D-Link 24-Port Rackmountable Gigabit Switch

Comment: I just ordered one of these as part of a project to rack up and centralize my home network. Prior to this I had several switches in my basement daisy chained together. With this new D-Link switch I was able to rack this up with some nifty vertical rack arms and in conjunction with a 24 port patch panel and rack cable organizer get everything very nicely organized.

The Amazon description for this switch is out of date. The current version of the product indicates that with the latest power supply it is up to 73% more efficient than similar non green D-link switches. Also worth noting is that the face plate on my unit is a silver color, not the white appearing face plate in the product photos.

I connected this switch on my work bench with a Kill-A-Watt power meter and with nothing else connected this 24 port beast is sipping just 3 watts. With five gigabit devices it is using a miserly 7 watts. Even fully loaded, according to the specs this switch will not use more than about 19 watts. The switch has features that will throttle down power consumption based on device connection speed, cable distance and whether a port is active or not. All of this means that you can build out a very robust home network without leaving something running 24X7 that is consuming a lot of power.

I was close to ordering the competing Netgear product (JGS524) however the Netgear has two fans in it (noisy and prone to failure) where as this D-Link switch is fanless! This is a big deal, as the fan is often the component that will go out over the long term with a product like this... not to mention the noise you will experience if you are anywhere near the device. The Netgear does have a "lifetime" warranty (and better warranty support) where as the D-Link has a 5 year warranty. With no moving parts, and if hooked up to high quality surge suppression the D-Link box should last for a very long time without problems.

Performance with this switch is excellent, I get rocket fast transport between all of my devices. It's worth noting that this is an unmanaged switch so you cannot break your network up into VLANs or do cable diagnostics, etc, with this switch. For its purpose though of providing a super fast home or small office network it is offering a tremendous value. T

Highly recommend it!

Comment: I am using this switch in a small commercial setting with about 15 connected devices. This unit replaces our older D-Link 10/100 switch, which is still working after 6+ years. Absolutely no problems with the setup or use of the new switch - it runs very cool; the LED link lights and corresponding ports are easy to identify. Immediately noticed the increase in local network speed, as the connected equipment also supports Gigabit Ethernet. Highly recommend if you don't need a managed switch. I will point out that Amazon's photo for this unit is incorrect - the photo shown is that of an older unit. What ships is the DGS-1024D D-link "green" unit, which has a silver face, NOT charcoal color as pictured. Correct product is on D-Link's website here: [...]

Comment: I have a few larger switches in my office network. Prior to this unit, I had a Dell powerconnect 2516 that I think was often overheating and slowed way down during periods of heavy use or quit working for a while all together. I replaced it with this unit that seems way cooler to the touch and has had no problems with our network load at all. I would certainly recommend this unit.

I fairness to dell, I bought their gigabit switch around 2006 closer to when gigabit was new. I would imagine the ic's inside have been improved over the years to run cooler and more efficiently. My theory about older network switches over heating is correct I believe because I took the dell, cut a hole in it, installed a fan on the hole, and it too seems to work reliably now.

Comment: I replace my 5 years old D-Link 10/100 with this switch to get the gigabit speed. I connect it to my zywall router and, all PC connected to it works well.

One issue though, my family room has only one port so, I needed a 5 or 8 ports scondary switch. I tried D- link 8 ports (D-Link DGS-2208 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet) and, HP 8 ports gigait switch (HP ProCurve Switch 1810G-8 Switch)and neither will initiate connections. I then disconnect the cat-5e cable from this D-link switch and, connect it to my zywal router directly and, then connect the 8 port switches, one at a time to see if my x-box 360 and, the den HTPC will connect, eureka!.

So, it appears (I am no techi), that while this switch works well for all ports connected directly to it, it does not seems to be able to allow negotiation for secondary switches connected to it. This is important for anyone that might wish to connect another switch to this appliance. Again, I am not sure if my observation is an expected behaviour or, if it is an abberant behaviour that should affect the rating of this switch. I gave it three because for all PC's that are connected directly to it, negotiations were perfect.

Kola

Comment: I purchased the DLink 24 Port Switch as a Xmas present in October. Helping a family member set this up today I received a "network cable is unplugged" message on the computer. CD manual is almost no help as the switch is supposed to be plug-and-play auto-sensing. When I called DLink, after a very lengthy hold, I was told the switch was no longer supported. I was directed to the DLink pay for help line and once connected the service rep, after taking my money for the call, told me again that the product was not supported and that I should try and return it to the location of purchase. After a call to Amazon customer service I was told I could return the product but since it was beyond the 30 day period I would have to pay a 15-50% restocking fee. When I told them I had shopped early for this gift and only opened it 3 days after XMas for the first time...the representative could only parrot the company line...no exceptions. It took another long wait, and a chat with a supervisor, for Amazon to issue an RMA and issue me a full refund. This is my second disaster with DLink...never again!!!