NETGEAR Switches Reviews

We use this product for the entire IT network and for CCTV. We have many integrators and are resellers of NETGEAR Switches, and I design solutions for our customers. Our company is based in India, I'm an information technology professional and we are end users of this product. 

NETGEAR has most of the good security features that other switches have and it's cost-effective. 

I'd like to see a more robust solution. They need to focus on sustainability and security at the port level with more visibility and controllability of the switch. I'd like to see a warranty similar to that provided by other solutions. 

I've been using this solution for 10 years. 

The solution is pretty stable. 

The solution is scalable. 

The customer support is good. They are responsive, fast, and they're knowledgeable about the product. 

The initial setup is not complex in any way. There's no maintenance required once the solution is deployed. 

NETGEAR is competitive and cost-effective in comparison to Aruba and other solutions. It's not the most expensive, but it's not cheap. You're getting what you pay for. 

Compared to NETGEAR, Cisco has lots of other features within the switch where you can include lots of securities. The switches are very sustainable and can run for  years and years if the environment is okay. There are a few securities that we use to build a firewall or some other level where we can put lots of security on the port, as far as the loop and hacking goes. If anything happens in the network, there are lots of things that can be controlled at switch level. NETGEAR has less of these kinds of options. 

My recommendation of NETGEAR to a customer would be dependent on the kind of solution they have, their budget, network size and the length of time they expect it to work. The product is more suitable for medium size organizations. Enterprise organizations generally look for other solutions in that sphere. 

I rate the solution six out of 10. 

We're an IT services provider so we have them installed at various clients' sites, and for various applications. The primary use case is for local area networks.

We're able to pre-configure a device, before it gets deployed, in the cloud. We don't even have to open up the box, we can just preconfigure it in the cloud. As soon as we deploy it onsite, it automatically gets configured.

The most valuable feature is the fact that Insight is cloud-managed. The whole reason behind it is that there is one central place to manage it. You can pre-configure everything and you can get access to it without having to get onto the client's network. That makes it easy to use and deploy.

Remote troubleshooting is good and easy.

The remote management tools still need work. They're good, but they still need work.

One of the big drawbacks is that the whole tiered administration doesn't work. They've got a tiered user structure where there is a global admin, and then what they call a manager, and then there is a user. The problem is, if anywhere along the line somebody opens up a support ticket, all the correspondence winds up going to the global admin, it doesn't go to the person who opened up the support ticket. They can't seem to get that changed, even when you tell them specifically that the global admin is not the person dealing with this problem. That's very frustrating.

Another issue, a technical problem they can't seem to solve, is that it doesn't support multicast packets. In layman's terms, Mac computers can't print over the network.

Also, they've got some PoE models, but they need to expand that line a little bit.

Finally, it would be nice to have the ability to have SNMP enabled at the same time Net Insight. I would also like to see integration with Auvik.

It still needs some work. It's got a couple of quirks where it will shut off ports because it thinks there's an IP conflict when there really isn't.

The scalability is good. It could probably go to 100 connections. That would probably be the equivalent of 30 to 40 users.

We are a Netgear partner, so we get preferential support. Because we get preferential support, it's pretty good. We've had a few hiccups, but overall, they're good.

We were using Cisco and HPE. A big factor in our switch to NETGEAR vs Cisco Ethernet Switches is cost. Simplicity is another. Support is another because the support for HPE and Cisco is absolutely horrid.

The setup is straightforward. It's all done in the cloud and you can manage everything from there. It's a whole lot easier than the traditional way of doing it. Deployment takes an hour, if that.

The best strategy is to preconfigure it in the cloud before it gets physically deployed.

As to whether you need to be an IT expert to deploy it and support your network, it depends on the complexity of the network. For simple applications, no. For complex applications, like multiple VLANs, and QoS, and PoE power management, etc, you've got to know what you're doing to set all that up properly.

We see ROI in labor savings. Deployment time is probably cut in half. We're billing for a regular deployment, but it only takes half the amount of time. That's $200 profit for us.

There are two parts to the pricing. There's the pricing of the device itself, which is good. Their licensing model needs work, though. The licensing model doesn't fit the way MSPs do business. They need to revise it to something that makes more sense for an MSP. And here, I'm specifically talking about Insight Pro licensing.

The cost of hardware and additional service is low. That helps our business because it's easier to make a sale.

We were aware of lots of other options, but we didn't do any formal evaluation of any others.

If you are an MSP, you should definitely look into it and plan to use it. I would recommend it.

