sensitive traffic such as voice and video
- UP to 80% Power Saving - Automatically adjusts power consumption according to the link status and cable length
- AUTO-NEGOTIATION - Supports Auto-MDI/MDIX, eliminating the need for crossover cables
- LIMITED LIFETIME WARRANTY and unlimited 24/7 technical support for FREE.Power Consumption : Maximum:3.97 (220V/50Hz)
Description
What This Product Does
TP-LINK’s TL-SG108 provides an easy way to expand your wired network. All 8 ports support Auto-MDI/MDIX, eliminating the need to worry about what type of cable to use. Featuring full duplex mode, the device can process data at a rate of up to 2000Mbps, making it an ideal choice for expanding your high performance wired network. Moreover, with innovative energy-efficient technology, the TL-SG108 can save energy up to 72%.
Key Features
Gigabit Switch
Featured with 8 10/100/1000Mbps ports, the TL-SG108 enables ultra-fast wired connectivity, enabling instant large files transferring.
Steel Housing
The TL-SG108 is housed in a compact steel case for longer life span. With the desktop or wall-mounting design, you can place the device wherever it’s convenient.
Easy to Use
The auto features of this gigabit switch make installation plug and play and hassle-free. No configuring is required. Auto MDI/MDIX eliminate the need for crossover cables. Auto-negotiation on each port senses the link speed of a network
Go Green with Your Ethernet
The TL-SG108 features the latest innovative energy-efficient technologies that can save power up to 72%. It automatically adjusts power consumption according to the link status and cable length to limit the carbon footprint of your network.
Specifications
- Support IEEE 802.3x flow control for Full Duplex mode and backpressure for Half Duplex mode
- Support QoS (IEEE 802.1p)
- Non-blocking switching architecture that forwards and filters packets at full wire-speed for maximum throughput
- 16Gbps Switching Capacity, 8K MAC address table, 12KB Jumbo Frame, 2MB Buffer Memory
- Auto-MDI/MDIX eliminates the need for crossover cables
- Support MAC address auto-learning and auto-aging
- Auto-negotiation ports allow smart integration between 10Mbps, 100Mbps, and 1000Mbps devices
- Fanless desgin to keep a quiet environment
- Support 100-240V power supply
What's in the Box
- 8-Port Gigabit Switch
- Power Adapter
- User Guide
TP-LINK Unmanaged Switches Series
| Which Unmanaged Switch is Right for Me? | TL-SG1005D | TL-SG1008D | TL-SG105 | TL-SG108 | TL-SG1016D | TL-SG1024D | TL-SG1016 | TL-SG1024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | |
| Product Name | 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch | 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch | 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch | 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch | 16-Port Gigabit Desktop/Rackmount Switch | 24-Port Gigabit Desktop/Rackmount Switch | 16-Port Gigabit Rackmount Switch | 24-Port Gigabit Rackmount Switch |
| Case Material | Plastic | Plastic | Steel | Steel | Steel | Steel | Steel | Steel |
| Port Number | 5 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 16 | 24 |
| Size | Desktop | Desktop | Desktop | Desktop | 13-inch | 13-inch | 19-inch | 19-inch |
| QoS | - | - | ✓ | ✓ | - | - | - | - |
| IGMP Snooping | - | - | ✓ | - | - | - | - | - |
| AUTO MDI/MDIX | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| IEEE 802.3X Flow Control | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Power Saving | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Plug and Play | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Use Case
My parents recently got an LG OLED TV set. The LG doesn't have the best wifi performance (despite the AP being in the same room as the TV), in terms of stability or throughput, and would require periodic hard cycling of the TV's power. Since there was already an Ethernet jack in place for another device, the plan was to get a cheap switch and some patch cables.
Appearance/Build Quality
The switch is pretty basic, with a small metal housing, a small power adapter, and some anti-skid feet. The power adapter is of the switching type, which is a plus. The metal housing is painted and stamped steel. The ports reuse the same LED for link status and activity (not my favorite). The anti-skid feet are a nice touch, but wholly inadequate for keeping the unit stationary if two or more cables are hooked up to the device. Think of it as protection for the desk/table surface, rather than something that will keep the unit put.
