[Asterisk-Users] [OT] PoE switch question (Netgear FSM7326P works

[Joe Greco]

> Sean Kennedy wrote:
> 
> > Jeeze, how can you NOT justify a 1000 bucks for a PoE switch that has QoS?
> > I was under the impression that QoS was a requirement for VoIP.  Well, 
> > not technically, but rationally, I wouldn't set any client up on a VoIP 
> > system that didn't have a switch that couldn't push the VoIP packets to 
> > the front of the queue.
> 
> Uhh, yeah, explain to my customers that have 6-8 phones, 6-8 PCs, a 
> small NAS and a DSL connection that they need a $1000 switch. Go ahead, 
> I dare you :-)
> 
> QoS on the internal LAN is not something I am at all concerned about. 
> All the switches are 100Mb full duplex, and have switching fabrics 
> capable of much more than that. Any traffic generated between the PCs 
> and the NAS is not likely to affect VOIP at all. There are no queues 
> being shared between the VOIP phones and any other devices on the 
> network, except for traffic leaving the LAN.

You have to either have a bad switch or a heck of a lot of traffic to get
any latency on a 100/full network.  If it's a problem - get another switch
just for the phones.  That's not terribly hard.  You can pick up nice,
managed 16-port switches on eBay for sub-$50 if you don't mind the used
route.

> Where these clients _do_ need QoS is on their router that connects to 
> the ISP, but we can handle that, again without spending $1000.
> 
> So, I ask again: given the choice between a sub-$100 16-port full-duplex 
> 100Mb switch and external power supplies, and an over-$1000 12-port 
> switch with internal power supply, which do you think is a better value 
> for a small LAN? I can buy $20 3Com PoE bricks and hook them all up to a 
> UPS for a lot less than $900, with the downside being that it will be 
> ugly to look at (and the bricks aren't "real" PoE, but they are close 
> enough for VOIP phones).

As much as I agree with that general sentiment, I think I'd be a little
afraid of doing that.  I've seen reports of people blowing stuff up with
"dumb" PoE injectors, and I've seen enough legacy wire abandonment and
subsequent "hey there's a jack let's just plug in" to make me somewhat
hesitant.

The PoE switches are heavily overpriced.  No dispute there!  And then you
have companies like Cisco pulling off stunts like their pre-standard non-
standard PoE.

Anyways, Not That I Would Encourage Anyone To Do This, but NFR's of Netgear
products are available at half off list ($875 for the switch in question)
to Powershift partners.  That's gotta be one of the better prices for that
switch at this time.

... JG
-- 
Joe Greco - sol.net Network Services - Milwaukee, WI - http://www.sol.net
"We call it the 'one bite at the apple' rule. Give me one chance [and] then I
won't contact you again." - Direct Marketing Ass'n position on e-mail spam(CNN)
With 24 million small businesses in the US alone, that's way too many apples.