The Netgear MS108UP is a product we have wanted to see from the company for some time. On one hand, it is a simple unmanaged 8-port switch. What makes this switch special is that it adopts 2.5GbE across those ports as well as PoE. This switch also has a relatively massive 230W PoE power budget which is very impressive. Let us get to the details.
Netgear MS108UP External Hardware Overview
The the switch is 8.27″ x 5.51″ x 1.58″ 210m x 140mm x 40mm. While that may seem small, we will see later that it is only part of the story.
Still, this is a nice metal housing as we would expect from this class of Netgear switch.
We get a total of 8x 2.5GbE ports. This switch does not have uplink ports. Our best guess is that this switch is based on the Realtek RTL8371 or something like it given its specs, so the switch chip does not support extra 10GbE uplinks. 2024-01-22: We just had a reader say it is the RTL9303 instead. That makes sense from a cost perspective. One way to think of this unit is that it is a very inexpensive switch from a data perspective, so most of the cost and value are driven by PoE.
We get four PoE+ class 4 ports. These are 30W max per port, but with PoE switches that is the port power, not the device power.
The other four ports are PoE++ switches at 60W. These are class 6 ports and are one of the more unique features of the switch.
Underneath the switch, we get options for either adding rubber feet for desktop mounting or we have holes for surface mounting. We have seen some other 2.5GbE switches that are desktop only since they do not have these mounting holes.
The top and sides of the switch are solid without holes.
The rear of the switch has holes for venting. There is also a Kennsington lock port and power input. The DC power input is rated at 54V 4.7A.
Feeding that much power is an absolutely massive power brick. This was close to being titled “power brick sold with a 2.5GbE switch accessory.”
The power brick is large enough that it has its own rubber feet.
Overall, these are fairly simple unmanaged switch devices, but it is fun to look at the hardware. Unfortunately, looking inside the switch was a different story.
Netgear MS108UP Internal Hardware Overview
Opening the switch, we were greeted with this large metal sheet.
That sheet was screwed onto the switch chip. This felt like an assembly that we may damage the thermal performance if we disassembled it. So instead, we took a few views from around the switch.
Near the power input, we have circuitry for handling that, while the switch chip is on the other side.
The rest of the switch is a fairly barren PCB other than the PoE components and such that are required for each port.
Most of the inside of the switch PCB is barren, only containing traces.
We debated taking the top part off, but this is such a simple device, and we took photos before testing since we only had one sample from Netgear (in most of our switch reviews we actually use two different units.) Still, there is not a lot going on since this is such a simple device.
Next, let us get to performance, PoE testing, and power.
I’ve been looking at your great reviews of 8 port 2.5G switches with SFT 10G unlink. Have been a long time fan of Netgear, but I cannot understand what the use model is for PoE on a 2.5G switch. Unless its for uplifting downstream PoE switches themselves, I’m unaware of any PoE powered end devices that at 2.5G capable and I can’t see what those kind of devices would do with 2.5x the bandwidth of a 1G connection. Other then just being a high margin differentiator for Netgear vs these cheap 8×2.5G switches, why did Netgear make this? Thanks again for the great work.