Hands-on with Belkin's Cable-Free USB Hub

So we snagged our lucky selves a Belkin Cable-Free USB Hub, one of the first ever wireless USB devices, as well as one of the first consumer Ultrawideband products. Luckily for us there wasn't a lot to test, but we can tell you this: the hub is small, the dongle is massive, and the speed and range aren't quite what they're cracked up to be. Click on for the usual unboxing, a load of high res product shots, shots and details on setup and performance.

Hands-on with Belkin's Cable-Free USB Hub

So, setup was relatively easy. Pop in the CD, run the install. Plugging in the dongle proved to be a small pain, being that it's wide and fat enough that it forced us to unplug our USB keyboard, which was plugged in adjacent. If you're using a laptop, it might look something like your machine grew a short, stubby arm. Maybe you're into that though. Anyhow, unfortunately the hub and dongle's drivers didn't autodetect, meaning we had to install each of the four detected devices manually by pointing them to the driver directories. Not a huge annoyance, but still a little irksome. After that it was pretty painless.

From there we tested distances from dongle to hub. The first was a room and a half away, one mostly hollow wall -- less than 30 feet. Zero signal. The second was a room away, still that same wall away, estimated 15 feet. Zero signal. It wasn't until we placed the hub within line of sight about 6 feet away that we got a signal and could register the hub and dongle. Once we got the parts running, we were off to the races. USB interaction was basically seamless from how you'd normally plug / unplug devices in Windows. Our flash drive showed up immediately.

So we decided to throw a 400MB movie on our flash drive to test the speed. At first we kind of thought we maybe had it all plugged in via a USB 1.1 header or something, but that wasn't the case. Everything was USB 2.0 and gravy -- it's just really slow wireless. 480Mbps be damned, even just a few feet away with line of sight it took about 8.5 minutes to transfer 400MB -- that's about 0.8MBps, or 6.35Mbps. (For reference, when we tested this "wired," we were able to transfer 400MB in just under 40 seconds, or about 10MBps / 80Mbps, probably still only limited by the speed of our laptop drive's read speed.) In other words, you might use this for your printer and small doc sharing, but you definitely won't want to attach your Zune / iPod / Sansa to this thing. Still, is wireless USB and the ability to be the first kid on your street with an Ultrawideband something worth $200 to you? If so, we might remind you that the holidays are upon us.

[peel @ Dec 5th 2006 2:46PM]

I'm not sure why it needs any software to run. Shouldn't they be able to run this as a self contained piece of equipment?

[Jody @ Dec 5th 2006 2:46PM]

Does it work on the mac yo?

-Jody-

[Ryan Block @ Dec 5th 2006 3:05PM]

No, as I mentioned yesterday, no Mac support currently.

[KrisL @ Dec 5th 2006 2:49PM]

Did you measure the speed of copying your 400mb file over the wired connection? I think you'll find that it's significantly less than 480MBit. I think that'd be a more fair comparison (actual wireless vs actual wired rather than actual wireless vs theoretical wired/wireless)

[Ryan Block @ Dec 5th 2006 3:05PM]

There, I added wired speed. It's about 12.5x faster when wired, possibly faster.

[Slaven @ Dec 5th 2006 2:54PM]

That's a bit of a letdown! With that kind of speed you still have to rely on having physical access to your USB port, and as peel said I also hoped there would be no drivers to worry about.

[Stephen @ Dec 5th 2006 2:59PM]

Can you guys crack it open so we can see the board?

[Ryan Block @ Dec 5th 2006 3:02PM]

It's a review unit, that's kind of against the rules. Sorry!

[Chris @ Dec 5th 2006 3:44PM]

According to the Product Bulletin at http://www.belkin.com/pressroom/releases/uploads/assets/PDF/26PB001-A_F5U301_PB.pdf , there is Mac support.

