At 03:33 PM 6/9/99 , you wrote:

>1. Is the NIC card something special, or could I get a hub and connect to my
>system that way? (system being Novell 4.11server and Win95SR2.1 WS.

A NIC is a NIC is a NIC (almost). There is nothing special about the nic,
if you have one working in the machine and it's happy staty with it. With
USWest the NIC is a 3Com that would not work with my machine, asked for PCI
was sent a ISA, got PCI and speeds were abysmal so yanked it and put in
Intel Pro 100 and all is ok.
I think you could hook the baby Cisco router to your hub directly - no
crossover cable needed.


>2. Is the NIC PCI or ISA or either?
 US West ships ISA - cheaper according to them but it doesn't matter really
- if you need to put one in ask for the type you have the slot for. But if
you have a network running already you get a new card for your  spares box.

>3. Does anyone have any feedback on reliability of service for their DSL,
and is it a worth while upgrade?
Well I have good time, bad times, worse times. When it works it's great,
can run a web cam and IRC and keep the real audio of the Cubs game going
all at once.
Realibility will run great at first since there many on board, then get
worse as more people sign up and then get better as the telco realizes it
needs more equipment than it thought and upgrades the switch office.

>4. Any pointers as to what to look for in a provider? I don't believe that
Iam limited to Pac Bell for this service.
You can connect to any ISP that wants to run a T1 or better to the central
office you connect to.  Stingy ISP and you may have saturated T1 lines from
PacBell to the ISP servers. Going with PacBell gives you an "inside"line
that suposedly is better (has not been the case with USWest)- but then you
are giving a monopoly more of your money. Me I'll always go with a local ISP.

>A cable modem, well, cable for that matter is out of the question. That
plus I like the idea of increased security that DSL has over cable.
I'm not sure security is any better with DSL over Cable modems.
=======================================
  "2 + 2 = 5 for very large values of 2"
                   a Marshall Space Center engineer.
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