I recently purchased the LC Gigabit Ethernet Port Switcher from Aliexpress. It appears to be manufactured by Shenzhen LC Technology Co., Ltd, although the product’s web page seems incomplete. Given the electronic nature of the device (specifically for its switching functionality), the ability to switch to a different Ethernet connection using a GPIO is intriguing. This approach can maintain network or device isolation at the hardware level, enabling connectivity only under specific circumstances.
The device operates with a 5V input voltage and consumes approximately 4mA of power. Network connectivity is disabled if power is not supplied, due to the use of the CH440R Analog Switch/Multiplexer. Each integrated circuit (IC) is powered by 5V and contains 4 Single Pole Double Throw (SPDT) switches. Therefore, two ICs are utilized to switch all 8 wires of the Ethernet cable.
Device testing
I tested the device using both a 100 Mbps and a 1 Gbps connection. The results are visible in the following table.
Testing Procedure
Overall
In the end, the device fell short. Advertised as delivering speeds of 1Gbps, it stumbled even at the more modest goal of 100Mbps, often struggling and losing packets along the way.