Broadband via USB?

Jordie1983

Hi all.
My girlfriends parents want broadband and i stupidly said I'd help! Problem is they have an older computer with only one USB port, no network card etc. I know it needs more memory so will hopefully get it up to 256mb. My questions are;
Is a usb connection stable enough?
They want aol, but doesnt this use loads of memory?
Is there any advantage to installing xp, currently win98?
Where best to buy memory?

Any help is much appreciated.
Thanks all.

blinky

For ADSL most providers will supply a USB ADSL modem so no worries there (unless they use the USB for other things), AOL will for sure.

Advantages of XP are mainly increased stability, but it depends on the machine spec. (XP really needs a minimum of 5Gb HD space, preferably more and 256Mb Memory).

For memory try Crucial Prices are good, memory is of high quality and if you use the wizard to specify the machine/motherboard they guarantee compatibility. Free next day delivery by special delivery in most cases.

shrek101

Bare in mind if you use broadband it does tend to make the machine run slower so you need a pc above 500mhz preferable 1ghz or more. If it has only one usb it might be better to get either a usb hub or a usb 2 pci card. If the pc is fairly old 3 years or more it may only have a usb 1.1 so a usb 2 pci card may be the best option around £10 to £15.

Xp tends to run more stable than win98 and the dreadful winme however it is also more power hungry like all MS bloated ware software/Operating system, so you need a pc of 800mhz with 256mb minimum in my opinion.

drlight_2

USB is fine for broadband connectivity, most people use USB even with ethernet ports being more suited it becoming the standard.
AOL software hogs your computer a bit, you need plenty of disk space to install it and plenty of memory and at least a Pentium 166mhz +
If you've got anything other than a 1Ghz processor then XP will slow your comuter down to a crawl. You need 128MB ram but it really uses a little over this in my opinion.
There are too many differance to mention with win98 and winXP but a good deal user interface enchancment's and hence the slow down, although win98 is older, it is brought up to date with internet connectivity just by installing internet explorer 6 so there is no bring down of the features of the net. Windows 98 dos'nt include a firewall so you need to install one if you use broadband.

Does you mother board have only 72pin slots & what is the maximum capacitity of your memory banks?
https://www.ebuyer.com are cheap for memory and are offering free shipping.
Best place for memory is https://www.ebuyer.com with free shipping,

ManAtHome

If you're opening the box to install more memory, I'd recommend you install a network card if there's a free slot. Windows 98 USB support was a lash-up (you needed to get a patch from 'big M' which sort-of worked...... sometimes). Win 98SE (Second Edition) was a bit better, but I still had problems with some devices - no probs with Win98 broadband via network. Most of the newer 'freebie' modems seem to be USB or Ethernet (check first), so need not be a disaster if you can't get the USB working (you can get a network card for around a fiver).

Any particular reason for AOL - haven't tried it myself, but from talking to friends it's very much a 'love it or loath it' service and I understand it can be a !!!!!! to remove if you don't like it.

For memory, have a look at crucial.com - if you have a branded PC it'll at least tell you what ram you need (probably PC100 or PC133) and the prices/service is pretty good as well.

Jordie1983

Thanks for all your help!!
I will be back ! :j :beer: