Whats better for my cable modem? Cat5/6 or usb?

[OcLinNoob]

anyone know which on is better? I recently got the comcast deal for $20 for 6 months and they gave me a modem that could use both either cat5/6 or usb. I want to know which one is better in terms of speed when i'm downloading?

[Bobby]

Cat3 would work to connect your cable modem. Anything more is wasted money. Cat3 = 10mb/s, Cat5 = 100mb/s, Cat6 = 1,000mb/s.

-Bobby

[OcLinNoob]

what about usb?

[Bobby]

USB for networking should be the absolute last resort. Even then, you should think twice about it.

If you can connect it with a RJ45 cable, do it.

-Bobby

[OcLinNoob]

aite, thanks

[Cjwinnit]

USB cabling is a bit more expensive, and you can make Cat5 cabling very long if you need it.

Originally posted by Bobby
Cat3 would work to connect your cable modem. Anything more is wasted money.

-Bobby

True, but Cat5 Cabling isn't much more expensive than Cat3, and if you upgrade you can use the Cat5 Cabling in a LAN :)

[Bobby]

Originally posted by Cjwinnit

True, but Cat5 Cabling isn't much more expensive than Cat3, and if you upgrade you can use the Cat5 Cabling in a LAN :)

That's very true. I just read a post where someone said CAT3 was a phone line. While you can use it as a phone line, it's an ethernet cable.

Do they even sell CAT3 anymore?

-Bobby

[druidelder]

In this situation, why would usb be any worse. It wouldn't be for "networking," just connecting the modem to a single computer (and that is probably the limit of it too, my cable modem does up to 32 machines with a switch, but only one on usb). If it came with the usb cable then it would be even cheaper as it would be free. Even usb 1.1 has plenty of bandwidth for a cable connection.

I'm not disputing you on this point, just questioning why.

[ashenfang]

Its not so much the bandwidth, its the fact that USB was never meant for an "always on" constant packet connection. Therefore, you will see many, many problems with usb to ethernet drivers. Just not a good idea. Use it for what it was supposed to be plug and play devices such as cameras, web cams, mp3 players ect.

[druidelder]

Makes sense to me.

[ptwearnhardtfan]

I know many people that had problems with USB for connecting a cable modem. There always seems to be a problem with drivers, and slowing the throughput. Just use a nic.

[Beast Of Blight]

Originally posted by ashenfang
Its not so much the bandwidth, its the fact that USB was never meant for an "always on" constant packet connection. Therefore, you will see many, many problems with usb to ethernet drivers. Just not a good idea. Use it for what it was supposed to be plug and play devices such as cameras, web cams, mp3 players ect.


Funny, since I have a computer right next to my 2wire router connected with USB, been online for, oh, 14 days straight now with no packet loss, no disconnections, no nothing. And full speed.


Well, as full as the speed can be expected to be for a 466Mhz, 32mb ram computer.


EDIT

Its been online 14 days straight, I've been using it to connect to my router since I got the router, however various windows updates and Win98 BSODs lead to various reboots. Nothing connection related

[su root]

druidelder: another reason is the scalability. With USB, to use it with more than one computer, you need to set that computer up as a proxy. With an Ethernet solution (CAT5/6), you can just plug it into a router (or, in some cases, directly into a hub or switch), and have the ability to serve over 16 million computers with very little setup.

Also, I find that USB modems tend to slow down when you have heavy processor usage (NICs will slow down aswell, but to a lesser extent).

[Beast Of Blight]

Originally posted by su root

Also, I find that USB modems tend to slow down when you have heavy processor usage (NICs will slow down aswell, but to a lesser extent).

Thats because it can't calculate the incoming data since there are other things taking priority in the proccessing que.

You'd have that problem with any connection type, even dialup.

[su root]

Originally posted by Beast Of Blight
Thats because it can't calculate the incoming data since there are other things taking priority in the proccessing que.

You'd have that problem with any connection type, even dialup.
Well, if you want to get into the details, it really depends on the NIC you have. If you buy a cheap $1 10baseT NIC, your performance will be about the same as USB. Cheap NICs, like USB, use the system processor and memory, and therefore require immediate processor attention for any activity. More expensive NICs, however, have their own processors and memory available for buffering, and can work for a longer time independantly, if the processor is busy.

Besides that, Ethernet was specifically made for transportation of packets. USB was not created for this purpose. It requires software to emulate the ethernet connection.

You probably won't see any difference (USB has come a long way), but Ethernet has been around longer. Maybe in a few years when USB gets it's act together, gets decent drivers and less problems.

Myself, I'll take the "specifically designed for ethernet" option over the "software solution designed to emulate ethernet" option.

$0.02

[Beast Of Blight]

Lets just agree to disagree.

If the cable modem is next to his computer, and it came with a USB cable use it


If the cable modem came with an ethernet cable and you have a free RJ45 slot on your Mobo or a NIC card, use that.

[su root]

Eh, he wanted opinions. He's got 'em.

By all means, if you don't want to shell out for a good ethernet card and some ethernet cable, and a USB cable is handy, then why not. The switch can be made at a later time (or after futzing with the drivers and packet loss for a half hour ;))

[EDIT] >> One last thing-- USB is one of the first things that gets unstable when it comes to overclocking. If you are into extreme overclocking, USB can get touchy at high FSB's