Zyxel 8 port 2.5g $100

[Gar]

Amazon.com

There is a $20 coupon box to check.

EDIT: Be sure to read the 1 star reviews, I don't know if they're a concern or not. I had really only read the 5 stars.

 

[josephclemente]

I haven't had any problems with it. As far as I can tell, it is the exact same device as TRENDnet's version but in a nice silver color.

 

[tgl]

As far as I can tell, it is the exact same device as TRENDnet's version but in a nice silver color.

It does look mighty like TRENDnet's TEG-S380, right down to the LED layout and color choices. I have one of those that I've been only moderately pleased with. It's shown weird compatibility issues with three different devices, which is not a good ratio considering I've had not more than about ten devices plugged into it ever. Also, it won't pass VLAN-tagged packets. As an unmanaged switch, I wouldn't expect it to do anything exciting with VLAN traffic; but my other unmanaged switches will pass VLAN traffic unmodified rather than drop it on the floor.

Perhaps Zyxel has configured their version to be more VLAN-friendly, but if it is the same hardware platform then it's probably got the same compatibility hazards.

 

[tgl]

EDIT: Be sure to read the 1 star reviews, I don't know if they're a concern or not. I had really only read the 5 stars.

My goodness, Amazon is doing their best to make reviews worthless aren't they? If you just go to that page and read reviews, more than half are for other models entirely. (I do believe the ones saying the MG-108 runs hot, as I saw the same with my TEG-S380.)

 

[josephclemente]

It's shown weird compatibility issues with three different devices

Funny, a half hour ago I tried connecting my Craftsman Assurelink garage door gateway to my Zyxel MG-108 and got no connection light activity. I even tried making a crossover cable and still no connection.

Edit: Apparently this garage door ethernet device is known to have compatibility issues with various switches and routers. A search found others with the same issue, the fix is to put a compatible switch between the two.

 

[tgl]

Funny, a half hour ago I tried connecting my Craftsman Assurelink garage door gateway to my Zyxel MG-108 and got no connection light activity. I even tried making a crossover cable and still no connection.

Interesting. I did not have any problems of zero connectivity. One device would occasionally lose connection for a few seconds. Another one auto-negotiated 100Mbps speed when first plugged in; rebooting it fixed that, but wtf? Both of those had bog-standard 1Gbps ports, which I'd expect to Just Work with any modern network hardware. My third problematic device was a Mac Mini M2 with 10Gbps ethernet port, which was just flaky as to performance, even though it claimed to have a 2.5Gbps connection to the switch. I'd have blamed the Mini, because it has some reputation for flaky network performance per Apple's forums; but given the other two problems I suspect that the TRENDnet switch shares at least some of the blame. I've since gotten better results by plugging the Mini into a 10Gbps port on a Netgear GS110MX switch.