# verizon dsl question



## giffy (Jul 22, 2005)

I hooked up verizon dsl for my parents, I ended up having to connect the modem via the usb rather then the ethernet cable. The tech guy said I am not showing a ethernet driver but I do have the ethernet port in the back of the desktop tower....question is what is the best place to get the driver for it, I am thinking the ethernet would be alot faster than the usb even though the usb is working well now.

giffy


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## 14yearpcmaker (Mar 11, 2007)

1st, ethernet and usb are the same speed. We have two desktops, one on ehthernet, one on usb and a laptop on wireless. All the same speed. Driver...what kind/model of ethernet card do you have? What version of windows (assuming you have windows) are you/they running? RIGHT CLICK ON MY COMPUTER>>CLICK PROPERTIES>>CLICK ON THE HARDWARE TAB>>CLICK ON DEVICE MANAGER. Do you see any '!'s or '?'s ?
Look under network adapters in device manager. Tell us what it says in there. We need to know the brand/make/model of the ethernet port before getting proper drivers. Check you computer manufacturer's website for drivers. Could be one for you ethernet port there.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

giffy said:


> I hooked up verizon dsl for my parents, I ended up having to connect the modem via the usb rather then the ethernet cable. The tech guy said I am not showing a ethernet driver but I do have the ethernet port in the back of the desktop tower....question is what is the best place to get the driver for it, I am thinking the ethernet would be alot faster than the usb even though the usb is working well now.
> 
> giffy


XP is pretty good at drivers. Give XP another chance to load the driver. Right-click on the My Computer icon and select properties. Click the Hardware tab and click on the Device Manager button. You should see your network adapter in the list, either with a yellow or red flag. Delete your network adapter and reboot.

If you don't see your network adapter then take a look in your CMOS setup and verify that the network adapter in enabled. Otherwise, you can conclude that your network adapter is bad and needs to be replaced.

If your network adapter was in the Device Manager list but XP couldn't load the driver, take a look at the chip on the network adapter and search Google for the driver. You can also install a more friendly network adapter. Multiple network adapters can coexist in the same machine just fine.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

14yearpcmaker said:


> 1st, ethernet and usb are the same speed.


As far as sharing Internet goes it won't make any difference if you use USB or Ethernet, but the raw data rates are quite different. Ethernet generally runs at 100 mbps while USB 2.0 is rated at 480 mbps. Since DSL typically runs at no more than 6 mbps, both networking protocols far exceed the available Internet stream.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

> 1st, ethernet and usb are the same speed.


No they are not the same! Ethernet has NO defined speed. Eithernet is a technology base and is the Data link layer layer of the ISO five-layer TCP/IP model. Your wifi is 802.11 "Ethernet", your dial up is PPP "Ethernet", common wire speeds include 2mb for the coax 10base2, 10base100 is 100mb and 10base 1000 is 1gb of data all over Ethernet.

Your USB however is nothing more than a fast serial port with speeds upto 480 Mbit/sec.

IF you only plan on having 1 computer connected to DSL it doesnt matter if you use USB or "ethernet" to connect. IF you want to use more than one computer or one "ethernet" device then you will want to connect to the DSL "ethernet" port.


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## 14yearpcmaker (Mar 11, 2007)

We have three computers via Ethernet, usb, and wireless. All the same speed.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

14yearpcmaker said:


> We have three computers via Ethernet, usb, and wireless. All the same speed.


That's probably true. Your USB/Ethernet bridge probably operates at 100 mbps on the Ethernet side. Wireless G (the most common wireless protocol) normally operates at 54 mbps, but many wireless G cards operate at 108 mbps.

Again, as far as sharing Internet is concerned it won't matter.


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## giffy (Jul 22, 2005)

Thanks for the responses, they had been using a dialup service with a connection speed in the 28.8 range so the difference is like night and day now. I did look in the "hardware" tab......."device manager" and then "networking" but it does not show an ethernet device even though they do have the connection in the back of the tower.

One other question on dsl, if their internet usage is only sporadic during the week, should I have them leave the dsl modem turned off when they are not going to be using it?...........as always, thanks!


giffy

------------------
GiffsFarm


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

giffy said:


> Thanks for the responses, they had been using a dialup service with a connection speed in the 28.8 range so the difference is like night and day now. I did look in the "hardware" tab......."device manager" and then "networking" but it does not show an ethernet device even though they do have the connection in the back of the tower.


Your Ethernet adapter is bad. They're only about $10.



giffy said:


> One other question on dsl, if their internet usage is only sporadic during the week, should I have them leave the dsl modem turned off when they are not going to be using it?...........as always, thanks!


The only consideration is that of security. If you've applied all the Microsoft updates you're pretty safe from being hacked.


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