AMPCOM has launched an inexpensive, fanless 8-port 2.5GbE managed switch with one 10GbE SFP+ cage that sells for less than $60 on Aliexpress with free shipping and before taxes (if you live in Europe).
Upgrading your local networking to 10GbE (10 Gbps Ethernet) can still be relatively expensive, and when I look at 10GbE switches on Amazon, most are sold for $200 to $400, and the cheapest models cost around $120. But if you don’t need multiple 10GbE ports on your switch, I’ve been informed about an inexpensive 8-port 2.5GbE managed switch with a single 10GbE SFP+ cage. And as we’ve just seen it’s possible to purchase a dual 10GbE mini PC/router for $299 (barebone), so it’s becoming more affordable than ever to switch to 10GbE networking even though not everybody may benefit from the higher speeds.
AMPCOM ZX-SWTGW218AS managed switch specifications:
- Ports
- 8x 100M/1000M/2500M RJ45 ports
- 10GbE SFP+ port
- Bandwidth – 60Gbps
- Packet Forwarding Rate – 44.64Mpps
- Package Cache – 8Mbit
- VLAN – VLAN range 1-4094, Max active VLANs 31
- MAC Address Table – 4K
- Jumbo Frame – 16356 bytes
- Forwarding Mode – Store and Forward
- Network Parameters
- Network Protocols – IEEE802.3 (Ethernet), IEEE802.3u (Fast Ethernet), IEEE802.3ab (Gigabit Ethernet), IEEE 802.3bz (5Gbps Ethernet), IEEE 802.3z (Gigabit Ethernet), IEEE 802.3ae (10Gbps Ethernet), IEEE802.3x (Flow control)
- Industry Standard: EMS: EN61000-4-2 (ESD), EN61000-4-5 (Surge)
- Network Medium: 10Base-T, 100Base-TX, 1000Base-TX, SFP Medium
- Other standard
- IEEE 802.3x flow control and back pressure
- IEEE 802.1D Spanning Tree Protocol
- IEEE 802.1w Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol
- IEEE 802.1Q VLAN tagging
- RFC 768 UDP, RFC 791 IP, RFC 792 ICMP, RFC 2068 HTTP, RFC 1112 IGMP v1, RFC 2236 IGMP v2
- Misc
- Power and SYS LEDs
- 2.5GbE LEDs for ports 1-8: Green On – 2.5Gbps Link, Yellow On – 10/100/1000Mbps Link, Off – Link off, Flashing – Data transmitting
- 10GbE LEDs for port 9: Green On – 10Gbps Link, Off – Link off, Flashing – Data transmitting
- Reset button – Long press for 6 seconds for factory reset
- Power Supply – 12V/1A
- Power consumption – Up to 11.29 Watts
- Dimensions – 190 x 100 x 28mm (metal enclosure)
- Weight – 490 grams
- Temperature and Humidity Range
- Operating – -10~50°C, 10%~90%
- Storage – -40~70°C, 5%~95%
- Certifications -CE, FCC, RoHS
Since it’s a managed switch, there’s a web interface accessible through HTTP. You’ll find a user manual and a link to the latest firmware at the bottom of the product page on the AMPCOM website. Some target applications include network security and video surveillance in hotels and campuses, and network management for small and medium-sized enterprises.
If you don’t need as many ports, there are other options on AliExpress such as the OPTFOCUS OFS-MX1F2GT4 with four 2.5GbE ports and two 10GbE SFP+ cages selling for $38.96 including shipping during AliExpress 11.11 event, and $45.14 otherwise. Most users of the AMPCOM and OPTFOCUS switches appear happy with their purchase, but I can see a couple of complaints about settings going back to factory settings in case of power loss…
Thanks to Willy for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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I’m not surprised about the complaints about losing the settings, the “save” link is on a distinct page in the interface (I don’t remember the name, maybe “setup” or something like this), so you genuinely believe that whatever changes you made are saved but they’re not until you go to this page and click save. It happened to me as well the first time 🙂
The interface is particularly intuitive, much better than what you can find on most reputed brands (I’m looking at you,Cisco and Netgear). For example configuring VLANs simply consists in ticking boxes in a table of vlan*ports.
For those who want two RJ45 10G ports, I’ve also bought this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006151705898.html
I found this offering very interesting: 4×2.5G and 2x10G all RJ45. It’s perfect for my use case because I really only need 10G between my PC and the file server, and the rest of the network is 2.5G. So the setup becomes obvious:
(PC,Server)<-10G->10g_switch<-2.5G->firewall<-2.5G->ampcom -> 8×2.5G interfaces for DMZ. There are three 2.5G ports left on the first switch, one which goes to a generic 1G switch for the local network and two for a few 2.5G boards. For a total of ~$180 it offers me 13 2.5G ports and 2 10G ports with VLAN tagging support, pretty cool 😉
I could have used a 10G port between the firewall and the AMPCOM switch but honestly I don’t need it on the DMZ, that’s why I used a 2.5G SFP adapter.
By the way, SFP-to-RJ45 ports do work on this switch, but don’t underestimate their price if you’re trying to make the cheapest setup. It’s likely that an SFP NIC alone will be cheaper than an RJ one plus an SFP adapter (and will consume less in 10G).
What made me stick to RJ45 instead of SFP despite the extra power draw is the ability to quickly replace dead hardware. It happened to me a few times that after a power outage, a switch died. In this case you need to quickly replace it with any other available one (even at lower speed). SFP tends to offer you less options for this, while an RJ45 10G port will automatically downgrade to 2.5 or even 1G when connected to an older switch.
60$ for some unknown vendor, great way to lose money.
I got one myself and am pretty satisfied with it.
It’ll be RTL8373 based at that price. Impressively the management side runs on an 8051 core!
They are what they are but likely more than good enough for any home use.
The next step up are units with the the larger RTL930x and RTL931x soc from similar sellers (Hasivo, POEPlus, Xikestore,etc) offer much more in terms of functionality – mainline support is very slow but progressing.
Oh, fun fact about 8051!
How to determine what switch based on RTL930x and RTL931x ? Labeled as L3 ?
Add PoE and it’s a done deal
Search a bit and you will find it.
Hasivo and XikeStor at least have PoE versions with 5+2 and 8+1. I even see full 10Gb RJ45 PoE variant at Hasivo. But search results and “brands” on Aliexpress may differ in your country (I can’t see AMPCOM for example but see Optfocus) so do not pay much attention to those names.
I have a PoE version, it only cost me less than $60
Can you please share the link ? A friend of mine is also looking for the PoE version but it’s difficult to sort out all variants on ali, sometimes you have PoE, sometimes 2.5 Gbps, sometimes management, sometimes combinations etc.
I have bunch of those, including Optfocus 8x10Gb level 3 (BGP, OSPF etc).
On Serve the Home site there are video and text reviews with a lot of variants with random brands. Looks like those brands sell devices to particular countries.
I have Hasivo, Optfocus, Horaco, JT-COM (which looks like OLT on board).
Works fine.
But in general you have to understand what device will have no firmware updates for 99%.
> But in general you have to understand what device will have no firmware updates for 99%.
Good point. But at these prices and especially for home, I consider it’s a risk worth taking.
> I consider it’s a risk worth taking.
Sure.
I just see here and there some complaints about it so it worth to mention.