Taking a Look at a Cheap PoE Switch from keepLiNK 

As a reminder: The MikroTik 2.5 GbE switch has a configurable fan control, if you change its lowest setting from the default 0 % to something like 15 % even with its OEM fan you basically still have silent operation but the switch then doesn’t slowly soak up all the heat which out-of-the-box then leads to the fan loudly ramping up to high RPM to cool everything down again regularly. Should be better for the electronic components’ health, too.

Your 10G Copper SFP+ XCVRs are getting hot because those often pull more than the max power allocated to an SFP+ module, as defined by SFF-8431 4.1. The maximum Module power Consumption at Power Level III is 2 watts, but some 10GBASE-T XCVRs can consume up to 5 watts. 10GBASE-T XCVRs are known to operate outside the allotted power spec of SFP+, leading to higher temperatures

The VLAN switch is for port isolation. If you switch it on, then the 2.5G ports can only pass traffic to the 10G uplink ports but not to the other 2.5G ports.

Thanks for the look into something for us with this Wendell. I bought the TRENDnet TEG-S762 back in September along with two Intel X550-T2 (you recommended) and got my home office upgraded to 10Gbps. I'm planning on moving the main network stack down to my emerging homeLab office soon so I'll need to buy another 10G switch when that time comes. Appreciated as always!

I wish reviewers of network gear not certified for the US market would include WireShark results. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I just don't trust them to not "phone home" even though I'm sure most of them don't.

Afaik the "VLAN switch" isolates some ports from the others, so turning this into two separate switches. This is what it does with others anyway. Maybe the first 4 ports are isolated and the other 4 are still connected to the SFP+, who knows

Careful. Wendell, you're stomping into ServeTheHome's territory here 😅

Amazon has some pretty decent options as well. I too had to result in buying some of these no name brand switches because the alternative name brands are just too expensive for what you get. I bought a four-port 2.5 with two SFP+ one for uplink and one for an additional 10 gig machine It does run hot but it works fine. Big names. Need to step it up and start making cost effective switches Especially with all new devices coming with 2.5 gig

Really glad you're taking a look at these, I nearly picked up a couple last week. The "first-time discount" per account can be really worthwhile

the "VLAN" feature you see here with physical switch is just a physical isolation, more like a MTU VLAN lets say or AP isolation for wifi people there. This VLAN toggle switch feature is actually very helpful, specially on my install on my apartment building which every room basically have their own ethernet port and you dont want these people to directly communicating to each other, for privacy reasons.

Awesome review, finally some stuff me as a consumer would actually buy ;-)

There are also some NICGIGA 10Gbase-T and QFly 10Gbase-T 91gbp, Same as in the new mac mini.

Got mine today, very pleased. With a 10GbE SFP+ DAC cable it stays very cool

Lack of VLAN Management is a bummer but this looks pretty cool otherwise! Have seen some similar products on Amazon, now I understand why.

These Chinese NoName (or funny Names like the NIC GIGA brand, which could cause some embarrassment if pronounced the wrong way) 2.5 GBit Switches getting slowly cheaper.

Funny you post this I just ordered the 4x2.5G and 2x 10gig dumb switch for $40

40x40x20 fan is quite standard. Afaik vlan switch on unmanaged poe switches is not what you think -it's essentially port isolation so that the downlink ports don't see eachother. So port 1 cant talk to port 2. It's for security - if someone hijacks one port, it will not be able to access other ports. In the traditional vlan sence it's nothing like that. Hence no webgui etc.

Wonder how long it'll take TP-link to utilise this new chip architecture. They've been lacking this kind of product for their omada platform for a while and with WiFi7 coming in they are in desperate need of a way to fill that entry level 2.5g Poe hole. I run omada at home and the lack of an affordable 2.5g switch with 10g sfp+ has prevented me upgrading to the newer access points. I'd be surprised if I was the only person in this boat.

A good video as always Wendell, i love your cheap and nasty cooling solution... Yeah do have a point about those thermal pads they sure make a difference when used well.

