Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. Review: Belkin USB extension cables
Don Bradbury looks at A-Male/A-Female terminated leads to extend wired USB 2.0 connections.
| Product | USB 2.0 extension cables |
|---|---|
| Company | Belkin |
| Web | www.belkin.com |
| Price | Around £6.29 (CU1100vuk10-G) and £17.99 (CU1100veu2.1M) |
| We like | Useful extension; good construction; activation LEDs on Signature product |
| We don't like | The Signature cable was rather thick, though still flexible |
| Rating | 9/10 |
| Requirements |
When your USB ports (type 1.1 or 2.0) are simply too inaccessible, or the length of the standard cable to connect a USB device is inadequate, the solution could be to just add one of these A-male/A-female extension cables which can be daisy-chained onto any standard USB lead. The (nominally) cheaper option we looked at, from the Belkin Pro series, was of 2.1 meters length (though the pack suggests there's also a 3 meter option), and the superior model from the Belkin Signature range was of 3 meters (the pack suggesting there's also a 1.8 meter option).
With these, reaching around the rear of a system box to locate a free USB port could now be a once only endeavor, and making use of that remote USB device on the adjacent desk need only be a momentary frustration before having a wired connection in place.
The Pro option among these two was just a basic extension lead, though it did have easy grip connectors to facilitate connection in tight places, plus copper foil inner shield to reduce cross-talk and interference, and braid and foil shielding to reduce EMI/RFI. It also featured molded strain relief which is intended to ease bending for durability of the connection and also the fit. Well, whatever the claims, it worked nicely and would probably be a good buy if one could find it discounted.
The more up-market Signature cable we tried was not only longer but featured a pair of blue LEDs at each end that glowed reassuringly when a USB port was functional and the connection active. Gold plating on the connectors was also welcome, added in order to reduce electrical resistance and corrosion at the terminals. Also featured were asymmetrical cabling which bends more easily, and free-cable management clips, intended to keep cables organised. High quality twisted pair construction had been used to ensure high speed data transfer up to USB 2.0's full theoretical 480Mbps.
In operation
The question was, would extending the range of USB cabling in this manner compromise the connection? Well, we tried each cable while added to an ADSL USB modem's own cable, indeed we piggy-backed both cables together with the modem's own cable, a total length of 20 feet, no less, and we could detect no deterioration in the quality of the connection, all devices in the chain being, as far as we could check, up to full USB 2.0 standard.
Use a 2.0 hub instead?
Good question! Not only would a USB hub add some cable length but it would also give us a few extra ports to boot. Well, that's the theory, but as all USB users discover sooner or later, Universal Serial Bus is not a perfect beast. For a start, some USB devices simply won't tolerate a hub; you have to employ one of your precious, and sometimes inaccessible, primary ports.
Further, you can't always tell from the manufacturer's blurb which type of port to use, primary port or hub port. We have, in the past, tried USB devices that would, according to the manufacturer, run satisfactorily out of a hub but which, in practice, wouldn't settle for anything less than a primary port. And, on the other hand, we've run devices that were supposed to require a primary port but which ran quite happily out of a hub. Trial and error sorted those cases.
In conclusion
Adding one of these extension cables to increase the reach or accessibility of a USB port seemed to us to be a perfectly feasible proposition. We detected no decrease in performance from our ADSL USB modem in Internet work, and that will probably be the main fear for potential punters. They're not cheap at manufacturer's prices, these cables, but buying online largely takes care of that problem. Strangely, though, we could only find massive discounts on the Signature cable, so that might settle the buying issue for you.
Worth considering then; the choice between the two types we tried might be down to personal preference, but we'd just settle for the more up-market Signature model at the price we found. With no software installation, these extension cables do not, of course, appear in Windows' Device Manager, unlike hubs; it's the simplest of additions to a system.
