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NETGEAR 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch (GS105NA) - Desktop or Wall Mount, and Limited Lifetime Protection Gray
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Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
Learn more about free returns.- Go to your orders and start the return
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Return this item for free
Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
Learn more about free returns.- Go to your orders and start the return
- Select the return method
- Ship it!
Return this item for free
Free returns are available for the shipping address you chose. You can return the item for any reason in new and unused condition: no shipping charges
Learn more about free returns.- Go to your orders and start the return
- Select the return method
- Ship it!
Purchase options and add-ons
Brand | NETGEAR |
Number of Ports | 5 |
Included Components | Switch, Manual, Power Adapter |
Color | Gray |
Compatible Devices | Desktop |
About this item
- 5 Gigabit Ethernet ports
- Simple plug-and-play setup with no software to install or configuration needed
- Supports desktop or wall mount placement
- Lifetime Limited Hardware Warranty, Next Business Day Replacement, and 24/7 chat with a NETGEAR expert
- Energy efficient design compliant with IEEE802.3az
- Silent operation ideal for noise sensitive environment
Frequently bought together
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Important information
Legal Disclaimer
This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm.
From the manufacturer
Compare Similar NETGEAR Switch Models
.
GS105NA | GS105E | GS108 | GS108E | GS116NA | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Customer Reviews |
4.7 out of 5 stars
13,287
|
4.7 out of 5 stars
13,287
|
4.7 out of 5 stars
13,287
|
4.7 out of 5 stars
13,287
|
4.8 out of 5 stars
26,336
|
# Gigabit Ethernet Ports | 5 x 1G | 5 x 1G | 8 x 1G | 8 x 1G | 16 x 1G |
# PoE Ports | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
# SFP Fiber Ports | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- | ---- |
Management Type | Unmanaged | Plus | Unmanaged | Plus | Unmanaged |
Management Layer | ---- | L2 | ---- | L2 | ---- |
Advanced Network Features | ---- | Basic VLAN & QoS IGMP Storm Control Auto DoS | ---- | Basic VLAN & QoS IGMP Storm Control Auto DoS | ---- |
Fanless Housing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Mounting Options | Desktop or Wall | Desktop or Wall | Desktop or Wall | Desktop or Wall | Desktop or Wall |
Compare with similar items
This Item NETGEAR 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch (GS105NA) - Desktop or Wall Mount, and Limited Lifetime Protection Gray | Recommendations | dummy | dummy | dummy | dummy | |
Try again! Added to Cart | Try again! Added to Cart | Try again! Added to Cart | Try again! Added to Cart | Try again! Added to Cart | Try again! Added to Cart | |
Price | -24% $34.99$34.99 List: $45.99 | -13% $69.99$69.99 List: $79.99 | -20% $107.46$107.46 List: $134.99 | $22.99$22.99 | -16% $58.99$58.99 List: $69.99 | $54.60$54.60 |
Delivery | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2 | — | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2 | Get it as soon as Tuesday, Apr 2 |
Customer Ratings | ||||||
User interface | 4.5 | 3.6 | 5.0 | 4.8 | 4.5 | — |
Tech Support | 4.2 | 3.6 | 5.0 | 3.5 | 4.4 | — |
WiFi signal | 4.4 | — | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.2 | — |
Sold By | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | PCNation | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Lcantve |
What's in the box
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Product information
Product Dimensions | 4.02 x 1.06 x 3.9 inches |
---|---|
Item Weight | 1.08 pounds |
ASIN | B0000BVYT3 |
Item model number | GS105NA |
National Stock Number | 7050-01-565-0680 |
Customer Reviews |
4.7 out of 5 stars |
Best Sellers Rank | #10 in Computer Networking Switches |
Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
Date First Available | August 2, 2003 |
Manufacturer | Netgear |
Language | English |
Country of Origin | China |
Warranty & Support
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Product Description
Product Description
NETGEAR 5-port Gigabit Desktop Switch, designed for business with simple plug-N-play connectivity and no configuration needed. It comes with sturdy metal case and NETGEAR’s Limited Lifetime* Warranty. It supports Energy Efficient Ethernet (IEEE802.3az) for optimized energy savings and DSCP-based QoS for traffic prioritization.
