Cable modems & NICs, can I use any NIC?

[OuTpaTienT]

My cable company set me up with an ISA NIC. Could I just buy any NIC if I wanted switch to PCI?

Are there any specific features I should look for in a NIC?

[This message has been edited by OuTpaTienT (edited 01-26-2000).]

[Banti]

Should be able to get any card. Unless they installed some funky software. The modem and your nic sh0uld use standard comm layes (TCP/IP, etc.)

Banti

[OuTpaTienT]

Thanks.

I also have an ISA modem (that still gets used for various reasons). I'll soon be upgrading to an Athlon system and I've noticed that most motherboards only have 1 ISA slot.

[M1pilot]

Heh, heh, Toadman.....none taken!! Off topic, but were you able to get your com ports working with the oem cables??

M1pilot

[Toadman]

I ran out of PCI slots when I upgraded my sound card, so I use an SMC ISA NIC card. Works just fine for normal cable bandwidth, though Ethernet is recommended if you run a LAN. Nowadays, a NIC is just about the only card still worthy of functioning in an ISA slot(No offense to your trusty SB16, M1pilot!). http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[netsurfer]

outpatient,

If you do decide to switch network cards, be sure to get the adapter address for it (start, run, winipcfg), and call your cable provider and mention the words "provision." Then give them that series of letters/numbers. This is so that the ISP will recognize your network card and identify you as the person with the account.