UKVoIPTalk.com

Hi,


I have some questions about (former) NTL / Virgin Media cable broadband
services.

I understand that they now only supply a single ethernet port cable modem
(i.e. / e.g. no more USB via a STB [not that that is strictly or at all
relevant for my query / queries here as no STB would be likely to be in
place - i.e. cable broadband only service [no TV, etc.]). Their modems /
service used to bind itself to the first MAC it met - is this still the
case? Would, and I read more recently that resetting the MAC is no longer
such an issue, it be possible ignoring anything to do with MACs anyhow, to
route the modem ethernet connection through a hub or switch before it meets
its "one PC"? I.e. for cabling reasons (not any long enough cat5 cables so
would need to have one from cable modem to hub / switch and then one out of
that to the target PC).

Where is the best place / where are the best places for cable (more the
broadband side) discussions? Their used to be many forums for cable
broadband, cable modems, ntl cable chat generally.

Any input greatly appreciated and gratefully received.


Best wishes,




News Reader

News Reader wrote:[color=blue]
> Hi,
>
>
> I have some questions about (former) NTL / Virgin Media cable broadband
> services.
>
> I understand that they now only supply a single ethernet port cable modem
> (i.e. / e.g. no more USB via a STB [not that that is strictly or at all
> relevant for my query / queries here as no STB would be likely to be in
> place - i.e. cable broadband only service [no TV, etc.]). Their modems /
> service used to bind itself to the first MAC it met - is this still the
> case? Would, and I read more recently that resetting the MAC is no longer
> such an issue, it be possible ignoring anything to do with MACs anyhow, to
> route the modem ethernet connection through a hub or switch before it meets
> its "one PC"? I.e. for cabling reasons (not any long enough cat5 cables so
> would need to have one from cable modem to hub / switch and then one out of
> that to the target PC).
>
> Where is the best place / where are the best places for cable (more the
> broadband side) discussions? Their used to be many forums for cable
> broadband, cable modems, ntl cable chat generally.
>
> Any input greatly appreciated and gratefully received.
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
>
>
> News Reader
>
>
>[/color]

You've always been able to connect a router up to NTL for as long as I
can remember. The MAC of the router is then registered to the service
and you connect PCs and other network equipment behind that. It will
not work with a hub or a switch only, you have to have a router to route
traffic for multiple devices, you can connect switches behind the router
if you want more ports. I've changed routers a few times (although not
in quite a while) and it was just a case of registering the new routers
MAC with the NTL login page that came up. A pretty big forum for what
is now Virgin Media is here:

[url]http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/[/url]

cheers,
Paul.

Alan wrote:
[color=blue]
> Its not considered polite to cross post to a number of newsgroups by the
> way.[/color]

Yes it is (and it's preferred practice too btw) provided the post is relevant to
all the groups.

In fact the alternative multi-posting is to be deprecated since it results in
multiple disparate threads that not all of the respondents may be aware of.

Get your ideas up to date !

Graham

<groups restored>

"Eeyore" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:464D7ADC.117E292D@hotmail.com...[color=blue]
>
>
> Alan wrote:
>[color=green]
>> Its not considered polite to cross post to a number of newsgroups by the
>> way.[/color]
>
> Yes it is (and it's preferred practice too btw) provided the post is
> relevant to
> all the groups.
>
> In fact the alternative multi-posting is to be deprecated since it results
> in
> multiple disparate threads that not all of the respondents may be aware
> of.
>
> Get your ideas up to date !
>
> Graham
>
> <groups restored>[/color]

All depends to which groups you're cross-posting.
Many have a "no cross-post" policy.

Try cross-posting something to uk.music.guitar and see what happens!

George

"News Reader" <no@email.invalid> wrote in message
news:f2ip4l$sgl$1@inews.gazeta.pl...[color=blue]
>
> Hi,
>
>
> I have some questions about (former) NTL / Virgin Media cable broadband
> services.
>
> I understand that they now only supply a single ethernet port cable modem
> (i.e. / e.g. no more USB via a STB [not that that is strictly or at all
> relevant for my query / queries here as no STB would be likely to be in
> place - i.e. cable broadband only service [no TV, etc.]). Their modems /
> service used to bind itself to the first MAC it met - is this still the
> case? Would, and I read more recently that resetting the MAC is no longer
> such an issue, it be possible ignoring anything to do with MACs anyhow, to
> route the modem ethernet connection through a hub or switch before it
> meets its "one PC"? I.e. for cabling reasons (not any long enough cat5
> cables so would need to have one from cable modem to hub / switch and then
> one out of that to the target PC).
>
> Where is the best place / where are the best places for cable (more the
> broadband side) discussions? Their used to be many forums for cable
> broadband, cable modems, ntl cable chat generally.
>
> Any input greatly appreciated and gratefully received.
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
>
>
> News Reader
>
>
>[/color]


Hi,


Thanks for all your posts and input. Much appreciated.


