I'm a DSL newb. I have a question.

Factual Questions
1

Hello,

I’ve been lurking for some time, now I must come out and ask a question. A crew is coming out to wire my house for DSL connection on Monday. They are furnishing the modem, and stated that I need an Eathernet card in my PC. I don’t have one, and I am out of room for an additional PCI card. I do have a couple of free USB ports. Can the connection be made to there?
Incoming DSL—Modem---- USB port?

2

Yes, there are several USB type Ethernet adapters that you can use.

My sister has ComCast cable, and when they installed her system they installed a USB type Ethernet adapter even though she had open PCI slots. So some ISPs use the USB type by default.

Search for “USB Ethernet adapter” and you should get lots of hits, or head down to CompUSA or any computer shop and you should find one.

Here’s a selection from Pricegrabber.com:

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_gen.php/form_keyword=usb+ethernet+adapter/topcat_id=1/mode=googlecp/ut=d1b45a7829250b00

I’ve used the Belkin adapter listed there with good success.

3

There are DSL modems that can be connected to your USB port. Since the company specified ethernet, however, it looks like they are not providing you with a USB one.

There are (or were) USB port ethernet thingamabobbies available, but I don’t know if anyone still makes them or where you could get one.

Take a good look at your PC, though. Some all in one mainboards have a built in ethernet port.

4

Thanks for the replies. That was a great link,RJKUgly, just what I was thinking. I’ll buy one this weekend. I’m excited to be leaving the world of dial up. Most days I would connect at a BLISTERING speed of 33k.

5

I’ve always used the Ethernet adapter route, cause I think it’s faster than USB.

6

Sure it is. But USB is 10x faster than DSL. If all you are doing is connecting to the DSL modem, it really doesn’t matter.