PJCNET

I brought a “Link It” USB 4 Way Hub from the 99p Stores, I think they are also available in Poundland. Obviously this is ridiculously cheap.

Well it doesn’t always pay to buy cheap. I tried using the Hub to connect a printer, a BT Home Hub (Thomson 7G Router) and a 1GB USB Flash Card into 1 USB socket.

Firstly it worked fine, everything detected okay. I tested the Internet and ran a speed test, everything normal. Then I tested my USB Flash Card, copied a few files back and forth, no problems. Finally I sent a test page to my printer, again no problems.

Great, or so I thought! I then continued surfing the Internet. Just 5 minutes later the connection stopped responding. Odd? So I tried sending a “ping” (a communication test) to my BT Home Hub, it responded “Hardware Error”. I then disconnected and reconnected by BT Home Hub and it started working again, 2 minutes later, back to the same problem. I then decided to try just the BT Home Hub in the 4 Way Hub to test, in case one of the other devices was clashing in some way. Tried, but even with just this device detected, it failed after 2 minutes. I then removed the Hub and reconnected by BT Home Hub directly expecting everything back to how it was before. Ouch, the problem occurred without the 4 Way Hub, but had obviously been caused by it. Worried that the 99p Hub may have caused £100+ of damage to my equipment, I powered down my machine and reloaded. Luckily it’s okay.

I won’t risk using the 99p 4 Way Hub again, it’s totally useless and I suspect it could potentially damage other equipment. Sometimes it just not worth buying too cheap.

Please click to share this article!