On a tip from one of our readers, we managed to get what can only be described as an insane 48-port 2.5GbE switch. For just over $400 plus shipping we got a switch that also included 10GbE SFP+ and 25GbE SFP28 ports. It is also a managed switch designed for e-Sports Internet Cafes, hotels, and other high-port count destinations. Given this pricing, it is perhaps the lowest-cost per port 2.5GbE managed switch on the market, and it is surprisingly a lot better than we would have expected.
48-Port 2.5GbE Managed Chinese e-Sports Cafe and Hotel Switch Overview
Something fun with this one, we wanted to first discuss pricing and how we even got the switch. We went into it in some detail in the accompanying video:
We always suggest opening the video in its own tab, window, or app for a better viewing experience.
To get the switch, we had to purchase it via Taobao as it was not on AliExpress. This is similar to how we purchased the second lower-cost TP-Link TL-SH1832 we reviewed as the cheapest 24x 2.5GbE and 8x 10GbE switch. The price ended up being $640 all-in, which is cheaper than a Cisco SMB 48-port 1GbE switch (see Amazon Affiliate link.)
That $640 included various Superbuy fees, a not great exchange rate, and $140 of shipping costs because we got this switch rushed. That rush shipping still took 3 weeks to get to the US.
All told, we went from a switch that was closer to $400 on Taobao and to get it to the US it cost us around $640. Sometimes, our readers in China have told us this is a sub-$400 switch retail in China.
Of course, we wanted to see how this worked. At the end, we were frankly shocked.
48-Port 2.5GbE Managed Chinese e-Sports Cafe and Hotel Switch External Hardware Overview
The front of this 1U switch tells us something important. This is a surprisingly well-thought out switch designed for a step up from the lowest-end configurations.
Perhaps the biggest feature is the 48-port 2.5GbE port array. We also tested these at 1GbE speeds.
On the side of the switch, we find pairs of SFP+ 10GbE and SFP28 25GbE ports.
There is even an out-of-band management port as well as a console port. When we get inside, we will see the switch chip being used and the management interface. It was shockingly good.
On one side, we have a sticker and some vents.
On the other side, we have three loud fans.
The rear of the switch has a power input with a power switch and a grounding point.
On the bottom we do not get certifications and regularory markings, but we do get the 192.168.1.234 management interface IP and the admin/ admin logon credentials.
What is perhaps more notable is what is inside the switch. Let us get to that next.
Thanks for the review, Rohit. Very neat switch, I’d guess for a farm of 1 GigE clients it is a perfecrly good switch.
I agree about the price, though I am a bit surprised you do not understand why in the US you cannot buy a similar switch at $400 or even $700. The reason is lack of competition. In the US there are a handful of vendors of switch gear, and only three or so big names. In China there are dozens.
You know, in China they make stuff, lots of stuff. All over the place. In the US, not much.
I’ve been following the 2.5gbe switch series, and I’m still waiting for the unicorn switch that is managed (for home labs with VLANs), 8 or ideally 12+ ports, affordable, and suitable for home environments. Here’s hoping!
Many interesting switches and x86 routers can be found on Chinese websites.
if you are close to factories, you may design and produce your own.
You may also find some weird Chinese NAS motherboard. The reasons are quite similar.
@Jeff McJunkin, you would be looking for the Ruckus ICX 7150-C10ZP, sadly it is very expensive.
“why can we not get a switch like this for even $600-700 in the US”
1. Lack of other types of supply chains.
2. Inability to get things done.
If I bought one of these switches…which safety item should I buy with it?
A fire extinguisher (due to complete lack of UL testing)…
…or a Faraday cage (suspecting it could radiate RF like a 50,000W AM broadcast antenna).
> Again, the question remains why can we not get a switch like this for even $600-700 in the US and EU while these are being sold, with reseller margin, in China for $400?
The answer is fairly straightforward – Potentially non-genuine ICs, pirated management software, dodgy passives and zero regulatory compliance.
The switch is oversubscribed, but one thing that was not clear in the article is whether a single or a small number of connections can actually receive full bandwidth. The only bandwidth test has all ports hammering the switch, but I want to know whether a single port can deliver full bandwidth when the switch is not overloaded.
@Jeff McJunkin check out the Netgear MS108EUP, at least here in EU it can be found for less than 300€
But the margins…I never get tired of that one. What about them? I know that poor under dog of a company little ole Cisco barely makes enough to keep the power on and the CEO over a Ubiquiti lives in government subsidised housing but they keep on keeping on somehow. Both use almost totally opposite models too so you can talk all you want about ongoing development costs being the true cost etc… and that’s why cisco is so expensive and has to have such rediculous contracts and all you have to do is look over at Ubiquiti that also makes profit without those things. Cisco et al, charge as much as they can becauese they can. It’s the practice of most if not all enterprise hardware companies due to lack of competition (M&A, the US’ god aweful patent & copyright laws, etc…) and to be blunt, the direct support of enterprise IT shops. If there were alternatives or they got laughed out of every sales pitch they made, gear would be cheaper.
It would be really nice if this thing could be reflashed with an open source OS, like OpenWRT/DDWRT. The PSU looks generic, if it is really just a dumb 12V or 5V PSU you could easily mod this to be fed by a trustworthy ATX PC PSU, or some high quality power brick. Maybe even install a fuse.
Why 2.5 gigabit when 10 is not much harder?
My suspicion is this switch is not sold in the US because it is not fast enough to be useful nor cheap enough to compete with 1 gigabit.
Hook this thing up to a sniffer and see what its phoning home about….and its not NTP.
A version with 16-24 Ports and lower power consumption would be nice. Is there anything like that available?
“If someone makes a similar design for the US/ EU markets, we hope they use the VSC7558 even at a higher cost.”
Hahahaha
If they make it for the U.S. market, it will cost $3500+, and be a vendor monopoly product that has no competition.
(No, I’m not bitter about the state of MultiGbE switch availability in the U.S. at all, why do you ask?)
Thank you very much for the blogger’s comment. I still remember that on the afternoon of September 9, 2022, China time, our company’s employees sent out this batch of goods, and we sold it to a local company, but what I didn’t expect was that It was bought by you in the United States, and there are such good comments on the forum. We are the supplier and manufacturer of this product, and the research and development and production are all from us. As said in the video, the price is cheap and cost-effective, After seeing this, I am very excited and excited. Our platform link is （https://nts0001.en.alibaba.com/）If you want to know more details, please contact us, we have more wonderful plans
Yo STH
Recently purchased this through SuperBuy but seems in the process they have swapped the listing out so for the same 4100Y price i got a
48×2.5GBe, 4x10GB-SFP+, 2x40GB-QSPF (Breakout)
The UI appears alot simpler as well but the CLI appears standard ONI
I can’t seem to find it on SuperBuy anymore. Does anyone have a link by chance?
I found it on Aliexpress
Does this thing support SNMP so i can hook it up to a monitoring system and see per port traffic statistics?
Does anyone have a working taobao link?
Thanks!