Zyxel XGS1935-52HP review: A port-dense Gigabit PoE+ switch that's priced right for SMBs

Zyxel has steadily built up an impressive portfolio of network switches and offers a wide choice of solutions for the SMB sector. Introduced in 2022, the XGS1930 series of switches offers plenty of features at a good price, but after three years of solid service, Zyxel has decided the time is right to retire them.

The new XGS1935 series offers an equally good range of options as they are also available in 24- and 48-port versions, all with a quartet of 10GbE SFP+ uplink ports. As before, you also have two PoE models, and in this hands-on review, we take a closer look at the flagship XGS1935-52HP.

As with their predecessors, the XGS1935 series is all Layer 2 (L2) switches with 'Lite-L3' capabilities. They support static IPv4 and IPv6 routing along with client DHCP request relays from one network to another, but not the dynamic routing offered in more costly full Layer 3 (L3) switches.

For switch management, you can opt for a standalone operation mode or move it all into the cloud using Zyxel's Nebula Control Center (NCC) platform. Unlike Zyxel's new USG Flex firewall appliances, the Smart Sync hybrid management feature isn't available, so you have to choose between standalone and cloud modes.

Zyxel XGS1935-52HP review: Hardware and new features

Existing users of the XGS1930 models looking for an upgrade are unlikely to be tempted by the new switches, as their performance specifications are identical. That said, the XGS1935-52HP looks capable of handling a high throughput as it sports a 176Gbits/sec backplane, which delivers a high forwarding rate of 130.9 million packets per second (Mpps).

The switch presents 802.3at PoE+ services on all 48 copper Gigabit ports and has a reasonable power budget of 375W. Zyxel is aiming the switch at powering devices such as APs, IP cameras, and IP phones, but the lack of multi-Gigabit ports makes it less appealing for businesses looking to deploy high-performance Wi-Fi 7 APs – we use Zyxel's XMG1930-30HP in the lab, which has every Wi-Fi and PoE angle covered.

There are a number of changes to the new switches that aim to improve their green credentials. Incorporating more energy-efficient components, Zyxel has reduced idle power consumption for the XGS1935-52HP from 46.8W to 32.2W and maximum power usage from 498.4 to 470.1W.

It's significantly smaller as Zyxel has reduced its depth by 60mm and slimmed it down by nearly 1.5kgs with Zyxel claiming a 36% reduction in unit packaging. Other new features include 4kV ESD/surge protection and support for energy-efficient Ethernet (EEE).

Zyxel XGS1935-52HP review: Standalone mode

Setting up the switch for standalone operations is easy. Its local web console presents wizards for setting a default admin password, plus SNMP community names and configuring security features, VLANs, and quality of service (QoS).

The console's dashboard view presents a switch graphic showing all ports, their connection speeds, and whether they are supplying power. Down below are widgets for system utilisation, total power usage, temperatures, plus fan operations (which are extremely quiet,) and clicking on any of them transports you to a monitor page for more detailed information.

The 375W power budget may be stretched with so many Gigabit ports, but the switch has a warning LED on the front for high PoE usage, and you can apply one of three power priorities to each port. If the total power draw gets close to the maximum available, those with the lowest priority will be switched off first.

All configuration options are easily accessible from the left-hand menu with an abundance of L2 features, including support for port-based and 802.1q VLANs along with static and LACP link aggregation groups. VoIP networks are on its radar as the switch identifies traffic from IP phones using a customisable OUI (organisationally unique identifier) list and automatically prioritises it by dynamically creating voice VLANs.

Security features are equally good as the switch supports access control lists (ACLs), port security, plus 802.1x port authentication, and can automatically move users with incorrect login details to a secure guest VLAN. Monitoring features include support for all versions of SNMP, but you don't get Zyxel's internal sFlow agent, as this is only provided in its higher-end switches.

Zyxel XGS1935-52HP review: Cloud management

Cloud deployment is equally swift, as we used the Nebula iOS app on an iPad to scan the QR code label on the box. Two minutes later, the switch popped up in our cloud portal and received all our site settings, which included changing the local admin password to the one set for all site devices.

The widget-based NCC dashboard can be easily customised, and we added ones to show the online status of our switch and total power usage. Selecting the switch took us to its monitoring page, which provides a location map, hardware monitor, and colour-coded views of all ports plus 2 and 24-hour traffic and power graphs which can be extended to 7 days with an optional NCC Plus licence and 30 days with a Pro version.

As far as we can see, all the features available in the local console can be configured in NCC. From the portal's switch configuration menu, you select individual ports, set their PoE priority, apply one of five global PoE schedules that determine when powered devices (PDs) are active and PoE services can be disabled and enabled – handy for remotely rebooting a PD that isn't responding.

Other options include creating static routes, port mirroring, access control lists, and voice VLANs. The new port profile feature allows you to create up to 10 groups of global settings and apply them to selected ports.

Zyxel XGS1935-52HP review: Is it worth it?

Zyxel's XGS1935-52HP delivers a lot for a good price as we found it at Broadbandbuyer for £528 excluding VAT – around £100 less than its predecessor. It supports standalone or cloud management and is an affordable choice for SMBs seeking a port-dense Gigabit PoE+ solution for office-wide deployments of IP phones, wireless APs and IP cameras with room for 10GbE upgrades.

Zyxel XGS1935-52HP specifications