Performance
So, this is a basic, dumb switch - and it performs like it. Chariot runs were able to pass about 1820mbit/s full duplex and 940mbit/s half duplex traffic. There were no performance or stability issues. Aside from that there's not much to say. It works.
Special note: Metal vs. Plastic
Historically, I've always been a proponent of metal housings for my network equipment. That, incidentally would lead to me picking the TL-SG108 over the TL-SG1008D. However, it's 2019... the innards of the switch have been reduced to a switching or linear regulator, an integrated SoC, and PHY hardware. The whole thing consumes 4.5W, which means that the device is only shedding up to 4W of heat. That's nothing compared to the some of my old switches/hubs, which would pull 25+ watts. At this power level the case material is moot, but with the two devices being the same price the TL-SG108 seems like the better deal.
Conclusion
The TL-SG108 is fine... for my parents. I'm well past the time when a device like this would be welcome in my home. For that, I would take the TL-SG108E over the TL-SG108 EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE WEEK. The separation of the link/activity lights is a plus, but the limited L2/L3 management features are a must on my network. The TL-SG108E model costs more, so it comes down to a matter of features... if you don't need any, the TL-SG108 will be fine for you. Conditionally recommended.
I finally ran out of Ethernet ports on my modem/router. With all the smart hubs, TV,s Fire TV, Shield, etc, the number of Ethernet ports on most modern combo is simply not enough! Once I had used all the ports, I had to use wireless to connect to the network. But you just can't beat being actually wired in. I sought to find a solution and this where it ended. Currently, I have this switch connected through my powerline adapter that was originally connected to my PC. I have another PC that was using wireless adapter but it keep going in and out. Now I can be wired in to both PCs, Hue hub, and Arlo hub without having to sacrificing any ports on the modem. I would recommend this! If you find this review helpful, please click 'helpful' button at the end of this product review. Thanks!
Pros: Inexpensive, compact, cool, does the job well. Supports 802.1q VLAN tagging, rate limiting and a handful of other enterprise-grade features. Great for networking enthusiasts (the 802.1Q VLANs work fine in cooperation with Cisco gear in my lab setup).
Cons: No web interface for configuration. You have to use an awkward Java-based utility which (as shipped) only works with Windows. (There's instructions online for getting it to run on other platforms with an appropriate JRE) The unit clearly is a downgraded version of a similar switch, as it still exposes a Web server, but it doesn't do anything. (The actual configuration is done through apparently encrypted UDP packets). Also, you can't assign VLAN 1 as a tagged VLAN at all (see below for details).
Upshot: Great if you need a cheap managed switch and don't mind fussing with the Java configuration utility. Once it's configured, you don't have to ever use the utility other than to modify the config, so it can run for a long time without any supervision once it's been setup in your environment.
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Details (for the network geeks): You cannot assign VLAN 1 to be a tagged VLAN on any port. The only way VLAN 1 can be used is as an untagged (native) VLAN. This means if you have an e.g. Cisco switch connected to a port, you can't just configure that switch's port as a trunk with allowed VLAN 1. You have to set the Cisco switch's native VLAN on that port to 1. This is a minor inconvenience, but it stumped me for a while when trying to configure a lab environment.
Not really a con, but also does not support any sort of automatic VLAN configuration, you have to manually enter the VLANs. (I don't expect automatic VLAN config from an entry level switch though, so again, not a con.)
We finished our basement and because the wifi router is three floors away, I wanted to "hard wire" as many dedicated devices as I could down there. This worked perfectly. Just brought a Cat6 line down from the router on the second floor and then branched other Cat 5s off to the smart TV, XBox, Roku, and home office. Funny how those 8 ports start to fill up. I put this under the steps where it could sit on the stud blocking, keeping it out of the way. Everything hooked up through this is super fast. Way quicker than the wifi. Very pleased. Plan to tap into it for the main floor TV and Roku next it is so good and I have a couple of extra ports. Metal construction which is nice.
Rock solid for a great price. I installed it in a Leviton wiring cabinet and it looks great.
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