Chosen Solution
After a lightning storm last year, I lost my ethernet connection. Now I have to use a USB to ethernet converter.
This model has ethernet integrated into the motherboard. Repairing the onboard ethernet requires component level troubleshooting that is beyond what the average user can do. A USB to ethernet dongle (Like you have) is one option. The other is to add a Airport wireless card. So there a few ways to keep the machine usable, unfortunately repairing the jack is not one of them.
