Optus Mobile Review ALDI Mobile Review Amaysim Mobile Review Belong Mobile Review Circles.Life Review Vodafone Mobile Review Woolworths Mobile Review Felix Mobile Review Best iPhone Plans Best Family Mobile Plans Best Budget Smartphones Best Prepaid Plans Best SIM-Only Plans Best Plans For Kids And Teens Best Cheap Mobile Plans Telstra vs Optus Mobile Optus NBN Review Belong NBN Review Vodafone NBN Review Superloop NBN Review Aussie BB NBN Review iiNet NBN Review MyRepublic NBN Review TPG NBN Review Best NBN Satellite Plans Best NBN Alternatives Best NBN Providers Best Home Wireless Plans What is a Good NBN Speed? Test NBN Speed How to speed up your internet Optus vs Telstra Broadband ExpressVPN Review CyberGhost VPN Review NordVPN Review PureVPN Review Norton Secure VPN Review IPVanish VPN Review Windscribe VPN Review Hotspot Shield VPN Review Best cheap VPN services Best VPN for streaming Best VPNs for gaming What is a VPN? VPNs for ad-blocking Generally, routers and modem-routers tend to have four Ethernet ports to connect to devices in the home. That may sound like plenty, but it’s not a lot if you want to connect as many Ethernet devices in the home as possible with a wired network connection. This is where a network switch can help. These days, there are plenty of Ethernet-compatible devices. Computers and laptops (the latter sometimes via a dock), gaming consoles (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch OLED), smart TVs, WiFi extenders, network-attached storage (NAS) drives and set-top boxes (like the Nvidia Shield TV Pro). Admittedly, WiFi is fast enough—not to mention more convenient—for most online tasks with download speeds comfortably up to 100Mbps. But WiFi connections are prone to interference and speed degradation over distance, not to mention wireless black spots in the home that can make internet unbearably slow or increasingly unreliable. This is where a network switch can help. By connecting a network switch, routers and modem-routers can free up resources for WiFi and internet traffic, rather than throwing Ethernet into the mix, too. The other perk of a network switch is it lets you connect as many Ethernet devices as there are network switch ports, which may mean fewer devices in the home competing for finite WiFi bandwidth. Ethernet connections using Cat5e or newer cables (Cat6 Ethernet cables are great) can comfortably handle speeds beyond gigabit internet. While only Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) and select Hybrid Fibre Coaxial (HFC) homes are currently eligible for NBN 250, NBN 500 and NBN 1000 plans, Ethernet has other perks. It’s faster and more reliable than WiFi, which leads to more consistent internet download/upload speeds and lower latency. It’s also great for homes that like to transfer large files on their local network. This makes a network switch a great choice for speedy file transfers between two devices connected via Ethernet. It’s also a great option for streaming local video files via services like Plex in high resolutions (including 4K) to multiple devices. The next question then is whether to opt for a regular switch or power-over-Ethernet (PoE) network switch. A PoE network switch adds versatility by allowing for network data and power to travel over an Ethernet cable, which is useful for VoIP phones, wireless access points and surveillance cameras. If you do have an NBN service with a VoIP phone, we’d recommend connecting the VoIP-compatible handset directly to your NBN connection box or modem-router. Ultimately, a PoE Ethernet switch is optional. The main question for any network switch owner is how many ports you want. Count the number of Ethernet-compatible devices in your home and buy a network switch that has at least that many ports (though more ports means you can connect more devices in the future).
