Rating: 
Summary: Good Consumer-Grade Switch
Review: If you're considering buying this switch, you most likely have more than a few computers to network. And if you're the casual home user, this switch will give you appreciable performance at a great price. As a geek with 4 constantly-on computers with a mixed OS network, I can say that this switch (which was an upgrade from a 5-port 10/100 hub) really improved my network connections.First off, you should know the difference between "hubs" and "switches". Hubs are your typical central connecting device that will allow you to hook up more than one computer on to the network at a time. They are usually quite cheaper than switches, at the price of loss of performance. Switches have separate bandwidths for each port, unlike hubs; thus, allowing more traffic to go through between each computer on your network. Of course, if you're going to be doing nothing but sending e-mails and occasional web surfing, a cheap hub will do all of this for you. But for the heavy gamers or those that want to use network intensive tools will appreciate the individual bandwidth that each port gets. Some people complain that by switching to this switch, their network performance has decreased. This was the case with one of my computers, where transfer rates sharply fell from 42% capacity to 1.2% in a matter of seconds, rendering a 1GB file transfer practically impossible. After a bit of analysis, I found 2 causes for this: 1) faulty cabling, and 2) cheap unreliable network adapter. If you have cheap old network cables that have been crushed by chairs, doors, etc., they could be affecting the reliability of your network, and the full duplex operations of the 100Mbit network could be adversly affected by line conditions to where it has to resend packets to correct transmission errors. The other common culprits are cheaply constructed network adapters (NIC's) with especially poorly written drivers. I replaced all wiring with 350MHz Cat 5e cabling and replaced all cheap cards (e.g., CNet Pro 200) with higher grade ones, and the reliability and transfer rates have soared to a little under theoretical maximum throughputs. According to a network expert, some recommended lower-cost cards are D-Link DFE-530TX (uses the RTL 8139 chipset) or 3Com EtherLink or 905TX series. Too many people blame the switch when it is really their setup's fault, and it should be pointed out that the switch is very well-made and easy to setup. It should be pointed out that the switch does make an electric "fuzz" noise that many switches/hubs will generate. If you are using quiet computers or laptops or are planning on putting the switch anywhere quiet, you might find the noise distracting. However, it's a subtle "quiet" sound, so the level may vary depending on your perception of loudness. Also, if you have more than 8 computers, it should be noted that these switches are not stackable so you it won't be as neat. Wall mounting is possible and probably recommended, as a small, light-weight device such as this tends to not stay on the ground very well if the angles at which you plug in the network cables lifts or pulls on it. There aren't any true flaws in the product, works and performs well, and I readily recommend it to anyone seeking to setup or improve a home network on a budget.
Rating:
Summary: Good Consumer-Grade Switch
Review: If you're considering buying this switch, you most likely have more than a few computers to network. And if you're the casual home user, this switch will give you appreciable performance at a great price. As a geek with 4 constantly-on computers with a mixed OS network, I can say that this switch (which was an upgrade from a 5-port 10/100 hub) really improved my network connections. First off, you should know the difference between "hubs" and "switches". Hubs are your typical central connecting device that will allow you to hook up more than one computer on to the network at a time. They are usually quite cheaper than switches, at the price of loss of performance. Switches have separate bandwidths for each port, unlike hubs; thus, allowing more traffic to go through between each computer on your network. Of course, if you're going to be doing nothing but sending e-mails and occasional web surfing, a cheap hub will do all of this for you. But for the heavy gamers or those that want to use network intensive tools will appreciate the individual bandwidth that each port gets. Some people complain that by switching to this switch, their network performance has decreased. This was the case with one of my computers, where transfer rates sharply fell from 42% capacity to 1.2% in a matter of seconds, rendering a 1GB file transfer practically impossible. After a bit of analysis, I found 2 causes for this: 1) faulty cabling, and 2) cheap unreliable network adapter. If you have cheap old network cables that have been crushed by chairs, doors, etc., they could be affecting the reliability of your network, and the full duplex operations of the 100Mbit network could be adversly affected by line conditions to where it has to resend packets to correct transmission errors. The other common culprits are cheaply constructed network adapters (NIC's) with especially poorly written drivers. I replaced all wiring with 350MHz Cat 5e cabling and replaced all cheap cards (e.g., CNet Pro 200) with higher grade ones, and the reliability and transfer rates have soared to a little under theoretical maximum throughputs. According to a network expert, some recommended lower-cost cards are D-Link DFE-530TX (uses the RTL 8139 chipset) or 3Com EtherLink or 905TX series. Too many people blame the switch when it is really their setup's fault, and it should be pointed out that the switch is very well-made and easy to setup. It should be pointed out that the switch does make an electric "fuzz" noise that many switches/hubs will generate. If you are using quiet computers or laptops or are planning on putting the switch anywhere quiet, you might find the noise distracting. However, it's a subtle "quiet" sound, so the level may vary depending on your perception of loudness. Also, if you have more than 8 computers, it should be noted that these switches are not stackable so you it won't be as neat. Wall mounting is possible and probably recommended, as a small, light-weight device such as this tends to not stay on the ground very well if the angles at which you plug in the network cables lifts or pulls on it. There aren't any true flaws in the product, works and performs well, and I readily recommend it to anyone seeking to setup or improve a home network on a budget.
