Well, it's been a long 2 weeks, but you were right, terp. My problem was not (just) the presence of the USB hub. Although the hub changed my "stability factor" somewhat, my upgrade to ActiveSync 4.2 ruined my connection stability, with or without the hub. I felt like Dorothy clicking my heels 3 times every time I tried to connect... plug / unplug / plug / unplug / plug. It generally worked by the third time.
I know a lot of users who had no trouble with the upgrade, but for me the v4.2 upgrade was a mistake. I even tried going back to AS v4.1, with no luck. Whatever it screwed up, it stayed screwed up.
After tolerating the "3-plug sync" for 2 weeks, yesterday, I installed the AS 4.5-beta-2 and now everything seems to be working fine. There is a comment about USB hubs in the v4.5-beta known issues list, but for me, the AS 4.5-beta-2 fixed the problem. Oh well, it could have been worse. much worse.
[my vote] So far, ActiveSync v4.5-beta-2 is working great for me. Seems quite a bit faster, too.
