The Switch

The TRENDnet TPE-S44 is a small product and looks more like a cheap home switch or router than a PoE device. However, I can tell you that in this case looks are very deceiving. The first nice touch is a metal casing rather than the usual cheap plastic favoured by many manufacturers these days. Not only does the metal offer more protection but it also helps to dissipate some of the heat any switch generates.

With the TPE-S44 you get eight 10/100 ports, four of which have the ability to send power over a standard Ethernet cable (up to 100 meters). These ports can push up to15.4 watts of power out to your devices at 5, 7.5, 9 or 12 Volts (with a 30 Watt Max for all ports)

Taking a look at the front of the TPE-S44, we see pretty much what you would see on an ordinary 8-port switch, but there are a couple of extra lights over the first four ports.

One of the extra lights is to indicate that you are pulling power from the switch. TRENDnet also added in a light to indicate that you have reached the maximum power output capable from the TPE-S44.

The back of the TPE-S44 looks like any other switch out. TRENDnet did add in a label to indicate which ports are PoE and which are not.