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Home » PoE Switch VS PoE+ Switch: The Complete Guide

PoE Switch VS PoE+ Switch: The Complete Guide

The PoE switch is a widely used device in the security industry today, because it is a switch that provides power and data transmission for remote devices such as IP phones or cameras, and plays a very important role. When choosing a PoE switch, someone consulted that some PoE switches are marked with PoE, and some are marked with PoE+. So, what is the difference between a PoE switch and a PoE+ switch?

What is a PoE switch?

PoE switches are defined by the IEEE802.3af standard and can provide up to 15.4W of DC power per port.

Why use PoE switches in network construction?

Over the past few decades, it has been common for businesses to lay out two separate wired networks, one for power transmission and the other for data transmission, however, this adds to the complexity of maintenance. To solve this problem, communication device manufacturers have introduced PoE switches. However, with the changing power requirements of complex and advanced systems such as IP networking, VoIP and surveillance, PoE switches have become an essential part for enterprises and data centers.

What is a POE+ switch?

With the development of PoE technology, a new IEEE802.3at standard appears, called PoE+, and switches based on this standard are also called PoE+ switches. The main difference between 802.3af(PoE) and 802.3at(PoE+) is that PoE+ power supply devices provide almost twice the power of PoE devices, which means that commonly deployed VoIP phones, WAPs and network cameras will run on PoE+ ports .

Why do you need a POE+ switch?

With the increasing demand of enterprises for higher power PoE switches, devices such as VoIP phones, WLAN access points, and network cameras need new PoE switches with higher power to support them, so this demand directly leads to the birth of PoE+ switches.

PoE Switch VS PoE+ Switch: The Complete Guide

Advantages of PoE+ switches

1. Higher power

PoE+ switches can provide up to 30W per port, while PoE switches can provide up to 15.4W per port. The minimum power available on the power supply device of a PoE switch is 12.95W per port, while the minimum power available on a PoE+ switch is 25.5W per port.

2. Stronger compatibility

PoE and PoE+ switches assign levels from 0-4 according to how much power is needed. When a powered device is connected to a power sourcing device, it provides its category to the power sourcing device so that the power sourcing device can provide it with correct power. Layer 1, Layer 2, and Layer 3 devices require very low, low, and moderate power consumption respectively, while Layer 4 (PoE+) switches require a lot of power and are only compatible with PoE+ power sourcing devices.

3. Further cost reduction

PoE+ uses standard wiring (Cat5) to work with ordinary Ethernet interfaces, so no “new wires” are required. This means existing network cabling infrastructure can be utilized without the need to run high voltage AC power or separate power connections for each embedded PoE+ switch.

4. More powerful

PoE+ only uses CAT5 network cable, which has 8 internal wires, compared with 4 wires of CAT3. This reduces the possibility of impedance and reduces power consumption. In addition, PoE+ allows network administrators to provide greater capabilities, such as providing new remote power diagnostics, status reporting and power management of powered devices (including remote power cycling of embedded switches).

Final Thoughts

In a word, PoE switches and PoE+ switches can supply power to network devices such as IP cameras, APs, and IP phones, and have high flexibility, high stability, and high resistance to electromagnetic interference. Then, the above is the difference between PoE switch and PoE+ switch. Through the above introduction, you should understand the difference.

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