Question Cheap 2.5GB switches in 2023

[Ranulf]

I thought I remember there was an old thread covering some of these combo or only 2.5GB switches in the past few years but either way, I came across these switches the other day. Cheap 2.5GB has gotten even cheaper lately. $50 or less at the Zon for a 4 port 2.5GB with 2ports of 10G SFP connections.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CFTDLDQL/

Brand is ienRon. Gonna see if its worth it as there is a coupon that takes the price to $42. There is an 8 port version with 1 sfp port tacked on too.

Anyone else have good options they know of?

 

[bba-tcg]

Amazon.com

Slightly better on both 6 and 9 port.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Amazon.com

Slightly better on both 6 and 9 port.

I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't the exact same chip/chipset under the hood for that 9 port as the 6 port since all they did was breakout the second 10gbps port into 4x2.5gbps ports (so 8x2.5gbps+1x10gbps vs 4x2.5gbps+2x10gbps).

I personally don't get why so many people want 2.5gbps. I mean I can understand if you are in a building that has existing CAT5e only wired connections, but if you are running new, you would be using CAT6a or even CAT7 and should be looking at 10gbps networking. Yes, there is a supply/demand/cost issue at play, but costs will only come down with mass production, and mass production will only happen once people finally start demanding it. 10gbps has been around for 20 YEARS now in the enterprise/business world....

 

[bba-tcg]

I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't the exact same chip/chipset under the hood for that 9 port as the 6 port since all they did was breakout the second 10gbps port into 4x2.5gbps ports (so 8x2.5gbps+1x10gbps vs 4x2.5gbps+2x10gbps).

I personally don't get why so many people want 2.5gbps. I mean I can understand if you are in a building that has existing CAT5e only wired connections, but if you are running new, you would be using CAT6a or even CAT7 and should be looking at 10gbps networking. Yes, there is a supply/demand/cost issue at play, but costs will only come down with mass production, and mass production will only happen once people finally start demanding it. 10gbps has been around for 20 YEARS now in the enterprise/business world....

I'm sure it is.

2.5 Gbps does what I need right now. When the price comes down on 10 Gbps, if I'm still around, I'll buy into it.

 

[Ranulf]

10gbps has been around for 20 YEARS now in the enterprise/business world....

And the SOHO market networking guys have been promising 10gig for 5+ years. We had those aquantia chips/cards but they got bought out awhile back and now we seem to mostly just have 2.5G the past 2-3 years slowly dropping in price. The benefit I see of these dual port type boxes is they act as cheap converters between fiber and RJ45.

 

[dlerious]

ServeTheHome has a nice list.

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

 

[yottabit]

I wouldn't be surprised if that isn't the exact same chip/chipset under the hood for that 9 port as the 6 port since all they did was breakout the second 10gbps port into 4x2.5gbps ports (so 8x2.5gbps+1x10gbps vs 4x2.5gbps+2x10gbps).

I personally don't get why so many people want 2.5gbps. I mean I can understand if you are in a building that has existing CAT5e only wired connections, but if you are running new, you would be using CAT6a or even CAT7 and should be looking at 10gbps networking. Yes, there is a supply/demand/cost issue at play, but costs will only come down with mass production, and mass production will only happen once people finally start demanding it. 10gbps has been around for 20 YEARS now in the enterprise/business world....

I mean it’s standard on many motherboard’s integrated chipsets now, I don’t see much 10 Gbe on consumer hardware without add-in cards