On Fri, 2005-09-23 at 08:21 +0800, Peter Hinchliffe wrote: > On 22/09/2005, at 10:52 AM, KEVIN Lock wrote: > > > A friend is connected to the net with Plusweb in Freo. He took > > their broadband setup despite being told they cannot help Mac users > > (what the!). > > They have supplied him with a 'Billion' USB modem and I have loaded > > the software for the modem, but cannot see how to change the mode > > of connection from Ethernet to USB connection. Anyone direct me on > > doing this or are Macs not USB compatible? > > > > 350mhz slot loader iMac plenty of memory. > > > > > > Just use Ethernet. There's nothing to change. The modem manufacturers > rarely provide Macintosh USB drivers for their modems, and in my view > it's just a waste of a USB port. The Ethernet port is not doing > anything else but connecting to a network, so it's the only logical > choice IMHO. Just enter the IP address of the modem into your browser > and you're away. Works every time...
Additionally, using Ethernet means that you can avoid installing any extra software on your Mac. That means nothing to break when you upgrade your OS, no shoddy drivers to cause your mac to crash or your connection to work unreliably, etc. If you already use Ethernet for a home network, you can put the modem in there - but for security reasons, it's often better to get an add-in network card to keep your Internet connection on a separate port that you can firewall. You can get an extra NIC for as little as $12 from somewhere like Austin, and most cheap NICs are RealTek 8139 based, which I'm pretty sure Mac OS X supports without add-in drivers. If not, the driver is available on the RealTek site. If you aren't using your Mac's Ethernet port already, then you don't need to worry about that of course, and can just use it for the modem. -- Craig Ringer
