Hardware ReviewsSMC EZ Connect 10/100 Internet Hub Until most home computer users have access to Internet connections like cable or DSL, we remain stuck with our 56K analog modems. For now, we wondered if the SMC EZ Connect 10/100 Internet hub could be the answer to faster access. The reason: this Internet hub, or router, includes a nifty double bandwidth feature. In short, you can connect two analog modems to this router and it automatically dials up the second modem when the first modem runs out of bandwidth or data handling capacity with the Internet. In practice, the feature was not as powerful as we thought it might be for home computers (instead, it probably comes into play for small businesses with more than three or four computers connected). Still, this SMC router was feature-laden, installed fairly easily (despite a major problem in the instruction manual...for details read on) and performed well. Although no one would consider this inexpensive (street price is around $300-375...we found it for $314 + shipping at Buy.com), you have to look at all of the functionality included to judge the price. See the Overview below. Overall, it's worthy of consideration for anyone looking for a hardware router full of features (versus Internet-sharing software) for their analog dial-up lines. Overview The SMC EZ Connect 10/100 Internet Hub is an Ethernet hardware router that allows a number of connected computers to share Internet access. In addition, this device also includes an 8-port 10/100 hub, firewall protection, dial on demand and bandwidth on demand (more on those features later) and other network services such as DHCP, which will automatically assign a TCP/IP address to computers on your network. The EZ Connect comes in a box a bit smaller than a shoebox. Inside, you'll find:
The EZ Connect hub itself is the size of most standard 8-port hubs. The 8 ports are located on the back of the hub and accept both 10Mbps and 100Mbps devices, automatically selecting the proper speed. The back panel also includes two serial ports for connecting external modems. There's also a switch that allows one of the ports to be turned into a configuration port. A computer running any terminal program and connected to this port via the included serial cable can then configure the hub settings. As we'll cover later, this is usually unnecessary since the hub also can be configured via a regular web browser (very cool!). Finally, a power outlet on the back panel accepts the plug from a power brick. A wealth of information is available on the
Internet hub's front panel through a series of LED lights. Starting from
the left: a power LED; a set of LEDs that indicate when either of the two
modems connects and when data is being transmitted or received; five LEDs
in a row that indicate how much bandwidth is being used by the current
Internet user(s); another set of LEDs that indicate when data activity is
detected for both 10Mbps and 100Mbps connections as well as when a data
collision occurs; and finally 8 pairs of LEDs, one for each port,
indicating whether a device is connected to the port and when excessive
collisions occur on the port. Whew! Needless to say, this Internet hub
provides a lot of good information about what's going on with your data on
your home network, as well as out to the Internet and back.
Photos courtesy of SMC As we mentioned, the two key features of this Internet hub are "dial on demand" and "bandwidth on demand." The first reflects the hubs ability to dial up the Internet only when needed. Thus, you can share files, printers, etc., on the local network using the hub. Then, when you open up a browser or e-mail application, the hub automatically dials up your Internet Service Provider, connects to the Internet using the account and password information you've provided and let's you start browsing, etc. Much more interesting is "bandwidth on demand." To use this feature, you first must connect two separate external modems to the dual serial ports on the back of the hub. Then, you configure the hub to dial up the second modem when data being sent and received with the first modem begins to fill up that capacity or bandwidth. You get to set the limit of the first modem's data capacity use before the second modem dials up. In real life, this means that you can set the second modem to dial up once you start doing heavy surfing on one or two computers. You'll see the utilization LEDs light up on the front panel, indicating a lot of data is coming into and out of the hub, and then the second modem will dial up. Nifty! Of course, this does require you to have two separate phone lines and, in most cases, two separate accounts with your ISP. Installation Talk about a killer typographical error! According to the instruction manual, configuration of the Internet hub goes something like this: Connect a computer with the TCP/IP protocol to the Internet hub. Then start any browser and type in the TCP/IP address of the Internet hub (192.168.1.1 by default). At this point, the hub's built in web-based configuration program starts and prompts you to enter a username and password. According to the manual, you leave the username field blank and enter "admin" for the password. The only problem is: that doesn't work. Ouch. After trying to figure out for some time what we might have done wrong, we tried "admin" in the username and leaving the password blank. Bingo. That worked and we were then able to continue with the configuration and installation. Beyond that sole, but serious, problem, installation follows along with the details in the 64-page manual. As the manual clearly states, there are five simple steps to completing installation:
Again, installation proceeded in line with the manual and we were up and running in no time (once we got around the typo on the default password). Performance We set up this Internet hub with dual modems in order to test the feature we found most intriguing: bandwidth on demand. We connected both modems, connected the hub to one of our test computers and ran through the setup program. The configuration program allows you to set when the second modem should dial up based on how much of the first modem's data handling capacity is being filled up by the Internet browsing, e-mail and other applications going on throughout your network. We set the second modem to begin dialing when only 20% of that capacity was used. This ensured that the second modem dialed up fairly quickly. Unfortunately, in our subjective tests, we were unable to detect any speed increase in our Internet connection once the second modem dialed up. According to the LEDs on the hub, data was being received and transmitted on both modems, but we truly did not detect much of a difference. And, in fact, we even detected some slow down under some operations. For example, we figured that most people with two phone lines would want to be able to turn the second modem on and off depending on whether they wanted that line for making phone calls or faxes. However, if we were already surfing the Internet on two computers on the network and then switched on the second modem (which then quickly dialed up our Internet connection), the Internet session actually seemed to slow down. Even worse, switching on the second modem in mid session also often created an error in which browsing would stop (as in a web page simply wouldn't load). We avoided these issues by making sure both modems were on before we started an Internet session but keep in mind that you'll then need to make sure that it's OK to have both phone lines dedicated to the Internet access. When we did successfully use both modems connected to the hub, it appeared that sometimes data transmissions were split between both (as indicated by the LEDs on the hub) and sometimes they did not split. In those instances, the second modem appeared to not transmit or receive any data. To try to quantify these issues, we ran some
tests in which we downloaded a one megabyte file simultaneously to two
computers and measured the average kilobytes per second. We ran the test
twice: once with only one modem operational and once with both modems
operational. As you can see below, the results weren't overwhelming. In
fact it appears that the second modem did, in fact, cause a slow down. Of
course, it's also possible that any one of a number of other things caused
the slowdown including the overall Internet connection, the web servers
involved or other outside factors. Thus, we truly can't call this a
scientific measurement. Still, we believe that the SMC Internet hub
probably really shines...and is targeted more accurately...at the small
business user who has more than two or three computers on the network.
Technical Support SMC provides a number of support options including a toll-free technical support phone center open about 12 hours a day, as well as a tech support e-mail address and lots of web site resources. An e-mail we sent to tech support was answered within a few days, but unfortunately only suggested that we call tech support and didn't actually answer the question we had. Summary Overall, we liked the SMC Internet Hub. Nevertheless, we had to judge this device based on our focus, namely home PC networking. That said, we fully believe that this Internet hub is targeted more for the small business user than the home network user, both in features and in price. That meant we could not award it a top spot in our ratings. Still, if you run a small home business or have lots of folks in the family on the home network, you might want to consider this Internet Hub. It certainly is full of worthwhile features, is solidly built and provides some good options for those who can only get analog modem access to the Internet. Grade = B+ Details
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