I've recently been looking for a portable 10GbE Ethernet to Thunderbolt 3 adapter and come across a few. The smallest/lightest I've found is this device from QNAP:
https://www.qnap.com/en-uk/product/qna-tb-10gbe
It comes in 2 variants- the T is a standard 10GbE/NBASE-T connector for RJ45 cables, and has auto negotiation (or Multi-Gigabit) capability so that you will always receive the maximum transfer speed if connected to say a 5G or 2.5G instead of a 1G network. In my opinion, that versatility is vital for a portable device, as you never know what network you'll be connecting to, and running at 1G speed on a 5G capable connection just because your device is 10G and not 5G is as frustrating as it is absurd, and I'm so glad Auto negotiation came along to put a stop to that.
The second model, the S, has an SFP+ port instead of the RJ45 NBASE-T. Now I've not much experience with SFP at all, hence looking for guidance.
There's a plethora of SFP+ to RJ45 connectors out there. As the S model QNAP is cheaper, in a dream world, using it with an RJ45 converter gives you additional versatility at less cost, as you could then connect to both RJ45 and SFP+ connections with the one device. I've also seen comments that the SFP+ model is fanless and therefore silent, whereas there are come complaints about the NBASE-T versions high pitched fan whine, so another added bonus (but I've not yet confirmed this to be the case.)
The problem is, from my brief research, and per the specs on QNAPs website, SFP+ doesn't have the same autos negotiation/Multi-Gigabit capability as NBASE-T. You either get 10GbE or 1GbE. See my earlier paragraph for why that's disappointing.
If I were to purchase the SFP+ model adapter, and an SFP+ to RJ45 connector to slot in, I'm hoping that the adapter would just continue to accept up to 10GbE and the connector could continue to auto negotiate, so that when connecting to a 5GbE connection, you still get 5GbE and not 1GbE. I saw this following module where the title seems to suggest it would be possible:
https://www.roc-noc.com/mikrotik/routerboard/SplusRJ10.html
But without the Knowledge around SFP+ and how it all works, I'm hoping someone here can help me understand if that would be the case. I'd hate to pick up the S model adapter only to find that every ethernet connection was limited to 1G, or perhaps those modules don't just work for all SFP+ connections, but specific hardware, and it's not even possible to convert the QNAP SFP+ adapter to Ethernet at all!
The future proofing, versatility, slightly lighter weight, supposed quieter operation, and cheaper price for the base adapter are all telling me there would be no downside should an auto-negotiating converter work out. But given that the majority of connections would be ethernet, if it's not possible, then it rules out the SFP+ model completely. Any advice is much appreciated.
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