We had two of these. One of them failed altogether right out of warranty; it would drop all connections a few minutes after powerup. The other one was also behaving erratically and slowing traffic on the network for no apparent reason, even after frequent restarts.

My switch, model GS605 V2, stops working periodically, effectively disconnecting my computers from the network. The computer says "network cable unplugged", or sometimes the network just stops responding.

If I pull the plug, wait, plug it back in, everything is fine again, for awhile. I don't have to do this with my other switches: normally they work fine for several months, rarely hanging when there is a lightning storm, in which case power-cycling is the solution.

Often the network comes back on by itself after some time. Sometimes it comes and goes - computer says network cable is unplugged, then it goes online again, and repeats, sometimes frequently.

And then other times it works fine for a month or two. No obvious pattern here.

I suspect, but have not confirmed, that occasional very long delays in Web site response may in fact be a temporary hangup from this device.

I am pretty sure that the problem is with the switch, since power-cycling it solves the problem. Also, the computers are high quality; the cables are CAT-6 and very short.

At least three reviews posted here mention a problem with overheating that otherwise has the same symptoms as I have. These folks were more generous, giving the unit 2- and 3-star ratings.

I noticed that another model of Netgear switch has exactly the same problem I have, and is reported by many people. Thus, when I replace this unit, it will be a different brand.

A switch is a switch, except when it does not work reliably.

I love a tech product that you can just hook up and forget about it. This is one of those products.

I had two Macs with gigabit ethernet built in, but my gateway/router was 10/100. Batta-bing! Hooked up the Netgear GS605, and batta-boom, I got gigabit transfers between computers. No configuration necessary. I just had to upgrade my cables to CAT-6.

CAT-6 from each computer's ethernet port to the Netgear. A CAT-5 from Netgear to my gateway/router, and any port will do. Batta-bing! Batta-boom! A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN TRANSFER SPEEDS.

This works great. Just plug it in and go. I also bought a gigabit ethernet card to go with it and I am amazed how much faster things load. It doesn't take up much space and looks pretty stylish too.

I've been using this product for about a month now, and it works great. Setup was easy - just plugged in the power, connected one port to my Linksys router (which I wanted in-line first to provide wireless Internet) and connected my PCs to the remaining ports. Now file transfers between PCs are lightning fast (though as you would expect, there is no difference in Internet speed). The one thing I did find out was that two of my older PCs only had NIC cards capable of 10/100 -- these cards will need to be updated to 10/100/1000 in order to benefit from the higher network speed. But my newer PC and laptop communicate at full speed and transfer files at 10 times the old rate when plugged into the gigabit switch.

This is a very nice switch. It works as advertised. My computer connects to it at 1GB. It is also stylish.

No set up, no drivers, just plug and play. It plays well with my LaCie network attached storage drive and my Airport extreme base station connecting wirelessly to my Laptop. I am having some connectivity problems but I think I have ruled out the switch.

I have the Apple Airport Extreme Gigabit Router and although it is a great router it only has three gigabit ports. The Netgear 5 port gigabit switch solved the problem for me and now all five devices in my home office are happily communicating with this switch added. As with Apple products, "it just works." Highly recommended.

Works very well and nice aesthetic appearance to the eye. I bought two to hook up my 2 slingboxes and Directv HD DVR's to receive VOD which I really enjoy.

Consumer network switches are commodity items now and while any brand should be fine, this one has been working great for me for over a month. I purchased 2 for my home network and all my computers (w/ gigabit NICs) are working flawlessly at high speed.

The installation was straight forward and simple. There was very little documentation, but it was not needed. Simply plug your devices into one end and the other end to the Switch; then plug the Switch into your router or hub.

I have had this unit installed for three weeks now and I have not had to do anything else.

Easy to set up. Works well. Looks great (especially next to Apple iMacs).

I bought this late last year before other reviews indicated the overheating problem. The unit works great but frequently runs hot and shuts down... often at the most inconvenient times. There are too many other options than to choose one that apparently has an inherent reliability issue.

I expected better than this from Netgear.
The switch runs at 1GB and speed switches from 100/1GB just fine, but it does run very hot and tends to shut itself down. That being said, it does not appear to be disruptive on the network. I've had my pc complain of a disconnected cable (which was really the switch shutting off) and a data transfer to the server never stopped. A power cycle fixed it, but I may return it still. It would probably be well suited to a network where it's not on all of the time. Don't expect to add it to the switch stack or bury it in the wiring closet unless you have a cooling fan on it.

I found that this switch gets pretty hot, and turns it self off every couple days, after working fine for a couple months. If I unplug it, let it cool, and then plug it back in, it works for a couple more days. I have not tried netgear support yet to return it, or otherwise troubleshoot.

If you already have a firewall on your modem and just need to connect more computers to your modem, this is a better solution than using a router. I just plugged all my wires into it, restarted my modem and it worked immediately with no problems. I've had it hooked up for a few weeks and there hasn't been any glitches.

The only thing I didn't like is that there are no holes or brackets for mounting it. For some reason the manufacturer made it so it has to sit on a desk or shelf. However, they did design the case well so it looks nice. Its just that you have to have all your cables running to this thing sitting on your desk.

I have apple computers. 3 of them. And they all have gig NIC cards.
Apple then releases the new airport express with a 4 port switch, and unfortunately all the ports were 10/100. Well, this just will not work for me.