The JXD chips cost about $1.38 each in 900+ quantity

Port per port I guess it worth the money. Fun for modifying 😎

The CRS112-8P-4S-IN from Mikrotik is not a comparable switch. No 2.5G and no SFP+. The closest would be the CRS310-8G+2S+IN , but has no PoE offering and no built-in PSU, but it does have management capabilities.

This would be pretty good in a small business setting, where you have a central switch that distributes 10G fibre to each room, each then distributes 2.5G to the clients. All the VLAN stuff is managed by the expensive central switch so there's no need for anything more than a dumb switch anyway.

At the risk of coming across all paranoid, have these been vetted for spurious traffic, or packet error rates or anything? It may seem pretty wild but the Chinese government could have a lot to gain from implanting 'dodgy' firmware into cheap devices like this, even if it's as simple as them being able to remotely brick the switch. At the end of the day the reason why most of us buy HPE or Cisco for ordinary business purposes, is that they can be pretty well trusted. I should say I don't *think* they'd do that but who knows without confirming?

Mount the fan outside the case with a cage and use a plastic sleeve for just inside.

thank You for all the good reviews I just went with your suggested tplink 2.5g router and nic, except my TRUENAS core server it seems only the intel 1225/1226 nics plug and play in it, but bonus one pc got upgraded i wasn't planning

Picking up a 5 port with 2-port SFPs - going to use the 10-gig ports between my desktop and the NAS. The rest is fine at 2.5, including the uplink. Going to need a managed variant though to do some VLAN stuff even at home (I want my IOT Wlan stuff way way off my actual local net, so routing it through the firewall). Going to go with optical for the 10 gig - optical ones draw way less power and thus way less heat, or so I gather. Also, for people wanting absolute minimum power draw, I wonder if this isn't using more on idle than non-PoE; the MicroTik stuff seems to draw more than these cheapos, as well (but only like 5 watts or something).

I'm running fiber, but I will convert to copper at the end... It's funny how Wendell is always doing stuff that we may end up using sooner than later!

Picked up the non poe ones to get 10 gbps connection for my server and a dual 2.5 gbE intel i226 for my main pc. With SMB3 I managed to get 3.5 Gbps. It's lovely for Blu-ray rips!

JUst saw the vid , well explained and I like the presentation .

The b-roll for the mikrotik switch is for one of their old switches

Any switch makers reading this take note and just make a 8 port 2.5 GiB POE switch in the same form factor as the Dell X1008P and you will make BANK !!!!

I got like 4 of these a few months ago. They are good, management works well. If you don’t save the config it will just forget all configs lol

Maybe Wendall should do a collaborative video with Pete from Serve the Home .. ya it's been a edited comment mistakes happen

Yeee Mikrotik, I love thier stuff, it's so good consistently.

I have two 5x2 network switches (5 LAN, 2 SFP) and have already forgotten that everything runs on 2.5 GB. Just works. From Ali Ex

the vlan and no vlan thing prob drops the vlan tag from the header or no drop it . Many dumb switches will ignore it anyway.

What’s the cheapest managed 2.5gb switch ?

Did you got the managed version? were you able to get into the mgmt interface?

I bought one from hasivo with dual SFP+ and 5x2.5Gb PoE managed for around $100 from Taobao.

I've got a few of these 2.5gbps "aliexpress" switches (specifically the 4 port 2.5gbps with the dual SFP+) I bought from amazon. I needed a couple for my Kids' rooms for their devices and while I am almost fully Unifi, it was hard to justify $300 for their cheapest switch capable of 2.5gbps. Seems to pass vlan data just fine. I'm powering them with a POE to ethernet/power breakout cable so I didn't have to use the included power supply (unnecessary, but it makes my setup easier). I'm getting 2.2+gbps between their desktops and my server in the basement per iperf3. Hard to say on the longevity, but if they get me a couple of years until 2.5gbps switches from a "known" brand (preferably for me Ubiquiti), then they did what I needed. I think I only paid like $40 after some 30% off coupons on Amazon.

