Cisco-Linksys EZXS88W EtherFast 10/100 8-Port Workgroup Switch
by Linksys
|
List Price: Our Price: $29.69 You Save: $16.30 (35%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $15.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Cisco-Linksys EZXS88W EtherFast 10/100 8-Port Workgroup Switch
Customer Review: Terrible! Terrible! Terrible!
Summary: 1 Stars
I recently upgraded my Internet connection from my standard home connection to a business connection. My Internet service provider told me that I need to call Linksys because they need to reconfigure my router (I have a Linksys router). So I called Linksys and they told me that the free warranty period for my router already expired, but that they can still help me set up my router if I pay a service fee of $29.99.
I agreed because in order to use my new business Internet connection, I needed to reconfigure my router. After I made the payment, I spoke to a customer service agent. She walked me through the configuration process, which involved manually inputting data on my computer. When the router reconfiguration was almost done, she asked me if the green light on my router is static or blinking. I told her it is static. She then asked me if I was connected to the Internet and I told her yes, it works. She replied that this is good.
She then said that she wants to login to my computer to control my screen remotely in order to download some updates for my router. I agreed. For about 10 minutes I then saw her downloading things on my computer. She had control over it remotely. The Internet connection then went down and she asked me again if the green light on my router is static or blinking. I told her that this time it is blinking. Then for another 10 minutes she repeatedly told me to unplug the power cord on my router, wait for 90 seconds, and plug it back in. But the green light kept blinking. It never went back to static.
She then told me that the router is broken. She said it would have probably broken anyway within the next few days. I told her that it wasn't broken before I called her and before she installed additional updates. But she insisted that my router was about to break anyway. I told her that she cannot prove that and what a coincidence it is that exactly in the half hour that I was talking to her it broke. I told her that she is just making this up. I never had any problems with my router before and it was working perfectly fine, up until I called Linksys that day.
I told her that I'm very unhappy with her service, that not only I didn't get my router reconfigured so that it works with my new Internet connection, but that I paid a $29.99 service fee and now have a broken router. She told me that if I buy a new Linksys router, they would credit me $15 back. I told her that this is ridiculous and that the least she could do is refund me the $29.99 that I just paid (I didn't even ask her to give me a credit for my now broken router). She said that she can't refund me the service fee. So in sum, I paid them to help me reconfigure my router, but instead, one of their agents broke it. I will never purchase anything from Linksys again.
Customer Review: Good until it breaks
Summary: 2 Stars
I got good service from this device for about a year. The power supply (9V-DC, 800ma, with an uncommon connector) went out. It is too unusual to find a replacement locally. LinkSys will not simply replace the transformer, but wants to replace the whole unit. Customer pays the shipping to return it - the shipping costs more than it's worth. I'm going to throw it away and get a Netgear.
Update, April 20, 2007: It turns out that the tech support person I spoke with at the time I wrote the earlier post was all wet. I spoke with customer support and they had me fill out an RMA form for only a transformer. There are two options: full product replacement or power supply only. I did not need to send in the defective power supply. A new power supply arrived in a few days - apparently no muss or fuss. However, the wrong power supply was sent (it was 9VAC instead of 9VDC) and when I plugged it in it burned out the switch and filled my office with a horrible smell that it took days to clear.
A second call to Linksys was less gracefully handled. They seemed to have a hard time understanding that they now needed to replace the entire product, including the proper power supply. When they finally agreed to the replacement, I was told that there were not any available. So I submitted the RMA and returned the defective product, and now I get to wait until they send the replacement, whenever that may be.
My feeling was that I should not have to pay the postage to return the burned out switch, since it was their mistake, but at this point I didn't want to get into that discussion. In the meantime, I bought an SMC switch from Provantage for less than $25 (including shipping) and it is working great. All the reviews on it were flattering, and the price was right.
I don't understand how Linksys can consider their support acceptable. (Their background message while you wait on hold keeps praising their highly rated support.) One cannot just wait for days, weeks, or months for a replacement network switch. I don't expect to buy any more Linksys products.
Customer Review: Fast switch, poor quality control
Summary: 1 Stars
This is the first time I have been moved to write a product review for Amazon.com. I purchased this Linksys 10/100 MBPS switch to replace an older Netgear 10 MBPS hub. The switch comes with minimal instructions only, but mine came with a free CD-ROM installer of TurboLinux. I was immediately impressed with the speed of the switch as compared to the 10 MBPS hub. The switch worked fine for about three weeks, but then I noticed that Internet downloads were stalling when conditions were optimal, and backups across the network became pathetically slow. Windows estimated 17 minutes to copy a 60 MB file between two machines. After spending a week trying to get in touch with Linksys technical support, they agreed to replace the switch only after they received the old one. Good thing I kept the Netgear hub as a spare! The new switch worked fine until about a month ago, when the it also began dropping packets. Data transfers slowed to a crawl (this time an estimated 11 minutes for a 40 MB file), and tonight I replaced the switch with the old hub. Both of these switches were noise filtered and surge protected, so there is little or no chance that they were affected by power line problems. Engineering to the lowest common denominator is not acceptable even in a consumer grade product such as this one. The Netgear hub that this switch was supposed to replace has had more uptime than both Linksys switches put together. I would not buy this product again.Customer Review: Size differences between "compact" and "standard" Linksys components
Summary: 5 Stars
I've noticed quite a few comments related to the size difference between Cisco's compact and standard series; finally, a problem with a simple and CHEAP solution! Linksys sells a pack of very versatile plastic mounting plates that not only allows you to mount components vertically on the wall or you can stack them. When stacking the compact to the standard, you will notice the form has places for the feet of either series on each side so you can mix and match as you see fit. The box comes with a load of these, more than I can't imagine anyone including your "netties", finding a use for ALL of them, but the small expense offsets any concern about leftovers!
The Linksys description and part number for a box of these are "Wall Mount and Stacking Bracket" mo. no. SM01, the color could be described as deep grey or charcoal: Very handy, very cheap, either tough polymer or plastic, and very simple.
As for the Linksys switch above I have two and both installed easily and operate trouble free. This switch compares favorably with slightly less expensive D-Link's Desktop Switch. I'm no expert but I don't see much difference between the two with the execption of D-Link's missing "uplink" port tied into the eigth port. Both are plug and play.
Now back to my own network madness,
(Q^(Q^(Q$Q!!* AX~
Customer Review: 3 of these - did not work
Summary: 1 Stars
I tried 3 of these. They all work elsewhere but would not work in my particular location. The 150'cable (I tried more than one) running to this switch delivers 100Mbps when plugged directly into a computer. It also delivers 10 Mbps through an old 3Com 10Mbps switch. But plugged into a Cisco switch I get nothing. I tried Linksys live chat and phone support several times. That is a bit of a painful experience, but whose product support isn't these days? They could not help. They did, however get me to improve my efficiency at re-booting all of the appliances in my house, as they would never believe I had done that several times before I called them. It took a while to get them to admit they couldn't help. They wanted to keep sending me new ones, but that was getting tiresome, so I returned the last one to Amazon for credit. (Thank you Amazon!) I will try another brand. Any suggestions out there?
Update: Bought a D-Link DGS-2208. A little more money but it works (plug in ethernet cables, plug in power - you know, like you would an ethernet switch) I didn't even have to re-boot my refrigerator to make it work. Plus it's a gigabit switch and uses less power.