broadcom wireless network card not detected

Use a wired internet connection til you get righted, or as the installer says, insert the installation CD to install from that

Since you dont have a CD-ROM drive we will need to set up the USB as the apt source. But i think you already knew that ;)
1.) Insert the usb drive and run in a Terminal (Applications > Accesories > Terminal):
sudo fdisk -l (lowercase L)
2.) Locate the entry for your usb drive. If you need to pull the drive out and run it again to see what changes, that is acceptable. Mine looked like this:
   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 488 3919841 b W95 FAT32
3.) Create an entry in fstab. Start by opening the the file by running the following command in the Terminal:
 sudo gedit /etc/fstab
4.) Add an entry to the bottom of the file. Her is what mine would look like based on the output of fdisk -l (this also assumes your usb is formatted FAT32):
/dev/sdc1 /media/usb vfat defaults 0 0
5.) now make the directory, you specified in the fstab entry, for the disk to mount to. Run the following in the Terminal:
sudo mkdir /media/usb
6.)Now specify our new mount point as the apt source you wish to use (if you used a name for your mount point other than /media/usb you will need to reflect that in this command). Run the following in a Terminal:
sudo apt-cdrom -d /media/usb add
7.) Try and install your package

For more information on options available with your fstab file see the link below:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=283131

I had the same problem. The issue is that any drivers for hardware are downloaded from the Ubuntu server. They are not on the CD Live version, other than to give the user an idea of how things work in a more limited version than the full install. So, you have just found out that the full install does not include drivers present in the Live CD. All you have to do to get your Broadcom up and running is go to System>Administration>Hardware Drivers and the window will appear with the colored bar going back and forth. Wait for the window with the proprietary drivers to appear. Among the drivers will be the Broadcom you are looking for. When you see it, click on it and then click on the "activate" button. The package will download. It will either install itself or ask you for permission.

When you have the driver installed, you must find out how you switch your system to the internal wireless mode. Disconnect you ethernet chord from the laptop. Having done that, you will see the ethernet icon disappear from the right-hand end of the top task bar. It will take the system a minute to detect the available wireless sites close enough to you for your use. After a minute, left-click on the unplugged icon that took the place of the ethernet icon. A list of the available wireless sites will appear. Left-click on the one you want. The swirling icon will appear and in a few seconds will be replaced with another icon that shows that you are connected to the wireless site you have chosen.

Mail me back when you have made you connection or have more questions. :-)

i solved my problem... sort of. I was unable to get a fix through either means, so i decided to try a previous release. I am now running 9.04 (jaunty jackalope) with no problems. boots much smoother and my wireless automatically detected. thank you all for the suggestions.