Desktop Computer Review: Cisco-Linksys EFAH08W EtherFast 8-Port 10/100 Auto-Sensing Hub (Desktop) Review

First of all, the current picture of a black hub is mistaken - the box looks like the other current linksys routers / hubs with the bright blue and black plastic box design.
That having been said, this hub worked perfectly out of the box. It is used to network among machines running Windows 98, Windows 2000, and Linux, using a variety of ethernet cards (3Com, Linksys, NetGear). It has been used several weeks now without a problem. Setup took minutes!
Besides this item, I have bought and used several Linksys products before, including several 4-port hubs, a 4-port router, PC network cards and a laptop card. All of these have worked flawlessly with the other network equipment I have used. In some cases they replaced an item that cost 3-6 times more yet did not work as well!
I noticed some other users have had issues with this product, so here are a few pointers about networking that might help:
1) Hubs allow computers to talk to connect to each other on a local network. All a hub does is allow a computer which is set up to be on the network to talk to another computer.
2) To create a local network that can talk to the internet, you either need to buy an IP address for every machine and use a hub, or use a router to allow multiple computers on the internal network to look to anyone on the internet as having a single IP address. (Don't forget the cable/DSL connection & modem.)
3) The maximum speed that the hub supports may be 100 Mbps, but the speed is limited by the speed of the ethernet card as well! Some ethernet cards are only rated for 10Mbps - so that is the maximum connection speed you'll get using them.

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Product Description:
The EtherFast 10/100 Auto-Sensing Hubs from Linksys provide a fast and economical way to build or extend an enterprise 100 Mbps network. This eight-port hub lets you connect computers, workstations, servers, or other nodes in seconds. Every port of the hub automatically adjusts to either 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps speeds, allowing you to mix 10BaseT and 100BaseTX hardware together any way you like--all on the same hub. Combine low-cost 10 Mbps computers with high-speed Fast Ethernet workstations, and save money by putting 100 Mbps hardware only where you need it most.