Tenda TEG1210P 10-Port Gigabit Ethernet Intelligent PoE Switch Review

Introduction

Tenda was founded back in 1999 and has since created some great networking products. We’ve tested a few already and it’s a pleasure for me to take a closer look at the Tenda TEG1210P WebSmart Gigabit PoE Switch that comes with 8 Gbit RJ45 ports and two additional Gigabit SFP ports.

A switch doesn’t equal a switch. Although most people can make do with what any cheap switch, a lot of us want more. More control, more features, and more possibilities and that is what smart switches bring to the table.

The TEG1210P supports port mirroring, port bandwidth control, port traffic statistics and power save mode, and more. It is user-friendly and works as plug-and-play without the need for configuration.

The switch is only 210mm deep and will easily fit into any 19-inch rackmount that you might have. It comes with mounting brackets and screws for that as well as four rubber feet with adhesive in case you want to use it as a desktop model.

The rear side only features a power plug for 100-240V and a power switch to turn the switch off. The power switch is a nice feature in an office environments where you don’t need it all the time and it is something my own current switch is missing and that I’m missing on it.

On the bottom we can clearly see the four markings where you the feet for desktop use are placed. You’ll also find a sticker with details on the router.

Tenda added two 40mm fans to keep the unit cool by sucking the air in on one side and blowing it out on the other, thereby creating an air flow through the entire unit.

The eight RJ45 ports support 10/100/1000Mbps connections as well as 802af PoE with 15.4W per port. There are two more ports, but these are SFP MiniGBIC with a speed of 1000Mbps and automatic switching between metallic and optical interface. The SFP ports allow you to easily extend the range of your network from 100meters to over 80 kilometers.

The LEDs on the front of the switch will let you know what is going on. There is Link/Act, Speed, and PoE LEDs for the eight RJ45 ports as well as LEDs for the two SFP, Power, and System. The reset switch is hidden between the Power and SYS LED.

Tenda also added a grounding screw in case your unit doesn’t get that through the power connection or you just want an extra security or ground something else via the switch.

When we take a closer look at the sticker mentioned earlier we see that it contains all the relevant information from power usage to default IP and administrator details.

The TEG1210P complies with IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.3u, IEEE 802.3ab, IEEE 802.3z, and IEEE 802.3af ethernet standards. It adopts store and forward scheme and is integrated with an 8K MAC address table with MAC address learning and auto-aging support.

The smart switch supports port aggregation and trunking with up to three groups each of which is allowed to include a maximum of 4 members. It further supports up to 10 groups of Port-based VLANs and up to 128 groups of IEEE 802.1Q Tag VLANs with VLAN IDs ranging from 1 to 4094.

You also get features such as port storm control, statistics, bandwidth control, QoS, IGMP snooping, and 802.1x support. The total switching capacity of 32Gbps should prevent any bottlenecks.