My PC had only two USB ports when I bought it. I added an Orange Micro Firewire card which also added three USB ports to my system — but five wasn’t enough. The solution, add a USB hub. 

Larry Grosskopf, our product coordinator, acquired a 7-port USB hub from Inside Out Networks, based in Austin, Texas, for review. The industrial grade Hubport/7 is designed to quickly and easily expand one of your PC’s USB ports into seven. 

The product picture above shows several stacked Hubports utilizing Hubport/7 (7 connections) and Hubport/4 (4 connections). A USB advantage is the fact that up to 127 devices can be connected to one computer. The Hubport/7 is designed to stack easily and snugly to accommodate expansion as a PC user’s arsenal of USB peripherals grows. 

The Hubport/7 is powered but the AC adapter is a little different from the other devices attached to my system. On the majority of my peripherals which utilize an AC adapter, the adapter itself plugs into an electrical outlet with a line to the device. The Hubport/7 utilizes a 7 foot power cord that connects to an AC adapter which then connects to the Hubport by a 29 inch line. That means the AC adapter will have to sit somewhere on your desktop within 29 inches of the Hubport/7, which although not large, (7X4.25X1 inch) takes up increasingly scarce desktop space. Since space is at a premium on my desktop, I moved a tangle of cables at the rear of my PC and put the AC adapter on the desktop at that location and then put the Hubport/7 on top of my PC tower. 

I plugged the “B” end of the Inside Out Networks supplied USB cable into the Hubport/7 and the “A” end into my PC. Windows XP quickly detected the hub, figured out what it was, and installed the appropriate software. When powered, a green light signals that the unit is on and seven additional lights indicate seven ports are ready to use. With all the indicator lights green, I plugged various USB devices into the Hubport/7, trying out each of its seven ports and watched as WinXP and the Hubport/7 easily recognized each new device. 

The accompanying CD contains drivers for the various Inside Out products, a user manual in PDF format, a product guide of Inside Out peripheral products, data sheets, and miscellaneous other information. 

The Hubport/4 (with four ports) lists for $79 and the Hubport/7 lists for $99 on Inside Out’s Website. A list of companies selling this product include USB Stuff, Micro Warehouse, PC Connection and B&B Electronics. Without having to remember who sells Hubport/7, I recommend you just do a word search on your browser using Hubport/7 and you will get many URL hits to browse. 

With my new Hubport/7 USB hub, I’m good to go for another couple of years as far as attaching USB peripherals to my PC.