Overall, we're very happy with the product. It's become our standard going forward. But there are some exceptions. One being the tiered administration. The other one is lack of support for support multicast packets.

Regarding staff for deployment and maintenance, it depends on if you're looking at our entire fleet of these Ethernet switches, which is scattered across multiple clients; then it's probably a tenth of a person. If it's one switch, it's less than a tenth of a person. Switches are low maintenance as a device, it doesn't matter whose they are.

We've got half a dozen deployed at various clients right now. And there will be more because we've got projects in the queue.

Overall, I would rate it an eight out of ten. The issues I mentioned that still need to be resolved come to mind, as well as the licensing structure that doesn't really make sense for us.

I use the solution in my company to connect devices together. I have experience with the very basic switches provided by NETGEAR.

The most valuable feature of the solution stems from the fact that its performance was okay.

Though the tool's useability is good, it has certain shortcomings where improvements are required.

There are certain shortcomings in the stability offered by the product, and improvements are required since I sometimes have to do the power reset.

I have been using NETGEAR Switches for a few months.

The product's stability is fine. Users should not face any stability-related issues when using NETGEAR Switches. My previous organization has used the product for a very long time, and it was there even during the phase when I was about to leave the company.

The product is easily scalable. With time, I was able to add additional NETGEAR Switches and increase the number of products in our network. You need to have a crossover cable to increase the number of switches, but you can directly add NETGEAR Switches, which is really cool.

I used to work in a library where there were around 127 nodes connected to NETGEAR Switches.

The tool is very easy to deploy as it is a very basic switch. I just need to put in the rack and plug in the cables to it.

For the product's deployment phase, you need to unpack the product and get the product ready to be mounted on the rack. After the product is mounted on the rack, you can plug in your ethernet and power cables and conduct a test.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

From unpacking and unboxing to racking up and plugging the cables, it takes less than thirty minutes to deploy it.

My assistant and I were the two people involved in the tool's deployment.

I deployed the tool in my company.

Speaking about the ROI, I didn't have to spend money replacing NETGEAR Switches that had issues, especially in a short span of time. Based on the tool's reliability, the product is good to use.

I wouldn't know anything about the price. I didn't purchase it directly.

I haven't used the tasks for applications under NETGEAR. I have always used the switches provided by NETGEAR.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Speaking about reliability and uptime, the tool I deployed in my company has been working for around five years now. The product is reliable.

The product is good, and I recommend it to others who plan to use it.

I rate the tool's ease of use an eight out of ten.

I rate the tool an eight out of ten.

My company uses NETGEAR Switches for internal networking purposes.

The most valuable feature of the solution is that it is easy to use.

The product's stability has certain shortcomings that need improvement.

I have been using NETGEAR Switches for more than twenty-five years. I don't remember the version of the solution.

It is a scalable solution.

More than 200 employees in our company use NETGEAR Switches.

I have contacted NETGEAR's technical support for help with routers and not switches. I like NETGEAR's technical support.

The solution is deployed on an on-premises model.

A team of three people formed from those who work as managers, admins, engineers, or developers in our company help with the deployment and maintenance of the solution.

Our company's IT department carried out the product's installation phase in-house.

I have seen my company experience a return on investment from the use of NETGEAR Switches.

It is a slightly expensive product.

My company needs to purchase no licenses to use the product.

I use D-Link Switches and Wi-Fi routers from NETGEAR.

If the solution can be made available at a better price, then I would recommend the product to others who plan to use it.

I rate the overall solution a seven out of ten.

We use Netgear switches in a flat network. All the computers are plugged into the same switch. We also have some Power over Ethernet switches from Netgear.

Netgear switches are highly reliable. We haven't done anything particularly sophisticated with them.

Netgear switches could be cheaper. 

I have used Netgear switches for about five years. 

I rate Netgear switches 10 out of 10 for reliability. 

I used different vendors in the past, including 3com and HP. 

Setting up a Netgear switch was incredibly straightforward in our case because we aren't doing anything complicated. We rack everything and plug it in. It can be done in minutes.

I rate Netgear switches nine out of 10. 

NETGEAR Switches is great because it comes preconfigured and designed specifically for AV and that suits our needs. NETGEAR offers multiple port options, is simple to configure, easy to handle, reliable and stable. The most valuable feature for us is the reasonable price. 

I expect we’ll continue to see an improvement in the configuration which could be simplified further. I would also like to see switches with more ports that provide room for new protocols of communications. It would be great to have more bandwidth.

Our primary use case of Switches is for work with a data protocol for audio or AVB protocol for audio. We also use the AVoIP, Dante, and Control.

