Didn’t need reprogramming.
The quality is fine, oldest modules more than 5 years old and only 1 failure in 100.
DACs would be way more expensive to stock in every length.
I never knew you could program them. How smart are they? Are there ones capable of running Linux?
most manufacturers of devices - the things with the holes, NICs, switches, routers - make their devices only officially work with modules that claim to be manufactured by that same manufacturer. so, you can either buy modules from that manufacturer, or buy modules from some other company (e.g. fs.com, 10gtek) who programs the modules to claim that they are from that manufacturer. "officially" can mean anything from "we won't help you if you open a support case" to "the device will make a whiney log message on boot if it's not one of our modules" to "it simply doesn't work unless you hack an EEPROM on the device".
this is somewhat annoying, since it means you need to buy specific modules for specific devices, you can't just keep a pile of SFP+ 10G-LR modules around, you need some "Intel SFP+ 10G-LR" and some "Cisco SFP+ 10G-LR", etc.
so, these third party manufacturers of the modules, like fs.com and 10gtek, will also sell you programmers for the modules, which lets you change what manufacturer the module claims made it. these programmers have been, historically and hilariously, tied to the actual manufacturer of the modules! so you can buy some 10G-LR SFP+ modules from fs.com and a fs.com programmer to set make some "Intel" and some "Cisco", but if you buy some 10gtek 10G-LR modules, you would need to buy a 10gtek programmer.
~so, this device that Ubiquiti has made is the meta-programmer - it can apparently program any module, from any actual manufacturer, to claim to be made by any manufacturer.~
edit: the post seems deliberately confusing - what they are actually selling is a device that can re-program Ubiquiti SFP+ modules by copying the manufacturer code from another SFP+ module that you insert into the programmer. so it's the same as what fs.com and all the other sell, but Ubiquiti's is ~1/10th the price (e.g. https://www.fs.com/uk/c/fs-box-3389).
Over here in NL we now get more and more access to >1gbps speeds, the office of my small business for instance has a 4gbps connection, and the ISP offers up to 8gbps on a standard consumer / small business package. We're in the process of upgrading our gear to take advantage of that. With WiFi 7 we've seen some real world throughput speeds of 1800-2000mbps going through a Ubiquiti U7 Pro straight to the ISP supplied router.
I wasn't really keeping up with networking gear, so I was pleasantly surprised when I looked into this stuff recently and figured out the gear has just magically gotten better and running 2.5gbit everywhere is surprisingly easy.
Still, compared to the SFP+ gear it's ridiculously overpriced. NICs are <$20 on ebay and an 8x10G port managed switch is $120 on aliexpress.
> Over here in NL we now get more and more access to >1gbps speeds
Same in France, yet the main "geek" ISP (free) has an 8Gbps symmetric ISP router with a 10G SFP+ cage for full bandwidth to the LAN. RJ45 ports are 2.5G.
And it's hard to fault them, as customers that are likely to even hardwire stuff to the router and moreso at 10Gbps are usually enthusiasts that do prefer SFP+ due to the abundance of hardware on the used market. Oh, and their team designing the router are a bunch of nerds that most likely all have a 10Gbps network.
This is the SFP DAS and fiber links in the current place:
workstation - switchUpStairs - switchMainFloor - switchBasement - nas
Edge devices are a mix between 100meg, 1gig, 2.5gig, so anything wired is limited mostly by its own nic or the ISP.
I've got some 10g at my current house, but it's over cat5e cause that was already in the walls. Also adding a few 2.5g with a 4x2.5g + 2xsfp+ 10g switch that goes into a 10g capable switch.
Because pre-terminated cable assemblies [0] can be 10% of the cost of a more modular link, I used conduit large enough to pass QSFP28 with ease. May not be possible in every home but I'm happy with the result.
> I am also thinking it might need to be shrouded in EMT conduit
Why would you need to run your fiber in metal pipe? EMI isn't a problem with fiber.
Utter pain in the ass, broke one fibre pulling it through conduit with way too much force (like, 2000+N), another got eaten by a fox before I’d put it in a conduit, and terminating fibre is a royal pain if you have to do it.
But yeah, totally worth it.
https://www.fs.com/products/96657.html
Which, while it works, is the poster child for how NOT to develop desktop software as it's a really shitty .NET GUI app they shoehorned onto non-Windows platforms.
> Instantly tests SFP and QSFP module health, including Rx/Tx power.
Most SFP modules will fail due to heat, like LED bulbs. So an instant test is of course instantly useful, but not indicative of production-use SFP health.
As a programming tool, of course it's awesome.
Of course, in typical ubiquiti fashion, it's out of stock with no way to backorder.