NETGEAR MS110TX: Specs, Features, Pros & Cons
Port 1 on the MS110TX takes power as well as data. Feed it from a PoE+ port on an upstream switch and that single cable runs the whole MS110TX, so it can live in a ceiling space, a media cabinet or a meeting room with no outlet nearby.
The switch itself is NETGEAR's eight-port 2.5G smart managed model with two 10G SFP+ uplinks, in a fanless case 253 mm wide. It stands on a desk, hangs from VESA holes on a wall, or goes into a rack with the brackets NETGEAR includes. The fabric is non-blocking at 80 Gbps, so all ten ports can run at line rate together.
Management goes further than the smart-switch label suggests. Alongside a web interface over HTTPS there is a command line over SSH, SNMP up to v3 and NETGEAR's Insight app. The feature list includes up to 256 VLANs with one-click templates for cameras, voice and Wi-Fi, 802.1X, LACP, IGMP and MLD snooping, ACLs for IPv4 and IPv6, and a lite Layer 3 set with static routes and a DHCP server and relay. That is enough to route between a few VLANs locally and keep camera traffic off the office network.
There is no PoE output on any port, which is the job of the MS110TXUP sibling, and no console port, so recovery happens over the network or by reset. Copper ports stop at 2.5G, and anything faster has to go through the SFP+ cages.
Category strengths
Where the NETGEAR MS110TX beats the median
- More 2.5G ports ?8 vs 0 (median)
- More SFP/SFP+ ports ?2 vs 0 (median)
- Has rack-mountable ?
- Has cloud management ?
- A lower power consumption ?16.4 W vs 26.5 W (median)
Where the NETGEAR MS110TX trails the median
- Fewer PoE ports ?0 vs 4 (median)
How this VS Score was computed
Score 62: each known spec is measured against the median of all network switches (17 products), then weighted; 50 means level with that median. In classes of six or more, a value beyond the class’s 10th–90th percentile range counts as that limit, so one extreme product cannot set the scale. 72% of the scoreable weight could be used; unknown values, features not applicable to this class and proxies (battery capacity where a rated life exists) add or remove nothing.
| Specification | This product | Cohort median | Score weight | Points moved |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PoE ports | 0 | 4 | 1.2 | −57.6 |
| 2.5G ports | 8 | 0 | 1 | +50.0 |
| VLAN support | Yes | 59% of the class have it | 0.8 | +40.0 |
| PoE standard | None | PoE+ (802.3at) | 0.8 | −26.4 |
| SFP/SFP+ ports | 2 | 0 | 0.5 | +25.0 |
| Link aggregation | Yes | 53% of the class have it | 0.5 | +25.0 |
| Quality of Service (QoS) | Yes | 62% of the class have it | 0.5 | +25.0 |
| Cloud management | Yes | 50% of the class have it | 0.4 | +20.0 |
| Power consumption | 16.4 | 26.5 | 0.5 | +15.5 |
| IGMP snooping | Yes | 60% of the class have it | 0.3 | +15.0 |
| Rack-mountable | Yes | 35% of the class have it | 0.3 | +15.0 |
| Total ports | 10 | 10 | 2 | +0.0 |
| Gigabit ports | 0 | 0 | 1.5 | +0.0 |
| 10G ports | 0 | 0 | 0.8 | +0.0 |
| MAC address table | 16 | 16 | 0.3 | +0.0 |
| Management level | Smart managed | Smart managed | 1 | +0.0 |
Not scored: PoE budget (unknown: not scored); Switching capacity (unknown: not scored); Forwarding rate (unknown: not scored); Jumbo frame support (unknown: not scored); Fanless (standard for the class (80% have it)); Metal housing (standard for the class (87% have it)).
Editor’s note
PoE+ delivers up to 25.5 W at the powered end of a cable, and NETGEAR rates the MS110TX at 16.4 W maximum. One PoE+ port upstream therefore covers the whole switch with several watts to spare, so the powered port is a practical way to install it and more than a datasheet curiosity.
