Question

You need to set up a network with over 100 workstations. When asking two different vendors, both provided the switches you want, but the price difference is huge. There must be something that makes the price differ that much. But what? What are the consequences if you use a cheaper alternative? What is the threshold of when to use a cheaper switch and when to use the more expensive switch?

Answer 1

Q) What makes the price differ that much?

Managed and Unmanaged switches are the reason of having so much price difference.

You can find unmanaged switches usually in price ranges from $50 to around $100 (USD) or more. This price usually depends on how many ports you need the switch to have. With managed switches, however, you should expect significantly higher costs. These can range from anywhere in $1500 per port to $2800 (USD) per port.

Managed switches cost more than unmanaged switches because they typically have better technical specifications, advanced features that allow for user management and configuration

Features available on managed switches include the following:

• Spanning Tree Protocol support for switch and link redundancy without creating loops;
• the ability to implement quality of service;
• VLAN support;
• bandwidth rate limiting; and
• port mirroring.

Q) consequences of using a cheaper alternative ?

These are some consequences of using unmanaged switch:

• Unmanaged switches cannot prioritize traffic
• Unmanaged switches cannot segment network traffic
• Unmanaged switches have limited or no tools for monitoring network activity or performance
• Open ports on unmanaged switches are a security risk
• No resiliency (i.e,higher downtime)

Q) What is the threshold of when to use a cheaper switch and when to use the more expensive switch?

For smaller businesses that consist of a single office or freelance professional work, it is not likely that you’re going to need more than a smaller unmanaged switch. If there are thousands of users on the network at any one time, however, then managed switches are crucial.

Security may also play a large role in your choice. Even if your network is relatively small, if there is a lot of highly sensitive data (customer data, financial details, etc.) being transmitted across the network, then managed data switches may still be the most appropriate choice.