Hi Peter, you already got good advice from Sean and Spots, here's my 2c:
-Contra Spots, DSL is fast e-net (not slow e-net) through US West (I assume this is your carrier, being in Portland? I've had a very satisfying experience with them, even though it isn't as cheap as AtHome.) This means no need for a switching hub, though you may want it for other reasons.
-I like Linksys fast PCI NICs--I've had good luck with them, and buy.com has them for net $11.95. Also, they have very cheap, very high quality e-net CAT-5 cable from people like Cables to Go and Belkin, starting at .95c each piece.
-Check out onsale.com's Hawking Tech 5 port switching hub, usually on sale every day. I wrote about this last fall. It's cheap at $69, will do 10 and 100 simultaneously, and makes no noise because it needs no fan. If you don't need swtiching and can get by with only 4 ports, they offer a nice cheaper model through the same site.
Hope that helps. |
