Broadband novice/beginner

oldagetraveller

Currently on dial up but considering Madasafish broadband. My Windows XP pc was supplied with a Realtec RTL 8139 Family PCI for Ethernet NIC fitted during manufacture.
Madasafish supply a Voyager 210 router with Ethernet & USB connectivity. Before I take the plunge, and I know MAAF can probably tell me, but does the router plug into this card or a USB on the pc?
Not looking for pros and cons of MAAF or supplied equipment! It's all too complicated as it is.:D

alanwjones

I found this here :- http://www.madasafish.com/broadband/hardware/routers/voyager-210.asp
Technical Requirements
To connect using the USB port, you will need to have a computer running Windows 2000 or XP. If you have a Mac running OS-X 10.1 and above you will be able to connect using the Ethernet port on this router.

It states in their ad at the above address that you can connect two computers using the ethernet and usb, so you can connect using either.
Hope this helps in your decision. Alan.

ormus

itll be ok.
the voyager has both usb and ethernet ports.
your lan port/nic card is the best way (fast) to connect it too. the cable should be supplied too. normally is.

oldagetraveller

Thanks both. Alan, that was one of the things on the MAAF site that confused me, by their wording it would seem that only usb was suitable for Windows pc and only ethernet for Mac.
Yes ormus the cable would be supplied.
However, decided against MAAF after trying to contact them by 'phone re this subject and kept on hold for ages ( 4p/min at all times!) without answer.
Probably stick with dial up as the providers make broadband appear far to complicated and assume everyone is an expert!

Nikolai

Don't stick with dial up if you can afford to get broadband. It really is much better, and websites are increasingly packed with graphics etc which take ages to load via dial up.
Once set up - and it really is not too difficult - you will wonder why you stayed on dial up so long!
People on here will help if you have any problems setting it up.

Aldridge_Andy

Whatever Modem / Router you end up with, always use the ethernet option if available. The Network provision has dedicated hadware designed for high speed communication, and requires less processor (CPU) resources to get the data in and out of the machine.

USB is a jack-of-all-trades connection, and the more data you send and receive, the higher the demand on your PC's processor.

Anyone considering 8Mb Broadband in the near future should consider the modem/router option. USB Broadband modems were fine in the early days, but whats the point in having a super fast broadband connection if your processor is spending part of its time handling the finctionality of the USB modem, rather than processing the data it is sending and recieving from your broadband connection.

Andy.