USB or wireless and DSL

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill DeShawn
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Bill DeShawn

When hooking up a network and one of the connections to the DSL modem is
USB, is there a way for the ISP to know there is another computer hooked up
as opposed to when the DLS modem is hooked up to a router or switch? Is the
IP address the only thing or does something else happen when hooked up via
USB or wireless that makes networking detectable?
 
A NAT router connected to the DSL modem
will "hide" the network behind it, and if properly
configured it is not possible to probe anything
at all on the LAN from the public Internet side.

It then looks no different to the public side than
a single computer with a firewall enabled,
(except that the overall traffic profile will be
somewhat different.)

I don't know of any DSL providers that care
one way or another, but of course you may well
have one that does.

Steve Duff, MCSE, MVP
Ergodic Systems, Inc.
 
Steve Duff said:
A NAT router connected to the DSL modem
will "hide" the network behind it, and if properly
configured it is not possible to probe anything
at all on the LAN from the public Internet side.

It then looks no different to the public side than
a single computer with a firewall enabled,
(except that the overall traffic profile will be
somewhat different.)

I don't know of any DSL providers that care
one way or another, but of course you may well
have one that does.

Steve Duff, MCSE, MVP
Ergodic Systems, Inc.
Click to expand...

One exception to this rule is Insight Cable, whose cable modems communicate
closely with the NIC card and report the MAC address back to the cable
system. I don't know their current stance on this, but in 1999 when I first
signed up with them, I set up with only one computer. When I hooked up a
router a few months later, I got no connection and called customer service.
They told me that the wrong MAC address for the network adapter was reported
by the cable modem, and that if I wanted to hook up multiple computers, or
even change the MAC address of the computer (or NIC card) that would connect
to the modem, I would need to contact them beforehand.

Luckily, the router manufacturers came up with an easy fix, "MAC address
cloning" which simply changes the MAC address of the router WAN port to
match that of the NIC the modem was originally installed on. That way, the
router looks to the cable/DSL system to be the same as the NIC.

--

Mike Brown
Asset Forwarding Corp.
EPA-compliant Electronics Recycling
DoD 5220.22-M Data Elimination
http://www.assetforwarding.com
 
Some older (pre-DOCSIS) cable systems
use MAC "authentication" to verify the
subscriber.

But all broadband routers and NICs now have
the ability to soft-program any MAC address
for the LAA, and newer broadband routers can
even automatically "clone" a MAC address
for the WAN side of the router from the administrator's computer
MAC during setup, making the whole process simple
and painless.

I have not seen this type of cable system in some time, but I've
no doubt there are still some out there using it.

Steve Duff, MCSE
Ergodic Systems, Inc.
 
Steve Duff said:
Some older (pre-DOCSIS) cable systems
use MAC "authentication" to verify the
subscriber.

But all broadband routers and NICs now have
the ability to soft-program any MAC address
for the LAA, and newer broadband routers can
even automatically "clone" a MAC address
for the WAN side of the router from the administrator's computer
MAC during setup, making the whole process simple
and painless.

I have not seen this type of cable system in some time, but I've
no doubt there are still some out there using it.

Steve Duff, MCSE
Ergodic Systems, Inc.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is what I was referring to. Insight was hit pretty hard in the
whole @home fallout a few years ago, and they didn't do the planned upgrades
to their system. So then I was stuck with a worthless cable modem that, if
powered off for more than 5 seconds, wouldn't reconnect to the system until
I phoned the cable company. Whose hours were 9-5 Monday-Friday, of course.

--

Mike Brown
Asset Forwarding Corp.
EPA-compliant Electronics Recycling
DoD 5220.22-M Data Elimination
http://www.assetforwarding.com
 
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