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response 1 of 86:
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Jul 21 05:50 UTC 2004 |
#10 of 28: by Rane Curl (rcurl) on Sat, Jul 3, 2004 (15:01):
What is involved in installing Comcast Broadband? That is, what boxes
are put where and wired to what and how?
#16 of 28: by (gregb) on Tue, Jul 6, 2004 (14:32):
Re. 10: The tech will bring in a coax cable from outside and connect it
to a cable modem that'll sit near your computer. The cable modem will
connect to your computer in one of two ways: Either through a USB port
or a network PCI card. Tell the technician you want a network card.
They're more reliable and stable, IMO. The tech may then want to
install software on your PC; If you go for the network card setup, just
have him/her install the card driver. Preferrably, do it yourself, if
you know how.
#17 of 28: by Mike McNally (mcnally) on Tue, Jul 6, 2004 (15:52):
re #16, re #10:
Greg's summary is more or less correct, but if I'd written it I'd've
tried to stress the part about asking the tech if there's any way to
activate the service *without* running the cable provider's install
disk on your computer. They might be less obnoxious on the Macintosh
(or then again they might not) but on a PC these install disks tend to
do lots of "helpful" things like reset your browser's home page to the
cable company's corporate portal, re-brand your Internet Explorer
browser by adding a bunch of crap to the registry to "customize your
Internet experience", etc..
Your Mac almost certainly has a NIC card built in already, with drivers
pre-installed, so the installer really shouldn't have to set up *any*
software on your computer. You *should* only need to set up your TCP/IP
control panel to use DHCP (aka "obtain an address automatically") and
possibly enter some name server entries if those are not provided by
the DHCP server.
If they want to install some special "dialer" application on your computer
to connect using PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE) spend an extra $40 bucks and
buy yourself a Linksys home cable/DSL router and use that to manage the
PPPoE connection (and the rest of your network, too..)
#18 of 28: by Rane Curl (rcurl) on Tue, Jul 6, 2004 (20:36):
Thanks Greg and Mike. Is that the same cable as for the TV, and is it just
a "T" taken to the computer?
Do multiple computers require multiple cable modems? Is that a big
expense?
In any case, there is a problem as our computers are on the second story
with no simple way to run cables to them (except from outside the house).
What about a local wireless interface?
Also, nothing that sounds like a "NIC" card is indicated in the System
Profiler. I've also installed USB and Serial cards and didn't notice any
others already there.
#19 of 28: by Glenda F. Andre' (glenda) on Tue, Jul 6, 2004 (21:32):
Multiple computer require a router or you pay more. We didn t have to run
the comcast software cd to get ours up and running. We use a cheap Lynksys
router between the cable modem and the computers.
#20 of 28: by Joe (gelinas) on Tue, Jul 6, 2004 (22:04):
"NIC" is "Network Interface Card." Most such for personal computers are
Ethernet. Didn't you say your machine(s) had Ethernet built in?
#21 of 28: by Mike McNally (mcnally) on Wed, Jul 7, 2004 (00:49):
re #18: in order to share your cable-modem connection between multiple
computers, use a home router box. Linksys makes an excellent product
with (~$80) or without (~$40) wireless. You'll probably want 802.11b
or 802.11g wireless if you intend to network computers in multiple parts
of the house and don't want to cable between them and then you'll have
to add wireless cards (better) or USB wireless adapters (recommend against)
to computers that are not physically near the wireless access point..
#22 of 28: by Rane Curl (rcurl) on Wed, Jul 7, 2004 (01:08):
Yes, the computer has ethernet built in (and I have an ethernet LAN).
Does the cable-modem just plug into that?
My computers are a PowerMac running OS 10.3, an iMac running OS 9.2.2
(takes no cards, but has ethernet), and of course there is the TV. What's
your recommended hookup for these (I might want to plug a visiting
Powerbook into the LAN and put it on the cable too).
#23 of 28: by Mike McNally (mcnally) on Wed, Jul 7, 2004 (03:02):
My recommendation is to buy a wireless access point with 4 port switch.
The Linksys WRT54G is $67 from Amazon (which means it's probably cheaper
elsewhere) and has a $10 rebate.
If you set up the cable modem and a box like the one above near the iMac
you can plug the iMac into one of the 4 wired ports and have the PowerMac
hooked up via a wireless card or wireless USB adapter. If the visiting
Powerbook has an Airport card they'll be able to connect using wireless,
too, probably from anywhere in the house.
#25 of 28: by Tim P. Ryan (tpryan) on Wed, Jul 7, 2004 (12:40):
Know what email adress you want when you call comcast to get
installed.
You need an available one, so that TimRyan@comcast.net is someone else, after
various tries, I became TimRyanAA same company. See if you get bounced
emailed from your proposed account. Have alternatives ready.
I needed no install software.
The thing I would do different is to tell the tech right off
that it's going to be your hands on the keyboard, not his. Mine was
looking at stuff, as far as I'm concerned he should not be looking at,
in the process to do the comcast.net lookup and such.
Newsgroup service on comcast is done thru giganews. You get
1 gig a month.
#28 of 28: by John H. Remmers (remmers) on Thu, Jul 8, 2004 (09:55):
Re #23: My Linksys wireless access point went bad after about a year.
Replaced that and the Linksys 4-port router with an integrated
Netgear 4-port-plus-802.11g-wireless that has performed flawlessly
for the 6 months that we've had it so far.
