Home > Consumer Reviews > Linksys EFAH05W EtherFast 10/100 5-Port Workgroup Hub

I bought this hub a while back, and it has been working great ever since. I've been using it with my DSL modem to share the connection with multiple computers.

Don't buy this HUB, instead buy the 5 port SWITCH put out by the same company (EZXS55W). Anything a hub can do, a switch can do better (DSL, Cable, Networking). A must for Pic n' Save shoppers who demand Mercedes Benz performance. Most important feature: Each port has devoted, uncomprimisable bandwidth. A hub, on the other hand, has bandwidth that varies directly with network demands. The rather insignificant price difference between Linksys' 5 port hub and 5 port switch demands that EVERYONE buy the switch. The hub is by far a more profitable item for Linksys. Don't be fooled by the best seller indices that we see upon entering the networking page, or you too may fall victim to the cult of mob rule.

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.

I bought two of these hubs and I have connected them at a distance of about 60 feet apart. I completely upgraded my 6 computer 10 Mbps system to 10/100 in about 1/2 an hour. Also, I upgraded in the middle of the day while the network was running and with little interruption to the workstations or the network. The only trouble I had was my own mistake. I couldn't get two of my computers NIC to run at the faster 100 Mbps speed only to later find that the hubs had automatically sensed that the NIC's were 10 mbps only. They work like a charm and so does my new fast network.

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.