- VoIP & Phone Systems
VoIP for Small Business: Getting Started Guide
18 Mar, 2026
£3148.22 inc. VAT
AI-generated summary
For £2,623.52 ex-VAT, a Cisco Catalyst 9300 “Network Essentials” L3 managed 24-port PoE+ switch is a solid choice **if you’re building or upgrading a professional wired network and you care about uptime, manageability, and clean growth**. The 9300 line is one of those “buy once, cry once” switches: it’s widely supported, predictable to run, and it plays nicely with typical Cisco-centric environments (especially if you already have Catalyst gear). PoE+ also makes it a sensible fit for IP phones, access points, and CCTV/IoT devices without having to scatter extra power supplies around.
That said, I’d be cautious if you don’t actually need the essentials feature set, L3 routing, or PoE capacity—because at this price, you’ll often find cheaper options that are “good enough” for simple access-layer use. Also, make sure you’re buying the right support level and licensing for how you intend to manage it day-to-day; with Cisco, the operational experience depends heavily on what’s included/covered rather than just the box. **Who should buy:** UK SMBs and mid-market teams standardising on Cisco, or IT departments who want dependable management and PoE for multiple endpoints. **Who shouldn’t:** organisations with very basic needs, tiny port counts, or anyone hunting for lowest-cost-per-port without caring about long-term operational comfort.

D-Link
D-Link DGS 1100-16V2 - Switch - smart - 16 x 10/100/1000 - desktop, rack-mountable

Zyxel
Zyxel GS1900-24EP - Switch - smart - 24 x 10/100/1000 (12 PoE+) - rack-mountable, wall-mountable - PoE+ (130 W)

TP-Link
TP-Link Omada ES216G V1.6 - Switch - Managed - 16 x 10/100/1000Base-T - rack-mountable, desktop

STARTECH
StarTech.com Industrial 8 Port Gigabit PoE+ Switch with 2 SFP MSA Slots, 30W, Layer/L2 Switch Hardened GbE Managed, Rugged High Power Gigabit Ethernet Network Switch IP-30/-40 C to 75 C - Managed Network Switch (IES101GP2SFW) - Switch - Managed - 8 x 10/100/1000 (PoE+) + 2 x SFP - wall-mountable, DIN rail mountable - PoE+ (200 W) - for P/N: GLCLHSMDSTTA, GLCSXMMDST, GLCSXMMDSTT, GLCTEST, MASFP1GBTXST, SFP1GELXST