Does NTL Broadband only allows 4 PC's to connect?

Hello,

With Plusnet going down the pan, I'm considering switching my ISP to
NTL, but I would really value some feedback from current users, as I
understand NTL Broadband used to be fairly hopeless...

Also the NTL sales droid said that I would only be able to connect a
maximum of 4 computers to the single port cable modem if I connected a
router to their modem.

Is this fact?

Have they limited the DCHP to four addresses?

Does anyone know the make and model of the modem (CPE) they provide?

With many thanks!

DavidC

(E-Mail Removed) submitted this idea :
> Hello,
>
> With Plusnet going down the pan, I'm considering switching my ISP to
> NTL, but I would really value some feedback from current users, as I
> understand NTL Broadband used to be fairly hopeless...
>
> Also the NTL sales droid said that I would only be able to connect a
> maximum of 4 computers to the single port cable modem if I connected a
> router to their modem.
>
> Is this fact?
>
> Have they limited the DCHP to four addresses?
>
> Does anyone know the make and model of the modem (CPE) they provide?
>
> With many thanks!
>
> DavidC

No s/he's talking Bollocks.

The DHCP is limited to (usually) one IP. Your router would take care of
issuing IPs to as many PCs on your network.

On 13 Sep 2006 10:18:55 -0700, (E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>Hello,
>
>With Plusnet going down the pan, I'm considering switching my ISP to
>NTL, but I would really value some feedback from current users, as I
>understand NTL Broadband used to be fairly hopeless...
>
>Also the NTL sales droid said that I would only be able to connect a
>maximum of 4 computers to the single port cable modem if I connected a
>router to their modem.
>
>Is this fact?
>
>Have they limited the DCHP to four addresses?
>
>Does anyone know the make and model of the modem (CPE) they provide?
>
>With many thanks!
>
>DavidC

No he's lying, or possibly doesn't understand how it works

They will limited the DHCP to ONE ip address but the router that you
use will take that ip address, perform NAT and allow up to 253
machines to share that single ip address by providing the machines
with internal ip addresses.

He probably thinks it is limited to 4 as most domestic routers only
have 4 ports.

Of course you could get round this limitation by using wireless or by
adding as many ethernet hubs/switches as you need until you have the
required amount of ports.

Not sure what modems NTL use but Telewest use the Motorola Surfboard
range.

<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) oups.com...
> Hello,
>
> With Plusnet going down the pan, I'm considering switching my ISP to
> NTL, but I would really value some feedback from current users, as I
> understand NTL Broadband used to be fairly hopeless...

there have always been moans about poor service - but over several years my
fault rate has been pretty low, and the bandwidth available has consistently
been higher than the notional limit (i get a shade more than 4 Mbps right
now on a 4 Mbps service, and i used to get around 2.5 Mbps on the 2 Mbps
service before the free upgrade).

the 3 or 4 times i have spoken to the helpdesk they have been reasonably
quick and fairly helpful.
>
> Also the NTL sales droid said that I would only be able to connect a
> maximum of 4 computers to the single port cable modem if I connected a
> router to their modem.

i think the T&Cs quote a limit for the max number - AFAICT they make no
effort to bother to check, and there arent any simple practical way for them
to enforce any such restrictions.

The number here varies depending on how many laptops are at "home".
>
> Is this fact?
>
> Have they limited the DCHP to four addresses?

No - you get one. If you want multiple devices then you need your home LAN
hidden behind a NAT of some type, such as a SOHO router, or a gateway PC.
>
> Does anyone know the make and model of the modem (CPE) they provide?

it has varied over the years.

If you order digital TV as well you might get a set top box rather than a
dedicated cable modem - mine is Samsung, but i think it doesnt go above 5
Mbps or so (but works well on 4 Mbps service).

All of the ones i have used support both Ethernet and USB - but the Ethernet
connection seems much easier to use, and more reliable.

