As part of my job I was asked to look into finding and affordable and durable USB/Ethernet adapter. At the time I was looking there were not too many available yet and this Linksys was one of the ones available. So I purchased one to try it out.

Installation:
Installation was a breeze, plug it in, put in the CD supplied with the adapter and it easily found the drivers and my ethernet connection was good to go!

Speed:
This is a USB 1.1 adapter, so it is considerably slower than USB 2.0, but for our purposes it was fine. Today, I would recommend a USB 2.0 over any USB 1.1 device if they are of equal quality.

The Good:
Installation was a breeze, the size on this guy is great, very slim and compact that easily fits in a small pocket in your laptop case.

No power cords! It is powered by the USB connection, so no extra cords laying around waiting to get snagged!

The Bad:
With even a moderate amount of jiggling they Ethernet cord would come loose from the Ethernet side of the adapter. This was annoying when traveling or using it in busy surroundings.

After about 6 months of use a student walked by and accidentally snagged the ethernet cord on her leg. The clip holding the ethernet cable into the device broke and it would no longer hold the cable, rendering the device useless. Now, this is NOT the fault of the device, but it does show the clip is less durable than some other Ethernet/USB adapters.

I would guess that Linksys would have even replaced the adapter for free given our relationship with them, but we did not need it replaced. We had selected the Belkin Ethernet (F5D5050) USB 1.1 Network Adapter as a much more durable option by then.

Summary:
A breeze to install, tiny size and good indicator lights made this an excellent choice for USB1.1. However, USB2.0 is out now and I would go with one of those, especially given the fragile clip on the ethernet end.

My other Electronics Reviews:

Digital Cameras:
Nikon D1H Set Digital Camera
Canon PowerShot S500 / IXUS 500 Digital Camera

Computer Accessories:
Sony DELUXEPRO SDM-X93/B (Black) 19 in. Flat Panel LCD Monitor
Microtech CameraMate Card Reader (DPCM-USB-PC)

Cell Phones:
Motorola V120E
Motorola V180

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 23.95
Driver Availability: Windows only