[JaXs @ Dec 5th 2006 3:06PM]

writing to flash is insanely slow
try a USB HDD

[Anthony @ Dec 5th 2006 3:23PM]

Even @ this crap speed I'll probably still pick one up. I would like to network my computer to my old, old printer (& sync an ipod- regardless of the time).

[thoughtfix @ Dec 5th 2006 3:33PM]

I'd try to hack it into the back of my ultra-mobile PC. That way I could just grab the thing off the stand.

[GJP303 @ Dec 5th 2006 3:49PM]

Would the antenna affect putting in any usb devices? Using the size of one of the usb connections for reference, it possibly could prevent the connection of some. What do you think?

[Michael @ Dec 5th 2006 4:08PM]

Can you get another one, and see what happens when you daisy chain them?

I can see it now, a mile long chain of wireless usb devices. At a whopping 3 bps.

[Stephen @ Dec 5th 2006 4:09PM]

No worries, I was just wondering if the base unit could be 'hacked' to add a massive antenna.... Nice post!

[Michael W @ Dec 5th 2006 4:47PM]

That's pretty dang slow. I'd rather use a router with NAS and printserver abilities than fumble with this mess.

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

Did you try it with the dongle sitting in the stand ontop of your desk?

They include these things for a reason, ya know. (plus, you can keep your keyboard plugged in.)

I know your testing 'worst case' senario... but they give you the dongle-dock (heretofore referred to as a 'dingle') so why not use it? Just put the dingle behind/under your LCD and you'll forget it's there.

Just don't leave your dingle out in the open. You'll liable to smack it with your wiimote--and wiimote vs. dingle action is not something I want to see the aftermath of.

[rob @ Dec 5th 2006 5:15PM]

seems odd that this thing doesn't just look like a USB hub to the hardware. Why does it need drivers at all? Wouldn't this make Linux a no-go? bummer.

[aural @ Dec 5th 2006 5:23PM]

i had high expectations for this one... but i guess i'll wait on throwing down my benjamins until they get the speed sorted out. going from USB 2.0 speed to less than 1.1 speed just isnt acceptable any longer. Thanks for the detailed write up & saving me some money :)

[Chris @ Dec 5th 2006 6:13PM]

At 30 feet I could install the usb wireless hub in my car and sync my ipod from in the house. Ideally I'd always have the latest podcasts without having to remove the nano device from the car or even think about it.

[tabascoishot @ Dec 5th 2006 6:28PM]

No "massive dongle" jokes yet? Amazing!!

[Mike B. @ Dec 5th 2006 8:27PM]

What is the power-cord for? What needs to be charged?


- Mike

[Dan F @ Dec 5th 2006 8:37PM]

With that ridiculously slow speed and high price I think I could purchase a 50 ft usb wire, have it professionally installed through a couple of walls, and purchase a usb hub with more slots for less than the price of this. In spite of this, sd cards used to be 80 dollars for 128mb only a couple of years ago. Hopefully prices will go down and performance will go up as time passes. Great progress however and I'm glad to see they finally got this out of the door.

[Daniel Jacobs @ Dec 5th 2006 9:57PM]

Everyone here should understand that this is a Kludge USB wireless solution, which is COMPLETELY NOT OPTIMIZED for bandwidth. The solution coming from Certified Wireless USB (The same people who made the original USB) in a few months will have far better transfer speeds. Also, this solution is NOT compatible with Certified Wireless USB, which requires new drivers from Microsoft, etc. My recommendation: wait a few months for the real thing.

[nivz @ Dec 5th 2006 10:25PM]

Honestly, why would you need a wireless USB hub for? I mean a practical (and $200 dollars worth) scenario, not that so you could sync the ipods from your car or light your tool shed with a USB powered light.

[Mike Jenkins @ Dec 5th 2006 10:25PM]

Is it at all possible to have multiple dongles linked to the same hub? I could see this as an easy way for a laptop and a desktop in the same room or neighboring rooms to share the same USB devices like printers or cameras. Probably not the most practical way to share devices though.