Best wishes,




News Reader

"News Reader" <no@email.invalid> wrote in message
news:f2kneg$2ep$1@inews.gazeta.pl...[color=blue]
>
> "Alex Heney" <me8@privacy.net> wrote in message
> news:ndhr43pf5fob21jdr1qsv1ktdg22jmnso2@4ax.com...[color=green]
>> On Fri, 18 May 2007 15:01:30 GMT, [email]mymail@hotmail.com[/email] wrote:
>>[color=darkred]
>>>On Fri, 18 May 2007 15:50:39 +0100, "Ivor Jones"
>>><ivor@despammed.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>"George Weston" <geoweston@googlemail.com> wrote in message
>>>>news:5b5fjmF2r0ut5U1@mid.individual.net
>>>>> "Eeyore" <rabbitsfriendsandrelations@hotmail.com> wrote
>>>>> in message news:464D7ADC.117E292D@hotmail.com...
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Alan wrote:
>>>>> >
>>>>> > > Its not considered polite to cross post to a number
>>>>> > > of newsgroups by the way.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Yes it is (and it's preferred practice too btw)
>>>>> > provided the post is relevant to
>>>>> > all the groups.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > In fact the alternative multi-posting is to be
>>>>> > deprecated since it results in
>>>>> > multiple disparate threads that not all of the
>>>>> > respondents may be aware of.
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Get your ideas up to date !
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Graham
>>>>> >
>>>>> > <groups restored>
>>>>>
>>>>> All depends to which groups you're cross-posting.
>>>>> Many have a "no cross-post" policy.
>>>>>
>>>>> Try cross-posting something to uk.music.guitar and see
>>>>> what happens!
>>>>> George
>>>>
>>>>Whatever. But the topic definitely isn't relevant to uk.telecom.voip - I
>>>>see no mention of VoIP anywhere. Please remove this group from the cross
>>>>postings.
>>>>
>>>>Ivor
>>>>
>>>Please STOP issuing orders to people please.[/color]
>>
>> When did he issue an order there?
>>
>> The word "please", particularly when talking about something you have
>> no power whatsoever to enforce, is NOT an order.
>> --
>> Alex Heney, Global Villager
>> Computer - A device designed to speed and automate errors.
>> To reply by email, my address is alexATheneyDOTplusDOTcom[/color]
>
>
> Hi,
>
>
> I think the voip inclusion is an intended expansion of audience. A
> relevant proportion of cable users may be inclined to or do only read for
> example one or other group in isolation. Hence, inclusion improves and
> increases the prospective "cable using or knowledgeable" audience of the
> post (and consequently in a relevant fashion - further VoIP is a related
> technology being carried generally over broadband services etc., so
> further anecdotal or incidental useful and helpful information may
> emerge).
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
>
>
> News Reader
>
>
>[/color]

"News Reader" <no@email.invalid> wrote in message
news:f2ip4l$sgl$1@inews.gazeta.pl...[color=blue]
>
> Hi,
>
>
> I have some questions about (former) NTL / Virgin Media cable broadband
> services.
>
> I understand that they now only supply a single ethernet port cable modem
> (i.e. / e.g. no more USB via a STB [not that that is strictly or at all
> relevant for my query / queries here as no STB would be likely to be in
> place - i.e. cable broadband only service [no TV, etc.]). Their modems /
> service used to bind itself to the first MAC it met - is this still the
> case?[/color]

This was never the case, you couldnt manually enter a the MAC address for
the ethernet ports you wanted to use, you had to connect the pc, reboot the
modem or tv box, and enter a registration URL that would update the box, and
the boxes could store a max of 3 units, but you could delete and add more
(this was just the way the firmware worked and it didnt limit anything)..

Ideally you would add a pc, remove the pc, add a router with the spoof'd MAC
of the pc and everything is fine.


[color=blue]
> Would, and I read more recently that resetting the MAC is no longer
> such an issue, it be possible ignoring anything to do with MACs anyhow, to
> route the modem ethernet connection through a hub or switch before it[/color]
meets[color=blue]
> its "one PC"? I.e. for cabling reasons (not any long enough cat5 cables so
> would need to have one from cable modem to hub / switch and then one out[/color]
of[color=blue]
> that to the target PC).[/color]


as I said above, the ideal way is to get a router (one with a WAN port),
they are generally called Broadband Routers.. You dont need a "CAble Modem
Router" or a "ISDN/ISDN2 Modem router".. It's actually really really easy
to do and the instructions that ntl used to send out are really enough to do
what it takes.


