Can someone explain to me what makes a NIC "DSL-ready"? I have seen a number of advertisements for 10Mbit/100Mbit NICs that tout the ability to be used with DSL. But, since many of the DSL connections I have seen advertised are only 768Kbit or 1.5Mbit, I am wondering why any old run-of-the-mill NIC capable of handling 10Mbit wouldn't do just as well.

Other than pure curiosity, the other reason I am asking is because I have an old Pentium I machine with only ISA slots that I am thinking of making into a firewall/router. I have a couple of ISA NICs lying around, and thought I would just put two of those into the box and go with it. If I need a special type of NIC, then I would need to know that before I spend time trying to get it to work.

>Can someone explain to me what makes a NIC "DSL-ready"?
The NIC manufacturer's marketing department.

>I am wondering why any old run-of-the-mill NIC capable of
>handling 10Mbit wouldn't do just as well.
No reason, any normal NIC will do.

>an old Pentium I machine with only ISA slots that I am thinking of making into a firewall/router.
Many people use such a setup sucessfully.

Thanks! I suspected that the marketing department had something to do with it, but I wasn't sure.

Time to pull the old box out of storage.