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Looking for a PoE gigabit switch to drive a small business. About 15 employee’s and 35 networked devices. CAT6 run across the building, and almost every machine is gigabit. Budget is around $500, and we have no issue going with a used switch.

I was looking at the Cisco SLM2048PT-NA 48 Port switch. Found it for about ~$500 on eBay, but I’m not sure if there is a better alternative. Any guidance is greatly appreciated. I don’t mind doing the research. I would just like some help getting in the right ballpark. There are a lot of choices out there, and I’m relatively new to this.

Thanks!

EDIT:

  • The PoE would just be for Wi-Fi access points and RFID readers. Probably a total of 10 PoE devices.
  • Currently running a 24 port Dell PowerConnect 2724 with no open ports

@HP @Cisco

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First off, welcome to the community.

Besides cisco check out HP ProCurve.

Just be aware it looks like on that switch only 24 ports support PoE

What are you using for your current switch? Are all 35 device PoE?

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Usually you’ll only need Poe for your AP’s and IP phones. 48 port full Poe gigabit switches are expensive! Get a 24 port Poe and a 24 non Poe. Cisco Small Business, or HP 1830 would be my tops choices, followed by probably Netgear or TPLInk. With that small of a network you probably don’t need a lot of higher end features that will push the cost up.

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I am a huge fan of the Cisco SG300-28p Switches, they are great switches for the money, they also have a 52p (the last 4 ports are Not POE) and that is a pretty pricey switch but that is all relative.

I would suggest avoiding Netgear POE Switches (been there / done that) while they work ok as a stand alone switch I had major issues with them playing with other switches. I have heard great things about HP as well as the Ubiquiti Switches which offer a lot of bang for the buck and i can say that they have great tech support.

There is also a new line of Dell Switches x10xx line up. i have their x1052p that only offers 24 ports of POE and 12 of POE Plus but is also a pretty decent deal for the money. Their new GUI however leaves a lot to desire (and they admit it).

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The SG300 line has done well for our needs, but I was under the impression the the 52p only has 24p PoE. What model have you found that has 48p PoE?

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Also +1 for Cisco SG switch series, they are relatively cheap and stable, never had problem with them.

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Here’s the Spec Sheet

The SG300-52p has 48 POE Ports, they also have a “Higher Power” Model that has 48 Ports as well with a total of 740 Watts of POE Power.

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We use a lot of the Cisco SG series, wouldnt have been my choice but I inherited them

But they have been very good, really like them for the money

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We are using the Cisco SF200-24 PoE switches, just got 4 of them the other day. Caution: they are re-branded D-Link items, so using VLANs is kind of weird… But they are effective for what we need, just a small compound with 50 users and half dozen servers.

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You sure? SG’s are rebranded Linksys devices. I thought the SF’s were the 10/100 versions of the same gear…

SF = Fastethernet, SG = Gigabit.

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I would be a little leery of a used POE switch for some reason. Not sure why, as I do work with more used equipment than new. What is the return policy? One of my clients recently bought a new phone system and the dealer put a Ubiquiti 48 port POE in, I think it was around $800.

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Aren’t most devices using POE such as IP phones, IP cams and WAPs just 10/100? This does make a lot of difference to the price on a 24 or 48 port switch. Get a separate gigabit switch for the devices that need it.

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Most of the new phones are a Gbit as we’re hanging PC’s off of them.

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Thanks for the response! I updated the original post to reflect those answers.

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Thanks for all of the feedback, this is awesome! From what I’m reading it looks like it would be better to go with a smaller PoE switch (as I don’t need all 48 ports to be PoE), and get a separate 24 port non-PoE switch.

I updated the original post with a bit more information on what I have now and my requirements.

If I was to go with a 24 port PoE switch (instead of a 48), is the Cisco Small Business line still my best bet?

Also, I inherited my current Dell switch (I think we originally got it for $50), so I wouldn’t be opposed to getting a different non-PoE 24 port switch. Maybe something a bit higher end? I’m not sure if Dell and Cisco play nice together.

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I still strongly recommend the Cisco SG Switches, the SG28p is a great switch at (in my opinion) a very reasonable price, I have one at my house that I power my APs and IP Cameras with. I would suggest sticking with a Gig Switch as you want to be able to uplink to your others switch with Gig Links and even if your existing devices POE Devices aren’t Gig they probably will be in the future especially APs.

If you are looking to save money you can check out the Ubiquiti Edge Switches, ZyXel also makes some nice managed POE switches. I can’t personally comment on lower end ones like TP Link but have heard good things about their low end versions so one might assume their managed switches are good as well?

Since you already have Dell you can check out Dell as well they have several POE Models that would fit nicely with your existing switch.

It really comes down to personal preference, all of the majors will do what you want them to. Some are easier than others to configure (beyond the basics).

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