Rating: 
Summary: Piece of metal "clanging around" in the unit
Review: I got the unit and it was nicely packed. I unwraped it and immediately heard a piece of metal moving around inside the unit. You can carefully press the blue-top of the unit to reveal the inside and I moved the unit around until the metal fell out. It was a small piece that looked "unnecessary."I added this switch to my existing 4 port router and it is working great. I have the router in the basement attached to my cable modem and the switch in my attic attached via a 50-60 ft cable (I don't know the exact length since I manufacture my own cables). I have had the 4 port router for about 1 year now and it is flawless. This switch has allowed me to add Internet access into just about every room in my house. Other great feature about this switch is that it was truly plug-and-play. I attached one end of my cable into an available port of the router, the other end into the switch and _presto_ Internet access via the switch. Manual was unnecessary :-)
Rating: 
Summary: Poor.
Review: I have to admit that I experienced the same thing as some of the other reviewers... at two different locations... Bought the switch, it worked great. Later, it brought the network to it's knees. Transfer rates were the equivilent of a 33.6 modem, ACROSS THE LAN. I would not recommend this product, ESPECIALLY since other people have experienced the same things. The good reviews? Perhaps they haven't had it for very long. Maybe mine was from the same bad batch.
Rating: 
Summary: Flawless switch in continuous use for 2 years
Review: I have two of these switches in my network, never turned off connected to Compaq servers. Not one issue. I see why Cisco purchased this company.
Rating: 
Summary: Worst Customer Service EVER
Review: I purchased one of this company's products and I have NEVER encountered worse customer service. The 800 number rings and rings and when it finally answers you are on hold forever. When you finally get through to the tech support department, there is an operator who takes a message under the guise that someone will actually return the call. When someone finally called me back (after I repeatedly called them to check the status of the callback), the person could not have been in a bigger hurry to get me off the line. When I followed his instructions, my computer locked up and then he said he could'nt wait for me to fix my computer so he hung up. He actually hung up on me! I could'nt believe it. When I called this company to find out the name of the President, the person answering the phone was reluctant to provide it. When I asked for the President's e-mail address and address so that I could send a letter, this person refused to provide it and also hung up on me. If you are stupid enough to purchase this product after my experiences, all I can say is that you better know what the hell you are doing because Linksys certainly will not help you.
Rating:
Summary: User Error
Review: I purchased this switch about 2 months ago. I have not had one problem with it. The transfer speeds are fast and network utilization is low. I fell these reviews are unfair because of the many variables involved in networks (i.e. Network Cards, PC configuration, Internet provider bandwidth). Great product in my book.
Rating:
Summary: For a geek like me to be impressed it takes a lot !!
Review: I work in technology and have for the last 10 years. There are two products that I have that really impressed me.... 1. TIVO 2. Linksys router/switch What it takes for me to actually be impressed by a technology product it has to be simple, (plug and play simple) the right price or better and be 99.999% reliable or better. This product is simple, just plug the darn thing in and it works. You only need to configure it if you want to do something a little non-standard. It has yet to fail me and I have had it for quite some time. If you need to share a high speed internet connection like DSL or cable this product is the best I have seen. Also in it;'s latest incarnation it supports PPPoE so it will work with any DSL provider out there without having to install the crummy ISP software on your actual workstation. Oh yeah and don't forget it supports NAT (Network Address Translation) so it basically acts as a firewall as well.
Rating:
Summary: Cheap, fast, but beware premature port death
Review: I've been buying Linksys equipment for a few years now and it's all good stuff, at very affordable prices. I've had no complaints with any of their equipment so far, except for one. I have found (and so have a few of my tech buddies and Network Admins I know) that Linksys hubs and switches tend to have problems with ports going dead or becoming unusable after only about a year of use. That is, one or more of the ports will die within a year's time (or shortly following the warranty period -- this is especially true of the 5-port switches). This premature port failure is not limited to just the hubs and switches. I've also had 2 DSL/Cable modem routers with 4 port switches exhibit the same problem (in one case, ALL the ports died except for the cable/DSL port). My suggestion is to buy more ports than you need so that you can still use the hub/switch after some ports go bad. That's why I am buying an 8-port switch even though it's replacing a 5-port switch where 2 of the ports are now dead. Why 4 stars? Because if you know about the port death syndrome and buy more ports than you need, it's STILL a great deal for the money...
Rating: 
Summary: Handy...
Review: I've found it to be handy and at a good price, but like other reviewers I had some problems. Ports tend to go bad and sometimes the unit dies. I was able to get warranty replacements and the new ones havent had problems yet.
Rating:
Summary: works well while it lasts -- but don't count on long life
Review: I've had two Linksys products die on me shortly after a year (a 4-port router/switch, and now this 8-port switch). It works fine until it dies (but that's like saying a stapler staples correctly: it's supposed to).
Just to note: I run them in a very friendly environment -- no dust or heat or voltage spikes or any of that to blame for the problem. (Also, you can count me as an "expert user".)
I myself will never buy another Linksys product again -- I'll try out Netgear & DLink and other brands, but goodbye Cisco/Linksys. If you chooose to try their products, caveat emptor.
Rating:
Summary: Best thing for networking
Review: If you want to do some fast networking you need to pickup a switcher and not a hub. I've always found Linksys to be really good and way much cheaper. Having a 100mb switcher is nice and a lot faster then a plain hub. Setup is very easy. The only down point is that the power cable doesn't hold tight enough to the back of the switcher, so any minor shake will reset the switcher. I still give it 5 stars because of the great price and performance.
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