Hi guys, good morning.

So recently my modem fried again and I was thinking of just using a direct line to my MacBook

But what's the difference between a USB to Ethernet and a Thunderbolt to Ethernet

And it's just a plug and play connection right?

Thanks all

USB to ethernet will get you a 10/100MBPs connection.
for the full speed of Gigabit (10/100/1000) you will need the Thunderbolt one.

alright bro thanks

The network speed will be significantly reduced right?

if using Thunderbolt to Ethernet = No reduction, cos TB is good for more than 1000Mbps.
if using USB to Ethernet = possible reduction, but depends on the rest of your equipment also.
then again, modem to MacBook, even 10/100 is good enuf, cos most ISP don't supply more than 100 right?

Won't feel the difference if surfing but make a huge difference if you are tranferring files between connected devices, backing, cloud services etc.