Tenda TEG1016G — 16-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch

Buying it, and when not to

The TEG1016G is a 16-port gigabit Ethernet switch in a rack-mount chassis. Same unmanaged simplicity as the desktop models, built to go into a cabinet properly.

Specify it whenever there is a rack - an office comms cabinet, a hotel riser, a small data cupboard, an estate gatehouse. A rack-mount body screws down, stays where it was put, stacks neatly with the patch panel and the router, and survives a cabinet being worked in. Desktop switches in cabinets end up balanced on cable bundles, and six months later somebody's weight on a cable has unseated three ports.

If there is no rack and the switch will sit on a desk or a shelf, the TEG1016M is cheaper for the same sixteen gigabit ports. If you need fewer than eight ports, the SG108 is far cheaper. The important limitation is the same as the rest of this family: no PoE. A rack feeding ceiling access points or cameras needs a PoE switch - the TEG1120P-16-150W is the equivalent sixteen-port PoE unit. And being unmanaged, it offers no VLANs, no port isolation and no remote view; for that, the TEG2226F cloud-managed or TEG3328F L2 managed switches are the step up.