The fanless design has a cost that NETGEAR states near the end of the datasheet. Only one copper 10GBASE-T SFP+ module may be installed at a time, because of the heat, while fiber modules can fill both cages. Anyone planning two copper 10G uplinks, say to a NAS and to a router, needs a DAC or fiber for one of them.
Cloud management is the other thing to read carefully. Insight works with this switch, but the Insight Managed Switch license is sold separately. The local web interface, the SSH command line and SNMP cost nothing extra and cover everything a single site needs. Ubiquiti's model runs the other way: the UniFi controller is free, and a UniFi switch has no standalone interface without it.
For a small office that wants 2.5G at every desk and a proper managed switch without a fan, this is a sound choice, and the lifetime hardware warranty helps. Where the access points also need power, I would skip it for the MS110TXUP, or for Ubiquiti's USW Flex 2.5G 8 PoE if the network already runs UniFi.
Specifications
Quality bars show where each figure sits between the lowest and highest of the 17 network switches this VS Score is measured against.
Ports
Power over Ethernet
Performance
Management
Design & power
Networking assessment
What the specification table does not say on its own: what this device needs to connect, what speeds are realistic, what costs extra, and where it falls short. Every statement below is read from the verified sheet or written by an editor — nothing is estimated.
Test environment
Research-based assessment: this brief is derived from the manufacturer’s published specifications for the NETGEAR MS110TX and the documents listed under Sources and verification. We have not run this unit on our own network, so nothing here is a measurement of ours.
Connection requirements
Management level: Smart managed. Expect a web interface or cloud dashboard to configure it, which is where VLANs, link aggregation and QoS are set up.
Ports: 10 in total, of which an unspecified number are Gigabit.
Firmware and subscriptions
Set-up and day-to-day management run through the manufacturer’s cloud service, so that account’s availability and privacy terms are part of the product.
Security support
VLAN support allows work, IoT and guest traffic to be separated on the wired side.
Security-update cadence is not something manufacturers publish as a specification; see Support and updates below.
Known limitations
4 specifications are not published by the manufacturer and are shown as Unknown rather than guessed.
Support and updates
We have not found a published firmware support-lifetime commitment for this model. Update policies differ widely between brands; check the support page linked under Sources and verification before relying on it for a long deployment, and treat a device that has stopped receiving security updates as due for replacement.
Sources and verification
Where the specifications come from
- Official product pagenetgear.com
- Datasheet or manualdownloads.netgear.com
Verification
- First published
- Specifications last checked
- Sheet completeness
- 18 of 22 specifications verified; the rest show as Unknown and are never estimated or scored
- Page type
- Product specification page — Compiled from the manufacturer’s published specifications and the cited sources; this is not a hands-on test.
- Basis
- Research-based: specifications and editorial text were compiled from the documents listed here and the manufacturer’s published data. We have not tested this unit ourselves; where independent measurements are mentioned they belong to the linked publication.
Network Switches with similar specs to the NETGEAR MS110TX
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The bottom line
The NETGEAR MS110TX earns a VS Score of 62, above the median of the 17 network switches it is measured against (a score of 50 is level with that median).
- Who it’s for
- A small office or home lab that wants 2.5G to every desk or access point, two SFP+ uplinks toward a 10G core, and VLANs, ACLs and SNMP from a switch with no fan.
- Who should look elsewhere
- Anyone who needs the switch to power cameras or access points, since it supplies no PoE, and anyone who wants two copper 10G uplinks from it.
- The trade-off that matters
- It runs silently and can even take its power from its own uplink, but it powers nothing downstream, so devices on the 2.5G ports still need injectors or a PoE switch.
- The main alternative
- NETGEAR MS110TXUP: the same switch with Ultra60 PoE++ on four ports, PoE+ on the other four and a 230 W budget.
The VS Score is calculated from the weighted specifications above, each measured against the median of comparable network switches — a shortlisting guide, not a substitute for your own priorities. See how we score.
