Cable Internet Question
- Thread starter duo17
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You probably would want to use ethernet instead of USB. It will give a better transfer rate then USB will. You could probably use a standard NIC card and be just fine.
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I = confused.
Don't you need to connect your modem to an ethernet card?
I've never heard of this USB gobbledegook.
Don't you need to connect your modem to an ethernet card?
I've never heard of this USB gobbledegook.
GilesGuthrie
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OK, you can connect the modem to the USB port and it will act as a device, you'll have no networking. In a single-device connection, this isn't much of a problem.
However, you can get a decent network card for buttons these days, and your PC will react better to it, because ultimately you are networking your PC, so with the USB device, your computer will have to run all sorts of drivers and hooks that convince it that this new USB device is in fact a network card.
In exactly the same way as hanging a scanner off the printer port is not a good idea, this is not to be recommended.
With network cards, you can get a basic one for like $5, but it's worth spending a little more.
The basic cards are really only PCI-to-RJ45 adaptors, and it's worth spending the extra to get the network card to do more of the work. The Intel Pro cards are very good, but the king of network cards (in my opinion) is the 3Com 3c905C-tx. They're about $50, but there is a performance gain, especially on peer-to-peer over a LAN. Again, if you're only going to use one machine with your internet connection, then it's probably not worth it, and my company may wonder why they have one 3c905C NIC permanently assigned to "off-site testing"!
So, in summary:
If you expect to connect more than one PC to your connection, use ethernet, otherwise you can get away with USB, but ethernet would be better.
And to summarise the summary:
Use ethernet.
However, you can get a decent network card for buttons these days, and your PC will react better to it, because ultimately you are networking your PC, so with the USB device, your computer will have to run all sorts of drivers and hooks that convince it that this new USB device is in fact a network card.
In exactly the same way as hanging a scanner off the printer port is not a good idea, this is not to be recommended.
With network cards, you can get a basic one for like $5, but it's worth spending a little more.
The basic cards are really only PCI-to-RJ45 adaptors, and it's worth spending the extra to get the network card to do more of the work. The Intel Pro cards are very good, but the king of network cards (in my opinion) is the 3Com 3c905C-tx. They're about $50, but there is a performance gain, especially on peer-to-peer over a LAN. Again, if you're only going to use one machine with your internet connection, then it's probably not worth it, and my company may wonder why they have one 3c905C NIC permanently assigned to "off-site testing"!
So, in summary:
If you expect to connect more than one PC to your connection, use ethernet, otherwise you can get away with USB, but ethernet would be better.
And to summarise the summary:
Use ethernet.
- 15,799
Good ol' Giles comes to the rescue.Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
OK, you can connect the modem to the USB port and it will act as a device, you'll have no networking. In a single-device connection, this isn't much of a problem.
However, you can get a decent network card for buttons these days, and your PC will react better to it, because ultimately you are networking your PC, so with the USB device, your computer will have to run all sorts of drivers and hooks that convince it that this new USB device is in fact a network card.
In exactly the same way as hanging a scanner off the printer port is not a good idea, this is not to be recommended.
With network cards, you can get a basic one for like $5, but it's worth spending a little more.
The basic cards are really only PCI-to-RJ45 adaptors, and it's worth spending the extra to get the network card to do more of the work. The Intel Pro cards are very good, but the king of network cards (in my opinion) is the 3Com 3c905C-tx. They're about $50, but there is a performance gain, especially on peer-to-peer over a LAN. Again, if you're only going to use one machine with your internet connection, then it's probably not worth it, and my company may wonder why they have one 3c905C NIC permanently assigned to "off-site testing"!
So, in summary:
If you expect to connect more than one PC to your connection, use ethernet, otherwise you can get away with USB, but ethernet would be better.
And to summarise the summary:
Use ethernet.
