Anyone used a gadget like this?

[pjpjpjpj]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...463&CatId=2379

A USB-to-ethernet adapter (instead of an internal ethernet card).

I know little about networking and such, but I thought USB 2.0 maxed out at 480Mbps. Yet this gadget says it handles Gigabit networking at 1000 Mbps. How can that be? Someone enlighten me, please.

[GKusnick]

Presumably it buffers incoming and outgoing packets internally to match speeds with the USB bus. Note that the blurb doesn't say what the sustained throughput is, just the instantaneous transfer rate (which had better be 1000 Mbps if you're connecting to a gigabit network).

Real-world throughput on a gigabit LAN rarely exceeds 400-500 Mbps anyway.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Presumably it buffers incoming and outgoing packets internally to match speeds with the USB bus. Note that the blurb doesn't say what the sustained throughput is, just the instantaneous transfer rate (which had better be 1000 Mbps if you're connecting to a gigabit network).

Gotcha, thanks for the info.

Originally Posted by GKusnick

Real-world throughput on a gigabit LAN rarely exceeds 400-500 Mbps anyway.

But what about future-proofing for someday when I need to simultaneously stream HD video to 40 HD Extenders???

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

But what about future-proofing for someday when I need to simultaneously stream HD video to 40 HD Extenders???

Wait for the USB 3.0 version of it.

Gerry

[MattHelm]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

I know little about networking and such, but I thought USB 2.0 maxed out at 480Mbps. Yet this gadget says it handles Gigabit networking at 1000 Mbps. How can that be? Someone enlighten me, please.

Just so you know, USB can't do 480. No one device can use more than 1/2 the bus rate, so you can still talk to other devices. That makes it 240. Plus all commands must be at the slowest devices data rate, which can be 12Mbs!