usb or ethernet?

[memento27oasis]

When connecting my cable modem to my pc, should I use the usb or ethernet cables that came with the modem? I heard usb is faster, then the other day another dude said ethernet is faster.

[System_Shutdown]

 

If you have lots of USB devices, less data comes from your modem to the PC(and vice versa)when you connect your modem via USB. Use Ethernet.-I have spoken.

 

[Bond996]

USB 1.1 has a theoretical transfer speed of 11mbps. Some cable modems have this in addition to Ethernet. USB 2.0 has a theoretical transfer speed of 480mbps. I haven't seen a modem that uses that in favor of 1.1. They are backwards compatible as well. Ethernet operates at 10mbps or 100mbps in most implementations. Sometimes it will be at 1000mbps however.

 

A normal broadband connection runs at 2mbps or less usually. At the most you might have about 5mbps. Unless you use a very high-power and expensive corporate line, you won't get more.

 

So, it really doesn't matter in terms of speed which you use. However, I reccomend ethernet. Running it via USB requires drivers and is just more of a hassle. The only reason USB is offered is basically for people who don't have an ethernet card, your ISP doesn't need to provide one. Ethernet is much more standardized and used for networking and connections and such. Use it over USB.

[System_Shutdown]

 

Yeah, if I wasn't so tired I would have typed that but I can't be bothered to, in fact I'm falling asle-I have spoken.

 

[Wolf68k]

The other factor is, is that although like Bond pointed out USB2 is faster than a 10/100Mbps and you won't be getting that way. USB is not ideal for networking.

It feels like a half-duplex connection, which means data can only go one way at a time. I'm not USB is half-duplex only that it will feel like one.

I think the real problem is the RecieveWindow size, know as RWIN. If your pipe is 3inch diameter, but stretch a t-shirt over the end, the water can still enter the pipe fully but is held back.

 

What I can tell you is that with talking with many others that had their broadband modems on USB they had a number of issues with having to reinstall the drivers for each time.

Also I talked most of these people into using the ethernet card on their system (if they had the option on the modem) and also doing before and after speed test at dslreports.com.

In all cases of the switch from USB to ethernet, all thanked me and saw the huge speed increase in the speed test but also noticed in real world usage.

 

Something else to keep in mind is that if you ever need to boot into Safe Mode With Network Support (for whatever reason) there stands a high chance you won't be to get online because the drivers might not kick in (I cannot varify this however since I refuse to even bother with the USB port of the modem).