Any considerations on a multi-gigabit (1, 2.5, 5, 10) switch?

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Huy Le

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Dec 1, 2015
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Recent G7028 switch died in a lightning storm and I've been looking to replace it.

Was looking at the Ubiquiti US-16-XG and the HP Officeconnect 1850 6XGT 2XGT/SFP+ as viable replacements (if you have suggestions between the 2 ill take them as well but the HP has more 10Gbe copper ports which i could definitely utilize)

Upon researching though, i find multi-gigabit switches to be appealing. Reason being from my standpoint is i recently received gigabit internet service, and i can only see them expanding their speed in the future to something along the lines of 2Gb. Future proofing thoughts, i don't see a future home router being 10Gb but perhaps 2.5 or 5Gb initially. If the router was 2.5Gb or 5Gb, the switches listed above would default speeds at 1Gb. Thoughts?

Unfortunately, the only multi-gigabit switch i see with 2 SFP+ ports is the Netgear XS512EM, which runs about $250 more than the options listed above and it uses Smart Managing? Any other switch suggestions i would greatly appreciate it.
 

Huy Le

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Dec 1, 2015
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Hah im looking for something closer to the $500 range. Doesn't seem as a possibility so i have to up the budget to under $1000

Here are the switches i found:

Netgear XS512EM (what I'll probably buy $850)
Qnap QSW-1208-8C (unmanaged so probably pass)
TRENDnet TEG-30102WS (out of budget)

The other solution is to buy something like the US-16-XG, then buy a unmanaged switch such as the XS505M if my future router only supports 2.5Gb for example. But that would mean i'd have to route from Router > unmanaged switch (XS505M) > managed switch (US-16-XG). Networking is definitely not my forte, so thoughts? Better to just have a single router to managed switch right?

While i rather spend less (US-16-XG is about $550), i'd rather just do it right the first time around.
 

Evan

Well-Known Member
Jan 6, 2016
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How many Multigigabit ports needed (only 2 ?) and only 2 x sfp+ ?

C3560CX-8XPD-S But it’s a grand for that switch.

Very few like this that I can see, nothing cheap that I am aware.
 

hjfr

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Nov 21, 2013
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Netgear is very active on Multigigabit :
- Netgear XS505M / XS508M (4 or 7 ports multigigabit, unmanaged)
- Netgear GS110MX / GS110EMX (2 multigigabit ports, web managed for the GS110EMX)
- Netgear MS510TX / MS510TXPP (2 ports: 2.5/5Gb, 2 ports 2,5Gb, 2 ports 10Gb, web managed, MS510TXPP is POE)
- Netgear XS512EM / XS724EM (12 or 24 ports multigigabit, web managed)

Others:
Buffalo BS-MP2008 / BS-MP2012 (8 or 12 ports multigigabit, unmanaged)
Trendnet TEG-7080ES (8 ports multigigabit, web managed)
 
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Huy Le

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Dec 1, 2015
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I think im going to go with the Ubiquiti US-16-XG. I read you can use multi-gigabit copper to sfp+ modules in there.

Technically i only need one multi-gigabit port for any future router but i wanted 3 additional multi-gigabit ports for PCs around the house. In the meantime, i can just buy the US-16-XG has 4 10Gbe copper ports, so future support to PC's are covered and if i needed another multi gigabit module, i can just buy that. Still much cheaper than the XS512EM. Could also just buy a unmanaged multi gigabit switch later when prices drop.
 

Jon

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Feb 28, 2016
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You are looking for more 10G ports or really only copper port.

Could go with

MikroTik

With

MikroTik

Will probably only support 1g and 10g not the 2.5 and 5 stuff?
 

Huy Le

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Dec 1, 2015
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Not sure if the MikroTik ones work with the ES-16-XG but the Aquantia 2.5 G ones do. They added it in their firmware update.

Multi-gigabit is for sure interesting and i can only imagine it making leeway to become a standard with internet speeds at gigabit already. Just have to wait for a WAN/LAN multi-gigabit router.
 

randman

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May 3, 2020
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Sorry to bring up an old thread, but wondering if there's more choices these days. Before I found this thread, I had been looking for reasonably priced, preferably managed, Multi-gigabit switches that have at least 8 ports. I already have a 10GbE MikroTik SFP+ switch in the basement but I'm interested in a Multi-gigabit switch for the rest of the house in order to take advantage of my existing Ethernet wiring (mostly CAT 6, but some CAT 5e). This switch will be in a small equipment closet, but I still don't want the switch to be very loud since right outside of the equipment closet is a living area. I had tried a 26 port POE+ Cisco switch in this closet years ago, and found it loud at 42 dB idle). So far, what I've found are:

- TRENDnet 8 port switch, model TEG-7080ES. Not a bad price, but its last firmware update was April 2018, so it's not clear how well TrendNET is supporting it.

- Netgear XS512EM - 12 ports: 29 dB idle and 41dB fully loaded. I'm hoping it's closer to the 29 dB most of the time than it is to the 41dB figure... About $200 more than I'd like to pay, but seems there's not as many multi-gigabit switch choices as compared to SFP+ switches.

- MikroTik CRS312-4C+8XG-RM 12-port 10GbE switch: this would be a nice switch to get, but from what I've read, is very very loud.

- A couple of Buffalo switches, but seems that they are pretty loud.


Well, it's been nearly 2 years since this thread was originally started, but it seems the choices for multi-gigabit switches hasn't increased markedly? Anyone have other suggestions for reasonably priced home multi-gigabit switches?
 

PigLover

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Jan 26, 2011
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I've been watching this market too. Getting reasonable switches available at reasonable prices is key to widespread adoption. NICs are starting to show up and prices of them are falling - but if there aren't things to plug them into the market will dry up.

To your list:
- the TRENDnet switch appears to have been discontinued. What remains for sale appears to be B-stock.
- The Netgear is overpriced. Actually, Netgear has other multi-gig products that are really nice but quite expensive.
- I do like the Microtik switch but wish the would offer a Layer-2 version (CSS rather than CRS) at a lower price point.
 

randman

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May 3, 2020
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Well, I'm scratching the TRENDnet off the list. Also, looks like the TRENDnet doesn't support LACP (which may not be as important with 10GbE as 1GbE ports, but still).

Netgear XS512EM was one of the lower priced, managed, multi-gigabit switches on my list, but yeah, still seems pricey.

I thought it was funny when someone came out with a video replacing the fans of the MikroTik, but given the current prices of multi-gigabit switches, I can see how someone decided to do the fan replacement... O

Or running a couple of new fiber cables across my home just so I can stay with cheaper SFP+ equipment doesn't seem like a far-fetched idea anymore?

One other question I have is: suppose that I use one of the 10GbE RJ45 ports in these switches to connect to a second multi-gigabit switch using existing CAT 6 or CAT 5E cabling. Suppose that this trunk connection doesn't give me 10GbE bandwidth, but only gives 5GbE bandwidth. What happens if I connect a server to the first switch's SFP+ port? SFP+ only supports 1Gbe or 10 GbE, so I guess the server that connects to the SFP+ will think it still has a 10 GbE bandwidth. So, will the switch automatically (and gracefully) throttle the speed to 5 GbE when the server is talking to the second switch on the other side of the house?