Managed Switch for Home Cisco Catalyst 2950/24p vs 3Com 2928/28P

Hello Guys,

I want to upgrade my home network, and yes this is overkill but i can get any of the 2 Switches for very cheap, and it will help me mess arround with Network and Vlans on Enterprise hardware, what would you pick?

the first one is only 10/100 on the 24ports - that automatically disqualifies it for me

the second one (3com/hp) looks somewhat better, less ancient - from 2010 but probably still power hungry and noisy.

how does your price compare to newer, less power hungry managed switches?

Mikrotik CSS326 SwOS 24Gig + 2xSFP+ $139
Mikrotik CRS326 RouterOS 24Gig + 2xSFP+ $199
Ubiquiti ES-LITE-24 EdgeOS 24G + 2xSFP $215

What do you need to do on the managed side? What features do you need? Just vlans?

10/100 are fine for things like printers or VOIP phones.

One thing I will say is be very wary of the power use of these older professional switches… it doesn’t seem like too much, but they can use 20-40w, which 24/7 (as most switches are) is up to 350 kilowatt hours per year… so times that by your average power unit cost and number of years you plan to use it to figure out if its actually worth it over a smaller passive home unit. The average USA power price is really low, $0.12/kwh, so its under $42 per year to run these things, but where I am is three times that amount ($126/year) , so for a 4 year switch life its worth $252 (likely over doubling of budget for a home network switch) to get something with half the power draw, even if its in no other way better for my needs.

I also highly recommend getting gigabit capability (although even on only a few of the RJ45 ports is fine, just not only SFP), as it actually allows it to be worthwhile move files around the network or stream content over it in everyday (all good things to practice and learn to automate). Gigabit will keep up with most spinning rust, 100megabit is only a CD every minute or so.

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Minute. (Your math is off)

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yep, good catch, now edited, 56 sec, not 56 minutes.
100 megabit is still pretty dated for the modern world though…

If you dont have a file sever, and your ISP is slower then 100m its not a big deal, but to be honest I personally wouldnt get a 10/100 switch.

Well i just want to start messing arround with the Enterprise Network gear, but under a controlled space like Home, i want to test VLans and all the managed stuff that comes with it, im Leaning towards the 3Com because i have a NAS and i want to use gigabit between my network.

Personally, I would lean towards the Cisco. Yes it is only a 10/100 (so look for say a 2960s, as they are Gigabit) and they’re what you would likely find in the enterprise (you’ll find many switches have firmwares that closely resemble that of a Cisco).

The main reason why I would not get a 3Com EVER AGAIN, is the absolutely horrific time I have had with the few I’ve come into contact with. They rarely hit their rated speeds and I’ve had a few where configuration just will not stick.

Have you considered alternatives like a Dell (5324) or HP as they have built some great switches over the years (if the firmware can be a little weird).

Well i can get any of those switches for under 30 Dollars, that why i was suggesting between those 2