Upgrading from dial-up to DSL

Question

I currently have dial-up internet service from Earthlink.  I am considering upgrading to Earthlink's DSL service.  Earthlink says that they will provide a DSL modem, filters, splitter, and self installation instructions.   My computer does not have a network interface card which I assume, but am not 100% certain, will be required if I go with DSL.   How do I determine what NICs are compatible with my PC? Are some NICs better than others? Are there substantial risks to installing a NIC? Does a NIC require any software? Is there any reason to believe that DSL will not work with my computer?   I am not a complete computer idiot.  I just installed additional memory from Crucial, but I am having difficulty determining where to start the evaluation of installing a NIC.   Dimension XPS T450 Pentium III 450 MHz 352 MB RAM Windows 98se Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1   Thanks.

Midnightbandit9 · Answer

Yes.  A network interface card will be required if you choose to use DSL.  I would really reccomend Linksys.  I have used them from day 1 and have not yet had a problem with any of their products.  Any software required for the card will come with it.  There is no reason why you should not be able to use DSL on your computer.  Although it might be a bit harder to set up becuase you are using Windows 98, it can still be done.

klbf · Answer

can't you use usb dsl modems? i have a adsl modem works great,

barkupatree2002 · Answer

Thanks.

I checked out the Linksys website and found that they have very detailed documentation on the installation of their network interface cards and software. The instructions for installing the software are a little bit intimidating, but I think it can be done.

Do you know if I will still be able to use my dial-up connection after the installation of the network interface card and software or does the installation, or attempted installation, of those items somehow disable the dial-up settings on my computer?

barkupatree2002 · Answer

klbf My ISP, Earthlink, said that they would provide the required modem, but beyond that they did not provide any additional details about it.

lydthekid · Answer

As long as you still have your dialup modem hooked to a regular phone jack and your dialup account is still active, you should be able to use it. (When I switched to dsl, I kept my dialup account long enough to be sure everything on the dsl setup was working, but quickly determined I didn't need the redundant account. :-)) In fact, if you ever use your computer's fax capabilities, you'll need to keep the 56k modem operational. The dsl ISP setup should include one dual(splitter) jack--half for connection to your dsl modem and half for a regular phone or modem (use a line filter on that half).

barkupatree2002 · Answer

lydthekid

I am glad that dial-up capability will not be lost as a result of installing a network interface card and making other adjustments for DSL service -- just in case the transition to DSL doesn't work. I think that Earthlink, my ISP, offers a limited number of dial-up hours with their DSL service. I need to confirm that.

Thanks for the reply.

acmbgifts · Answer

If you have not done it already and it is available to you I would suggest using your local phone service for dsl. I use bellsouth and They have been very helpful when I had a problem. I had windows 98 on my old computer and the dsl would not work so I called and they walked me thru it in like 5 minutes. They also have a free dialup connection if your dsl were to be unavailable for some reason.

barkupatree2002 · Answer

acmbgifts O. K. I will check out Verizon, my local phone company, in addition to Earthlink, my ISP. Thanks for the idea.

yogi2005 · Answer

I have the same configuration dell desktop as mentioned in this posting. How would you know if a particular NIC card is compatible with ur desktop? I came across Linksys HomeLink Phoneline Network Interface Card.

Does anyone know if this will be compatible.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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