Linksys 5 Port Workgroup Hub

Have a technician in the field working to get this as a protocol sniffer ....

As stated in the other 1-star review ...

NOT A HUB ... Works like a SWITCH ...

i.e. Worthless for sniffing UNICAST traffic with any protocol capturing tools.

Buy another product and save your time.

This Linksys 5 Port Workgroup Hub is an excellent little bit of kit. We have had 3 X-Box's running through it (on 2meg Broadband) and a PC for basic surfing with no noticeable lag. (Works best with 2 X-Box's and the PC). Just make sure you connect it with Ethernet cables and not USB. It was a pain in the backside to get it working until I bought the E-net cables. With these and XP it doesn't even need the disk and links straight through to the net.

Highly recommended for X-Box live players!!!

(Would have given 10 stars for Ease of Set up, but USB was a pain).

I am using a 10/100 hub 5 port Linksys hub - Model EFAH05W.V2.

Desire: Carry a small ethernet hub in my laptop bag to use when troubleshooting network issues using a Protocol Analyzer. With a hub, one can plug in the node, the analyzer, and the uplink without mirroring or spanning a port on a switch.

Symptoms: The protocol analyzer only sees broadcast traffic - no unicast traffic between the node and a device over the uplink.

Solution: I called Linksys tech support, for the second time, after replacing my original unit. The tech who answered the phone went off to confer and came back saying that the hub is in fact acting like a switch due to the chip which is used internally. I asked him if this was documented anywhere and he said no. Solution: get a different product.

This is a solid hub. The Linksys Hub is made ruggedly from ABS plastic. I have dropped mine many times and it still serves me like it's new; and I've had mine for 4 years. I have had no problems with it at all, not even with the variety of O.S.'s I have used with it. (linux, OS2, Win9x NT 2K, Dos + win31, Unix, Etc). I can't remember how much the unit cost when I got it but I know it wasn't alot. I would recommend this unit; Hubs can't really be expected to get much better.

This Linksys Hub has served ne well without problems for over a year. Good Kit.