NIC card...what's that?

[Dave H.]

I'm not very computer savvy, or at least not very "network" savvy. I currently have a Cox cable modem and a NetGear router and my wireless laptop works great with these.

I'm moving soon and called Cox for a new installation and will be using their cable modem and their wireless router. I asked them whether my laptop would still work with their router as opposed to my current Netgear router. They said that as long as I had an "NIC" card in my laptop, it would work fine.

Then I asked them what to do when I get my new wireless laptop, which I plan to purchase in the near future. They told me, once again, that as long as it had an "NIC" card, it would work fine and they could walk me through the setup in less than five minutes.

Can someone please tell me what an "NIC" card is? If I have wireless, does that automatically mean that I have an NIC card?

Thanx to you guys for being there!!