Rating:
Summary: Slam Dunk
Review: It is as easy as others say - I added it to my DSL system in less time than it took to read the (sparse) instruction manual.
Plug in, turn on. Done
The manual devotes a whole page to CAT5 cable construction but does not say which type (straight or crossover) to use between the EZXS88 and the DSL modem. (Its straight, as are the cables between the EZXS88 and the computers).
Rating:
Summary: You can't go wrong with this
Review: This is a great little box for connecting a small network without breaking your bank. The EZXS88W has a great work/size ratio. It's small enough to set on top of a computer case and provides eight ports of full duplex, 10/100 networking. It has a very informative display to give out info for connection speed, duplex connection and collision. The setup is as simple as plugging in the power and network cables. I have yet to run into any problems with this unit and would recommend it without a second thought.
Rating: 
Summary: Fast switch, poor quality control
Review: This is the first time I have been moved to write a product review for Amazon.com. I purchased this Linksys 10/100 MBPS switch to replace an older Netgear 10 MBPS hub. The switch comes with minimal instructions only, but mine came with a free CD-ROM installer of TurboLinux. I was immediately impressed with the speed of the switch as compared to the 10 MBPS hub. The switch worked fine for about three weeks, but then I noticed that Internet downloads were stalling when conditions were optimal, and backups across the network became pathetically slow. Windows estimated 17 minutes to copy a 60 MB file between two machines. After spending a week trying to get in touch with Linksys technical support, they agreed to replace the switch only after they received the old one. Good thing I kept the Netgear hub as a spare! The new switch worked fine until about a month ago, when the it also began dropping packets. Data transfers slowed to a crawl (this time an estimated 11 minutes for a 40 MB file), and tonight I replaced the switch with the old hub. Both of these switches were noise filtered and surge protected, so there is little or no chance that they were affected by power line problems. Engineering to the lowest common denominator is not acceptable even in a consumer grade product such as this one. The Netgear hub that this switch was supposed to replace has had more uptime than both Linksys switches put together. I would not buy this product again.
Rating: 
Summary: don't mistake for a DSL/Cable Router
Review: Unit works properly as a switch but will not configure without a static IP from your ISP. As most ISP's only accord this for business accounts, this is not your box. Quite adequate as a 10/100 switch though limted documentation.
Rating:
Summary: Adding More Ports doesn't get much easier than this!!!
Review: WOW!!! I currently have a Linksys Wire Router BEFSR41, and have had it for 2 years and have had NO problems with it. But I decided I wanted to drop additonal ethernet cables in other rooms in my house, but I had only one port left on my router. What was I to do! Along comes Linksys with the 10/100 8-port Workgroup Switch, model EZXS88W. Literally all I had to do to install this was connect an ethernet cable to my last port on my BEFSR41 Router, and attached it to the 'Uplink' port on the EZXS88W, and plug my laptop ethernet cable into any one of the 8 additional ports on the EZXS88W and boot up. I now have 8 additional internet ports. Thats ALL there is to it!!!!! Literally took longer to get it out of the package than to hook it up and get it working... If you are looking to add additional ports to your BEFSR41, or just want to create a small internal network, get this EZXS88W!! You will NOT be sorry!!!! Mike Heine ('winterstone')
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