If it were a network access violation, then anyone who's ever plugged a splitter and/or amplifier into their coax would also be in violation. All clients listening to a particular head-end on a cable network share the same medium as far as the DOCSIS gear is concerned, so there's no "splicing" involved. On Wed, Apr 1, 2009 at 10:44 AM, Michael Weinberg <[email protected] > wrote:
> > As far as I can tell, this is not an April Fools joke. A company in > Maryland, OceanNet, apparently offered cheap WiFi service in condos by > reselling Comcast residential service at 35 different locations. > Comcast is not just terminating the accounts, they are suing the > company/owner. His defense seems to be that coffee shops do it all the > time, ergo he's in the clear. I'm curious if this will result in an > actual test of how Comcast feels about free hotspots, or if it's just > bluster on the operator's part (likely). > > One thing that is very different from the average coffee shop WiFi, is > that it sounds as if OceanNet ordered a bunch of accounts at one > address, then spliced into the Comcast lines in the phone closet of > each building where they were providing service. If that's true, I > doubt they have a leg to stand on in defending themselves, as it > probably becomes an issue of unauthorized network access, rather than > just a ToS violation. I do, though, have to give the guy credit for > coming up with a rather ballsy, if stupid, way to get cheap backhaul. > > Articles here: > http://arstechnica.com/telecom/news/2009/03/comcast-goes-after-illegal-resale-of-its-internet-service.ars > and here: http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=11123&type=UTTM > > -- > Michael Weinberg > President > Personal Telco Project, Inc. > A 501(c)(3) Non-Profit > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ The Personal Telco Project - http://www.personaltelco.net/ Donate to PTP: http://www.personaltelco.net/donate Archives: http://news.gmane.org/gmane.network.wireless.portland.general/ Etiquette: http://www.personaltelco.net/index.cgi/MailingListEtiquette List information: http://lists.personaltelco.net To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
