Making a 10G SFP+ switch Nbase-T capable?

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sauberli

New Member
Dec 2, 2020
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Dear All,

I was reading the "SFP+ to 10Gbase-T Adapter Module Buyers Guide" with quite some interest, as I have an existing CAT6a network, but could gate fairly cheap business 10G switches with SFP+ ports. As I need Nbase-T capabilities and most of the 10G SFP+ switches I'm currently watching at do not support Nbase-T, I was wondering this would change, if I use some of the SFP+ to 10G adapters offering Nbase-T.

So far I thought, that a transceiver would only bridge the connection from SFP+ to RJ45, but after reading the a.m. buyers guide I got the impression, as if the adapters could really add value by adding Nbase-T capabilities.

Can you help and enlighten me, what is correct?

Kind regards,
Steffen
 

lowfat

Active Member
Nov 25, 2016
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There has been a bunch of testing here by members of these modules to see if they could work @ 2.5/5G. And AFAIK none actually perform well at these speeds. I tried the Ipolex module, and there are others who have tried a number of the other modules. I was getting insane amount of retries. I tried for weeks to get good performance but eventually just gave up. As far as I know, only Supermicro's AOM-AQS-107-B0C2-CX is actually 2.5G and 5G certified. They are pretty expensive tho.
 

sauberli

New Member
Dec 2, 2020
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Thanks. That's worthwhile information, as in practice, this doesn't seem to work (even though, the guide says different :-;). But that doesn't really answers, whether THEORETICALLY a transceiver / adapter could add Nbase-T capability to a switch, that only has 10G capability. Is this theoretically possible?
 

lowfat

Active Member
Nov 25, 2016
131
91
28
40
Thanks. That's worthwhile information, as in practice, this doesn't seem to work (even though, the guide says different :-;). But that doesn't really answers, whether THEORETICALLY a transceiver / adapter could add Nbase-T capability to a switch, that only has 10G capability. Is this theoretically possible?
I do believe its the transceiver that negotiates the link speed, not the switch itself.