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Linksys EFAH05W EtherFast 10/100 5-Port Workgroup Hub

Linksys EFAH05W EtherFast 10/100 5-Port Workgroup Hub

List Price: $58.99
Your Price: $31.84
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Linksys EFAH05W, a great hub!
Review: This hub provides easy, fast setup, as well as installation. It easily splits an internet connectoin from either a DSL or cable router, as well as serving as a connector between as many as 5 computers (4 computers if the hub splits an internet connection between the computers on the hub). All in all a great value!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: works great
Review: This hub works great . . . we have a cable modem (1.5 Mbs) and three computers, which are about 50 feet apart. The instructions state the hub will work for distances of up to 100 meters. One thing to watch - although it's a 5 port, if you use the built in uplink (which you probably will), you have to leave the 5th port empty (so it really works more like a 4 port). (So you're fine with 4 computers, but if you have 5, you're not)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It's not a hub, it's a switch ...
Review: This is NOT a hub, it's a switch. The only case where this will likely matter is if you are expecting to be able to do network packet monitoring through a system patched into this unit. This will not work, since this unit will not repeat all packets across all ports. This has been confirmed to me by Linksys support.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: It's not a hub, it's a switch ...
Review: This is NOT a hub, it's a switch. The only case where this will likely matter is if you are expecting to be able to do network packet monitoring through a system patched into this unit. This will not work, since this unit will not repeat all packets across all ports. This has been confirmed to me by Linksys support.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Reliable
Review: We've been using this for over a year. It was an upgrade from a 10BaseT hub. The 100BaseTX feature was a significant improvement for home networking speed. We have three computers on it, one an always on FTP server and this device handles the traffic flawlessly.

If you're using Internet Connection Sharing with computers with mixed NICs (some 10BaseT, some 100BaseT) you might see very minor improvements in internet speed on the computers with 10/100 cards, but don't expect this to increase your cable internet speed dramatically. Most of the cable networks are 10BaseT and only an upgrade to 100BaseT on their part would make a big difference. So when they say you'll speed up your internet connection, don't believe it!

We tried a more expensive one a few months ago that promised improved performance - thought it might be better at handling traffic and collisions - but it made no difference. Stick with cheap and reliable, and this one fits the bill.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: One important warning
Review: When I originally purchased this, I set it up and followed the sparse instructions and nothing worked, no matter what I tried. I later found out that my DSL Modem came with a crossover patched cable, which will not work if placed between the DSL Modem and the hub (only between the DSL Modem and the PC). Once I threw out the crossover cable and switched to a standard ethernet cable, everything worked like a charm. But there was no clear identfying writing on my crossover cable so I had no idea initially what was the problem. The hub itself works fine, so my only gripe is that it would have been nice if they had mentioned this possibility since I am sure many users are trying to use this hub with DSL.


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