I am going to be getting DSL in the next few days (Yay!!). The letter I got from the company stated as follows:
Now, my machine has a USB port, so, worse-comes-to-worst, I’m ready. Of course, this would take one of my USB ports (I suppose I could always go out and buy a hub…).
However, will the performance be better if I go out and buy a NIC card? I can install it on my own, so installation is not an issue. This is strictly a performance question.
Lastly, if I get a 10/100 Base-T card, can I get even better performance?
Installation is very easy and they only cost about 20 dollars.
You will be happy with the performance of the NIC card over a USB port. The USB is much less stable than an NIC when it comes to DSL (broadband).
I changed from USB to NIC and I have not had one crach since. I was crashing once a week with USB.
Go with the NIC. A NIC (Network Interface Card) is a 10/100 BaseT card (at least these days. Some older NICs were only 10 BaseT). I’ve heard several issues with using USB, such as system hanging. I have DSL, and I’m using a 10/100 BaseT NIC and it works beautifully.
<nitpick>Saying NIC card is redundant, since the C stands for Card already.</nitpick>
Get the Linksys BEFSR11 Cable/DSL Router. It is a great hardware firewall. Addtionally, if you need a switch the BEFSR41 is the same thing but with a 4 port switch built in.
That actually looks like a good product. I can set up another computer to the same account and because I work at a computer/electronics retailer, I can get it at a discount…
In my experience, USB tends to be rather persnickety. I know, I hate to throw around technical jargon like that, but… When USB devices work well, they usually work very well, but when they decide to be troublesome they turn into a huge pain in the ass.
But more to the point, if you want decent performance, you want a NIC. I’ve seen Belkin 10/100 cards as cheap as $14 at Staples, so price isn’t much of an issue. USB 1.1 (what most computers have) only supports 12 megabits per second, I think, of total bandwidth, so if you ever come close to pushing even 10 megabits across that USB NIC, you’re going to be saturating the USB channel (keep in mind that everything plugged into the USB port, through a hub or otherwise, is sharing that 12 Mb/sec total bandwidth). Granted, that’s not likely with DSL (which tends to top out around 1.5 Mb/sec for consumer-grade stuff) but still, why load up your USB port when it’s cheaper and more efficient to just throw a NIC in your machine and be done with it?
And handy, they’re not coming to install it. As for the card, I am well-qualified to put in a network card. My current machine was pretty much built by me from the case onward…
Go with the NIC and linksys box. This is what I have and I am totally happy with it. The little woman and I can share the cable modem with ease. The box has firmware you can get which will supposedly do nice things with zone alarm although I have not tried this.
zev, first off, I’d recommend the NIC. If the DSL will be the only network connection this computer will ever make, a 10 Mbps card will be sufficient. However, due to the low price and likelihood that someday another computer may appear in your home, go with the 10/100 card.
Firewalls are another matter. In another thread recently, I saw you comment on ZoneAlarm, and how you saw some disparaging review on CNET, and were leaning towards a “hardware” firewall. I searched CNET, and couldn’t find any such review (in fact, CNET rates ZoneAlarm quite high). I almost sent you a private email on the subject, but alas, I did not.
Anyway, I’ve made my views on these so-called “hardware” firewalls known in a couple of other threads on this same topic. I won’t repeat them here, but if your interested, read these two threads (the first one is quite short).
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by AZCowboy *
**zev, first off, I’d recommend the NIC. If the DSL will be the only network connection this computer will ever make, a 10 Mbps card will be sufficient. However, due to the low price and likelihood that someday another computer may appear in your home, go with the 10/100 card.
**
You saw me comment on ZoneAlarm? I think you might be mixing me up with someone else. My knowledge of firewalls is practically nil, and I’m not qualified to comment on them one way
or the other.
Zev, my apologies, my memory must be going (what is it that is the first to go?). I’d swear it was your post, I even recollect going to your profile page to see if you had email available.
But, through various searches, I cannot find the message I seemed to recall. Oh well. Sorry.
Another big advantage to using a hardware broadband router is that if your ISP uses PPPoE normally this means that you have to install their ‘dialer’ program and start it and ‘sign on’ each time you want to go online.
No big deal, but with a hardware router you can put your user ID & password into it and then you essentially have an ‘always on’ internet connection.
When USB devices work well, they usually work very well, but when they decide to be troublesome they turn into a huge pain in the ass.