2.5G network switches

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

GoogalyMoogaly

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So this black Friday I'm thinking of seeing if I can pick up some cheap 2.5G network switches.

There seems to be lots by unknown brands (unknown to me at least) but I don't know if they are any good. Does anyone have any experience with these?

Am I best to stick with known brands like Netgear, D-Link, TP-Link, etc. or are there good lesser brands I could get to save some money? If so which ones?

Thinking I'll probably want an 8-port and 4/5-port switch. If the 8-port could be wall mounted, that might be nice too.

Thanks.
 
Call me paranoid, but I'm a bit uncomfortable with the idea of buying no-name Chinese brands for networking equipment.

From everything I've seen the performance is fine though.
 
Jim99 said:
Call me paranoid, but I'm a bit uncomfortable with the idea of buying no-name Chinese brands for networking equipment.

From everything I've seen the performance is fine though.
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Be fine with unmanaged switches. I agree I wouldn't want anything else though. I'm sticking to Unifi stuff these days.
 
Personally I wouldn't - I worry about the cheap power supplies etc far more than being paranoid about chinese monitoring or whatever

That said, there are a few decent models, some of which are covered here:
www.servethehome.com

The Ultimate Cheap Fanless 2.5GbE Switch Buyers Guide

We test 15+ fanless 2.5GbE switches to see which are the top picks, which have cool features, and which ones are simply overpriced
www.servethehome.com www.servethehome.com
 
I was skeptical about Chinese no-name switches, but shoving a western friendly brand on the front and multiplying the price doesn't seem like a good deal either, and its not like any of the known brands have ever looked after me, TPLink stuff works and keeps working for decades, Netgear and Netgear Professional sadly doesn’t.

I use the 4x2.5Gb and 2x10Gb SFP+ switches here, I dropped fibre to each floor and use them to break it out to copper at 2.5Gb. For the £30 or so they cost, I honestly can’t complain and zero reliability issues. That said my core switch is an Aruba, and thats one area I would still choose a known OEM.
 
If you're buying stuff from AliExpress or similar then I would avoid built-in power supplies so that mains voltage gets nowhere near it, and replace any AC adapter it's bundled with rather than using what is likely a fire risk. This is easier now that loads of things use USB PD as their power sources.

The actual PCB that does the work of switching is likely to be no different to things like unmanaged Netgear switches.
 
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From what I can see the main difference between the named brands and the unnamed, is the warranty.

What I did was to keep my eye out for a named brand, open-box. Not much can really go wrong with an open-box switch. It worked out just fine, with a significant saving.
 
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Oh Ed not again. said:
I picked up a Yuanley one, £50 or so. Ditched the PSU for a USBC to barrel jack PD cable.

Worked well until I upgraded to 10gbe all round.
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Same here. The 8 port 2.5Gb with 2x SFP+ is a relative steal this week, and the PoE model isn't much more. So, PoE for downstairs to replace the existing core gigabit router, and a 'dumb' one upstairs to extend the network to the few wired clients up there. They're all RTL underneath, see the STH video above.
 
I recently got a VIMIN 24 Port 2.5G PoE Switch for the new house and was SUPER skeptical at first but it's doing its job absolutely fine so far
 
Lartyconshayo said:
Zyxel 2.5g unmanaged are decent
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Its what I just picked up, not so cheap and not so unknown though, I only picked a 5 x 2.5gb port one up, hidden behind the TV and allows all those devices (TV, Mrs PC, AV Receiver and Sky Box) to all be hardwired with 1 cable running back to the router, it doesnt get hot and not had any issues with it, its been running about 2 months now.
 
Rainmaker said:
Same here. The 8 port 2.5Gb with 2x SFP+ is a relative steal this week, and the PoE model isn't much more. So, PoE for downstairs to replace the existing core gigabit router, and a 'dumb' one upstairs to extend the network to the few wired clients up there. They're all RTL underneath, see the STH video above.
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I've seen those 8+2 switches, seems a lot of brands do them and I'm quite tempted, can't decide which one to get as I don't know any of the names. What's the advantage of PoE? I understand it mean Power-over-Ethernet, but not sure why that's good?
 
GoogalyMoogaly said:
I've seen those 8+2 switches, seems a lot of brands do them and I'm quite tempted, can't decide which one to get as I don't know any of the names. What's the advantage of PoE? I understand it mean Power-over-Ethernet, but not sure why that's good?
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Depends if you have anything that uses POE. I have a switch that is powered by POE and can then power other devices, super handy.
 
GoogalyMoogaly said:
I take it only specific things can be powered by PoE it doesn't just work with any switch?
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Things like CCTV cameras and wireless access points can be powered with PoE. This means you only need to run one cable (Ethernet) to provide both the device's power and its data connection back to the network. That's what makes a PoE switch useful (if you need it). Otherwise you have, say, four external CCTV cameras each requiring a data cable, and a long power lead (x4) then a data cable plus PoE injector and power lead for the WiFi AP. Much like static IPs, if you don't know what PoE is for, then you don't need it.

The various brands are much of a muchness, so pick the one that suits (number of SFP+ ports or whatever). They all use the same Realtek chip underneath.
 
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