Slashdot Mirror
3Com's 10/100 Switching... Wallplate
An anonymous reader wrote in to say "Tom's hardware has an exclusive review of the new 3Com Network Jack. This is a 4-port 10/100 switch that fits in a standard-sized wallplate." Alright, thats a good idea (he says while accidentally kicking the switch hidden under his desk). Having run more then my share of ethernet drops in the past, I gotta say I dig this idea.
It's actually a four-port switch. But in today's world, switches are rather ubiquitous, so it's no big deal.
There would be substantial cost savings when you have to pull cable. Rather than pulling four cables along, you pull just one. Also, at your floor drop, you only have one cable there and you will only be using one port. In your situation, your 4 Cat5 ports at the cubicle are using 4 Cat5 ports at your drop.
Call me crazy, but if you were going to be setting up a new area, this would be a pretty nifty item to have. You just pull one cable. Power over Ethernet (PoE) is not THAT expensive. You're talking in the ball park of $100 or so.
I see this product as something for new installations, not to replace what you've already got. If what's already there works, why change it? Going with these network jacks adds all kinds of room to grow. You get PoE and VoIP, as well as a four-port switch in every cubicle. That sounds pretty tasty, doesn't it?
I also don't know what you're talking about as far as using cable testing equipment and downtime. When's the last time you had a cable go bad? Or a switch? If all four of your devices go out - it's either the uplink from that jack (one cable) or the jack itself. Consider if you have four lines and one of those goes out. Is it the cable to the panel? Is it the cable from the panel to floor drop?
Where the wind blows, the tumbleweed goes.
Actually, there are many places where it is somewhat useful. For example, I've been responsible for wiring the office building in which my company rents an office. A new tenant moved in, and wanted ethernet connectivity for 3 computers, but we had only run one drop to each office, and we weren't interested in running an additional 200' drop, especially with the 3" of workspace above the ceiling panels.
In order to set them up (and have them pay for only one connection), we had to run the live wire out of the wall, into one computer that's running NAT, then from a second NIC in that computer to a hub, then two cables from the hub back into the wall jack, then running over to the second jack (in an adjacent room of the same suite).
If we had had a hub/switch integrated into the walljack (and especially if it had NAT capability, *wink* *wink* 3com), this would have made the job one hell of a lot cleaner. I'd even consider replacing our current setup with this, if just to try the thing out.
Yes! That guy!
A lot of these replies talk about how this device is useless and they would rather just buy a regular 4-port switch. I see your point but I don't think 3Com cares if you buy this to wire your home. The article mentions working closely with cubicle manufacturers. If you work in a cube farm (and I do) you can immediately see how 3Com can make a lot of money from these.
Step1: 3Com gets cubicle companies to build these into cubes.
Step2: Cubicle companies build these switches into their cubes becuase they will have a nifty new feature to use in selling their cubes.
Step3: Large companies like mine buy new cubes for slightly higher price to get this nifty must have feature.
This seems clear to me....But my mind might be fuzzy from staring at this grey cube wall all day.
-- Find the Truth...