Did Wendel just hint at an upcoming 2.5g poe switch from Mikrotik or did i miss-interpret the situation?

I've been looking for over of these cheap ones that is managed as I run lacp on my proxmox/firewall with 2,5g available (only 1gb used per link today). I might get one or I might just change from my i3 N305 based computer to something like the Qotom Q20332G9-S10

3 watts!? my 16port 1gig dell switch kicks out way more heat than that, my cat loves to sleep on it

I'm waiting patiently for the 'cheap' 24 port 2.5gig switches... because mine is 'before the dawn of time' if yours is from the dawn of time, as it's only a Netgear gigabit switch...

Does anyone know if these can pass 802.1q frames through? Wondering if I can use this with my APS while still being able to use vlans EDIT: I just bought one (4x poe with 2x SFP+ ports model) and it does pass through 802.1q frames fortunately.

How long did it take to be delivered?

i recently bought one of the switches with a single 10G sfp+ and (5) 2.5G ports from ebay listed as working, new in box but opened - got it home and plugged it in, saw a BIG spark inside of it, then the power LED would just blink, come on then go off ad infinitum...so i thought OK ill try a 2A 12V power supply as maybe the 1A one isn't enough for it and then the power light would stay on, but when I connected cables they did nothing....very disappointing because the price was right and i have seen so many of these for sale on there, they seem great but now i am dissuaded from these

Does anyone consider a POE injector a solution? it doesn't seem to be talked about.

Why on earth would you want a normal pc equiped with a 2.5 Gbps port , ik wil not max out 1 gbps , the siwthces are cheap but who needs 2.5 gbps at a pc?

I wouldn't put anything from Ali or Temu on my network that my entire life runs through. Sometimes it's worth paying a bit more and probably not made with slave labor. Just saying.

What did the IR picture look like when under full load?

I’ve yet to be burned by the finely Crafted items of Ali Express. I’m pressing my luck by verbalizing it, though.

Would a Noctua NF-A4x20 PWM 4pin fan work? Does it need to be 12v or 5v?

Stop making me spend money on your amazing reviews!!!!

Now It does report back home to China but for $10 you can't beat it 😂

This is what I love with what I call "Chinese capitalism". Hardware somehow become almost "open source" and everyone can use parts of it for their own products. I was looking at coffee grinders a while back and realised that there were pretty much only two different kinds, even if there were hundreds of brands. Same thing with switches and a lot of other things, and it works as long as no one is too cheap when it comes to the parts.

Does that copper SFP converter get extremely hot? Ordered some off Amazon and they got too hot to hold. Also would have been nice if you could have commented on POE output and done a little testing.

What the Compufox say? Seriously, what's a "copper optical transceiver" ?

Tp link is watching!

Does it come with a backdoor for china? 👀

I would rather take Mikrotik CRS310-8G+2S+IN...

As long as it doesn’t burn down my house.

This isn't Links of friends...

Anyone know of a basic 1gB switch that can only be powered via POE? Like its hundred ft away and can't easily get power to it. Thanks!

where are the teeeests? 😂

I like Aliexpress content

wordcount on "fan" anyone?

Howto get the cccp into my network! 😮❤

nice

cool

Humm, Compair with a Microtik switch that cost only 100% more..... sure

Security concerns about a no-name Chinese switch?

The Chinese malware is free?

backdoors nom nom!

think i would rather just use power inserters than put the CCP on my network

My concern would be if there is any logic in that switch that "randomly" sends your packets back to the CCP mothership !

In the box, we have an unregulated fire and security hazard from China….yeesh.

The Chinese “deals” just scare me. I would be curious if someone throws one of these on a Ethernet connected hotspot with WireShark running to see if there are some suspicious packets going to odd places.

If the chipset has a web gui that isn't available, how can you be absolutely completely sure that there actually isn't one, perhaps accessible by CCP?

Nice!