What is the difference between using a grounded ethernet cord vs a grounded laptop usb adapter to ground a laptop?
Are they both effectively the same in results? Is either preferable? I have an internet switch that is plastic and so far, ungrounded. The laptop is a few feet away from me but I have a keyboard and monitor attached to it. I do have a phone a foot away from me that is attached to an Ooma (little linux computer) with a phone cord, that is attached to the ungrounded switch. My monitor uses a grounded power cord, so hopefully that is fine. Does the monitor serve to ground the laptop?
The laptop will ground the Ethernet cord only if the Ethernet port on the laptop has metal around it or has metal contacts that are there to purposely connect to shielded cables.
If you want to take a few photos of your laptop's Ethernet port and upload them here - try to make sure they are good clear detailed photos maybe using flash - a couple different angles. We can then tell you if your laptop will ground the Ethernet cable or not. If not, you would definitely want an Ethernet Grounding Adapter.