I bought this little bugger just for my macs, and it is FAST. Great product at a great price.

Elegant and fully functional - works great with the Netgear Gig-E PCI card
I bought with it (for about $30!).

I don't know exactly how switches work internally, but it "IS" a Gigabit switch I paid for. Unbelievable Value.

There's not much to say other than the switch works as advertised the first time and every time. No set-up other than plugging it in was required for my simple application. I also really appreciate the "green" transformer-less power adapter that Netgear supplies as it is very compact and saves lots of energy.

This is a FAST switch. It allows me to transfer data between my 3 computers so quickly that hard drive transfer rate becomes the limiting factor (although I guess that should be a given since it IS gigabit and only one of my computers is running a RAID0). My only qualm is that it does not always properly detect 1Gb vs 100Mb connections, and after running for a couple of months refused to allow a 1Gb connection at all on 3 of the 5 ports. Thankfully I was able to fix this by cycling the power (unplugging it then plugging it back in) but this really shouldn't be necessary. It was cheap and therefore certainly worth the money I spent on it despite its minor irregularities.

Pretty good hub, I haven't had any problems with it and you can't beat the price.

Some people complained about lack of jumbo frame support. I have v2 hardware and it does support jumbo frames. I have a pair of Trendnet TEG-PCITXR's, which also support the feature. Before enabling jumbo frames, the copy of a 3.5GB file took 3m40s. After enabling jumbo frames on both cards, the same transfer took 3m15s. The machines involved: Linux/FC6 (MTU 7000), Windows XP (no MTU setting, just enabled "jumbo frames" in driver).

The only problem is that you can't be guaranteed to get the v2 hardware, though I would imagine that since I got mine in mid-Nov 2006, anyone ordering after that would get the same rev. At least, I would hope.

If you don't know what jumbo frames are, or don't care, there is no need to worry.

I agree that, like was mentioned by another reviewer, that a switch is a switch is a switch... to a degree. However there's a lot to be said for reliability. I purchased a GS605 for home after having used one at work for a couple years. In my experience they are completely dependable and trouble-free.

An additional plus is the design - if a switch can be called sexy, then the GS605 is very sexy. Its white and chrome design matches my Airport Extreme wireless router quite well.

Bottom line: It's reliable, looks nice, and the price is right.

The system worked out of the box allowing me to quickly link up additional devices in an in-home office which had a single network connection. Haven't measured simultaneous throughput to multiple computers yet, but from simple observation connectivity seems transparent. Should allow for movement to gigabit switching in the future as well.

I just purchased this switch for a home network just hoping to solve some router issues. I ordered it from work so I could not recall if my 3 year old Dells would do Gigabit or not.

Sure enough they did and this thing just works like a champ and no fan noise like some competetive brands. The transfer speeds are exceptional.

The manual completely left out the meaning of the LED colors. A quick web search answered the question.
Green - 1000
Yellow - 10/100

opened from the box, plug in the power, then the cat-5e cables from 4 computers I have at home... blink~ 1.0Gbps connection~
never need to restart, and slick outlook.
slightly hot, but not a problem.

Proper cable (cat 6) correctly connecting all strands, otherwise speed drops down to 100.

Works as intended and was easy to set up.

In a time where the choice of cheap 5-port, desktop, GigE switches is plentiful, this one stands out for one simple reason: exterior design. It looks good enough to show off anywhere, and the vertical stand is a great desk-space-saver, something that becomes handier every day.

The only case where you wouln't buy this model would be if you need Jumbo Frame support -- but that's something 99% of people with a SOHO setup can't even use (because your standard router for Internet access won-t support it...). So why bother?

Definitely my favorite in this price range and feature set. Highly recommended.

I've had mine for 6 months. No problems. For this price, don't expect to get supports for Jumbo frame rates. My bandwidth increased from approx. 25 Mbps (with a linksys 100 Mbps switch) to approx 250 Mbps (with this switch). I'm very happy with a 5X speed increase. I'm using cat 6 cable.

I've got two of these on my home network, serving a couple of Gigabit Ethernet based Macs, a TiVO and a host of audio and video gear and they've always performed perfectly. Great design, great value and excellent performance.

After doing some preliminary research online, I was excited about the possibility of boosting my network to gigabit speed. I bought the Netgear GS605 switch along with Advantik gigabit network cards. After installing and connecting everything with CAT5e cabling, I was somewhat disappointed, not being able to attain the speed I had hoped for. It does seem that the gigabit leg of my network runs a little faster, but I still get some lag while streaming video via remote desktop from another computer, and the indicator lights on my switch show that my network is only running at 100 mbs. I plan to run a crossover cable between 2 computers with the Advantik NICs installed to see if the switch or some other component is the limiting factor. Depending on your hardware setup, it might not be worthwhile to upgrade your network.

My Netgear GS608/GS605 experience has been far less than stellar. Their support was low-quality at best, the hold time was nothing to brag about, though I have held for longer, and their ability to find the information requested (Wether this switch supports Jumbo Packets for gigabit) was limited at best. The answer was finally obtained (No, not supported by anything but their higher-end managed switches) after several hangups and false starts. I will be returning mine in favor of something else from another manufacturer.

This switch improved my network speed as in doubled with both computers having a netgear copper gigabit adapter ga302t using this switch makes it a sweet setup gaming and all..