Network switch for voip and PC's

[chris.hurles1]

I am looking to purchase some network switches. I need a 24 port switch that can handle both PC's and Voip handsets. From my research so far I have discovered I will need PoE and the switch would need to be a gigabit. Can anyone give me some advise as to what to purchase or at least push me in the right direction? Thanks

[Leo Laohoo]

1.  How much is your budget? 

2.  How many ports? 

3.  How many phones?

[chris.hurles1]

Budget not applicable. Looking for 3 24 port switches. I have 24 handsets at the moment.

[Leo Laohoo]

I have 24 handsets at the moment.

What is the power draw of each phone?

[chris.hurles1]

Its a Mitel 5330e which is 48v. Sorry I'm learning all this myself so please bare with my silly answers.

[Leo Laohoo]

Its a Mitel 5330e which is 48v. 

Ok, let me rephrase my question.  How much PoE power (in watts) does EACH unit require?  Reading stuff in the web, a lot are saying 15.4w.  But I'm no Mitel user, so do you require additional accessories that will use more than 15.4w PoE?  

I need to know how many phones (MAXIMUM) per switch because there are switch models that can support a limited amount of PoE draw.  For example, standard 48-port switch can support up to 24 PoE devices eating 15.4w.  But if you find the requirement to put more than 24 PoE devices in a single switch then it's a different model.  And no, they are not "upgrade-able".  

I ask this question now because of the lessons I learnt when I made this same mistake.  I designed to install 20 APs to a switch and didn't realize that I had too many APs the switch could not power.  So we ended up getting the next model up to support the power requirement.  The mistake I made cost us a few weeks delay in the project.

[chris.hurles1]

There are 12 voip handsets going into each switch and no other PoE devices going into the switch. 15.4w sounds about right.

[Leo Laohoo]

WS-C2960X-24PD-L = 24-port, PoE & 2 SFP/SFP+ uplink; or

WS-C2960X-24PS-L = 24-port, PoE & 4 SFP uplink

[chris.hurles1]

Thanks Leo, I appreciate your input. As I didn't have a budget I had no expectation of cost but was hoping to find something in the £200 to £300 bracket based on my research. These ones look to be more like £900. Maybe I need to re-evaluate.