NETGEAR is a preferred partner for our company which has offices nationwide and offshore. I work as a project engineer for an audio video integrator company.

The solution is stable and scalable. You can link multiple switches and create a bigger network.

We recently used Araknis and sometimes also use Cisco or Extreme Networks. Araknis is about the same price or even cheaper than NETGEAR, but they do not offer as many options as NETGEAR.

Licensing cost depends on the model and number of ports, whether it’s POE, POE Plus or POE Plus Plus. There are certain Cisco switches that are about the same price. 

AVB licensing is required to purchase separately on NETGEAR and Extreme Network.

I rate this product nine out of 10. 

We're a network integrator and supplier for our clients. We've installed these switches for various scenarios. We have installed them for core switching and remote switching, and we have also installed them in various standalone organizations where there is no core or distributed switching. There is just the main switch, and that carries the whole network.

In our previous deployment, we've had three NETGEAR 48-port switches that we installed as standalone switches. They were basically managing everything, such as the internet, firewall, switching, and then distribution to the other network.

In terms of the version, I have worked with GS724.

Its setup, usage, and access are most valuable. It is a very easy switch to set up. 

It is easy to do VLANs, software upgrades, etc. It is also easy to integrate it with other NETGEAR products.

One thing that NETGEAR does very well is that their switches come with a lifetime warranty, like HP. If a switch has not been neglected or misused, NETGEAR will replace your switch if it fails, which really helps.

Its integration with other products can be improved. A lot of time our clients have got an existing access point solution, but they want NETGEAR switching. They don't want to buy NETGEAR access points. The third-party integration would be a big assistance.

There are a lot of systems that are moving into different areas. There are a lot of cloud-based things happening. One nice feature that I've seen in other switches is artificial intelligence on the actual porting. They've got AI technology that will tell you when a port is down. They not only tell you when a port is down; they also tell you when a port is running slower. You can do a cable-fault check, or you can do other checks. It would be nice to have this information in NETGEAR. This feature might already be there in a new release of the NETGEAR's firmware, but I haven't seen it.

I've worked with NETGEAR switches for the last six years.

Its stability is very good. I've never had a NETGEAR switch fail during all the time I've used them.

It is very scalable.

I never had to use NETGEAR's technical support in all the time I've used it. I presume it's good, but I never had to use their technical support.

Its initial setup is straightforward. Deployment is usually fairly quick because it has a very straightforward setup. Your cable runs will obviously take you longer, but deployment is very quick.

The deployment strategy is always to connect switching first, and then as we terminate our points, we connect our points so that people immediately have access to the internet. The strategy is always to first install a firewall, then install a switch, and then install cabling. This way when your cabling is up, your people are already protected, and they're behind the firewall. 

For its deployment and maintenance, you don't need a lot of staff members. Usually, two members are enough. Specifically, if I've got a cabling team, there may be three people, but I don't need a lot of people to do an implementation. I can usually have two people on-site, and they'll implement and sort the switching out themselves. They are usually cable technicians and network technicians.

You get what you pay for. From a price comparison, there are cheaper switch makers on the market that are definitely less expensive than NETGEAR. They give you the same functionality, but they don't come with a name. 

There are solutions like Ubiquiti that are very good. They have the ease of setup, and I find NETGEAR battling a little bit in comparison to Ubiquiti.

Cisco is obviously very expensive, and for a lot of people, it is usually for their core network.

If you're new to switching, then obviously, there is a learning curve, like with any product out there. If you're an existing user of the equipment, it is really easy to use. It is easy to implement and work with. It is easy to run. It is a nice system to work with.

I would rate it an eight out of 10.

We are using it for a small to medium-sized office with over 60 users. We also had IP phones with firewalls and it was good.

The solution is reliable and it is easy to setup.

The problem with the solution is that when it is faulty, it doesn't indicate so and the Internet starts to drop. One needs to do a lot of troubleshooting before understanding that a switch is faulty. If a switch is faulty, it should give an indication.

The scalability and warranty should also be improved.

I have been using the solution for a long time. We are not using the most recent version because when we checked it, it was out of warranty.

The solution's stability is good when the switch works fine.

It is not a very scalable solution. We have an office with 60 users, including IP phones.

I have never contacted the technical support team. I have to go to the local reseller for any issues or queries.

The solution's initial setup is straightforward.

The deployment takes three to five minutes. We need to confirm our company via email first. It takes months to be configured.

The deployment was done by an in-house team. We did it on the Internet because we had qualified switch controllers and technicians. Everything was done efficiently.

I recommend this solution. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.