BUFFALO PoE Smart 16 Port Business Switch (BS-GS2016P)

Easy set up and mounting, no issues so far with performance

This is a very nice switch for the money. I know that other brand-name switches (from Cisco and Netgear), may cost double or triple with the comparable feature set of this Buffalo switch. It has a web interface for changing settings of course, however, the manual says you have to download a Windows utility program from the Buffalo website to assign an IP address first. The utility program is very small and doesn't abuse your registry or hard drive space when you install it. After installing the utility and assigning IP address, you can change other settings via the web interface. There is probably a way of accomplishing the same task without the utility, but I've used only the official method as mentioned in the manual.Some people have reported that this switch makes a lot of noise. Actually, the noise level is somewhere in the middle when you compare it to other equipment in the 1U form factor. I used the SmartTools decibel meter for Android to quantitatively measure the noise level. At one meter distance, the noise level is 40 dB. At approx 8 - 10 meter distance, the noise level is 28 dB. When you compare it to other 1U equipment, such as 1U rack servers, it's not that bad as you might think. However, people are different, so other people may not share the same opinion. It depends on the occupants of the office/setting where this switch will be installed.Finally, this switch has a lot of features. You can switch between L2 and L3 mode and there are a bunch of other options.

I wish I could pull more information from SNMP and wish it had a few more features. Otherwise its a good product.

Great product. Setup is a breeze, and it works exactly as advertised. In our house we can sometimes pull a 1GB internet connection to a stand-still. The switch works wonders in keeping up with the demand. The ISP provided router was simply not up to the job. The router now handles the Wi-Fi traffic only, and all the computers is hard-wired through the switch - should have done this years ago!

Did the job. Very high speed and no issues. Multiple people doing heavy downloads simultaneously.

Excelent product just the fan is loudy!!

I really like this un-managed switch. plug and play. great prices on all of their POE switches. I've purchased mutiple of the 5, 8, and 24 port switches and haven't had a single problem with any of them.

This is a heck of a switch and should not be considered a home office switch, but a full featured data center switch in an affordable package. I'm a techy guy, but I'm not a practicing senior network engineer so I'll never be able to utilize all of the features that this switch has active. Instead of posting them here, read the product description or hit the buffalo website. They really do it justice with clear description, good startup documentation and an exhaustive manual. I updated the firmware that I immediately downloaded from buffalo’s site. I noticed that this has backup flash, so that my newly installed firmware and the previous shipped firmware were both still resident and I could revert to the other flash if needed. Nice feature, providing enterprise level rollback and corruption recovery.There's a few functions (besides the obvious PoE) that really identify this as a serious product. First, it’s a solid metal build. The switch is heavy, although compact and reeks high build quality. Since this is a compact PoE switch, it comes with a huge power brick that is actually bigger than the switch itself. The 8-port edition is definitely small enough to be wall or desktop oriented, so the brick makes sense instead of including it within the switch case. Thankfully buffalo uses the industry standard modular 3-prong computer plug, so shorter or longer third party cables can be used with this brick. There's a downside in that they do not include or make available any standard rack mount kit for the 8 port -- interestingly enough it has the required screw holes for a bracket -- one can't be found on their site and their customer support hasn't provided a solution to adding this to a standard rack even after giving them a month to come up with something.. -1 Star.Second, this is a great switch for a small business that wants/needs to implement PoE devices - or if you are a geek like me, your home network. This is the type of switch needed to run wireless access points, IP phones/speakerphones, or even IP cameras. This is why I want/(need) a PoE switch, to run some AP’s and prepare for IP cameras to replace my older lower quality “Siamese cable” security cameras.Most of us have wireless at home, and for the majority of homeowners, it’s through the residential gateways that our ISP’s provide. Most of the time this is at the service entry and wireless emanating from there won’t go through your whole house… and especially not outside of your home. Instead of trying to make this inadequate wireless work, I install multiple access points – one on the second floor and one on the main floor. These are Ubiquiti Networks PoE UniFi APs… There are inexpensive and easily software managed (I can’t wait until their UAP-AC drops in price). Instead of trying to run power to the location that these AP’s are mounted in the ceiling, it’s a simple CAT6 run. These devices plug directly in the Buffalo switch, which provides both power and network connectivity and smart switch configuration opportunities.So much for the PoE function of the switch - does it work? Yes! Since it’s a smart switch, it easily trunks back to my existing 24 port smart gigabit TP-LINK TL-SG2424 using LACP and my existing VLANs are easily learned. I picked up a QSEE PoE camera to hook to my existing DVR and it powers without issue. I set up an additional VLAN to limit access of this camera to the local network and DVR. There’s no fluffy wizards for this, but that’s not a problem. If you don’t know how to work with VLANs or what they are, then you probably aren’t the person to configure them – have someone else help you with your smart switch configuration – these can be used by novices, but the real power and security of these devices are unlocked by trained pros. Nonetheless, the web based configuration is much more user friendly than a command line that enterprise switches use.I really like this little switch. I wish they provided at least an option for rack “wings”. Not every small business will need 16 PoE ports… 8 ports can be enough. I like separating my PoE from my main switch to keep the devices less expensive, since enterprise models can be pricy.