[color=blue]
> Where is the best place / where are the best places for cable (more the
> broadband side) discussions? Their used to be many forums for cable
> broadband, cable modems, ntl cable chat generally.
>
> Any input greatly appreciated and gratefully received.[/color]

[url]http://homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.walker/[/url] is a good information site
ntlhellworld.com was taken over by ntl, and since virgions acquistion of ntl
95% of the support that ntl offer'd has now moved into a black hole
somewhere :/
digitalspy.co.uk would be a good place to go
and possibly cableforum.co.uk

[Followups set to uk.telecom.broadband]

In uk.telecom Paul Hayes <nomailforme@polog40.org.uk> wrote:[color=blue]
> You've always been able to connect a router up to NTL for as long as I
> can remember. The MAC of the router is then registered to the service
> and you connect PCs and other network equipment behind that. It will
> not work with a hub or a switch only, you have to have a router to route
> traffic for multiple devices, you can connect switches behind the router
> if you want more ports. I've changed routers a few times (although not
> in quite a while) and it was just a case of registering the new routers
> MAC with the NTL login page that came up. A pretty big forum for what
> is now Virgin Media is here:[/color]

What the OP wants to do should be possible: use a hub or switch to extend an
ethernet cable. But they can only attach to one machine to it, ie:

Cable modem ----------- hub/switch ----------- PC/router --- PC 1
+------ PC 2

A hub won't care about MAC addresses, a switch will take of them by just
forwarding frames from one side to the other. What they can't do is:

Cable modem ------------ hub/switch ------ PC1
+---------- PC2

because that'll present two MAC addresses ot the cable modem. NTL used to
offer an option where you could do this for an extra fiver (advertised as
being for connecting games consoles) but give it up because everyone has
routers these days.

If the hub/switch is in a convenient place, the more efficient method is to
use the switch that's integrated into a router:

cable modem ------------ router ----- PC 1
+=-------- PC 2

Theo

On Fri, 18 May 2007 00:40:17 +0100, in uk.telecom.broadband , "News
Reader" <no@email.invalid> wrote:
[color=blue]
>I have some questions about (former) NTL / Virgin Media cable broadband
>services.
>
>I understand that they now only supply a single ethernet port cable modem
>(i.e. / e.g. no more USB via a STB[/color]

I think they're trying to phase out the STB with modem model, as most
STBs won't handle 20Mbps.
[color=blue]
>Their modems /
>service used to bind itself to the first MAC it met - is this still the
>case?[/color]

Not been the case for several years. If you reboot the modem, it binds
to the first mac it finds after the reboot, up to (I think ) a max of
three different MACs in a 24-hour period.
..[color=blue]
>route the modem ethernet connection through a hub or switch before it meets
>its "one PC"?[/color]

Sure, but pointless - you can't connect anything else to the hub.
..[color=blue]
>I.e. for cabling reasons (not any long enough cat5 cables[/color]

You need some cat5 couplers. Cost about a quid each from maplin.

--
Mark McIntyre

"Mark McIntyre" <markmcintyre@spamcop.net> wrote in message
news:3las439vb5ustquh2971it2s29d01hosqk@4ax.com...[color=blue]
> On Fri, 18 May 2007 00:40:17 +0100, in uk.telecom.broadband , "News
> Reader" <no@email.invalid> wrote:
>[color=green]
>>I have some questions about (former) NTL / Virgin Media cable broadband
>>services.
>>
>>I understand that they now only supply a single ethernet port cable modem
>>(i.e. / e.g. no more USB via a STB[/color]
>
> I think they're trying to phase out the STB with modem model, as most
> STBs won't handle 20Mbps.
>[color=green]
>>Their modems /
>>service used to bind itself to the first MAC it met - is this still the
>>case?[/color]
>
> Not been the case for several years. If you reboot the modem, it binds
> to the first mac it finds after the reboot, up to (I think ) a max of
> three different MACs in a 24-hour period.
> .[color=green]
>>route the modem ethernet connection through a hub or switch before it
>>meets
>>its "one PC"?[/color]
>
> Sure, but pointless - you can't connect anything else to the hub.
> .[color=green]
>>I.e. for cabling reasons (not any long enough cat5 cables[/color]
>
> You need some cat5 couplers. Cost about a quid each from maplin.
>[/color]


Hi,


Thanks for your post and that later point is a very good one.

Not much point having a hub / switch sucking juice when a £1 coupler could
do the job better :).

Thanks again.


Best wishes,




News Reader

[color=blue]
> --
> Mark McIntyre[/color]