Linksys Switch Quality Lately

Hmm, I've just had 2 of the small LinkSys 5-port 10/100MHz hub go bad within a month of purchase. Guess their quality is going downhill lately - time to stop buying LinkSys. To bad as they look pretty sweet and I like the look and feel.

One unit - right in front on me is EZXS55W "EtherFast 10/100 5-port Workgroup Switch". It worked a few weeks, then just stopped working Sunday. All the lights blink when my machines talk (when there is network traffic), but none of my computers can see each other. Tried many different Ethernet cables & moving cables around - no good. Temporarily swapped in an old Netgear hub and all can talk fine.

The other unit is at work - just bought it a few weeks ago and port 3 just didn't work straight out of the box. Putting only 3 devices plus uplink on it is workable, but sad to pay for 5 ports and only get 4!

I am sure there is some way to contact LinkSys and get them replaced under warranty ... but it will cost me too much (considering the original purchase price) to send this bricks back ... not including my time to do it. No, I just won't be buying anymore LinkSys products for a year or two. I figure by 2008 they'll have gotten their act back together. Such quality problems have a way of forcing big companies to reform. Maybe Cisco has just started milking LinkSys as a cash cow - cutting costs to increase profits - who knows.