TP-Link TL-SG105

TP-Link TL-SG108 | 8 Port Gigabit Unmanaged Ethernet Network Switch, Ethernet Splitter | Plug & Play | Fanless Metal Design | Shielded Ports | Traffic Optimization | Limited Lifetime Protection

Brand	TP-Link
Number of Ports	8
Included Components	8-Port 10/100/1000Mbps Desktop Switch Power Adapter Installation Guide
Color	Black
Switch Type	Metal

 hello I'm malik mursaleen and this is my review of  the tp-link TL SG one zero five five port gigabit  the desktop switch I know that's a mouthful but you're  looking at this because well one you've probably  heard wired connections are better than wireless  connections but if you've been taking that to  heart chances are depending on the type of Wi-Fi  router you have the back of it may look like this  you run out of ports very quickly when you try and  wire as many things as you can now another problem  you may have is if you have a mesh network system  similar to the Google Wi-Fi mesh system which  only has one Ethernet port under the device to be  plugged directly into your modem so if you have  a situation like I depicted or you have a mesh  network that only has one port for you something  like this is ideal this is a network switch this  particular brand and setup is ridiculously simple  which is why I got it while I might be somewhat  of a techie I do not want to manage and  program a network switch so this particular model  from tp-link is a complete plug and play option  meaning you plug it in and it does all the magic  for you before we get into that let's talk about  the size of this device is three point nine  inches by one inch so  it is ridiculously small in fact here it is with  a pack of cards on top of it and if we do thusly  you can see it's not large at all which is one  of the benefits of this now it is a completely  metal casing there are no fans on this so it does  not cool itself by fans you can see the cutouts  here and here on either side and that's to help  dissipate any heat buildup that you might get  in this along with the metal design that helps to  dissipate heat as well the back of the device you  have your power connection and your Kings Incan  lock area I will say when I say that this is a  very easy to use the device in the box all you get  is the power cable which is just shy of five feet  long you get an instruction manual which this is  this is the instruction manual it's ridiculously   simple you also get on the bottom here five 3m  little rubber foot ease to give it a little bit  of the lift so that the metal is not sitting directly  on whatever surface now a lot of people say this  is for grip and you do get a bit of grip using  them however I like it because it adds a little  space so if this metal body is acting as a heat  sink you're not warming up whatever you have this  on you can see here and understand over there  which I'm covering up a serial number but these  are if you wanted to mount this to either a  wall or the back of an entertainment center  coming back to the front because this is where  all the magic happens this is the important part  over here all you have is a LED power indicator  and then you have your five network ports these  are all 10 100 or 1000 megabit connections now  the last one over here the number five you could  see its link account this one is recommended for  if you are going to be plugging direct well this  is the port that they recommend that you plug in a router or if you had a network attached storage  the device this is the port that they would recommend  now you can plug into any one of these from your  Wi-Fi router there's nothing that says you have  to plug into one two three or four or even this  link to count down here I in fact tested it I just  plugged right into three and then had extensions  off of that now I I draw a little criticism with  them calling this a five port device only because  one of the port's you will have to set aside to  connect to your Wi-Fi router so is actually  a four port system with a connection to your  Wi-Fi router because those ports that you saw in  my depiction earlier one of the ports on the back  of your Wi-Fi router will need to be plugged into  this for this to be a network extension  just giving you some information if this is the  the first type of device like this you're looking  into you can see up here there are little light  indicators these will be green when information  passes between the switch and the device plugged  into it now I had two primary concerns when I was  looking at this device because I've had this on  my wish list for a long time not in that I wanted  to use up all my ports but I knew one day I would  and one of those questions I had was power usage  how much power is this going to use well I could  say while idling meaning nothing is plugged into  it because that's one thing the more of these you  the more of it that you use the more power it will  draw but just idling plugged into my Wi-Fi router   just sitting there nothing else plugged in it used  between 0.5 and 0.6 watts of power and again like  I said if you plug things into this it will use  more power however it has what tp-link is calling energy-efficient technology which they say will  save you up to 65 percent so it automatically  just power consumption according to the link  status and the cable length so what that means  is if when you have something plugged into this  but it's not actually drawing information this  will dynamically lower the power usage likewise  with the length of cable again without getting  too technical it's a networking longer cable more  power needed this does all of that for you this is  a truly plug-and-play device which is one of the  reasons I wanted to get it because again I don't  want to manage a network now my other concern  with something like this had never brought in  a switch to my house did I lose any speeds well  here's what I did I did several tests the first  the test was directly from my modem to my computer and  I ran a speed test I'll be throwing them up on the  screen so when plugged in directly from my modem  I got 219 down with 37 up when I plugged directly  into my Wi-Fi routers to the back of my Wi-Fi  router still, all plug all plugged in I got 170  down with 37 up when I plugged into the network  switch not using the one for the nest I got 866  down with 36 point 9 6 now I say the 0.96 because  I want you to see that it's just shaving up  a little bit using the switch now I also plugged  into the switch here my computer and my Roku to  test well if I stream an HD video will that impact  this at all it did a little bit doing that I  got 160 down with 36.9 9 up now realistically  those are awesome speeds those are definitely  better than you're gonna get with Wi-Fi so there's  nothing really to worry about using something like  this and tp-link is a company that has been around  for a long time in fact over there I have lots of  TP switches and smart devices that I've been  testing for a long time the big question now  becomes how much does something like this cost  well there are several models of this meaning  you get more of these ports the more you spend  however for this particular one you can get it as  low as twenty dollars for twenty dollars there's  no reason not to get a couple of these to help  wire yourself instead of having wireless devices  and there are a lot of smarts that this device does  which I'm not trying to like inundate you with in  this video it has traffic optimization for voice  and video it's got automatic power saving it's got  a bunch of brains I'll link some of it down in the  description area below if you have no experience  networking but you know enough how to plug in an  Ethernet cable from your Wi-Fi router to a switch  you can extend your wired network for $20 with  something like this like I said has been  on my wish list for a long time because I knew I  would need one eventually now I have it I'm happy  that I got it and I'm very certain that you would  be happy to if you need to extend your network so  I have been wanderer001 if you have any questions  or comments please feel free to leave them in  the area below and as always thanks for watching.