On Sat, 19 Oct 2002, Nicholas Clark wrote: > 1: If these devices will run attached via Ethernet to any machine running any > OS? [or does the device require their software to help bootstrap it]
I have telewest cable modem service, using a Motorola SURFboard modem supplied (and replaced once) by them. It has USB and ethernet ports, I only use the ethernet port into my firewall. They were giving away network cards when I joined but beware if NTL offers one for a tenner. The one telewest gave me was a Netgear FA311 which you can buy for about £6 elsewhere ! > 2: If the service requires their software to be run (on either MacOS or > Windows) to do the initial setup and service activation? > [or do you just tell your OS where the DHCP server is and wizzo you're away] Well, it needs a browser for initial configuration. The cable monkeys only really know how to drive IE which is why they specify Windows. Oh, that and setting up DHCP on anything other than windows is beyond them too. > 3: If the service is locked to a particular NIC on an Ethernet card? The IP addresses are allocated across the cable network and are tied to MAC addresses. Telewest allow you to register as many MAC addresses as you want via the webshite. The cable modem needs to be rebooted for each change of NIC. > 4: How practical this sort of thing is when the incoming cable (or BT ADSL feed, > for that matter) is not anywhere close to the room where the computer would > like to be. Cable monkey will run the cable anywhere you want it. One tip though - they use these whizzo tack gun things to fix the cable in place. If they run it alongside any existing phone cables, make sure the phone works before they leave. I had this problem when they tacked straight through a phone cable which I then had to renew. > I think there's a fifth question, but I've forgotten it. T 42. HTH, Simon. -- "So my choice is 'Or Death?' "
