i bought one off of eBay for $20 and it kicks ass!!!

I just installed the driver and plugged it in and it picked up the signal from my roughter and i never even had to open up my computer.

Cards similar go for around $60.

lol. haha. my ass. this thing is awesome.

Then i got a new computer that had VISTA and i could install the driver because it wasn't for VISTA.

So i used my girlfriends computer to go online and go to the companies website and they had a download for the VISTA driver on their site. Hells YEAH!!!

Now it works and it's freakin fast as hell!!!

I recommend them to anyone.

what type of network card did you get? I assuming that because you said it picked up the signal that it is a wireless network card.

The wireless network USB dongle that I have is a DLink and it works get also, and I didn't even have to install drivers, just plugged it in and Windows installed the drivers for me, perfect wireless network!
-jimmy

In malaysia, you get the same thing for RM20, which is about USD5~6.

Jimmy89, i don't think it's a wireless, cause the title mentioned LAN

but you don't get a 'signal' when you connect a normal LAN card, so I assumed that It was wireless.
-jimmy

Actually in electronic point of view, wired connection also have signal in it, just that it's almost always 100% that you get the signal, so seldom ppl use that term to refer to it

Still, when it comes to notebooks I prefer the built-in models, so I don't have to worry about additional cables or equipment to carry around with myself. Even with regular desktops a dongle, hanging around somewhere, is not the most professional sight either (although it can help you a lot, if you cannot get a decent wireless signal down around the metal case). With lack of built-in drivers in Vista, I think the idea loses everything basically, unless you plug the card into different machines all the time.

faulty.lee, AFAIK WLAN is technically still a LAN, though I can only guess that blackandwhiteentertainment had that on his mind, especially that every machine sold these days has a built-in LAN port.

Thats the good thing about usb, you only really need the correct drivers to use what you want to use with it.
Hense the name universal serial bus
Anyways in a LAN environment my first preference would definately be an ethernet card. USB Just doesn't cut it in a LAN.
USB is fine for one pc to router/modem etc.

-HellFire

Not sure. You don't need drivers if the drivers are already installed by the Windows or Linux minimal install. You need drivers if the drivers are not present when you plug the USB adapter.
For instance, the USB Wifi dongle I jusb bought needed that I install the driver, else it did not work. Not only the driver, but the utility allowing to give the accesspoint SSID. Else, the network is not detected.
So, USB means a commen, well-defined electrical set of conventions. But what you use it for depends from the available drivers.
Same for my last USB flash-disk. On my XP system it worked immediately, on my Win98 system I never succeeded using it, and I will not even try on my AIX machine.

I'm trying to avoid using any USB devices to access the internet from now on. Bought a USB wireless dongle and that darn thing constantly loses signal. Sticking to PCI from now on

For some reason, I think all USB network devices (like the ones for the wireless) will require some driver installation. If it's a flash drive, those are usually automatically recognized by Windows XP.

I had this problem several times. If you are still experiencing that, have a look at the Windows properties of this devices. You will probably see a check-box saying "allow windows to power off this device if useful". And, you know what ? You should uncheck this box, and the signal loss will stopp.
Of course, this supposes that the signal loss is not a "physical signal" loss. That means, I have seen some homes where, if you happen to stand up between the emitter and the reciever, your own body stops the signal. Then, there is a physical layout problem, an you should change your physical implementation, for instance putting the emitter antenna hither than your head !