• Mad_Punda@feddit.org
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    13 days ago

    Well the router I use today has 4 ports (and a built in modem for that matter, but I don’t use that).
    I understand I can use a switch, but that means I’ll have to buy a switch in addition to this to replace my router.

    • Draghetta@lemmy.world
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      13 days ago

      Which is not a bad thing, it’s more unix if you will. Router is a router, switch is a switch.

      You provide your own switch and you choose the features: port count, port speed, vlan, etc — or get a 10€ switch if you don’t care. When a port breaks you replace the switch alone.

      Multifunction tools are generally a tradeoff where you buy immediate convenience and pay with more ewaste and more money in the long run.

        • rmuk@feddit.uk
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          13 days ago

          I also wanted to chime in with the perennial point that while this device is a pure expression of the OpenWrt project, they also support hundreds of other devices including, amazingly, a number of large switches, so if you wanted to ditch the separate route appliance altogether you could get all the features with only switch hardware.

      • Mad_Punda@feddit.org
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        13 days ago

        I have 3 but they’re not close to the router. (What I’m saying is: I’m likely target audience, but I don’t have an additional switch nearby, since so far any router I had also had a built in switch.)

        But yeah, I get it. Modularity makes sense for repairability.

    • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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      13 days ago

      Yet for 98% of everyone else, you either need more than 4, or you only need one or two. You got a house full of proffesional gamers that can’t have an extra 15ms of latency?