ipolex Gigabit Single-Mode SC Fiber to Ethernet Media Converter, Built-in 1000Base-LX SFP Module, 1310nm, SMF, Duplex, 20KM, Dual SC Fiber to 10/100/1000Base-TX (UTP/STP/Cat5e/Cat6 RJ45),UL Certified

I originally bought this 4 years ago to connect my stand-alone garage to my home network.I decided to go the fiber route because I already had conduit run back to it that I could run the line through. Previously I had tried a wireless mesh but my house has aluminum siding and then fire break (think cement board) material under it. On top of that the garage is cinderblock / concrete. That meant getting a wireless signal back there, even with mesh, was problematic. Alternatively I could have used regular CAT 7 cable but the concern was degradation of the wires in the conduit (it does get wet 4 feet below ground - it has been there for 15 years).In the end went with fiber and this product as a "temporary" way to integrate the fiber optic into my regular wired networks in the house and garage. Honestly, it has been so reliable that I never went to a "permanent" solution and 4 years later - they have been and still are working 24/7 without any issue.

On my unit, the RJ45 port has a lot of resistance, and the SFP cage is slightly bulging inward from the top. However, this hasn't hindered functionality, so it's within reason for a $25 device.iperf3 bandwidth was the same with/without the converter. I also did a crude ICMP ping test from my router to PC to measure latency. It adds around 4us (repeatably):Without converter:100000 packets transmitted, 100000 packets received, 0.0% packet lossround-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.025/0.034/0.081/0.001 msWith converter:100000 packets transmitted, 100000 packets received, 0.0% packet lossround-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 0.029/0.037/0.082/0.001 msI just wish these devices weren't so expensive. The 10G capable ones cost almost 3-4x as much. I'm just using it to electrically isolate my router from the cable modem (which of course doesn't have an SFP port).

This product did not work for me how can I return it.

We have a digital billboard outside the TV station I work for. We've had issues in the past with lightning getting into the building (from the digital billboard or the 350ft tower outside). Unfortunately the computer went out for the digital billboard and when the "repair man" from the company that supplies/supports the digital billboard replaced the computer... he unintentionally broke the fiber line... like completely ripped one of the fiber lines from the connector. I ran cat5 to the billboard as a temporary patch to keep it up, as it generates roughly $1000-1500 in ad revenue every day. I had issues initially but had to tweak some settings on the cradle point modem/router to get it working. Once I was able to get the fiber line re-terminated I connected our TP-Link boxes (fiber to cat5 converter) but they wouldn't connect. I could unplug the cat5 cable from the cradle point modem/router and plug it into my laptop and it would connect over the fiber line without any issues... it just wouldn't communicate when connected to the cradle point modem/router. I checked the very few settings on the TP-Link boxes but got nothing. I believe a firmware update on the cradle point modem/router is what killed it (made it no longer work with the TP-Link fiber converters). I ordered a couple of these Gigabit fiber to cat5 converters on a hunch and they worked immediately.... no fuss or config changes needed. They just worked... After 6 weeks of back and forth between getting the computer replaced, running a temp cat5 line and getting the fiber re-terminated I was finally able to put this issue to bed. Shipping was very fast which is why I decided to order from my personal account w/prime (as anything I order through Amazon through procurement at work takes weeks). Got these in a couple days and got reimbursed for the "out of pocket" expenses. They just worked!!! and that's all that matters....

As it looks like the reviews Amazon associates with this device are with 'similar' devices, thought I should chime in on how this particular device works.I plugged in a 'Cisco' rated 10GTek multimode, 550m range SFP transceiver into this, plugged the other identical SFP transceiver into my genuine Cisco SG300 series switch and strung up a 30m pre-made multi-mode fiber rated for outdoor use. The goal of this setup over copper is electrical isolation in case of lightning. It just works. At this it is by far the cheapest solution I have hit so far that just works.I tested performance between my laptop and main computer with iperf and performance was identical between directly plugging in laptop to my Cisco SG300 and through this media converter, near 1Gb/s speeds.With it being so quick, cheap, and easy to do fiber this way, one has to wonder why the fastest ISP I can get in the middle of a major, dense city only provides much crappier, unreliable, fails as soon as the power goes out, and slower service with much more expensive hardware so they can do it over coax and my only other option is antique, slow phone lines. Plus when I moved in they had to string up new lines and of course they chose copper, not fiber, which makes no sense to me. With a cheap single mode SFP transceiver and a cheap media converter they could provide me much faster service with lines running back to their central office where they could have UPSes and backup generators to make the service reliable and sell the service for more money because it would be worth it. At this the stuff wouldn't be going out / getting fried every time there was a lightning storm, which has become increasingly common and intense in recent years where I live. Also FiOS makes no sense to me either when I was in a FiOS neighborhood because they installed this gigantic box (ONT) in my closet that must of cost them a fortune while this cheap little box I am using does the same job except much faster at maybe 1/40th the price. So it's like I could provide awesome service that serves the customers' every need and do it well with a $25 box or I could do it badly with a $1,000 box. Of course telco logic is do it badly with the super expensive box that falls way short of the mark every time.