Ian - A speedtest is almost irrelevant. Like i said before, the powerboost will pretty much nullify the results. The only thing an out of network speedtest is good for these days is to ballpark your speed or to track QoS, which is also kind of pointless using an out of network server.
There is also more to it. With the system resources Ken’s machine has, USB is not where you want your internet connection to interface with your machine. Efficeincy is relative, and very few people understand anything more than the numbers they read on the box or watch see on commericals. I really doesnt matter that USB 1.1 is rated for a throughput of 11mb/s. He has an older machine(economy machine no less) that im willing to be has very limited resources. I would give 2 to 1 odds that its not even a pentium but probably a celeron with a 16 bus. USB is very low on the sytems priority list when allocating resource. Standard USB is simply not optimal for current high speed internet rates. Ken may or may not notice, who knows. Im not familiar with his internet activity. However, in this scenario it makes very little sense not to bypass the USB, if for no other reason than to eliminate a potential problems. From my experience USB adapters are much more prone to fail or cause problems than a NIC, and im not referring to my experience playing with my computer, but my experience providing tech support to thousands of customers.