On Sat, Oct 19, 2002 at 03:13:43PM +0100, Nicholas Clark wrote: > There's been various very useful comments about ADSL on the list. However... > > NTL now seem to be offering a 128K cable modem service for only £14.99 a > month. It's not exactly clear what they supply, or what they expect it to > work with, but based on this: > > http://www.ntl.com/locales/gb/en/home/broadband/services/need/ > > it seems that as you need "USB port (recommended) - if not present Network > Interface Card (Ethernet Card)" they are supplying some sort of device that > is can do both USB and Ethernet.
About 6 months ago I got cable broadband access (although not in the UK). My cable company said all the same stupid things yours does. Hogwash. I've got a Toshiba cable modem I picked up at Best Buy for $79 that works with USB or a NIC. All of the documentation from my cable company tells about configuring it with USB on windows, and I simply ignored them. It looks as if you don't have the choice of getting your own modem, but I'd consider giving the service a shot. Worst case, set up a windows machine, let the installer set it up, then move the modem to your real computer. So to answer your specific questions with my experience: 1)The modem will run with any machine. No device drivers or anything, it just talks over the network. Just set up for DHCP and you're fine. 2) I didn't need any software. The software they did give me included a browser, a mail program, and a dohickey to reset network stuff under windows. 3) My service is locked to the MAC of the modem. Cox has no idea what the MAC on any of my computers is. 4) Make them run the cable to another room, just as they would have to do for a TV. -- mike It's tricky to rock a rhyme, to rock a rhyme that's right on time, it's tricky
