# Internet Acess & Network Card for cable modem **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 22, 2000, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-acess-network-card-for-cable-modem/9078 "2000-03-22T23:43:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AUT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@AUT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AUT)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2000, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-acess-network-card-for-cable-modem/9078/1 "2000-03-22T23:43:00Z")
Help! I’m a computer illiterate & I’m trying to find out if my computer has a built in Network Card for a cable modem. How do I go about doing this. I have Windows 98.(p.s. How do I find out cpu speed). ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2000, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-acess-network-card-for-cable-modem/9078/2 "2000-03-22T23:53:00Z")
Generally a network card is included with the cost of installation. I got a 3Com ISA card when I started Cox @Home service. Few consumer PCs intended for home use have a built in or included network card. The typical connetion is an RJ-45. Imagine a phone plug that’s twice as big with eight conductors instead of four. The windows control panel will only tell you if an installed and enabled network card is configured correctly. When you boot up watch the first screen of text, it will probably tell you CPU type and speed. ---
**Author:** ![JonF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cab0a1/32.png) [@JonF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonF)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-acess-network-card-for-cable-modem/9078/3 "2000-03-23T00:14:00Z")
Pick Start | Settings | Control Panel. Double-click on “System”. You should be able to find the processor type, and maybe the speed, on the page you see. Click on the “Device Manager” tab near the top of the window. If you cannot find a “Network Adapters” entry in the window, then you don’t have a network card. If you do have such an entry, click on the “+” next to it and you will see the card’s name. Double-click on the card name and you will get a dialog box with all sorts of information that you probably don’t care about. * * * jrf ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-acess-network-card-for-cable-modem/9078/4 "2000-03-23T16:46:00Z")
If its a network computer it must have a network card but you can look at the back of the computer for what looks like a regular phone jack on hormones [much bigger, same design]. Youll need two network cards if you want to network it & have cable. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2000, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-acess-network-card-for-cable-modem/9078/5 "2000-03-23T22:22:00Z")
if you are getting a cable modem installed, the technician will ask you if you have a network card already installed (this will most likely be asked over the phone when you schedule the appointment for installation). if you do not know the answer to this and still would like to proceed with the installation, the field technician will bring a network card with him/her and install it for an additional fee. if he/she sees that a network card is already present, the fee will obviously be waived; unless there are underlying circumstances in which your network card could not be used or is incompatible in some way, then your cable provider’s network card would be used in place of it.