Netgear MS510TXUP - any similar switches out there? Pros, Cons?

[omw]

I recently picked up this switch for 2.5Gb fiber internet and 2.5Gb Wifi 6 APs.

 

[follower]

I recently picked up this switch for 2.5Gb fiber internet and 2.5Gb Wifi 6 APs.

Pros: None.
Cons: Highly overpriced. 3 Fans.

 

[omw]

Pros: None.
Cons: Highly overpriced. 3 Fans.

Is there a cheaper switch with similar features?

 

[tgl]

If the gear you want to connect is all 2.5G max, you don't need a 10G-capable switch (unless maybe you've got a 10G-capable pipe you're trying to connect them all to?). The other questions to ask are whether you actually need a managed switch, or POE. Each of those things adds power budget and makes it more likely that you'll need something with fans in it. So ... what features do you actually need?

 

[Tech Junky]

TRENDnet 5-Port Unmanaged 2.5G Switch, 5 x 2.5GBASE-T Ports, 25Gbps Switching Capacity, Backwards Compatible with 10-100-1000Mbps Devices, Fanless, Wall Mountable, Black, (TEG-S350) https://a.co/d/6Xhv4DP

QNAP QSW-1105-5T 5-Port Unmanaged 2.5GbE Switch Broadcom BCM53161 Chipset https://a.co/d/0XQYjYB

Zyxel 8-Port 2.5G Multi-Gigabit Unmanaged Switch for Home Entertainment or SOHO Network [MG-108] https://a.co/d/c9ijxvz

 

[tgl]

TRENDnet 5-Port Unmanaged 2.5G Switch, 5 x 2.5GBASE-T Ports, 25Gbps Switching Capacity, Backwards Compatible with 10-100-1000Mbps Devices, Fanless, Wall Mountable, Black, (TEG-S350)

Also, if you need more ports, I can recommend the TRENDnet S380, which is 8 x 2.5G ports and otherwise the same. I've had one for about six months, and the only complaint I've had with it is I find it doesn't pass VLAN-tagged packets. It's not required to do so by any spec; but the Netgear switches I have will pass those, and I had to do some rearranging when I found out this one didn't.

 

[Tech Junky]

doesn't pass VLAN-tagged packets.

That's interesting as dumb switches go back to the days of bridges and don't look at the traffic and just pass it along. I'm going to assume you did a hard reset on it to see if it would fix that issue?

 

[tgl]

That's interesting as dumb switches go back to the days of bridges and don't look at the traffic and just pass it along. I'm going to assume you did a hard reset on it to see if it would fix that issue?

It's just a box, there's no "hard reset" other than the power plug. I was surprised about it too, but some googling suggested that this is common with some switch manufacturers. Maybe they are hoping to upsell you to a managed switch.

 

[omw]

If the gear you want to connect is all 2.5G max, you don't need a 10G-capable switch (unless maybe you've got a 10G-capable pipe you're trying to connect them all to?). The other questions to ask are whether you actually need a managed switch, or POE. Each of those things adds power budget and makes it more likely that you'll need something with fans in it. So ... what features do you actually need?

I'm connecting 2 workstations that are 10G. I have 2.5G fiber internet that can be upgraded to 5G. The Wifi 6 APs are 2.5G and powered by POE+ and POE++. If I didn't get a POE switch, I'd have to find a 2.5G POE++ POE injector. I don't know if those exist, yet.

 

[Tech Junky]

I'm connecting 2 workstations that are 10G. I have 2.5G fiber internet that can be upgraded to 5G. The Wifi 6 APs are 2.5G and powered by POE+ and POE++. If I didn't get a POE switch, I'd have to find a 2.5G POE++ POE injector. I don't know if those exist, yet.

I use a 10ge poe injector because it's either 1 or 10 with no middle ground for nbaset speeds still unless you pay up significantly for a switch that does those speeds and poe. At $60 for an injector it didn't make sense to go with a switch. Now if you're doing 4+ devices that need poe and speed it makes a little more sense to go with a switch instead.

5ge is another hurdle as well. You start having switched that cost as much as a PC when you could diy something for the same price or less if you're not doing anything too complicated. It's a lot more reasonable to take a sff PC and add a couple of nics for $200/ea and build a system for $600 with 4 5ge ports and a couple of 10ge ports. Also being able to expand the nics at will without needing to buy a new router that does 25/40/100ge down the road can be appealing.

