StarTech USB-C to Gigabit Network Adapter with Extra USB 3.0 Port A NIC or Network Interface Card is a circuit board or chip which allows the computer to communicate to other computers on a network. When connected to the network, computers can share websites, files, printers and other resources. The most popular networking standard at the moment is Ethernet, which one can recognize by the rectangular connectors with eight wires in them. Wireless network with the 802.11b and the faster 802.11g standard is also increasingly popular, both at home and in the office, though it is not yet as fast as wired (ethernet) network. A public place where you can use wireless internet is called a ""hot spot"".