[Paul Irwin @ Dec 6th 2006 2:10PM]

i think UWB is important and all to develop, but i absolutely HATE how the USB group is hailing wireless USB as the next standard, and that they have no plans to work on USB 3.0 (wired). there are quite a few circumstances where UWB is cool... cell phones connecting to PCs, etc. but the main problem with it is power. even this thing, you can hardly call it "wireless" or "cable free" since you have to plug it into a wall outlet. if you replace the wireless data connection, you're just going to be replacing it with extra power cords. there are MANY circumstances that would benefit from a USB 3.0 running at least 1 Gbps, such as USB flash drives (wireless would suck there), iPods or anything that needs to charge over USB, hard drives (since 480Mbps is still too slow for heavy use), and more. the USB group needs to make wireless AND a new wired standard for USB, not just ignoring the wired like they're doing now.

[liquid @ Dec 6th 2006 2:49PM]

i had high hopes for this too, i should of known the speed was going to be shit. Oh well, thats 200 bones i can keep to myself or buy something else thats useful. Hopefully they get the speed worked out.

[Evan1138 @ Dec 6th 2006 7:52PM]

Ryan, here's an odd question: What was the output voltage of the power supply? I'm looking forward to battery powering a USB robot.

[Mark @ Dec 7th 2006 12:07AM]

The dongle should be installed in the stand for maximum throughput and range!

[scatterlined @ Dec 7th 2006 3:51AM]

Sounds like you are better off sticking with this 2 year old device:
http://www.keyspan.com/products/usb/server/homepage.spml

[TWiesner1 @ Dec 7th 2006 12:00PM]

Waste of money.

[Julian Emmett Turner @ Dec 13th 2006 7:17PM]

Wait... that was the most BOTCHED attempt to put a product through it's paces that I've ever seen and yet not ONE commenter has properly corrected the authors. I thought you guys were more technical than that. I must be hanging out on the wrong blog! ;)

Anyway, first of all, USB2.0 flash drives could be slower than USB1.1 and still have a reason to be classified as USB2.0... you see, USB2.0 "aware" devices that still only use less than USB1.1's 11mbps do not slow the other devices in the hub down to USB1.1 speeds like a USB1.1 device of the same speed.

Second of all, it was absolutely ridiculous to time a transfer without also comparing it to a wired connection. You would have discovered two GLARING flaws with your assumptions/method and BASIC MATH that you should have actually known without needing to do so. But I digress.

Third, flash drives read WAY slower than 480mbps. They write EVEN SLOWER than they read. Much more so. Anyone who doesn't know this shouldn't be entitled to sample products like this! To saturate USB2.0's bandwidth, you'd need multiple devices that are not reading and writing to the same media (a single HDD would only get slower with multiple simultaneous transfers and the sustained transfer rate of any normal drive is already WAY below 480mbps).

Fourth, there is a HUGE difference between Mbit and MByte. The calculations are very easy. Divide by 8.5 for the MB per minute, divide that by 60 for MB per second, multiply that by 8 for mbit per second. 6.2745098039215686274509803921569mbps rounds to 6.27MBps. NOT 6.35. Yes, the difference is significant when transferring multigigabyte DVD images and even 400MB video files like yours. Seconds add up quickly you know. I understand that 8.5 was an estimate, but if you're basing that on better data you should let us in on it.

[glen @ Dec 14th 2006 10:08PM]

Try putting the two right next to each other, and see how fast it will go. Bitrate drops pretty fast with distance. I think squared...

I'd also suggest ditching Windows explorer as a testing program. Use HD tach or something more scientific.

[John @ Dec 17th 2006 10:19AM]

What are the power requirements of the hub?

[Melody Chalaban @ Dec 20th 2006 7:47PM]

Ultra wideband doesn't work between walls because it's short-range wireless technology. The Hub is designed to work within the same room.

[Dr Gonzo @ Dec 21st 2006 4:24PM]

It actually is supposed to work through walls, which is why the EU has not ratified it, because the signal fell into a spectrum of higher capacity and strength, and thus the EU must test the technology for safety standards for radio frequency emissions.

