• Mad_Punda@feddit.org
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      16 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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        16 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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            16 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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          16 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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        15 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?