On Fri, Jun 14, 2002 at 07:28:58PM +0800, robbates@emerge.net.au wrote:
ADSL has finaly arrived in my area and I am thinking of using it. My question - what are the arguments for and against modems that connect via USB and Ethernet. About all I know is the Usb modem is the cheaper of the two.
USB: +Connect directly to the PC - do not require the PC to have a NIC. +Usually cheaper -Normally require vendor-provided drivers - are they available? -Can use a significant proportion of the bandwidth available on USB1.1 -Can only connect to 1 PC - need to configure the host PC as a router to allow a LAN to access the net. Ethernet: +Leaves the USB bandwidth free for other devices (digital cameras, Flash drives, etc.) +Can connect direct to a hub/switch to allow the whole LAN direct access to the net (although this is not advisable without a firewall) +No special drivers required (AFAIK) -Usually more expensive -Require host PC to have a NIC - more expense if this is not already the case. -- David Smith Work Email: Dave.Smith@st.com STMicroelectronics Home Email: David.Smith@ds-electronics.co.uk Bristol, England