🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <lIL7mBAJfvA4EwMq@ch-w.demon.co.uk>, John Chapple <jc@ch-
w.demon.co.uk> writes
>Well, this old two speed hub must be the exception, or more basic than
>most (nowadays) then. If any of the cards are 10BaseT, then they can
>only communicate with other 10BaseT cards, not with the 100BaseT cards
>at all.

Obviously there has been a bit of a change since you bought yours. Its
the same as some big names are still trying to charge 1300quid for an 8
port 10/100 switch, if you do not need SNMP, then you can buy one for
around �140.

>>If you have a mixture of 10baseT and 10/100baseT cards in your PCs you
>>should get quite an improvement over just having a 10baseT hubs.
>Yes, if mine worked the way the ones you've looked at do. :-(

The thing is that there is very little difference in cost between some
dual speed hubs and many normal hubs.

>I suppose, on a large working network, the cards could be a major
>expense (as well) & of course it makes sense to share bandwidth
>prudently, when most users themselves would not be using the full
>bandwidth in the normal course of events.

The cost of the card itself is insignificant compared to the time spent
negotiating access to the machine, taking it apart, un-installing the
old card, installing the new one card, installing the drivers, sorting
out the driver conflicts and getting it all working again etc.

Also having most users with 10baseT with the server on 100baseT means
that no single user can hog the server. In fact, since moving to
switched network, I rarely see the utilisation leds go above 10%. On our
old 10base2 network, we had times when it was difficult to see the
collision led go off!

>There are so called dual speed hubs from under 100ukp to over 399plus!
>for eight ports. It all depends on how a two speed hub is defined.

I think it is rather a cheat to call a hub dual speed when it can
actually only ever operate at a single speed. Its all marketing bollox
really.

>Having looked carefully at the spec of the >100ukp it worked in the way
>I described, more expensive models featuring (for instance)
>'autosensing' seem to work in the way you describe

This is snipped from the catalogue of the supplier we bought our
switched gear from:

Edimax Hubs ,  10/100 Dual Speed (Three year warranty, Retail Boxed)
ED-1508S   8 Port, 10/100BaseTX, Stackable (4), Desktop 8STP     �89.00
ED-1508SX  as above but with built in switch between 10Mbps and
        100Mbps segments. Also switches though a stack of 1508S  �79.00
ED-1516S  16 Port, 10/100BaseTX, 19" rack mount, Stackable (3)  �155.00
ED-1516SX 16 Port, 10/100BaseTX, 19" rack mount, Stackable (3)
        With switch between 10 and 100Mbps segments.            �159.00
ED-1524SX 24 Port, 10/100BaseTX, 19" rack mount, Stackable (3)
        With switch between 10 and 100Mbps segments.            �249.00

So cheap dual speed hubs do exist.

If I was building a network at home, I would probably go for:

ES-3105TX  5 Port switch, 10/100BaseTX, Desktop                  �89.00


Note I am deliberately not going to say who this supplier is, to avoid
advertising. Also I have no connection with this company other than as a
satisfied customer.


Take care,



Mark.........
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