Brett Prince

I run the technical side of Community Radio 5YYYFM and am currently searching for the best suitable ethernet router for the station. We do not use wireless, however this may change in the future and we will need to be able to send and receive both audio files and the actual audio feed from our studio's. Also used for sharing the internet and other file types between computer terminals. Any help or suggestions would be very much appreciated. I have been tossing up between the Cisco 2960 Series 24-Port Ethernet Switch and the Cisco 2960 Series 24-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch, however if you believe that these may not be suitable any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Reply by Neil McLachlan from Co Serve Consulting on Friday, 25 May, 2012 - 14:00

Hi Brett Both switches are solid stable technology with good management features, including quality of service (QoS), and lots of options (although not too many available through DonorTec yet). Since you mention that audio feeds and files will traverse the network I think your decision should probably driven by the better ultimate performance of the Cisco 2960 Series 24-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch. Note: These switches can be quite noisy in operation compared with consumer oriented fanless designs - so you'll need to locate whichever you choose carefully. Regards Neil McLachlan | e :: neil@coserve.com.au | t :: 02 4782 6917 | f :: 02 4782 7815

Reply by Neil McLachlan from Co Serve Consulting on Friday, 25 May, 2012 - 14:05

Note also that these are Layer 2+ Ethernet switches not routers. Regards Neil McLachlan | e :: neil@coserve.com.au | t :: 02 4782 6917 | f :: 02 4782 7815

Reply by Chris from Far Edge Pty Ltd on Friday, 25 May, 2012 - 14:37

don't even consider 10/100 switches they're not even suitable for a home network today, let alone a small business. 2960S-24G is probably what you should be looking for. Personally I prefer the HP v1910 series - cheaper, easier to manage, equivalent functionality. But not available on DonorTec as far as I know. Any questions let me know, Regards, Chris Herrmann Far Edge