DSL modem, PCI or USB?

[ILoveDogs]

I'm finally going to order DSL and the provider is offering a choice of PCI or USB modems. Should I go with one over the other, or does it make a difference? Thanks for the help as I need this info quick.

[hapoo]

I'd go for usb, why waste a pci port on a modem. plus this way its much easier to move the modem to other computers.

[tophenhaw]

neither, ethernet.

with either pci or usb, you're going to be tied to a system that supports that modem, and if the company goes out of business, you're screwed as far as driver updates go. if you've got many usb peripherals, you're modem's gonna be limited by the bandwidth over usb. usb also has a relatively low priority and so if you're system gets tied up, you're modem will too (not good in games). pci is a bit more decent but you lose a pci slot.

who is your provider? if your provider doesn't offer an ethernet model, choose a different provider.

[ILoveDogs]

Thanks for the responses. I went with the USB modem. The service provider only offered those two choices, USB or PCI. I signed up for WinFire (Free DSL) because it has great pricing. I'll be getting a line for $19.95/month. It's not the 1.5Mbps rate (that's $35.95/month), it's at 384K (I believe that's the right number, I'm pulling from memory). Anyway, if I feel thats too slow, I can always move up to the faster service. I currently feel like moving up to that speed will be okay for now as I am on a 56K line that never logs in about 49K and gets really bogged down at night.

[tophenhaw]

for just viewing webpages and downloading and stuff, you won't notice the difference between usb and ethernet dsl modems. so for that price you probably made the right decision