1 caveat - if you get a router, you need one with an Ethernet WAN port - not
ADSL....
>
> With many thanks!
>
> DavidC
--
Regards

(E-Mail Removed) - replace xyz with ntl

On Wed, 13 Sep 2006 18:35:35 GMT, Dave wrote:

>No he's lying, or possibly doesn't understand how it works
>
>They will limited the DHCP to ONE ip address but the router that you
>use will take that ip address, perform NAT and allow up to 253
>machines to share that single ip address by providing the machines
>with internal ip addresses.
>
>He probably thinks it is limited to 4 as most domestic routers only
>have 4 ports.

No, what NTL mean is that they only will store four MAC addresses per line for
authorisation at connect. Therefore you can only connect anyone of four
interface cards at any one time. Hence the "only four computers" line. Of
course, as others have said, NAT lets you hook up as many as you want.

--

Regards

Dave Saville

NB Remove -nospam for good email address

On Thu, 14 Sep 2006 08:35:20 +0100 (BST), "Dave Saville"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On Wed, 13 Sep 2006 18:35:35 GMT, Dave wrote:
>
>>No he's lying, or possibly doesn't understand how it works
>>
>>They will limited the DHCP to ONE ip address but the router that you
>>use will take that ip address, perform NAT and allow up to 253
>>machines to share that single ip address by providing the machines
>>with internal ip addresses.
>>
>>He probably thinks it is limited to 4 as most domestic routers only
>>have 4 ports.
>
>No, what NTL mean is that they only will store four MAC addresses per line for
>authorisation at connect. Therefore you can only connect anyone of four
>interface cards at any one time. Hence the "only four computers" line. Of
>course, as others have said, NAT lets you hook up as many as you want.

I thought that they'd done away with MAC address registration? I know
that Telewest scrapped it a while ago.

On Wed, 13 Sep 2006 18:41:43 GMT, "stephen"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>If you order digital TV as well you might get a set top box rather than a
>dedicated cable modem - mine is Samsung, but i think it doesnt go above 5
>Mbps or so (but works well on 4 Mbps service).

We no longer do this for new customers - all new customers now get
standalone Cable Modems.

HTH



Alex

--

Alex Brown
Senior Product Manager, Product Experience
Communication Services, ntl Telewest

On Thu, 14 Sep 2006 09:12:20 GMT, in uk.telecom.broadband , Dave
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I thought that they'd done away with MAC address registration? I know
>that Telewest scrapped it a while ago.

They auto-register the MAC when you connect the device. You can
connect up to four different MACs one after the other in a 24-hour
period, and each will get a different IP address.
--
Mark McIntyre

On Wed, 13 Sep 2006 10:18:55 -0700, david wrote:

> Hello,
>
> With Plusnet going down the pan, I'm considering switching my ISP to NTL,
> but I would really value some feedback from current users, as I understand
> NTL Broadband used to be fairly hopeless...

We signed up with ntl bb last week. it's excellent -what else can I
say? 127KB/s for a one meg connection - they promise to make it 2 meg
in a few weeks and we can download as much as we like without restriction.
Games work fine too.
Forget about the 4 pc limit.

new wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Sep 2006 10:18:55 -0700, david wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> With Plusnet going down the pan, I'm considering switching my ISP to NTL,
>> but I would really value some feedback from current users, as I understand
>> NTL Broadband used to be fairly hopeless...
>
> We signed up with ntl bb last week. it's excellent -what else can I
> say? 127KB/s for a one meg connection - they promise to make it 2 meg

As ever, it's fine when it works. When it doesn't, it's a pig to get
anything fixed. I logged a major DNS problem some weeks ago - killed my
system quite nicely; gave them a pile of information about the nature of
the problem, in fact several /days/ work doing /their/ job. Have I heard
anything? Is it fixed? Course not.

> in a few weeks and we can download as much as we like without restriction.
> Games work fine too.
> Forget about the 4 pc limit.


--
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