[becca77]

I really want to sign up for DSL/Cable internet.
The plan I am considering says I will get a free motorola cable modem (after mail in rebate LOL!).
I hope this is a good modem. Anyone know?

It also says that I need ethernet or USB.
But how do I know if I have USB (I'm pretty sure I do) and how do I know if I have ethernet????


I will save $50 to do the installation myself.
I had no problem splicing the cable TV to every room in my house so I think this should be no problem for me.

Someone help! Should I sign up fr this or not?
It is $19.99 first 3 months and $42.00 per month after that. There is no contract or anything.

Right now when I connect to the internet it is at 45 Kbps and I can only upload & Download at 1 -2 Kbps/sec. It sucks!!!!!!

The Cable/DSL I am looking at getting say it's speeds are:
Downstream speed 4000
Upstream speed 384
(whatever that means)

Can my geeky friends help me out?
Need all kinds of advice!!!

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I really want to sign up for DSL/Cable internet.
The plan I am considering says I will get a free motorola cable modem (after mail in rebate LOL!). 
I hope this is a good modem.  Anyone know? 

Motorola modems are pretty good, never had a problem with one

It also says that I need ethernet or USB. 
But how do I know if I have USB (I'm pretty sure I do) and how do I know if I have ethernet???? 
I will save $50 to do the installation myself.
I had no problem splicing the cable TV to every room in my house so I think this should be no problem for me.

Right-click on MY COMPUTER, click on PROPERTIES, then click on the HARDWARE tab, then click on DEVICE MANGER button. In the window that appears, click on the '+' symbol next to NETWORK ADAPTORS and post in here what is listed. For the USB ports, I'm sure you have them, but again while in DEVICE MANAGER, click on the '+' symbol next to UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS CONTROLLERS, post what is listed in there as well.

Someone help! Should I sign up fr this or not?
It is $19.99 first 3 months and $42.00 per month after that.  There is no contract or anything.

That is the going rate nowadays for cable internet, so no biggy here.

Right now when I connect to the internet it is at 45 Kbps and I can only upload & Download at 1 -2 Kbps/sec.  It sucks!!!!!!

Yup dialup sucks, cable Internet will fly for you when you first use it after being so used to the slow speeds of dialup

The Cable/DSL I am looking at getting say it's speeds are:
Downstream speed  4000
Upstream speed  384
(whatever that means)

This information means that you will be able to download from the Internet at a rate of about 400K/s and upload a file at the rate of about 38.4K/s. Right now you download at a rate of only 1-2K/s, that's a huge difference, almost 200 times faster. Of course you wont get the max 400K/s all the time, it depends on the speed of the computer you're downloading from and other factors such as Internet congestion, etc...

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 02 October 2005 - 01:28 PM.

[Fenor]

I really want to sign up for DSL/Cable internet.
The plan I am considering says I will get a free motorola cable modem (after mail in rebate LOL!). 
I hope this is a good modem.  Anyone know? 

Motorola modems are pretty good, never had a problem with one

It also says that I need ethernet or USB. 
But how do I know if I have USB (I'm pretty sure I do) and how do I know if I have ethernet???? 
I will save $50 to do the installation myself.
I had no problem splicing the cable TV to every room in my house so I think this should be no problem for me.

Right-click on MY COMPUTER, click on PROPERTIES, then click on the HARDWARE tab, then click on DEVICE MANGER button. In the window that appears, click on the '+' symbol next to NETWORK ADAPTORS and post in here what is listed. For the USB ports, I'm sure you have them, but again while in DEVICE MANAGER, click on the '+' symbol next to UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS CONTROLLERS, post what is listed in there as well.

Someone help! Should I sign up fr this or not?
It is $19.99 first 3 months and $42.00 per month after that.  There is no contract or anything.

That is the going rate nowadays for cable internet, so no biggy here.

Right now when I connect to the internet it is at 45 Kbps and I can only upload & Download at 1 -2 Kbps/sec.  It sucks!!!!!!