#29 of 29: by TS Taylor (tsty) on Thu, Jul 8, 2004 (12:18):
you really, really really ... want a local router betwixt your b0xen and
the cable modem. i don't recommend wireless necessarily, but whatever
floats your boat .. as long as there is a NAT in front of your NIC.
#30 of 34: by Rane Curl (rcurl) on Thu, Jul 8, 2004 (12:42):
Since I've never used most of the connection hardware that has been mentioned
in this thread...I think I need a diagram showing the devices and how they
need to be hooked up. My experience to day has only been plugging together
ethernet links (and a LocalTalk net, which is still being used). Are there
such example configurations on the web somewhere?
#31 of 34: by Mike McNally (mcnally) on Thu, Jul 8, 2004 (14:35):
re #30:
The configuration is usually extremely simple. The cable modem
plugs into the wall jack via an ordinary coax television cable.
On the back of the cable modem is (usually) a single twisted pair
ethernet jack. Use a Cat5 or better twisted pair ethernet cable
to connect the ethernet jack on the cable modem to the "WAN" or
"Internet" port on the router box. Assuming you have bought a
router with a built-in switch and not just a wireless access point,
there will be four (or more) twisted pair ports on the back of
the router/switch that you can connect directly to computers that
have a 10 or 100Mbps twisted pair ethernet port (almost everything
these days.)
If you buy a model that is also a wireless access point, you can
of course also add wireless clients, such as laptops with built in
802.11b (or g) (in Apple parlance, "Airport") as well as desktop
computers in hard-to-cable locations, using a special PCI-bus card
or USB wireless adapter.
tv 10BaseT 10BaseT
cable wired
| | _________ computer 1
/| +-----+ +--------+/ wired
|.|_______| |___________|. ....|---------- computer 2
| | +-----+ +--------+
|/ \
wall cable wireless AP \
jack modem 4 port switch
\
\
wireless
computer n
#32 of 34: by TS Taylor (tsty) on Thu, Jul 8, 2004 (16:27):
.. and (foollowing on the great #31) due to the way comcast & etc run
their 'customer identification' get the local router IN PLACE and
operating *BEFORE* comcast shows up.
when it is connected, you can http:// 192.168.1.1 (usually) and do
your configuration and setup.
wehn comcast shows up the installer will say someting like ' i can
only plug in directly to your computer's NIC card,' which is probably
true since they won't warranty a local newtwork.
so .... right after installer plugs in ethernet cable into computer, wait
a miinute or so and move thier cable to your router and plug your
router into NIC
port.
when comcast 'reads' the source it will read your *router* id and
conform thusly. you might even have already (recommended) implemented
the router's NAT (newtwork address translation) .
there are a buncha addresses you can 'install' beforehand.
iirc, mine is from the block of sun's cards - or irix b0x address
block .. got a couple routers, don;'t remember which is in use.
the specific reason for doing this *beforehand* is that comcast will
read the NIC address and PROHIBIT a different NIC from working!!!
if you wnat to change later, you have to call comcast and run some
deal like, 'well, i changed my card from 10 Mbs to a 100 Mbs and the
card works but your internet connection doesn't.'
or, maybe, ' i changed from half-duplex to full-duplex card.' something
technical enough that the comcast pest-filter will comprehend
sufficiently enough to tell comcast's gear to re-read and re-set.
btw, if the concast guy trys to scare you into ' oh, *that* won't work,
it's not a computer,' (i just glared at the dolt). simply say someting
simple like 'well, that is the computer i want on the net - it *is*
a computer afterall.
not recommended is to utter ANYthing like, 'it's my internal newtwork for
the house.' just call it the computer you want working.
when the installer hassles you ... just answer, 'i'm happy with what
you have done ... thank you.'
#33 of 34: by Mike McNally (mcnally) on Thu, Jul 8, 2004 (17:13):
re #32: I don't know what Comcast's official policy is but these days
most broadband ISPs have conceded that many customers want to plug in
more than one computer. Many (e.g. Verizon DSL) even advertise this as
a feature of their service and will sell you a home router box at a
special price when you sign up for service.
I guess what I'm saying is that I doubt that Comcast makes a big deal out
the issue anymore, though I can't say for sure.
#34 of 34: by Scott Helmke (scott) on Thu, Jul 8, 2004 (19:02):
I've got a Netgear MR-314, which I got a couple years ago so something else
is being sold in its place now. It's a combination firewall, router, and
wireless box. As McNally described, it's got an "Internet" port which I
connect to the cable modem, and it does various things to protect the
computers on the other side of the firewall.
TS - when the Comcast installer came to my house I first hooked up my iBook
to test the connection, then plugged in the Netgear box. It didn't work,
and
we couldn't figure it out... until I thought to reboot the cable modem. Then
it worked just fine. I guess the cable modem got fixated on the MAC address
of my iBook and needed a reboot to look for something else.
#35 of 41: by Glenda F. Andre' (glenda) on Fri, Jul 9, 2004 (03:27):
Sorry TS but your information is old. They no longer care what mac address
you have, and you can change it at will. They no longer care whether you
have
a router or not, they figured out that they can't control it so why bother.
We have changed which machine is connected to the cable modem (when the
router
was down) and have changed routers with no problems or questions from
Comcast.
#37 of 41: by TS Taylor (tsty) on Sat, Jul 10, 2004 (11:37):
re #33, #34, #35 ... good info ,all. and, #35 .. i am *happy* that
my info is old. it makes life easier for everyone now.
and take scott's info to heart as well ... reboot to re-sync b0xen.
sounds as if comcast has bent to the will of the ppl! nat-ocracy in action.
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