Timothy
Parker Consulting Incorporated
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Kingston Fast EtheRx Hub Kingston’s Fast EtheRx hub is a 10/100 twisted pair
network hub available in five, eight, and sixteen port versions.
We were supplied with a 5-port hub for our tests.
As the market for switchable 10/100Mbps hubs grows, allowing users with
fast network interface cards to run at the higher speeds and yet still talk with
legacy 10Mbps Ethernet machines, these kinds of units are going to see a fast
growth in the market. The Kingston Fast EtheRx hub is an almost square unit about
six inches on a side, one inch high, and the ubiquitous beige color we know so
well. The front panel of the Fast
EtheRx hub has five pairs of status lights for each incoming twisted pair line
(one to show 100Mbps operation and the other for link status), as well as a
power LED, 10/100Mbps operation LEDs, and a switch to allow the fifth port to
act as a cascade for other hubs. The back of the Fast EtheRx hub has five RJ45
connectors and a jack for the wall-wart power supply. The
base of the unit has been predrilled for wall mounting and has a status light
summary sticker for reference. A
short instruction manual accompanies the Fast EtheRx hub (how much instruction
is necessary for “connect the cables and plug the unit in”?). The Fast EtheRx hub can act in autonegotiate mode on each
of the ports, offering 10 and 100Mbps Ethernet .
The Fast EtheRx hub does not seem to differentiate duplex mode in our
tests. Using the Fast EtheRx hub is
simple: connect the power supply, plug in the cables from Ethernet NICs, and let
the unit manage the traffic. There
are a few nice features in the Fast EtheRx hub such as the ability to
automatically repartition a port if there are an excessive number of collisions
on it, as well as automatic reconnection after a link drop. At $119 for a five port hub (only four ports if you cascade
to another hub), the Fast EtheRx hub is competitive in price with other hubs,
but most users will probably want to spend extra for more ports.
The Fast EtheRx hub worked perfectly in our tests, although it doesn’t
want to handle the different duplex modes which was curious. Kingston Technology Company Summary: Five port 10/100Mbps hub that works fine. You’ll probably want more ports, though. |
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