Yup dialup sucks, cable Internet will fly for you when you first use it after being so used to the slow speeds of dialup

The Cable/DSL I am looking at getting say it's speeds are:
Downstream speed  4000
Upstream speed  384
(whatever that means)

This information means that you will be able to download from the Internet at a rate of about 400K/s and upload a file at the rate of about 38.4K/s. Right now you download at a rate of only 1-2K/s, that's a huge difference, almost 200 times faster. Of course you wont get the max 400K/s all the time, it depends on the speed of the computer you're downloading from and other factors such as Internet congestion, etc...

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 02 October 2005 - 01:28 PM.

[becca77]

Thanks so much for all your help!!

This is what my device manager thingy says - I just screen captured it and uploaded it to Imageshack:

[Fenor]

From your previous post you do have a NETWORK CARD, which is the Intel® PRO/100 VE Network Connection. You also have at least 4 USB ports, but I recommend that you connect to the Internet through your NETWORK ADAPTOR since it is generally alot faster and more reliable and causes less headaches then using the USB port.

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 02 October 2005 - 01:37 PM.

[becca77]

From your previous post you do have a NETWORK CARD, which is the Intel® PRO/100 VE Network Connection.  You also have at least 4 USB ports, but I recommend that you connect to the Internet through your NETWORK ADAPTOR since it is generally alot faster and more reliable and causes less headaches then using the USB port.

Fenor

Thank you, Fenor!

So all I need is the Motorola modem ("free after mail in rebate" LOL - I think thats so funny - don't know why!!!) and the rest of my system is ready to go.

Cool. So if I get stuck setting it up I hope I can still use my dial up connection to get on this board and het some help!!!

Thanks again

[Kurt_Aust]

I'll have to disagree with Fenor, I'd set it up on the USB port. Mainly because you only have one ethernet port but are likely to have quite a few free USB ports (you also get the safely remove hardware option).

Speed won't be an issue, even USB 1.1 has a max speed of 12 Mb/s which is quite a bit faster than the max speed of your cable modem. You will have to do a driver install though (do NOT plug in the USB cable until instructed).

FYI the USB ports are the rectangular ones (about 4*12mm) while the Ethernet port looks like an oversized modular phone socket.

[becca77]

I'll have to disagree with Fenor, I'd set it up on the USB port.  Mainly because you only have one ethernet port but are likely to have quite a few free USB ports (you also get the safely remove hardware option).

Speed won't be an issue, even USB 1.1 has a max speed of 12 Mb/s which is quite a bit faster than the max speed of your cable modem.  You will have to do a driver install though (do NOT plug in the USB cable until instructed).

FYI the USB ports are the rectangular ones (about 4*12mm) while the Ethernet port looks like an oversized modular phone socket.

Kurt, what else is ethernet for?
I will probably never use ethernet (if I don't use it for DSL/Cable) I bet.
Which is faster?

[Fenor]

Exactly, there is no reason to use a USB port for cable internet, ethernet is what you want to use. It's there for this reason. USB ports are there for hooking up printers, external hard drives and CD drivers, etc... Stick with the Ethernet port becca77

Fenor

Edited by Fenor, 02 October 2005 - 01:59 PM.

[Fenor]

Ethernet is faster and more reliable, windows works better using the Ethernet port then it does a USB port when it comes to Internet connectivity.

Fenor

[Fenor]

Thank you, Fenor! 

So all I need is the Motorola modem ("free after mail in rebate" LOL -  I think thats so funny - don't know why!!!)  and the rest of my system is ready to go.

Cool. So if I get stuck setting it up I hope I can still use my dial up connection to get on this board and het some help!!!

Thanks again 

You will still be able to use your modem to dial up into your ISP and get on this board if you run into problems, just don't discontinue your dial-up service until AFTER your new cable internet connection is working correclty.

Fenor

[Kurt_Aust]

Honestly, it's a matter of personal preference. At one time I wanted my Ethernet port kept free as I needed it for networking to other computers using XPs home networking and internet sharing functions.

I have since bought a NAT router and now use the Ethernet port. Routers are excellent for security by the way, if you are going DSL/Cable I recommend checking out https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2 for a good test of your system security and a lot of useful information.