Amazon.com
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The NETGEAR GS105 ProSafe 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch offers:
- Five gigabit ports for fast data transfers.
- Auto-sensing ports that eliminate manual switches.
- Fanless design for silent operation. The NETGEAR GS105 ProSafe 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch provides your local area network (LAN) with reliable 10/100/1000 Mbps auto-sensing connectivity for five users.
At Gigabit speeds, even large video files are transferred quickly. View larger. Sturdy and Reliable Design
NETGEAR's GS100 series desktop switches are housed in a compact sturdy metal case designed without the need for internal fans, keeping operation both silent and more reliable. It can be placed on a flat surface or you can use the included wall mount kit to hide it away on the wall.Simple Setup and Stellar Performance
Plug in your Ethernet cables and connect a power cord, and you're ready to go. There is no software to install or settings to configure. The switch features auto-sensing ports which automatically obtains the fastest possible connection. There are no toggle switches or special crossover cables. The switch will honor priority tags at both the Layer 2 and Layer 3 level if you have your network set to support jumbo frames.Every port supports up to 2000 Mbps in dedicated bandwidth. Automatic flow control ensures smooth traffic. There is a queue buffer memory of 12 kbytes per port and a MAC address database size of 4,000. The switch has status LEDs for power, and link, speed, and activity for each port.
The NETGEAR GS105 ProSafe 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Desktop Switch has a Mean Time Between Failure of 91,500 hours and is backed by a lifetime warranty. The power adapter is backed by a 2-year warranty.
What's in the Box
GS105 Desktop Switch, wall-mount kit, power adapter, installation guide, warranty/support information card.
From the Manufacturer
Moves huge files fast! Netgear GS105 features five high-speed, auto-switching 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet connections and because Gigabit Ethernet is a full duplex standard, you get up to 2000 Mbps on each port. It integrates 10, 100, and 1000 Mbps devices on the same network. Every port automatically senses the right speed and full/half duplex mode, and Auto Uplink technology automatically adjusts for straight-through or crossover cables. Sized to save space, this sturdy, metal 5-port switch is compact and fits easily on a desk or mounts on a wall, making it ideal for home and small office environments.
For a high-speed network on a small scale, nothing delivers likes this compact powerhouse. Equipped with five auto-speed-sensing 10/100/1000 Mbps UTP ports, this affordable switch gives your network the capacity to handle huge workloads. It moves very large files across your network instantly, and lets you painlessly integrate 10, 100, and 1000 Mbps devices on your network. Packed with ease-of-use features to simplify your networking experience, its trim design makes it an easy fit for a desk or mounted on a wall. The durable metal chassis protects interior working parts and the fan-less design results in silent operation. Matched with Netgear's thorough testing, the GS105 switch provides long-lasting performance you can count on.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers like the performance, quality and ease of use of the av signal switch. For example, they mention that it works right out of the box, is very well made and reliable. Some appreciate the value for money, saying that it's the absolute perfect tool for budget network debugging. Customers are also impresseded with the connectivity, saying it'll increase Ethernet connections without limiting performance.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers are satisfied with the performance of the AV signal switch. They mention that it works great, has no issues, and has increased their speed. Some say that it is a cheap and easy product to use.
"...Just. Worked. And it has never stopped working!..." Read more
"...Reasonably sized, fast as far as I can tell, sturdy metal case, nice looking, just like all "Pro" Netgear switches have been for many years...." Read more
"A 5 stars rating feedback for quality,easy assembly and super fast delivery,thanks.William Garcia" Read more
"...At least this Netgear is fast to reboot, but having to do so makes its port traffic & error counters effectively useless, unless you leave..." Read more
Customers are satisfied with the quality of the av signal switch. They mention that it is well-made, solid, and reliable. They appreciate the metal case and the switch is long-lasting. Customers are also impresseded that it's guaranteed for life.
