Page 1 of Network card for broadband

Really dumb question here, but I`m gonna get Blueyonder broadband and they have asked me if I already have a network card installed. Now I only bought my computer just over a year ago, and have recently installed XP home. How do I tell if one is installed, and if it is what sort???

The easy way to tell (without turning your computer on or opening it up) is to turn the PC around and look at the sockets on the back. Look for a socket which is similar in appearance to the modem socket, but a little bit chunkier.

Also, in XP you can go into Device Manager (It`s found under the System option, in Control Panel) and look for an "Ethernet Adapter" entry under "Network Adapters".

If you don`t already have one, it`s not a big deal - PCI 10/100 network cards cost around £10 and are a breeze to install.

Mike

Thanks for that Mike. I don`t have one of the extra sockets you described, and the things under Network Adapter were :
Direct Parallel
RAS Async Adapter
WAN Miniport (IP)
WAN Miniport (L2TP)
WAN Miniport (PPPOE)
WAN Miniport (PPTP)

This item was edited on Friday, 15th March 2002, 18:50

So go get yourself a 10/100 network interface card, you can get them at computer fairs for about £10 or so.

dont buy it off blueyonder tho coz it`ll be crap and very overpriced

<OB>

Personal recommendation: 3com 905x

These things are bulletproof and just about everything supports them. Expect to pay slightly more though.