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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