"...This made me appreciate just how trouble-free and reliable this quiet, affordable, unassuming little switch has been all of these years...." Read more
"...Reasonably sized, fast as far as I can tell, sturdy metal case, nice looking, just like all "Pro" Netgear switches have been for many years...." Read more
"...Good quality product easy to install. Nice and compact." Read more
"...- good build quality...." Read more
Customers find the AV signal switch easy to setup and use. They say it works flawlessly, has no configuration required, and is trouble-free. Customers are also pleased with the setup and other features. They mention that the switch has a web interface with management features and all functionality is in the web GUI.
"...This made me appreciate just how trouble-free and reliable this quiet, affordable, unassuming little switch has been all of these years...." Read more
"...Good quality product easy to install. Nice and compact." Read more
"A 5 stars rating feedback for quality,easy assembly and super fast delivery,thanks.William Garcia" Read more
"...LOVE IT. So easy to set up...." Read more
Customers like the value of the av signal switch. They say it is a good value for the quality and performance. Customers also say it's cheaper than purpose built inline sniffers and the cheapest way to get VLAN tagging. They also say that it is the absolute perfect tool for budget network debugging and that it seems slightly faster and more efficient than the Realtek RTL8380.
"...made me appreciate just how trouble-free and reliable this quiet, affordable, unassuming little switch has been all of these years. Thus this review...." Read more
"...The absolute perfect tool for budget network debugging or (in my case) for taking out into the field to put between two things and figure out what..." Read more
"...main chip is a Broadcom BCM53128, which seems slightly faster and more efficient than the Realtek RTL8380 used on competing switches from TP-Link..." Read more
"...It was cheaper than the purpose built inline sniffers, which were running about $100...." Read more
Customers like the connectivity of the av signal switch. They say it's perfect for a network that has audio or video as part of it, it manages network as expected, and it'll increase Ethernet connections without limiting performance. Customers also say it adds physical network connections to your home wired network, and is very good at managing network traffic. They mention that the internet connection is just as strong as if they were plugged straight into the router, and the WiFi signal is applicable.
"...The result is much better than the wireless that we were using." Read more
"Easy set up. Using for extensive home network." Read more
"...The switch has a desktop or wall mount option, making it versatile for different setups...." Read more
"...Quiet and manages network as expected, no delays or disconnects, fan of Netgear, usually solid products. Would recommend and buy again." Read more
Customers are satisfied with the size of the AV signal switch. They mention that it has a small footprint, a slim and small form factor, and that it can be put just about anywhere. The metal case acts as a great heat sink, and it's light enough to be stashed out of the way. Customers also appreciate the sleek compact metal case and the incredibly small AC adapter.
"...this switch does exactly what you need, it does it well, it does it in a tiny package, and it does it for hundreds of dollars less than most..." Read more
"...Good quality product easy to install. Nice and compact." Read more
"The device is compact and I mounted it on the wall in a convenient spot to make connections. It did exactly what I needed it to do...." Read more
"...The entire unit looks and feel high quality. Case is metal and device is heavy. No cheap plastic and lightweight feel.4...." Read more
Customers like the temperature of the av signal switch. They say it runs cool to the touch, produces basically no heat, and does not overheat. The metal case acts as a great heat sink and dissipates heat more efficiently than a plastic housing. The simple foot print seems to run cooler than the previous brand. Customers also mention that the top box is operating with none of the freezing TV they had been experiencing.
