This $7.99 TP-Link gigabit switch lets you cheaply upgrade your home network, and it's back at its lowest ever price
- ID
- 32833
- Status
- summarized
- Published
- 07 Oct 2026, 11:40 PM
- Fetched
- 08 Oct 2026, 12:50 AM
- Provider
- Tom's Hardware
- Category
- technology
- Original URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/networking/network-switches/this-usd7-99-tp-link-gigabit-switch-lets-you-cheaply-upgrade-your-home-network-and-its-back-at-its-lowest-ever-price-unmanaged-lan-switch-that-adds-five-high-speed-ethernet-ports-to-your-setup-for-lag-free-gaming-or-streaming
- Source URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/feeds/all
Summary
- Score
- 2.0
- Created
- 08 Oct 2026, 12:51 AM
- Tags
- Audience
- developers
What happened
Tom's Hardware flagged a deal on a TP-Link unmanaged gigabit LAN switch at $7.99, described as its lowest-ever price. The unit adds five high-speed Ethernet ports and is pitched for lag-free gaming or streaming. The published article body is mostly paywall and newsletter boilerplate, so beyond the price, port count, and 'unmanaged' spec there is no technical detail, testing, or benchmark data.
Why it matters
Almost nothing here changes what a developer, AI builder, or founder should do. If you already run a home lab, NAS, or a wired backhaul for a home office, a five-port unmanaged gigabit switch at $7.99 is a cheap way to add ports, but the text gives no throughput measurements, power figures, model number, or purchase-region info, so it does not support a buying recommendation or any decision about infrastructure. Treat this as a price alert, not technical news.
Discussion angle
Quick show-of-hands: who in the room actually runs wired home-lab gear versus pure Wi-Fi and cloud, and is a $7.99 unmanaged switch ever the right call versus a managed switch you can VLAN — or is this purely a filler item we skip?