Now if you truly need 10ge speeds on the workstations then a segment of the network dedicated to those 2 machines makes more sense. What they're connecting to at those speeds makes a difference though.

 

[tgl]

I'm connecting 2 workstations that are 10G. I have 2.5G fiber internet that can be upgraded to 5G. The Wifi 6 APs are 2.5G and powered by POE+ and POE++. If I didn't get a POE switch, I'd have to find a 2.5G POE++ POE injector. I don't know if those exist, yet.

Well ... unless you're shoving a lot of data directly between the two workstations, their 10G ports are doing nothing for you. You should probably have your eyes mostly on effective use of that 5G internet pipe you're planning to pony up for real soon. (Or if you're not about ready to do that, really you oughta just think about 2.5 all around.) Even with that service in place, what sites are you connecting to that will provide 5G data rates on a routine basis? I think the sales pitch for such a fat pipe is not that any one client will use the whole bandwidth, but that several clients can run pretty intensive transfers simultaneously. So you might want to think about an asymmetric switch with a 5G or 10G port that will go to your internet pipe, and mostly 2.5G ports otherwise. Gear like that does exist, for example I currently use some Netgear GS110MX switches with 2 10G ports and 8 1G ports.

POE++ all around is going to add a lot of cost and power budget that you aren't getting your money's worth out of, either. I'd push harder on the idea of using an injector for that high-power AP. Surely the AP's manufacturer has a recommended injector --- although if you go that route, you're paying top dollar for the assurance that it'll work. Might be worth getting a street-price POE++ injector from someplace that will let you return it, and see if it will pass 2.5G reliably. (My double-E degree is decades rusty, but my sense of the hardware situation is that a POE injector shouldn't much care what data speed you're pushing through it.)

 

[Tech Junky]

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082W3993T/?tag=snbforums-20

This is the injector I'm using for my 2.5GE AP port. Looks like the price went up though since I bought. Then again everything is getting hit by inflation these days.

Procet 10G 10Gbps Power-Over-Ethernet Active PoE-Injector-Midspan 60W 55V, UL Certificate, for a New Range of Applications Including 802.11ax Access Points,WiFi 6，PT-PSE104GB-60-10 $69.00

 

[omw]

Well ... unless you're shoving a lot of data directly between the two workstations, their 10G ports are doing nothing for you. You should probably have your eyes mostly on effective use of that 5G internet pipe you're planning to pony up for real soon. (Or if you're not about ready to do that, really you oughta just think about 2.5 all around.) Even with that service in place, what sites are you connecting to that will provide 5G data rates on a routine basis? I think the sales pitch for such a fat pipe is not that any one client will use the whole bandwidth, but that several clients can run pretty intensive transfers simultaneously. So you might want to think about an asymmetric switch with a 5G or 10G port that will go to your internet pipe, and mostly 2.5G ports otherwise. Gear like that does exist, for example I currently use some Netgear GS110MX switches with 2 10G ports and 8 1G ports.

POE++ all around is going to add a lot of cost and power budget that you aren't getting your money's worth out of, either. I'd push harder on the idea of using an injector for that high-power AP. Surely the AP's manufacturer has a recommended injector --- although if you go that route, you're paying top dollar for the assurance that it'll work. Might be worth getting a street-price POE++ injector from someplace that will let you return it, and see if it will pass 2.5G reliably. (My double-E degree is decades rusty, but my sense of the hardware situation is that a POE injector shouldn't much care what data speed you're pushing through it.)

The AP I've been looking at is the Netgear WAX630E. It has an optional power adapter you can get. But I need POE since I ceiling-mount my APs. I don't have random power outlets in the walls or ceiling-space. I'm looking at this switch which is similar to the Netgear GS110MX to use in 1 or 2 rooms

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TC3VJ61/?tag=snbforums-20

It has an additional 10G port to connect a 10G device with fiber or DAC if I need to. I work from home and multiple family members use the connection at the same time.

 

[tgl]

I'm looking at this switch which is similar to the Netgear GS110MX to use in 1 or 2 rooms

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TC3VJ61/?tag=snbforums-20

Hmm, only three better-than-1G ports (four if you have a use for the SFP port). If that's good enough for your usage, then sure, but you'd described a need for five such ports.

Anyway, there is plenty of gear out there to choose from. The point I was trying to make was just to not get fixated on getting a switch where all the ports meet your max spec requirement for any port. You can do that, but it'll cost you, and you might be annoyed by the impact on your power bill and ambient noise level.