"...There is a reasonably sized heatsink on the main chip, and a thermal pad under the PCB, allowing the case bottom to serve as an additional..." Read more
"...The cranky set top box is operating with none of the freezing TV I had been experiencing...." Read more
"...We are using five of the 8 ports constantly but it does not run hot. No problems running zoom meetings or VOIP phones and computers." Read more
"...version (desktop non-rackmount version) used at full speed (gb) and it was HOT! You prob could use it as a hand warmer on those cold days...." Read more
Customers are mixed about the ports of the av signal switch. Some mention that it gives them several more ports that they can use for other purposes, while others say that they only have 8 ports and that a few of them stopped working.
"...The switch has mounting slots which you will need if this is going into the closet and needs to be mounted on the wall...." Read more
"...Trunking not truly available" Read more
"...Works great and gives me seven additional ports (one is used to connect to the router)...." Read more
"...same side of the unit as the status lights -- makes it easier to mount in tight spaces and still see what's going on...." Read more
Reviews with images
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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This discreet little unit runs 24-7 without a hitch, and without any advanced set-up or mataintenance being needed. Exactly what one wants from an unmanaged switch!
Recently I tried switching to a 2.5G switch from another brand. Theoretically this should've sped my network up tremendously, since I now have a router and multiple devices that support 2.5G ethernet... However, the new router turned out to be nothin' but trouble, and ultimately I had to put this good ol' Netgear 1G back into service instead, to keep the Internet and local services running properly for everyone in the house.
This made me appreciate just how trouble-free and reliable this quiet, affordable, unassuming little switch has been all of these years. Thus this review. Hopefully Netgear's 2.5G switches are as good as this old warhorse.
What this one has that others don't are management features that you usually need to spend WAY more to get. In particular, though, you can set it up to mirror traffic from one port to another, which is absolutely critical if you want to use Wireshark or the like to sniff packets between two devices that can't run a packet sniffer.
Port mirroring is not something most people need, but if you *do* then this switch does exactly what you need, it does it well, it does it in a tiny package, and it does it for hundreds of dollars less than most managed switches. The absolute perfect tool for budget network debugging or (in my case) for taking out into the field to put between two things and figure out what's not working.
William Garcia
- true 802.1q VLAN tagging support, at a very low price
- excellent wire-speed performance, tested @ 950+Mb/s in iperf on 6 ports at once, so long as Flow Control is disabled (see below). The main chip is a Broadcom BCM53128, which seems slightly faster and more efficient than the Realtek RTL8380 used on competing switches from TP-Link and Zyxel.
- very low power use, approx. 1W - 3W dependent on ports in use (~ 0.25W DC / 0.45W AC base plus 0.3W per connected 1000M port, or 0.2W per 100M port). Traffic levels seem not to affect this much, though cable length might, since it tries to use lower transmit power on short cables. The switch-matrix core runs on 1.2V, with 3.3V for I/O, both provided by efficient switchmode buck regulators (unlike some switches that use a hot-running, linear step-down from 3.3V to 1.2 or 1.8V, at < 50% efficiency).
- silent operation, with no fan or coil whine. Despite the lack of a fan, mine never even gets noticeably warm. There is a reasonably sized heatsink on the main chip, and a thermal pad under the PCB, allowing the case bottom to serve as an additional heatsink.
- good build quality. Just one electrolytic capacitor, which is a Nichicon (reputable Japanese brand) 220uF on the power input, over-rated at 25V when operating at 12V. Main switch chip is a Broadcom BCM53128. Case is solid metal, compromised slightly by a stick-on platic piece around the ports for labeling, which another reviewer complained about.
- happily runs on the variable 12V battery bus (10.5-14.4V) from an offgrid DC power system
- starts up quickly, from cold-powerdown to forwarding traffic in about 8 seconds, far faster than any "true" managed switch (Catalyst, Juniper, Procurve etc.)
CONS:
- management interface, whether via web or Windows app is limited and cumbersome, especially when configuring VLANs, though is most cases this is only a one-time annoyance, set-and-forget
- typical of switches in this class, there's no CLI management, nor SNMP, so tracking port activity with MRTG, etc. is not possible. Omitting these probably does reduce both cost and power use, though.
