Question Ethernet switch 2.5gb +

[Gaogier]

Hello

I am more than sure you are aware, that the cost of 2.5gb, 5gb, 10gb switch are not exactly cheap, like the lower speed rated ones. I have been keeping an eye out, but I have not found one that is in my budget, as they are all triple digits, I am after ones that cost low double digits, I have found one on eBay but it’s from a seller that appears to have good ratings but it seems too cheap to be true.

So how much would a 2.5gb switch cost these days, if you know where I could get one below the £15 mark I will buy it now, but I will appreciate any that’s above this price and keep an eye so as soon as one hits my budget I can get it. £15 is not my budget it’s higher.

 

[cruisetung]

With £15 you won't be able to buy any 2.5Gbe switch.

The cheapest one.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Port-Umanaged-SFP-Compatible-YuanLey/dp/B0C64N2QN7?th=1

 

[bill001g]

At that price you are barely going to find a 1gbit switch.

The only way I see you even getting close to that price is to buy from those sketchy sites that direct ship out of china. Not sure what the duty/custom rules are for the UK. In the USA it is a way to get past the china tariffs and the sales tax that you pay if you buy the exact same product on say amazon.

 

[Gaogier]

With £15 you won't be able to buy any 2.5Gbe switch.

The cheapest one.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Port-Umanaged-SFP-Compatible-YuanLey/dp/B0C64N2QN7?th=1

At that price you are barely going to find a 1gbit switch.

The only way I see you even getting close to that price is to buy from those sketchy sites that direct ship out of china. Not sure what the duty/custom rules are for the UK. In the USA it is a way to get past the china tariffs and the sales tax that you pay if you buy the exact same product on say amazon.

I know the £15 price is extremely unlikely, I just said that if there is one I will buy it (with out any deep research into the device.

The switch that cruisetung posted is within my budget, just and “looks perfect” for what I am after.

 

[Ralston18]

What is driving the requirement for 2.5 gb?

What is the networking environment?

Existing Ethernet cables?

The key question being will 2.5 gb be achievable to begin with?

 

[Gaogier]

I have laid down new Ethernet cables when we last did major maintenance on our home, cat7a and a couple cat8 cables.

My ISP currently provides 1.25Gig, with an upgrade to at least 2.5gig. A rival ISP came to let us know that our internet may go down as they work on the grid, but we had to get an engineer out from our ISP, and he said that 2.5gig will be rolled out faster than advertised, with speeds above 5gig by the end of 2028.

So I am not in a huge hurry for a new switch but when I get 2gig I would like to have the speeds.

 

[bill001g]

You should have put in cat6a.

There is no such thing as cat7a. Cat7 cable doesn't technically exist either. The standards were never fully finalized/approved. Cat6a cable runs at 10g just like cat7 and is a fraction of the price. Cat8 cable is really only used in data centers and is extremely expensive. It is highly likely the cat8 cable is fake.

Hopefully they just sold you cable that meets the standards for at least cat6 and the worst that happened was you were overcharged.

If the cable is flat cable or is thin cable with wire size less than 24 awg (higher number is thinner) I would replace it. All this cable is fake and does not meet standards. It may or may not work and generally has issue the faster you go.

Most people really don't need a internet connection more than 100mbs. You can watch 3 different 4k netflix movies at the same time and still have bandwidth left over to surf the web and play online games. Large bandwidth internet is only used for huge downloads. It would let you download huge games like microsoft flight simulator faster. More bandwidth does not make things run better for most applications. They will only use what they need and ignore any extra.

Only you can decide if the extra money you pay each month for your internet connection is worth the time you save in downloads.

 

[Gaogier]

I used to do a fair bit in the web hosting and was at one point investing and installing hardware for a small data centre, but things fell through like Covid/ukraine/Middle East/china crisis. So this has been postponed for now, but I did install cat 8 cables, but not much.

The cat 7a cables were technically not cat 7a, I managed to get my hands on cat7a reel of 30 or 50 meters, but I put RJ45 connectors on them.

I used to download huge files, upload those files, and I would like to get back into this again at some point, but not sure when.