# What's an NIC? Cable modem Q **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 30, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598 "2002-07-30T21:57:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/1 "2002-07-30T21:57:20Z")
Today I got a cable modem and installing it is a bitch. My instillation software says I need an NIC…some kind of network adaptor? I’m hoping this something I already have and simply need to activate by pressing a button or entering a command. ---
**Author:** ![Berkut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Berkut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Berkut)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/2 "2002-07-30T22:01:03Z")
It is a Network Interface Card. Most newer computers come with them already. What kind of computer do you have? Do you have a connector on your computer that looks like a fat phone jack? ---
**Author:** ![barking\_frog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@barking\_frog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barking_frog)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/3 "2002-07-30T22:20:36Z")
What operating system? When I had Windows 9x I had to call up my cable company for instructions. With Windows XP Professional I was on the internet two minutes after the OS installed since I selected the automatic network configuration option. Like Joey said, a NIC is pretty much standard nowadays. But if your installation software says you need one, chances are you either don’t have one or, if you do, then it’s not installed. You can pick up a NIC for about $10 nowadays. Look on the back of your computer first for a “fat phone jack” first though. ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/4 "2002-07-30T22:31:40Z")
as **Joey** says, NIC is a Network Interface Card. it, typically, looks like this : [http://www.d-link.com/products/gigabit/dge550t/dge550tDwnLd.jpg](http://www.d-link.com/products/gigabit/dge550t/dge550tDwnLd.jpg) basically you connect a wire (with ends that look like phone jacks, but bigger) between your cable modem and the NIC (also known as Ethernet or LAN card). the wire would look something like this : [http://edtech.it.bton.ac.uk/lm153-2001/lecture2/lan\_wires.htm](http://edtech.it.bton.ac.uk/lm153-2001/lecture2/lan_wires.htm) so if you already have a NIC physically present in your PC, just connect the wire. if you don’t, you’ll need to first buy and install the NIC and then connect the wire… ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/5 "2002-07-30T23:22:54Z")
- - - Or maybe not. Many cable modems have a cat-5 and a USB connection; the Motorola SB4200 we got with cable internet does. The installation invoice said installation included “installation of nic card if not present”; I dunno why they bother with a NIC card when USB is easier, I guess USB is slower–? (I took that class, but I can’t remember…) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/6 "2002-07-31T00:18:53Z")
USB1 is slower, but the newer USB2 standard is (supposedly) 480 megabits/second, while standard network cards (a mature technology unlikely to make any more major improvements) tops out at 100 megabits/second. In any event, a cable modem typically runs no faster than 1.5 megabits/second. Since USB2 won’t offer your computer any real advantage, the cable modem manufacturers may as well stay with the firmly established and perfectly suitable NIC cards. At the very least, the Category 5 network cables needed to carry a 100Mbit signal are very cheap and adequate for installations up to 100 meters. No 100-meter USB cable exists (as far as I know) and even getting a sizable fraction of that length is going to cost you serious bucks. A 16-foot USB cable can run $30 or so (!) while you can get Cat5 for much less. If you hook a cable modem up to a single computer, it makes no real difference if you choose NIC or USB. If you want to share your cable modem (as I do), you’ll find yourself stringing cable through your home or office, and so far Cat5 cable and NIC cards offer the cheapest solution. My cable modem is shared with another computer on the second floor, and to keep the cable as invisible as possible, I went from my first-floor office into the basement, across the house, then under the second-floor stairwell on a roundabout path that runs about 40 meters. There’s no way I could have done that with USB. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/7 "2002-07-31T00:43:24Z")
Got the card and installed it. loaded the drivers. Now the computer says it needs the file VTruck. What the hell is THAT? I put in the reboot disk that came with the computer (an etower 333k) but the computer can’t find it. The computer wants me to load the Windows 98 disk (isn’t that the reboot disk?) and is acting goofy HELP!!! ---
**Author:** ![xash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c6cbf5/32.png) [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/8 "2002-07-31T00:52:53Z")
perhaps these links might help: [http://subscribers.aroundcarolina.com/rrpcdirections.asp](http://subscribers.aroundcarolina.com/rrpcdirections.asp) [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/broadjump.html](http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/cmtips/broadjump.html) also, the reboot disk (i’m assuming you mean Win 98 boot disk) does not have any information that would be of value to your installer. if it’s asking for Win 98 disk, either insert the Win 98 CD-ROM and direct it there, or ask it to look in the C:\Windows and C:\Windows\System directories. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/9 "2002-07-31T01:38:15Z")
Search your C: drive for \ ***.cab** One directory should have over a hundred of them. These are your Windows installation files. Type in the path for that folder when you’re prompted for your Windows CD. Most manufacturers put them in **c:\windows\options\cabs**. If you don’t find the .cab files on the C: drive then whoever put your PC together was a real turkey. ---
**Author:** ![UNIMATRIXONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/2bfe46/32.png) [@UNIMATRIXONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UNIMATRIXONE)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/10 "2002-07-31T01:42:43Z")
NIC cards are also used in networking computers. So if you computer was in existance before broad band was your computer might be think that you are networking. Ask Tim S at work. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/11 "2002-07-31T01:59:22Z")
Tracked down the virtual truck program on the cable modem driver, and apparently the only thing left is for the company to activate the account ; as I type this, I am on hold with the company on the phone. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2002, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-an-nic-cable-modem-q/121598/12 "2002-07-31T08:10:11Z")
- - - Some installs don’t copy the cab files over automatically particularly if you install straight off the CD, which is what most rescue CD’s do. If you can figure out which folder the OS is defaulting to when it searches [mine is a hidden directory–\>C:\windows\inf], then you should copy all the _system_ CAB files off of the install/rescue CD (for Win98SE, there’s 50 or more cab files all in the same directory; copy them all. The individual _programs_ on the install CD such as IE will have a couple cabs of their own off in their own little directories, but those aren’t the ones you want). Put them in the directory on your HD. You can put them anywhere else [make a folder named C:\TempCabs, fer instance] and “browse” the computer to them when it asks, but if you put them where it looks anyway it’ll probably never ask for the CD again or even say anything, it’ll just do its thing and keep on going. Anytime you reformat or get a new PC, doing a cab file copy first will save you huge amounts of hassles. ~ - I was installing some software once, and the install stopped in the middle, and the PC asked me to insert the install CD. Funny part was, at that point, the computer only had one CD drive in it, and to eject the software install CD you had to abort the install. And the OS didn’t say what file it needed, just to “insert Windows98 CD”…