- The management controller, integrated within the BCM53128 is a weak CPU derived from the 1980s-vintage, 8-bit Intel 8051, which is easily overloaded. This explains the lack of HTTPS SSL support, occasional dropped HTTP requests, etc. It's actually impressive they managed to squeeze an IP stack and web interface onto such a small CPU at all.
- This limited 8051 service processor would only affect management functionality (it isn't part of the main switch-fabric data path at all), except for a dumb decision on Netgear's part to configure the switch registers to send a copy of *all* HTTP (tcp port 80) traffic, originating from any port, to this tiny management CPU.
This has the effect of badly crippling the layer-2 Flow-Control feature, causing any and all HTTP traffic flowing through the switch to be bottlenecked to about 10Mb/s whenever Flow Control is switched on. The reason is that flow-control rate limiting kicks in whenver any port receiving the traffic gets overloaded, the weak management CPU effectively connects to a internal 9th, on-chip port that seems to run at only 10Mb/s, AND all web traffic from anywhere to anywhere (even when bearing an 802.1q VLAN tag!) gets uncontrollably copied to the phantom port-9.
This wouldn't be so bad if the web interface could be moved to a less important port than tcp/80, set to listen to requests only from one specific switch port, or disabled entirely (until next power-cycle, say, or even semi-permanently until a factory reset), but none of these options are provided.
Netgear does seem to ship these switches with Flow Control turned OFF by default, masking the performance problem, and in many cases Flow Control is undesirable anyway, but it can be useful in cases where a node on your network can't keep up with full Gigabit rates, but can do better than 100M. Many low-power single board computers fall into this category and can benefit from FC.
The management controller can also be a big security hole, since it doesn't respect VLAN boundaries at all, and copies of its transmissions get relayed to ALL ports, in-the-clear and untagged, regardless of VLAN membership status. The switch effectively reverts to just a dumb hub whenever the hidden Port 9 is involved.
HARDWARE MOD:
If you don't mind voiding your warranty with a small bit of soldering, it's thankfully possible to disable this ill-behaved web interface and completely disconnect the BCM53128's 8051 management controller from its switch fabric, eliminating its security exposure and letting Flow Control work as intended, with no more weird slowdowns affecting port 80 . Here are the steps:
1. First Get everything configured as you like in the web interface, setting up and testing all VLANs, etc. Reboot the switch and verify it comes up in the desired configuration.
2. Open the cover and find tiny surface-mount resistor R75, between the main chip and the ports, near the crystal oscillator. Desolder this resistor. See my first photo, where it's already been removed, leaving bare pads.
R75, which I measured at 4.4k in-circuit, pulls BCM53128 pin 43, "EN_8051_TxRx" high, to 3.3V. It CAN just be left floating if you don't mind losing the web (and Windows-config-tool) interface permanently after initial setup.
3. If you want to be able to toggle the web interface off and on, solder a very fine-gauge wire to the removed R75 resistor's pad nearest the main chip, and another such wire to a 3.3V power pin anywhere on the board-- you could use the other side of R75, but it's easier to grab this voltage from a less closely-spaced area. I chose to use the power pin (pin 8) of U5, the 8pin serial EEPROM at upper-right.
4. drill a hole on the back panel somewhere to mount a small toggle switch. Solder one of its terminals to the R75 pin (BCM531128 pin43, EN_8051_TxRx signal) through a 3.3k-ohm resistor. Solder the other toggle switch terminal to any convenient 3.3V pin, through a 1k-ohm resistor (optional - these two resistors in series approximate the original 4.4k-ohm pullup, but anything in the ballmark should work)
Note that EN_8051_TxRx is only latched during reset, so after flipping the switch you have to power-cycle the switch for it to take effect. At least this Netgear is fast to reboot, but having to do so makes its port traffic & error counters effectively useless, unless you leave management enabled all the time.