Your unit doesn't work through walls because it uses the Wisair chipset which is not certified by the WIMEDIA alliance and thus they use a lower band levels.

[Dr Gonzo @ Dec 21st 2006 3:45PM]

This is typical Belkin, being in the CE industry, I saw this device over a year ago at CES, and the unit was not even Wireless USB, but rather RF...only those of in the industry knew that. So Belkin walked away with a Design award for putting lipstick on a pig.

Another thing, is that the chip is not certified by the WIMEDIA alliance, so lets say you buy someone else's Wireless USB dongle later in 07, well it wont work with their unit which makes an even better story as more devices in 07 get Wireless USB enabled.

[Yanger @ Dec 21st 2006 4:24PM]

This hub is garbage. Who would use a Dongle that big attached to their notebook!!!

Like people said, you can do better with other solutions for the time being. $200 for a glorified print server.. I don't think so.. and when you get a new notebook next year with WUSB built in.. guess what.. it won't work with this hub.. You'll have to still use that penis shaped dongle!! haha.. i pitty the fool!!

Has anyone tested it with Vista.. good ruck! This is just like that stupid Home dock they put out.. Try playing a Direct 3D game on it.. as I said.. Good ruck.. You can't even play movies at 1280x1024 mode on that dock let alone 3D solitaire!

Rots of ruck!

[Ted @ Jan 5th 2007 11:34PM]

I heard that the unit the reviewer tested did not come with the up-to-date drivers and you can tell from his screen shot above of the GUI that the driver version is different than the firmware version. Also, he did not use the base for the dongle which is also a problem since it states in the instructions that it is required for good performance.

Looks like someone did another review and was more thorough this time:

http://www.mobilehandsetdesignline.com/howto/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=CVD0HQO4AJHVKQSNDLPCKHSCJUNN2JVN?articleId=196801390&pgno=1

[Jeff @ Jan 6th 2007 12:07PM]

Thanks Ted,

After reading the new review I think I will buy one and remove the wires to my printer and scanner. Can I find it in the store (if not, I will use Belkin's site).

[Jeff @ Jan 6th 2007 3:20PM]

Thanks Ted,

After reading the new review I think I will buy one and remove the wires to my printer and scanner. Can I find it in the store (if not, I will use Belkin's site).

[Calvin Humphreys @ Dec 20th 2007 7:38PM]

Belkin’s Wireless USB hub is simply not worth the expense, and frustration. This article states you get rid of cable, when really you just move it from your PC to the Belkin hub. I didn’t find the setup as difficult as this article describes, as the hub and Vista recognized 4 of the 5 different things I tested on it immediately. The one item that didn’t get recognized was a ScanDisk 12 in 1 device, so I used an older 2 slot Memorex unit to accomplish the same goal.

I find the Wireless USB Control Center to be poorly designed, as who ever thought this applet through, didn’t consider that people who use wireless equipment may actually use Wireless networking too. That means that if you don’t pick “prompt before connecting to this device,” your computer will not fully boot onto your wireless network, if in fact it connects to your network at all while it waits for the Wireless USB hub to connect. With my system I have to disconnect the dongle when I shut down, then reconnect it when the system has fully connected to my wireless network, and then manually start the Control Center and manually connect to the Belkin Wireless USB hub once my system is completely booted. But that’s not the saddest part of this story!

The dongle, and the Belkin Wireless USB hub are located exactly 8’ 9” apart in my office. My wireless printer sits on the far side of these two units. It’s pathetic that this Belkin Wireless USB hub will not stay connected on its own for the most part, but certainly not if you walk between the two devices, or a strong gust of air blows by if the window is open. If it weren’t for the fact I have to insert the dongle each morning I use the devices attached to my Belkin Wireless USB hub, then I’d locate the dongle 7 feet up the wall, and then I’d only have to worry about an errant fly winging by and upsetting the bit stream.