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Product: Belkin F5L009 Network USB Hub
Manufacturer: Belkin
MSRP: $99.99 [BizRate]
Lowest Historical Price: $77 [History]
Introduction
When you want to share USB devices connected to a particular computer, you usually have to set up sharing on that computer and leave it powered on so that other computers on the network can access those devices. With the Belkin F5L009 Network USB Hub, that is no longer an issue. You can connect your USB peripherals to the hub and connect the hub to your existing wired or wireless network to share those devices. It all sounds good on paper, but does it really meet our expectations? Click through to find out.
Specs
Model: F5L009
Connectivity: 10/100, USB
OS: XP SP2, Vista 32/64
Un-Boxing
The package comes with the USB Hub, Quick Install Guide, Power Supply, RJ45 cable and an Install CD. The install was quite simple- connect the AC Adapter to a power source, connect the ethernet cable to the router and the hub, and install the software onto the client computer(s). The hub does not work if the client software is not installed, unfortunately. Once the initial setup is completed, the USB Hub is ready to have devices plugged into it. The device itself has a fairly simple look- square, flat device with shiny black surfaces and rounded corners. If it were white (no relation to Eminem's song), it could pass for an Apple peripheral (note that it is currently not Mac compatible).
Review
The software is fairly simple to use- by default it automatically detects and connects to any USB device that you have plugged into it. If someone else needs to use the same device, you can easily request to take control with a right click -> "request use" in the software.
For the most part, everything that we connected to the hub worked through the network, using both wireless and wired connections. We currently have a Canon MP780 AIO Printer and a USB drive connected to it. We also tried plugging in the K-World USB HDTV Tuner Stick, but unfortunately it did not work with the K-World software. The F5L009 did work well with several webcams, however. It is noted on their website that you may run into issues using USB TV Tuners on the hub, which is quite unfortunate. One quirk we ran into was with the Canon MP780 Printer. Occasionally (we weren't able to pinpoint when it would happen), a print job would result in a page full of nonsense characters. A simple disconnect and reconnect using the software fixed the issue.
Another quirk that I found was that the Belkin software doesn't always find the USB Hub, especially if you reboot your dynamic DHCP router. This may or may not be a result of my software firewall, but it can be easily remedied with a few firewall setting changes or by simply assigning an IP to the hub.
Conclusion
Regardless of the minor quirks stated above, the Belkin F5L009 Network USB Hub is a great way to add USB devices to your existing network. It is a little pricier than buying a NAS enclosure (if you wanted to add an external USB hard drive to your network), but the benefit is that the F5L009 acts as a universal USB host hub, so that your computer thinks the hosted USB devices are actually directly connected locally. If bandwidth is a major issue for you, you may want to wait for a gigabit version (if they ever come out with one), as this device only supports 10/100 LAN connections.
Image Gallery
Price History [History]
Manufacturer: Belkin
MSRP: $99.99 [BizRate]
Lowest Historical Price: $77 [History]
Introduction
When you want to share USB devices connected to a particular computer, you usually have to set up sharing on that computer and leave it powered on so that other computers on the network can access those devices. With the Belkin F5L009 Network USB Hub, that is no longer an issue. You can connect your USB peripherals to the hub and connect the hub to your existing wired or wireless network to share those devices. It all sounds good on paper, but does it really meet our expectations? Click through to find out.
Specs
Model: F5L009
Connectivity: 10/100, USB
OS: XP SP2, Vista 32/64
Un-Boxing
The package comes with the USB Hub, Quick Install Guide, Power Supply, RJ45 cable and an Install CD. The install was quite simple- connect the AC Adapter to a power source, connect the ethernet cable to the router and the hub, and install the software onto the client computer(s). The hub does not work if the client software is not installed, unfortunately. Once the initial setup is completed, the USB Hub is ready to have devices plugged into it. The device itself has a fairly simple look- square, flat device with shiny black surfaces and rounded corners. If it were white (no relation to Eminem's song), it could pass for an Apple peripheral (note that it is currently not Mac compatible).
Review
The software is fairly simple to use- by default it automatically detects and connects to any USB device that you have plugged into it. If someone else needs to use the same device, you can easily request to take control with a right click -> "request use" in the software.
For the most part, everything that we connected to the hub worked through the network, using both wireless and wired connections. We currently have a Canon MP780 AIO Printer and a USB drive connected to it. We also tried plugging in the K-World USB HDTV Tuner Stick, but unfortunately it did not work with the K-World software. The F5L009 did work well with several webcams, however. It is noted on their website that you may run into issues using USB TV Tuners on the hub, which is quite unfortunate. One quirk we ran into was with the Canon MP780 Printer. Occasionally (we weren't able to pinpoint when it would happen), a print job would result in a page full of nonsense characters. A simple disconnect and reconnect using the software fixed the issue.
Another quirk that I found was that the Belkin software doesn't always find the USB Hub, especially if you reboot your dynamic DHCP router. This may or may not be a result of my software firewall, but it can be easily remedied with a few firewall setting changes or by simply assigning an IP to the hub.
Conclusion
Regardless of the minor quirks stated above, the Belkin F5L009 Network USB Hub is a great way to add USB devices to your existing network. It is a little pricier than buying a NAS enclosure (if you wanted to add an external USB hard drive to your network), but the benefit is that the F5L009 acts as a universal USB host hub, so that your computer thinks the hosted USB devices are actually directly connected locally. If bandwidth is a major issue for you, you may want to wait for a gigabit version (if they ever come out with one), as this device only supports 10/100 LAN connections.
Image Gallery
Price History [History]
It's not Mac compatible, so nuisance_sucks and milf_hunter won't be able to use it with their pink ipods. If its color were pink instead of black, nuisance_sucks, milf_hunter, and m0f0 might still buy it. But the required software installation may pose serious problem for those trolls. They don't even know how to upload songs into their pink ipods. Their most advanced computer skill is copy and paste. They have no clue on how to install any software.
Read the Amazon reviews. AFAIK it's not wireless. It has to be wired to your wireless router. Then your other computer(s) can connect to it 'wirelessly'. Not a minor quirk, IMO.
Cool idea and cool peripheral, but do we really care if it meets your expectations? Im more concerned about my own expectations, not yours.
This thing would come in handy if you had to share multiple devices, like an external HDD and a printer - although it is more expensive than a dedicated NAS setup or a network print server, it is cheaper than both combined.
eh...maybe i'll give it a shot
it's supposed to work with scanners as well, which network print servers cant do
is there a product that ben doesn't like?
Removed by forum Administrator
#7, he doesn't have to write a review for things he doesn't like.
Seems like a very useful gadget. If it would support wireless streaming from a vid. camera, it would definitely be worth the investment. Likely is the case that the camera vendor would determine connectivity of the camera. Whether the transfer rates would be usable on the hub is another story. Yet, for a wireless camera (for a security setup) this would be great, all other things being equal.
hmm i doesnt get this
so...dont work with mac?
does this work with mobile broadband?
can anyone recommend an inexpensive wired USB hub that is not a piece of junk?
If it supported wireless mode, then you could bring IT around instead of all your peripherals and drives. Now wouldn't that be nice.
Hi,
I have two questions:
Do all the functions of the MP780 AIO work or is just the function printing working and both scanning and faxing not?
And what happens if two persons are trying to print to it at the same time?
Thanks.
Robbie
I'm looking for an inexpesive hub that works well also, any suggestions?
This is good