Belkin's Cable-Free USB Hub finally loosed

It's kind of hard to believe it's been nigh a year since we caught a glimpse at Belkin's (and the world's) first Ultrawideband product, the Cable-Free USB Hub. And yet here we are, rapidly approaching Christmas, and the kit and dongle are finally ready to go for $200 for a "mid-December" release (meaning retail rollout ASAP). They're claiming up to 480mbps as far as 30 feet away is how it'll perform (we'll see about that), with just PC support out of the gate.

[jpxdude @ Dec 4th 2006 11:38AM]

Hmm...this may be a dumb question, but how is the 'wireless' device powered? Does it take batteries? Also how would it charge/sync devices like an iPod. It'll be interesting finding this all out, but it'd suck if it required loads of AA batteries :-/

[Mrfreezie @ Dec 4th 2006 11:44AM]

It's probably powered by an AC adapter.

[Ed T @ Dec 4th 2006 11:39AM]

This technology uses a tiny fraction of the power needed for 802.11 , and if far more secure than Bluetooth. I expect we'll see it soon (the intel version anyway) in products from that company in Kolyfonia.

[jpxdude @ Dec 4th 2006 12:57PM]

That would be extremely lame if that was the case. It wouldn't be so wireless then, but I'd understand if it had a rechargable li-ion battery or something.

[Andir3.0 @ Dec 4th 2006 11:55AM]

..maybe it has a kinetic battery inside and you pick it up by and spin it around over your head to charge it. Why else would it have a handle?

[delerious @ Dec 4th 2006 12:06PM]

Unless no one else can look at the picture, it's AC powered. More than likely, it will have a wall brick.

[nVidiot @ Dec 4th 2006 12:23PM]

30 feet? Really not that far.

[jason @ Dec 4th 2006 12:55PM]

doesn't the AC power plug defeat the purpose of it being "cable-free"?

[job @ Dec 4th 2006 2:36PM]

Re jason: You could stuff your external HDDs, printer, and scanner in a closet somewhere and have them out of sight without wires but STILL connected to your computer with this little device. Just because it needs a powerbrick doesn't mean that it won't cut down on the visible wires.

[olas polare @ Dec 4th 2006 1:21PM]

hey
its not the usb devices that are supposed to be wireless!
the point is that you can connect a usb harddrive or whatever to this thing, and then stick the little thumb sized device in your laptop and bang you can move around in the room with the laptop and still be connected to the harddrive

[Aaron @ Dec 4th 2006 1:18PM]

if only it was physically possible to wirelesly submit power

[Kent @ Dec 4th 2006 1:21PM]

At first I thought that is pretty dumb, having a wireless hub that still needs to be plugged into the wall.

But then I realised what it is actually for - your devices that don't move, but are usually plugged into your laptop, ie printers and what-have-you.

With this, you put the dongle in your laptop and you can leave the wired peripherals behind...

[snafle @ Dec 4th 2006 1:35PM]

Well, it is pretty far for what it is. 480mbs, lets say 300mbs in real life, is a hella fast speed to trasfer data at. And it's better than normal usb. I like.

[John @ Dec 4th 2006 1:35PM]

Even if it were Mac compatible, I'd still lose a USB port to the dongle (same as using a conventional hub) and $200 seems a little too much to pay for any USB hub.

[Topslakr @ Dec 4th 2006 1:59PM]

This will be great. I have my Recording Studio computer in a separate machine room to keep noise down and Running usb cables that distance has been troubling. For keyboard and mouse usage this will be great... assuming they release Apple support.

[Lee Gibson @ Dec 4th 2006 2:59PM]

Um, call me crazy, but wouldn't Bluetooth work great for a keyboard and mouse?

[Paul @ Dec 4th 2006 2:37PM]

"30 feet? Really not that far."

Exactly how far from your computer do you want your usb hub?

I don't know about you but I dont want to have to get up and walk across the room just to fetch my ipod or digital camera.

[Raoul Pop @ Dec 4th 2006 3:55PM]

I've got this multi-function printer/scanner/fax that I'd love to be able to share between my Mac and my PC, as well as a few external hard drives. This product would be ideal, except it has no Mac support yet. Guess I'll have to wait till they introduce it.

[dennis @ Dec 4th 2006 5:56PM]

At those transfer rates, this is not just for a keyboard and mouse, which you can already get wireless via RF. Other than data transfer, I am curious to see if it will work with things like audio interfaces, MIDI controllers, etc.

[Kaphis @ Dec 4th 2006 7:00PM]

I did a little report on this before~ this device is great. USB running has always been a problem for me and if you guys didn't know, uwb can be used for monitors and such too. As you guys stated, power will still be connected, but there is potentially a lot less wires

[GP @ Dec 9th 2006 5:28AM]

Actually you can 'power' a wireless device over the air, that's how passive RFID systems work (the power of the signaling device/reader causes the circuit to activate and echo its serial number or whatever). The power involved is just waaayyy too little to be considered in this instance, and other forms of 'wireless' power would take way too much expensive equipment to be used for something as rudimentary as a wireless USB hub.

[Marhood @ Jan 28th 2007 12:47PM]

I got one of these to test it. It works well as long as you have a direct line of sight to the hub. Does not work through walls. I have a card reader, printer, and external hard drive hooked up to it. Although it works well I don't really have much use for it so it's on eBay as we speak.

[William Robinson @ Feb 26th 2007 8:21PM]

I notice a number of the comments say there is no Mac support, but Belkin's flyer says
" For Mac Users: Mac OS v10.2.8 or higher for Hi-Speed USB 2.0"
Has anyone tried it on a Mac? Why wouldn't it work. There's a broadcast unit and a receiver, like many of the wireless devices I have.

[fatima @ May 6th 2007 8:52AM]

free usb hub soft whaer

[Gaz @ Oct 9th 2007 4:06AM]

I have done some tests on one of these with a high speed HDD transferring data to and from RAM. I get 222 Mbs direct over the USB2.0 link but when I put the UWB hub in the link I get 25 Mbs. Has anyone else checked the transfer rates too? Also the hub will not do isochronous transfer so you cannot stream audio or video - so no webcams.