i found a switch thats affordable:
http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/41cbaa7611d79546273fc0a87f9c077d/Product/View/XH8618
NETCOMM 5 Port 10/100 Switch
Features:
* 5 x 10â„100Mbps Auto-Negotiation Ethernet ports
* Simple Plug & Play
* Automatically detects and sets optimum data rate
* Store & Forward switching method
* Windows 95â„98â„2000â„Meâ„XP, Linux, MacOS 8â„9â„X
* Supports Auto-MDIâ„MDI-X
* Fullâ„half duplex transfer mode for each port
* Wire speed reception and transmission
* Integrated address Look-Up Engine, supports 2K absolute MAC addresses
* Supports 128KBytes RAM for data buffering
* Comprehensive front-panel diagnostic LEDs
* Broadcast storm protection
* IEEE 802.3x flow control for full-duplex
* Back pressure flow control for half-duplex
* Technical Specifications
* Standard
* IEEE 802.3 10BASE-T
* IEEE 802.3u 100BASE-TX
* Network Media
* ETHERNET: UTP Cat. 3,4,5
* EAST ETHERNET: UTP Cat. 5
* Protocol CSMAâ„CD
* Topology Star
* Number of Ports
* 5 x 10â„100Mbps Auto-MDIX with RJ-45 connector
* Network Data Transfer Rate
* ETHERNET: 10Mbps (HALF-DUPLEX)
* 20Mbps (FULL-DUPLEX)
* FAST ETHERNET: 100Mbps (HALF-DUPLEX)
* 200Mbps (FULL-DUPLEX)
* Diagnostic LEDs
* PER UNIT: Power(1 Green LED)
* PER PORT: Linkâ„Activity
* SPEED: (100Mbps)
* Data RAM Buffers 128KBytes per device
* Filtering Address Table 2K entries per device
* Power Adaptor 7.5VDCâ„1A
* Power Consumption 4 watts. (max.)
* Dimensions 125 (w) x 70 (d) x 30 (h)
* Temperature
* OPERATING: 0 ~ 40C
* STORAGE: -10 ~ 70C
* Humidity
* OPERATING: 10% ~ 90% RH
* STORAGE: 5% ~ 90% RH
* Emission
* FCC Class B, CE mark Class B, VCCI-B. C-Tick (N367)