If you want to add a RESET button also, solder a fine wire to the right-hand (near the coil) terminal of resistor pad R7, which should be empty to begin with. This goes to the Shutdown terminal of the 3.3V switchmode regulator, and grounding it (through a 1k-ohm resistor) even briefly will cause a clean reset via 3-pin power-supervisor chip U3. That IC actively drives the BCM53128 RESET pin both high and low, so you can't safely pull RESET down directly.
Rather than mounting a physical toggle switch, since my GS108e is in a hard-to-reach spot I decided to bring out these control signals (EN_8051_TxRx, +3.3V, RESET-via-regulator-shutdown) to a 4-pin header, which plugs into GPIO outputs on a nearby router, allowing management-enable and reset functions to be controlled remotely. Anyone going this route should ensure both systems share a common logic ground, and take care to never drive either signal to more than 3.3V Documentation on the BCM5128 is hard to come by, but I very much doubt it's 5V-tolerant.
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2018
- true 802.1q VLAN tagging support, at a very low price
- excellent wire-speed performance, tested @ 950+Mb/s in iperf on 6 ports at once, so long as Flow Control is disabled (see below). The main chip is a Broadcom BCM53128, which seems slightly faster and more efficient than the Realtek RTL8380 used on competing switches from TP-Link and Zyxel.
- very low power use, approx. 1W - 3W dependent on ports in use (~ 0.25W DC / 0.45W AC base plus 0.3W per connected 1000M port, or 0.2W per 100M port). Traffic levels seem not to affect this much, though cable length might, since it tries to use lower transmit power on short cables. The switch-matrix core runs on 1.2V, with 3.3V for I/O, both provided by efficient switchmode buck regulators (unlike some switches that use a hot-running, linear step-down from 3.3V to 1.2 or 1.8V, at < 50% efficiency).
- silent operation, with no fan or coil whine. Despite the lack of a fan, mine never even gets noticeably warm. There is a reasonably sized heatsink on the main chip, and a thermal pad under the PCB, allowing the case bottom to serve as an additional heatsink.
- good build quality. Just one electrolytic capacitor, which is a Nichicon (reputable Japanese brand) 220uF on the power input, over-rated at 25V when operating at 12V. Main switch chip is a Broadcom BCM53128. Case is solid metal, compromised slightly by a stick-on platic piece around the ports for labeling, which another reviewer complained about.
- happily runs on the variable 12V battery bus (10.5-14.4V) from an offgrid DC power system
- starts up quickly, from cold-powerdown to forwarding traffic in about 8 seconds, far faster than any "true" managed switch (Catalyst, Juniper, Procurve etc.)
CONS:
- management interface, whether via web or Windows app is limited and cumbersome, especially when configuring VLANs, though is most cases this is only a one-time annoyance, set-and-forget
- typical of switches in this class, there's no CLI management, nor SNMP, so tracking port activity with MRTG, etc. is not possible. Omitting these probably does reduce both cost and power use, though.
- The management controller, integrated within the BCM53128 is a weak CPU derived from the 1980s-vintage, 8-bit Intel 8051, which is easily overloaded. This explains the lack of HTTPS SSL support, occasional dropped HTTP requests, etc. It's actually impressive they managed to squeeze an IP stack and web interface onto such a small CPU at all.
- This limited 8051 service processor would only affect management functionality (it isn't part of the main switch-fabric data path at all), except for a dumb decision on Netgear's part to configure the switch registers to send a copy of *all* HTTP (tcp port 80) traffic, originating from any port, to this tiny management CPU.
This has the effect of badly crippling the layer-2 Flow-Control feature, causing any and all HTTP traffic flowing through the switch to be bottlenecked to about 10Mb/s whenever Flow Control is switched on. The reason is that flow-control rate limiting kicks in whenver any port receiving the traffic gets overloaded, the weak management CPU effectively connects to a internal 9th, on-chip port that seems to run at only 10Mb/s, AND all web traffic from anywhere to anywhere (even when bearing an 802.1q VLAN tag!) gets uncontrollably copied to the phantom port-9.