- 2,732
Definately use Ethernet. Then if you wish to network your cable, use a router with a switch option. Then you can use the internet on either computer without having to have the other one on. Ethernet has the capability to go at speeds of 10/100/1000MBPs, so it thoeretically can handle speeds of up to 1GB/s if you get the proper card. However, PC's can only dish out so much data per second. Windows machines generally can only go up to 450MB/s while Linux can go up to around 500, depending on the package sizes.
USB1.1 can only go at around a few mb/s, I'm not sure about the actual speed. USB2 can handle speeds over 400mb/s, but in practical use, it never really does.
I would recommend going with Ethernet and any standard 10/100/1000 card. They generally cost around $15 if you didn't get one with your computer, which would supprise me since they come standard most of the time now.
USB1.1 can only go at around a few mb/s, I'm not sure about the actual speed. USB2 can handle speeds over 400mb/s, but in practical use, it never really does.
I would recommend going with Ethernet and any standard 10/100/1000 card. They generally cost around $15 if you didn't get one with your computer, which would supprise me since they come standard most of the time now.
GilesGuthrie
Staff Emeritus
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- Edinburgh, UK
- CMDRTheDarkLord
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- 2,491
It's probably a PCI slot card. Most standard NIC cards are PCI based. Heck, my friend has a whole box full of them he picked up at an auction for about $4 dollars.
GilesGuthrie
Staff Emeritus
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- Edinburgh, UK
- CMDRTheDarkLord
Matrixhasu77 is right. It's a PCI card - you see the brownish section at the botton edge? That goes into a PCI slot on your machine.
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- Flerbizky
Indeed !
As the responsible IT Techie at DBA (Free Ads newspaper in Denmark) I hold myself more or less responsible for ditching ALL our 3Com cards... We have seen A LOT of crazy stuff from them. From not negotiating speed incorrect with both Cisco and Xtreme switches, falling off for no reason, being noisy (on more than one occasion) to just generally poking the network with odd packets here and there..
That and from what benchmarking I've done, the Intel cards are highly superior to the 3Com's ....
- 350
Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
OK, you can connect the modem to the USB port and it will act as a device, you'll have no networking. In a single-device connection, this isn't much of a problem.
However, you can get a decent network card for buttons these days, and your PC will react better to it, because ultimately you are networking your PC, so with the USB device, your computer will have to run all sorts of drivers and hooks that convince it that this new USB device is in fact a network card.
In exactly the same way as hanging a scanner off the printer port is not a good idea, this is not to be recommended.
With network cards, you can get a basic one for like $5, but it's worth spending a little more.
The basic cards are really only PCI-to-RJ45 adaptors, and it's worth spending the extra to get the network card to do more of the work. The Intel Pro cards are very good, but the king of network cards (in my opinion) is the 3Com 3c905C-tx. They're about $50, but there is a performance gain, especially on peer-to-peer over a LAN. Again, if you're only going to use one machine with your internet connection, then it's probably not worth it, and my company may wonder why they have one 3c905C NIC permanently assigned to "off-site testing"!
So, in summary:
If you expect to connect more than one PC to your connection, use ethernet, otherwise you can get away with USB, but ethernet would be better.
And to summarise the summary:
Use ethernet.
Bro, your posts are really helpful. Thumbsup from me! 👍
GilesGuthrie
Staff Emeritus
- 11,038
- Edinburgh, UK
- CMDRTheDarkLord
Gosh, it's so long since I've seen an ISA card that I'm struggling to remember!
I think that the ISA cards have two gaps. I do however know that there's a difference in the 'handedness' of PCI and ISA cards (work with me on this one). If you look back at the illustration of the NIC above, you'll see that it's left handed. That is to say that looking at the card from the connection side, you can see that the circuitry is to the left of the connectors. ISA cards are right-handed, and the slot is longer. AGP cards have a curious hook on the edge connector.
It's funny how these things work isn't it? At my work, we found exactly the opposite, although we do use 3Com switches. I'm beginning to think that there's benefit in harmony of vendor in all networking - it's certainly the case with WLANs.
Thanks
