is having a cable modem on a LAN illegal

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Yang

Ars Praetorian
491
I have 7 NICs, 5 computers, a hub, lots of cat5, and a cable modem. Is it aginst the law or aginst @home rules to get all the computers on the internet only paying for 1 IP? I want to do what the "cable modem on LAN" section of this site tells you how to do and really I don't care if it is leagle or not but my dad won't let me unless I can assure him we won't get busted for doing it. So IS it leagle or will we get in trouble?
 

The Redawg

Ars Scholae Palatinae
759
Interesting Question, You might want to check out dslreports.com (yes I know you said cable) they have all kinds of info.
I am a DSL tech and while in training, networking was equated to stealing, if you are not using multiple IP addresses, I severley doubt the NSP (as we like to call ourselves) would care vary much, you are already limited by technology on bandwidth, so the fact that you are splitting the signal and not stealing IP's should go unoticed if they even care.
 

Luc

Ars Scholae Palatinae
920
Read the EULA and decide for yourself, or ask for legal advice.

The way I read the hard copy left behind by the installer, is that I may attach only one computer to the cable modem. I never violate this rule. It does not say anything prohibiting me to attach other PCs to the PC connected to the cable modem, nor does it state that the computer receiving internet access through cable has to be stand alone and not connected to anything else. Your mileage and interpretation may vary :)
 

WebHobbit

Ars Tribunus Angusticlavius
9,562
Nothing illegal about this...I have TWO Nics in my machine. I have one cable modem. One NIC is supplied by the Cable Company. I only have the ONE PC connected to that Cable Modem. I have Cat5 running through the basement to my daughter's room and then to a Hub. My daughter's PC connects to that Hub via another NIC. I use WinRoute to share the Net connection.

This is not illegal....I am sure the Cable Company would MUCH prefer me to pay for a second Cable Modem Account and they certainly will NOT give me tech support on this setup (from what I've seen most of there people wouldn't have the slightest CLUE how to hook it up anyway!).

Compare this to CATV....for years the Cable Companies charged everybody so much $$s for each additional hookup and they tried to say using a splitter and hooking up additional sets on your own was STEALING!!! That's CRAP. I seem to remember this being challenged somewhere in court and now (atleast around here) they don't try to make such claims or try to charge for outlets you install your self.

The way I see it MY bandwidth is being slightly diminished when my daughter is downloading/browsing but I'm not hurting the rest of the Cable LAN.
 

cepheid

Ars Legatus Legionis
13,973
Depends on the EULA and contract you agreed to.
Remember, the gov't is itchy and your dad is NOT over reacting.
Da F3dZ might just bust down your door and start yanking your CAT5 cables out of the 'cabled' computer!

Really, the cable company is going to have a hard time (not that its WORTH their time unless you're running a warez/p0rn site) realizing that you have multiple pooters networked up.

I would guess that 99.9% of the people that have the knowledge (like ARS pplz) to network, do in fact do it.

Tell your dad to worry about your drug habits, or better yet his since he's so paranoid :)
 

FinisFreak

Smack-Fu Master, in training
84
I work for a Cable company as a Modem Technician and we have a setup where a sub can hook up additional computers at $5 a piece.
This is basically a charge for a second IP address.
As far as how we can tell when someone is using more than one about the only resources we have are running port scans and looking at bandwidth usage.

I am sure that your service provider probably has a similiar plan.
 

Cowboy

Ars Praefectus
4,279
Subscriptor
They can tell if you are running a NAT server, but they can't be 100% sure that you are. NAT servers like WinRoute or sygate like to use really high port numbers. All they have to do is watch incomming packets to your server, the computer hooked to the modem, and see if any have unusual port numbers. Granted they cant prove that you are running a NAT, but they can gather enough info to raise suspicions. However, with the workload of maintaining their equipment, helping the noobies, handling the billing and all the overhead costs involved with running a bussiness, the likleyhood of them hunting you down and pulling your plug is pretty close to nill.

However, if you ever try to get support out of them for your NAT proggie or of a tech comes out, inspects your PC and sees it running, you will probably have to do some some sweet talking to keep your account.
 

Yang

Ars Praetorian
491
Is there actually somebody monitoring the bandwidth and ports for ALL the computers using (in my case) cox cable? It dosen't seem very likely but I guess that dosn't help convince my dad any. What if I called cox? Do you think I would get an answer on if it is ok or not. I really don't want to pay $8.00 per month to do the same thing I could do on my own. How do you sugest I find that contract? I'll have to read that, I probably should have done that before I asked this question here, oh well.
 

skriefal

Ars Scholae Palatinae
1,056
Illegal? Of course not. The cable company of course doesn't want you to do what you're describing, since they'd prefer to charge you for the 'privilege' of accessing the cable modem from more than 1 computer. In other words, they'd like to empty your wallet as fast as possible.

Most of the cable company installers and technicians that I've encountered don't really care whether or not I have additional computers networked to the computer that has the cable modem. They just ask me to disconnect the extra computers while they're working, so that they're following the companies rules. Essentially, they don't want to support such a setup -- not for free, anyway. If you're cable of supporting it yourself, then go for it.

The cable company here (MediaOne/RoadRunner) has just recently started offering "home networking", which officially allows this sort of setup. So perhaps things would be different now, if a tech came to my apartment. But I doubt it. The extra money each month is to pay for support for the network. That doesn't concern me, since I DO NOT WANT MediaOne 'supporting' my networ
 

Cowboy

Ars Praefectus
4,279
Subscriptor
If you simply have the hub pluged dirrectly into the cable modem without first going through a NAT or a proxy server, then yes. They can see every computer and traffic to each port on each independent computer. Their server logs most likley have records on traffic acessable. If they see unusualy high traffic on your account, you may have some explaining to do..

I gurantee if you call them on this, you will loose your account. If you read your EULA, which is probably posted on their website, you will see that they highly frown upon this. While it isn't illegal, they consider it to be not playing fair and they will do everything inside the law to make your life miserable.

As I said before. As long as you dont do something stupid, then you are fine. There is little legal recourse they could take against you for internet connection sharing. I have been doing it for over a year now with out any problems. Get yourself a copy of sygate, load it on a machine with 2 NICs, plug everything up and you are ready to fly. If you are running a NAT server, ie sygate, the cable modem conpany will see nothing unusual in their server logs but odd port numbers. They will only see the gateway machine, the server, because it is the only one with an IP address that they can scan. The machines behind the server are completly invisible to the outside world.
 

shayme

Seniorius Lurkius
5
Yo Just want to let you guys know that .. I work at Mediaone Tech Support and They tell us its cool to have a network, but we cant support right thats one.. The cool shit is though.. That them Lil LInksys Router Dookickeys came out and they told us that we cant register them with our service .. well us boys in that there Western Region office have all talked about it and came to the conclusion that its all about power to the people .. We all register them .. Do what you like .. Just a Hint though .. Using NAT makes it almost invisible to them.. they need some heavy shit to know if you are doing LAN .. Proxies are a bit more Sloppy .. NAT is the shit .. Power to the Geek
 
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