This wouldn't be so bad if the web interface could be moved to a less important port than tcp/80, set to listen to requests only from one specific switch port, or disabled entirely (until next power-cycle, say, or even semi-permanently until a factory reset), but none of these options are provided.
Netgear does seem to ship these switches with Flow Control turned OFF by default, masking the performance problem, and in many cases Flow Control is undesirable anyway, but it can be useful in cases where a node on your network can't keep up with full Gigabit rates, but can do better than 100M. Many low-power single board computers fall into this category and can benefit from FC.
The management controller can also be a big security hole, since it doesn't respect VLAN boundaries at all, and copies of its transmissions get relayed to ALL ports, in-the-clear and untagged, regardless of VLAN membership status. The switch effectively reverts to just a dumb hub whenever the hidden Port 9 is involved.
HARDWARE MOD:
If you don't mind voiding your warranty with a small bit of soldering, it's thankfully possible to disable this ill-behaved web interface and completely disconnect the BCM53128's 8051 management controller from its switch fabric, eliminating its security exposure and letting Flow Control work as intended, with no more weird slowdowns affecting port 80 . Here are the steps:
1. First Get everything configured as you like in the web interface, setting up and testing all VLANs, etc. Reboot the switch and verify it comes up in the desired configuration.
2. Open the cover and find tiny surface-mount resistor R75, between the main chip and the ports, near the crystal oscillator. Desolder this resistor. See my first photo, where it's already been removed, leaving bare pads.
R75, which I measured at 4.4k in-circuit, pulls BCM53128 pin 43, "EN_8051_TxRx" high, to 3.3V. It CAN just be left floating if you don't mind losing the web (and Windows-config-tool) interface permanently after initial setup.
3. If you want to be able to toggle the web interface off and on, solder a very fine-gauge wire to the removed R75 resistor's pad nearest the main chip, and another such wire to a 3.3V power pin anywhere on the board-- you could use the other side of R75, but it's easier to grab this voltage from a less closely-spaced area. I chose to use the power pin (pin 8) of U5, the 8pin serial EEPROM at upper-right.
4. drill a hole on the back panel somewhere to mount a small toggle switch. Solder one of its terminals to the R75 pin (BCM531128 pin43, EN_8051_TxRx signal) through a 3.3k-ohm resistor. Solder the other toggle switch terminal to any convenient 3.3V pin, through a 1k-ohm resistor (optional - these two resistors in series approximate the original 4.4k-ohm pullup, but anything in the ballmark should work)
Note that EN_8051_TxRx is only latched during reset, so after flipping the switch you have to power-cycle the switch for it to take effect. At least this Netgear is fast to reboot, but having to do so makes its port traffic & error counters effectively useless, unless you leave management enabled all the time.
If you want to add a RESET button also, solder a fine wire to the right-hand (near the coil) terminal of resistor pad R7, which should be empty to begin with. This goes to the Shutdown terminal of the 3.3V switchmode regulator, and grounding it (through a 1k-ohm resistor) even briefly will cause a clean reset via 3-pin power-supervisor chip U3. That IC actively drives the BCM53128 RESET pin both high and low, so you can't safely pull RESET down directly.
Rather than mounting a physical toggle switch, since my GS108e is in a hard-to-reach spot I decided to bring out these control signals (EN_8051_TxRx, +3.3V, RESET-via-regulator-shutdown) to a 4-pin header, which plugs into GPIO outputs on a nearby router, allowing management-enable and reset functions to be controlled remotely. Anyone going this route should ensure both systems share a common logic ground, and take care to never drive either signal to more than 3.3V Documentation on the BCM5128 is hard to come by, but I very much doubt it's 5V-tolerant.