Everyone wants a faster and more reliable internet connection for their personal residence or business, as it allows for faster file sharing and data transfer. However, connecting too many network devices to your home network might cause bandwidth issues and network congestion, which is why you’d need a high-speed Gigabit switch. 

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the best high-speed gigabit switches for your home and small business. So, without further ado, let’s dive right in. 

What are Gigabit Switches?

As their name implies, Gigabit switches are network management devices that allow devices connected to your Local Area Network (LAN) to communicate or transfer data using Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) speeds. They’re mostly used in home and small business networks, as they offer high bandwidth for large file transfer, online gaming, and video streaming. 

Different Types of Gigabit Switch

Depending on your application, gigabit switches come in several varieties, but for the purpose of this guide, we’ll cover the three main types: 

• Managed Gigabit Switches—these are perfect for multiple devices that need to be monitored and controlled. They enable data flow control, give security access, port-based Quality of Service (QoS), and layer 2 and 3 routing protocols. Admittedly, this makes them a tad more expensive and reliant on the user’s technical expertise for setup and configuration.
• Unmanaged Gigabit Switches—these don’t require any management, control, or any kind of setup as the previously mentioned switches do. They are time- and money-saving plug-and-play devices that are usually more suitable for home and small business networks. 
• PoE Switches—Power over Ethernet switches are typically used to transmit both data and power supply voltage to low-power devices that don’t have access to any other kind of power supply. This includes IP cameras, Voice over Internet Protocol, and wireless access points. 

Best Gigabit Switches for Your Network

As stated above, the best gigabit switch for your network largely depends on the application and the number of ports you need. For example, Tenda 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch SG105 or Intellinet 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch 530378 are great 5-port unmanaged switches for home use. 

Both products offer plug-and-play installation without any software or configuration required and provide additional adaptive ports with up to 1000 Mbps speeds. If, by any chance, you need a PoE switch, Hikvision DS-3E0505P-E is a fantastic 4-port PoE option.

However, if you have a large number of IP cameras on your property, you’ll likely need something bigger. We suggest the Hikvision DS-3E0526P-E 8-Port Unmanaged Gigabit PoE Switch, which is ideal for transferring large amounts of data from high-megapixel IP cameras. 

Businesses will likely demand something managed due to the additional network security such devices provide. We suggest Intellinet Gigabit Ethernet PoE+Web Managed Switch 561341 and Luxul 52-Port Stackable Gigabit POE+ L2/L3 Managed Switch XMS-7048P due to their reliability and integrated features. 

The former should satisfy the needs of smaller businesses that require up to 16 PoE connections, while the latter is more oriented towards enterprises due to its massive power budget, stacking, and various other management capabilities. 

Increasing your Home Network Speed with Gigabit Switch

Fast Ethernet (going up to 100 Mbps) is largely being replaced by Gigabit Ethernet due to various reasons—the primary being that the internet speed standards, along with the number of connected devices, have been increased. 

Sure, wireless is great, but wired networks on Gigabit switches will also perform better, as they’re more stable and offer up to 1000 Mbps (1 Gbps) data transfer rates. This provides end users with a highly reliable and performing network, regardless of whether we’re discussing business or home applications.