[GTALUG] Cheap vs Inexpensive (Was: router upgrade)

Alvin Starr alvin at netvel.net
Fri Jul 14 14:56:31 EDT 2017


On 07/13/2017 05:32 PM, Scott Sullivan via talk wrote:
> On 13/07/17 05:17 PM, Scott Sullivan via talk wrote:
>> On 13/07/17 05:09 PM, James Knott via talk wrote:
>>> On 07/13/2017 05:03 PM, Scott Sullivan via talk wrote:
>>>>  From my own experience, this is not the case. I'v been using TP-Link
>>>> gear for over a decade, in personal and professional settings (having
>>>> worked at an ISP). I find TP-Link to be of good quality. Some of my
>>>> personal units I've had in service for 5 years.
>>>
>>> I have a TP-Link TL-WA901ND access point.  While it generally works
>>> well, it has one bug.  It supports mulitple SSIDs and VLANs. However,
>>> the native LAN leaks into the VLAN, so that anything connected to the
>>> 2nd SSID gets the wrong DHCP etc. info.
>>>
>>> I also have a TL-SG105E managed switch that generally does what it's
>>> supposed to, but also has some bugs.
>>>
>>> So, I'd put them at the lower end of the quality spectrum.
>>
>> Ah, this is a fair point, where I have to clarify myself.
>>
>> I was speaking mostly to the quality of their hardware. Which is 
>> above average for similarly priced products.
>>
>> Yes, their software has bugs, and their about where I expect them to 
>> be in coverage for their target market.
>>
>> Cisco has equally numerous number of bugs, but their more obscure in 
>> odd edge cases because their users push that it harder, and pay to be 
>> able to push extremes.
>
On Cisco. In 20 years of running an ISP and working with various largish 
Cisco customers.
The only time I have seen a bad port on a switch(baring a lightning 
strike) is with Cisco and one client had close to 100 bad ports over a 
couple of thousand ports.

>
> On the subject of decent hardware, ruined by bad software....
>
> DO NOT BUY ZyXEL!
>
> You may have fond memorys from the 80s, well their software hasn't 
> changed since then!
>
> I recently bought this, and I was the sucker.
>
>
[snip]

Has anybody seen a reasonably in-expensive switch that can have the 
firmware replaced with an openflow enabled linux?
I keep hoping to see someone do an openwrt like thing on D-Link, 
Netgear, or other cheap reliable switch.

-- 
Alvin Starr                   ||   land:  (905)513-7688
Netvel Inc.                   ||   Cell:  (416)806-0133
alvin at netvel.net              ||



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