TP-Link JetStream TL-SG3452XP Review

To accommodate the deployment of IP phones, wireless APs, and IP cameras across an entire office, businesses require a Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) device that can meet their demands. TP-Link’s JetStream TL-SG3452XP is an ideal candidate for this task, offering 48 PoE-enabled gigabit ports and four 10-gigabit fiber SFP+ ports for high-speed uplinks, all at an affordable price of £664. With a 500W power budget, one of the highest available at this price point, the switch can deliver 15.4W PoE or 30W PoE+ on each Ethernet port, making it capable of supporting a large number of powered devices (PDs).

The TL-SG3452XP is a Layer 2 switch with basic Layer 3 routing capabilities, also known as “Layer 3 Lite” or “Advanced L2+.” It supports static IPv4 and IPv6 routing, but not the dynamic routing found in more expensive full Layer 3 switches. Management options are plentiful, with the choice of using standalone mode or moving everything to the cloud. The switch’s web console is smartly designed and provides numerous features, as evidenced by a quick glance.

The JetStream TL-SG3452XP switch offers a wide range of Standard L2 features, including VLANs based on port, MAC, and protocol, QoS traffic prioritization, and link aggregation groups through static and LACP. The switch also automatically identifies IP phone traffic and prioritizes it with dynamic voice VLANs, ensuring that general data traffic does not interfere with VoIP call performance. With a large power budget, many PDs can be added, and individual ports can have priorities applied to them to prevent exceeding the power threshold. Power profiles can also be assigned to multiple ports, allowing PoE services to be enabled or disabled and power limits to be set based on manually entered values or one of four PoE device classes.

TP-Link’s Omada service provides cloud-hosted versions of its on-site software and hardware controllers, making remote management more convenient for businesses with remote offices. The switch can be added to the Omada cloud portal after ensuring it is running the latest firmware. Once adopted, the switch’s settings are taken from the cloud controller, and access to its local web console is disabled. The Omada app for iOS can also be used to monitor all controllers and associated sites, displaying information on site devices, power usage, and available budget.

Although some features, such as port PoE priorities, cannot be configured from the cloud portal, override profiles can be used to maintain existing settings. Overall, the JetStream TL-SG3452XP switch offers an excellent solution for highly dense PoE deployments, with a large power budget, many gigabit ports, and a low price, while TP-Link’s Omada platform offers a flexible range of cloud management services.