Consumer ratings: Cisco EG005W

Ratings

Category: Personal Computers

Brand: Cisco

Model: EG005W

Availability: FREE SHIPPING (USA)

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Cisco EG005W Report

Cisco EG005W Review by FERNANDO CASSIA "-Writer and Computer Geek-" (Buenos Aires, Argentina)

I purchased the EG005W six months ago. Since I installed, it has been working 24/7 flawlessly, hooked to three PCs with gigabit ethernet (two systems with Intel's PRO 1000/MT PCI cards and one with a Realtek 8139 PCI card).

I obtain gigabit links to all three systems using regular Cat "5e" cables (believe me, if you don't need super long cables, cat5e is just good enough, no need for the more expensive cat6), and the speed is only limited to about 400mbps by the 33Mhz PCI BUS, not by the switch (to obtain the full bandwidth, you need a system with Gigabit built on the system board which bypasses the PCI bus bandwidth limitation). Still, 4x faster than 100mbit fast ethernet is a huge improvement.

VNC sessions from one system to the other over gigabit feels almost like a local session.

Very stable unit, can be stacked on top of other likewise Linksys units (mine sits on top of a BEFSR41 ethernet firewall/router). Cons? It's got an internal fan. So if you have a bunch of Linksys devices, you need to place the EG005W on top, to allow proper air flow.

The fan is not _very_ noisy, just noticeable. Like a notebook's fan during normal operation.

Cisco EG005W Review by Robert G. Buice "DrRobert" (Chattanooga, TN USA)

I was shocked. I have rooms full of electronic equipment. This is louder than all of it combined. The loudest piece of electronic equipment I have ever heard. I can hear it in a closed closed from every room in my house.

Cisco EG005W Review by Kev (New Jersey)

Linksys/Cisco is lying to consumers by providing three different products with totally different features and warranty periods, yet describing the products the same model number.

Please permit me to present my credentials: I am a computer systems professional of 15 years and former loyal Linksys customer. I can't use Linksys at work, but at home network/lab uses about a dozen of their products. My setup includes BEFCMU10, BEFW1154, WRT54GS, EZX516W, AS2TNC, BEFSX41, EG1032, WPC54GS, some in duplicate, and a few others not in regular use. Before today I would confidently recommend Linksys products to the numerous relatives, friends, and neighbors who seek my advice. Now that Linksys has engaged in deceptive practices I can no longer recommend their products to anyone.

The problem is that Linksys apparently now uses "version" numbers to designate completely different products. The result is that what you buy might not be what you heard about! Complaints and confusion here on Amazon are caused by these differences. Both the model numbers and the UPC numbers are the same. The products, however, are as different as if from different vendors.

The original (EG005W ver. 1) had a possibly noisy cooling fan, from what I have read, but it has the same form factor of the earlier stackable Linksys series and no other major complaints apart from fan noise.

The EG005W ver. 2 does not have a fan, yet has the same form factor as the earlier stackables. It has 16 LEDs showing power, link/activity, speed, and duplex. The power supply is 12v/2A. It has a TWO year warranty.

The EG005w ver. 3 is a totally different smaller form factor and totally different specifications. In fact, everything is smaller: It has only 6 LEDs, a 12v/.5A power supply, but worst of all, only ONE year warranty.

According to the packaging of both, ver.2 and ver.3 are otherwise technically/specifications identical, but this is insufficient to distinguish versions (or brands for that matter).

In all fairness, I know from my numerous Linksys purchases that they, like other vendors, make incremental improvements to products that merit different version numbers, but not for different model numbers. A great example is the WRT54GS; later versions are pretty impressive yet incremental improvements.

The problem here is that this the three versions are TOTALLY DIFFERENT. Ver3 is hardly more similar to Ver2 than the HP J9077A#ABA, the NETGEAR GS108, or the D-link DGS-2208, notwithstanding number of ports.

So Buyer beware!

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Cisco EG005W:: Description

Wire-speed switching and Linksys reliability in an 5-Port Gigabit desktop switch The Gigabit 5-Port Workgroup Switch provides non-blocking, wire speed switching for your 10, 100, and 1000 megabit network clients. Drop this switch in place of your current workgroup hub or switch, and you can upgrade your high-requirement workstations to full Gigabit speeds as necessary, while continuing to service other clients at their current speeds. Or build your network from the ground up, with appropriate link speeds for each users requirements. Apply this switching power to your current hub-based Ethernet network, and your data traffic efficiency will improve several times over. Connect your Gigabit-equipped workstations to the Switchs 10/100/1000 ports for full-duplex, dedicated bandwidth of up to 2000Mbps Its perfect for graphics, multimedia, and other applications that have to move large files across the network quickly.