If you're looking to make upgrades to your home network without breaking the bank, an unmanaged switch might be a good idea. An unmanaged switch is a networking device that you can use to connect multiple devices within a LAN, and there's no configuration required. There are a few reasons you might want to consider picking one up if you want to improve your home networking.

4 More Ethernet ports

Great for wiring your home

If you have a lot of devices that you'd like to connect directly to your router, you may find that you run out of Ethernet ports in your router very quickly. That's where an unmanaged switch comes in, as you can simply plug it into your router and have your other devices then connect to the switch.

Imagine you have a PlayStation, a PC, a mesh network, a NAS, and maybe another PC as well. You'd need more Ethernet ports to work with, and that's a big reason to pick one up.

3 Home automation and smart devices

For devices that need to be wired

If you have any smart home devices that need a wired connection or would benefit from one but don't want to do any setup, that's another reason to pick up an unmanaged switch. You can simply plug and play while treating the switch as an extension of your router, giving you peace of mind that your devices are connected and working without needing to spend time configuring anything.

What's more, you'll be able to easily control and manage your devices from something like Home Assistant, and you won't need to worry anywhere near as much about those devices losing connection on the network if they're wired.

2 Great for a small business, too

Expand your network easily

If you're in a small business with multiple workstations and want to connect them to your internet connection, an unmanaged switch is a great addition, too. You can get your printer, NAS, multiple machines, and other business-related devices all on the same network without needing to worry about setting up more advanced network features.

If you're a small business owner and want to keep everything running and on the same network while staying tired, then it's a no-brainer to pick one up.

1 Easy for non-tech-savvy people

No configuration required

The whole point of an unmanaged switch is that it's plug-and-play, meaning that you don't need to worry about configuring anything or changing any settings. You plug it in, you plug devices in, it works. There's nothing to understand, and that makes it really easy for someone who just wants more wired connections without needing to understand how it works.

On top of that, they're relatively inexpensive too. You can get a five-port unmanaged switch for as little as $20 and even cheaper in some instances.