Connect to Internet Through USB Port?

Many laptops today do not have an RJ45 socket. But they do have a USB socket.

Is there any way to use the later to connect by cable to a desktop Wi-Fi modem?

I am thinking of some kind of adaptor that would provide similar performance.

Mark Granger

On Fri, 12 Dec 2014 12:40:44 +0100, David Brown Gave us:

Yes, for a hard wired connection. Look up usb wifi adapter for connecting to his 'desktop' wifi modem.

I have one from Plugable, works everytime I've used it.

Cheers

Dunno if that is necessarily true (and the laptop doesn't already have some *other* -- e.g., wireless -- way of getting inet connectivity).

But, let's assume it is...

"By cable"? Probably not if you want to be pedantic.

You can buy a WiFi adapter that looks like a thumb drive (plugs into your USB port). Likewise, a BT adapter that does similarly.

For that matter, you can also buy an ethernet adapter that gives you an RJ45 into which a cable can be plugged (in effect, giving your laptop that missing "RJ45 socket").

Most of the same things also apply to PCMCIA slots (if your laptop has one of those).

"Similar" in the sense of "basic functionality". Often, USB implementations are bandwidth limited (e.g., you won't get Gbe performance from a USB adapter of any technology -- wired or wireless)

On Fri, 12 Dec 2014 22:25:12 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@accessnet.com Gave us:

By cable? Yes. There are 100Mb/s USB to Ethernet network interface 'devices'

There are also wireless 'wifi' usb devices

wifi can do 150MB/s reliably well. You would actually likely fare better on wifi than a hard wire these days. Unless that hard link is Gigabit level, of course.

But good wifi hooks compete well against 100 Mbit all day long.

They look like just a cable-end adapter, but they actually have a real honest-to-goodness network chip inside - Ethernet MAC/PHY on one side, USB 2.0 or 3.0 device interface on the other. Plug one in, and it enumerates on USB as a network-class device.

I've used several varieties, with several different chip(sets) inside. Almost all of them worked just fine under Linux, and I believe that almost all would work fine under modern Windows releases as well. If they use any of the popular chipsets, Windows may already have a driver; if not, the driver will usually be on a CD-ROM provided with the device.

Some of the cheapies may have limited bandwidth - e.g. if they enumerate as "full-speed" USB devices they're limited by USB to 12 megabits/second. They may be capable of operating on a 100BaseT network, but the USB connection will be the bottleneck.

No, USB and RJ45 Ethernet don't have the same wiring or data protocols... but the chip inside each of these little adapters takes care of that.

or

--
Les Cargill

I checked them out on eBay. It seems like they are just cable end adaptors.

I thought something more would be needed. Or do the RJ45 and USB inlcude the same available connections and just need to be reassigned?

Mark Granger

On Sat, 13 Dec 2014 11:30:36 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@accessnet.com Gave us:

It is a dedicated ethernet "Network Interface 'Card' (NIC). Just like one with a PCIe interface to your PC, this has a USB interface. Instead of plugging into your motherboard, it plugs into machines that do not already have such a device installed, or have no internal space for such a device. So, it is a very portable "Network Dongle" 'thingy'. :-)

A driver then makes your machine's Internet(and network) hooks all go through that.

Most come with drivers but they are so 'yesterday's gear' that it is almost certain that there is already a generic MS driver for the chip in your Windows package, if it is Vista or above.

That and an ordinary 1 meter (or shorter if ya got it) RJ-45 patch cable are all you usually need.

Same for the wi fi network dongle devices. Just no more cable.

On Sat, 13 Dec 2014 11:30:36 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@accessnet.com Gave us:

Correct your machine's clock.

Yes, they use WiFi to connect to the internet.

there is more involved, but the circuitry does not occupy a large volume.

--
umop apisdn

Not when there is traffic all over the place around you.

Jamie

On Sat, 13 Dec 2014 17:05:59 -0500, "Maynard A. Philbrook Jr." Gave us:

Not true also as I am 60 feet from my current connection and there are

20 other full strength, constant use hosts all around me, and none of them interfere with the one I am hooked to.