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Rating: Summary: Great for 10 Mbps, but you should consider 10/100 Mbps. Review: Our office used to use a handful of the EN-108 8-port hubs and some of the EN-104 (the 4-port version of the same product).As most of the NetGear equipment line, the EN-108's are really nice. NetGear equipment are nicer because they have: - Nice sturdy metal construction instead of plastic. - Status indicators built into the jacks, so you can easily tell which cable is connected and is active. - Right-angled barrel power connector which reduce the likelihood of disconnecting power accidentally. - An easy-to-access switch to toggle port 1 between station mode and uplink mode. Unlike some hubs where two jacks are wired together, this design prevents accidentally shorting a station to an uplink. - Screw-mount notches on the underside allows for easy attachment to the wall, underside of a counter, etc. Rather than buying this 10Mbps hub, however, I strongly suggest that you buy a 10/100 Mbps hub. Your interest in buying an 8-port hub suggests that you have an actively-used network. If so, you'll most likely benefit from higher networking speeds. Is there a noticeable difference between 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps? It depends on your usage, but if you regularly share larger files with your coworkers, (about 300 KBytes or larger), you'll notice a tangible difference. For truly large files (like graphics/movies, or when installing an application via a network drive), a 10 second transfer at 100 Mbps will take well over a minute at 10 Mbps.
Rating: Summary: Great for 10 Mbps, but you should consider 10/100 Mbps. Review: Our office used to use a handful of the EN-108 8-port hubs and some of the EN-104 (the 4-port version of the same product). As most of the NetGear equipment line, the EN-108's are really nice. NetGear equipment are nicer because they have: - Nice sturdy metal construction instead of plastic. - Status indicators built into the jacks, so you can easily tell which cable is connected and is active. - Right-angled barrel power connector which reduce the likelihood of disconnecting power accidentally. - An easy-to-access switch to toggle port 1 between station mode and uplink mode. Unlike some hubs where two jacks are wired together, this design prevents accidentally shorting a station to an uplink. - Screw-mount notches on the underside allows for easy attachment to the wall, underside of a counter, etc. Rather than buying this 10Mbps hub, however, I strongly suggest that you buy a 10/100 Mbps hub. Your interest in buying an 8-port hub suggests that you have an actively-used network. If so, you'll most likely benefit from higher networking speeds. Is there a noticeable difference between 10 Mbps and 100 Mbps? It depends on your usage, but if you regularly share larger files with your coworkers, (about 300 KBytes or larger), you'll notice a tangible difference. For truly large files (like graphics/movies, or when installing an application via a network drive), a 10 second transfer at 100 Mbps will take well over a minute at 10 Mbps.
Rating: Summary: I'll get the job done. Thats all you need. Review: Pros: The 8th port is easy to configure for stacking. Cons: It costs a little more then the rest. Result: Its a sturdy little thing, and will last forever. However, the extra price is for sentimental value only. I'd buy this one because I want my network to work when I want it. Not that others dont, but like I said, its sentimental value. A good hub.
Rating: Summary: Netgear Equals Superb Service Review: This holiday season I was a good santa and purchased numerous wireless networking products for my various family members. Sure it was partially a selfish act as I wanted to be able to easily connect when I went to visit, but for the most part it was just an act of giving. I purchased mainly G products and they varied from routers to USB adapters to PC Card adapters. I did also purchase a couple of B products for those in the family that already had some wireless networking products (yes, I know they are backwards compatible but I didn't want to take any chances).
Only two members of the family had installation problems (considering my family is very non-technical I was quite impressed) and those two people both had yet to upgrade to Windows XP SP2. The rest of the family members were up and running within minutes.
As for the couple of family members that did have problems, well they called me first (of course) and I told them to just run back through the installation procedure again. This solved the problem for Uncle Dennis but Grandma Joyce still couldn't get it to work properly. I reluctantly told her to call Netgear's technical support (hey the reviews on Amazon haven't been too pretty for their tech support). I however was quite pleased when an hour later I got an email from Grandma Joyce thanking me for the great gift. I called her back and she told me that after fiddling with the settings with the Netgear people she was up and running within 30 minutes.
Overall, I consider this the ultimate test of product quality and support and I would give Netgear two thumbs up.
I hope this review was helpful to you in putting your mind at ease regarding ease of setup and trust of technical support if needed.
Rating: Summary: Simple and Effective Review: To reiterate the above, it works flawlessly for me, and is very sturdy. I appreciate a nice box, and that it is. I think I paid an extra $10 or so for the nice box, and I feel good about it.
Rating: Summary: A smart buy Review: Very easy setup (literally just plug it in and connect all ethernet cables). I had mine up and running within 15 minutes of opening the box.
Rating: Summary: A smart buy Review: Very easy setup (literally just plug it in and connect all ethernet cables). I had mine up and running within 15 minutes of opening the box.
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