I just discovered something interesting about those USB hubs on Amazon that have more than four or eight ports, and thought i’d share here.

They’re not one USB hub.

I noticed that nearly all of my amazon hubs are actually multiple hubs attached internally in a daisy chain. If you look at the USB viewer, for example, ports 5 through 8 are connected to a DIFFERENT hub than ports 1 through 4, and that port is connected to one of the ports on the first hub. So you’re not buying one hub, you’re buying multiple hubs, one of which is connected through the other.

This has some unforeseen consequences. For example, USB hubs aren’t supposed to be chained more than, say, three deep. But if you have one of these, you could be adding a hub to the tree without realizing it.

This isn’t necessarily a reason not to buy them, but you should know what you’re getting, and it’s NOT clear.

Also, if you have something that requires high bandwidth, like a webcam, the actual bandwidth you get could be dependent on where you plug your webcam in.

As always, be careful with amazon. They can have some great deals, but you’re not always getting what you think you’re getting. It’s better to go with a trusted brand if you have the option (even though this isn’t always going to work out for you, sadly.)