Review on TRENDnet Intelligent 1000Base T 1000Base LX TFC 1000S10D5 by Kenneth Barnes

*I'll post the same review for the companion model TFC-1000S10D5*We use it to transmit video from a rented access studio to a cable headend. The link used MPEG over IP with cable modems to deliver its connection to the headend, but experienced occasional dropout problems. It was decided to transfer them to a dedicated fiber. This (and its companion TFC-1000S10D3) offers a single fiber solution as it can transmit at 1550nm and receive at 1310nm. When ordering, make sure you get the correct devices. There is very little documentation that comes with the device and they don't offer many diagnostic features. There are 2 LEDs, POWER and LINK, on the front of the device. The power indicator will of course light up when you apply power, but the link indicator will not light up until you plug in the correct Ethernet device. There is no indication that the device sees light from another device at all. However, there is a DIP switch setting that will turn off the link LED when there is no light coming in. But then again, if you don't have anything plugged into the Ethernet port, the Link LED will never light up. The link also assumes that one side will be MDI and the other side MDIx. In other words, if you connect a remote device to a switch, use all straight ethernet cables, but you need a crossover cable to connect 2 switches or 2 devices together. The devices we buy are designed for communication up to 10 km. We start it at the link 1.6 km. The spec says it outputs -9dBm and wants to go from -7(?) to -22dBm, so I figured I might need to dim the lights. But I measured -13 dBm on the 1310, so I didn't use the pad. Light levels of -13dBm were measured using a fairly new JDSU light meter. So if you're going about 10km on your line, you might want to consider upgrading to the more powerful versions. Once you plug all the cables together, it works like a champ. We didn't measure the net throughput, but we haven't experienced any channel issues for a little over a week since switching to this solution.