NTL modem query

Asking on behalf of a colleague in work...

They`ve got an NTL modem connected via USB at present. I believe it has
an ethernet connection available too.

He wants to share his connection with a second PC, but there may be a
couple of things that need clarifying first :-}

(a) I don`t think the USB and ethernet can be used concurrently - can
anyone confirm either way ? (i`m assuming it only supports one connection
at a time)

(b) does NTL support fixed MAC addresses only ?

(c) would he be able to use a cheap hub/switch or would he need a cable
router to spoof the MAC address if (b) holds true ?

TIA :-)

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Colin Wilson wrote:
> Asking on behalf of a colleague in work...
>
> They`ve got an NTL modem connected via USB at present. I believe it
> has an ethernet connection available too.
>
> He wants to share his connection with a second PC, but there may be a
> couple of things that need clarifying first :-}
>
> (a) I don`t think the USB and ethernet can be used concurrently - can
> anyone confirm either way ? (i`m assuming it only supports one
> connection at a time)

No. Only one at a time

> (b) does NTL support fixed MAC addresses only ?

The modem has one MAC address, that is all ntl see.

> (c) would he be able to use a cheap hub/switch or would he need a
> cable router to spoof the MAC address if (b) holds true ?

You need a router (£20 for a 4port one). A hub wont work as you need
sometime to do the NAT which the modem can not do, nor can a hub.

HTH

Simon

On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 20:45:43 GMT, "Simon" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Colin Wilson wrote:
>> Asking on behalf of a colleague in work...
>>
>> They`ve got an NTL modem connected via USB at present. I believe it
>> has an ethernet connection available too.
>>
>> He wants to share his connection with a second PC, but there may be a
>> couple of things that need clarifying first :-}
>>
>> (a) I don`t think the USB and ethernet can be used concurrently - can
>> anyone confirm either way ? (i`m assuming it only supports one
>> connection at a time)
>
>No. Only one at a time
>
>> (b) does NTL support fixed MAC addresses only ?
>
>The modem has one MAC address, that is all ntl see.
>
>> (c) would he be able to use a cheap hub/switch or would he need a
>> cable router to spoof the MAC address if (b) holds true ?
>
>You need a router (£20 for a 4port one). A hub wont work as you need
>sometime to do the NAT which the modem can not do, nor can a hub.
>
>HTH
>
>Simon
>

Your last paragraph; some suggested sources and model details would be
appreciated.

David Bradley

Simon wrote:
> Colin Wilson wrote:
>> (c) would he be able to use a cheap hub/switch or would he need a
>> cable router to spoof the MAC address if (b) holds true ?
>
> You need a router (£20 for a 4port one). A hub wont work as you need
> sometime to do the NAT which the modem can not do, nor can a hub.
>

Ebuyer £20.98 http://tinyurl.com/6cqyn

Simon

> > (b) does NTL support fixed MAC addresses only ?
> The modem has one MAC address, that is all ntl see.

Telewest used to require the PC that would be using the line to have its
MAC address registered, and it wouldn`t work on anything else. You could
register (IIRC) up to 4 addresses. Does this not apply to NTL ?

> You need a router (£20 for a 4port one). A hub wont work as you need
> sometime to do the NAT which the modem can not do, nor can a hub.

Elsewhere in the group over the last month or two, a suggestion was made
that a hub / switch could be used in conjunction with a router to allow
more than one machine to connect via the *one* NAT`d port.

ie.
-- PC#1
----cablemodem---hub <
-- PC#2

If I get chance i`ll try to find the original post, but it sounded to me
as though the hub / switch setup didn`t have any problems with "routing"
the traffic - I specifically asked in the same thread as I didn`t think
it`d work as described.

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In article <X%3%c.2849$(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
says...
> You need a router (£20 for a 4port one). A hub wont work as you need
> sometime to do the NAT which the modem can not do, nor can a hub.
>

Found my post and the reply (courtesy of Lurch) as follows

---
>I`m not that hot on networking myself, but i`m guessing a hub will
>simply broadcast the traffic to all the machines connected to it...
>
>Perhaps one of the more clued-up guys can give us an idea whether this
>sort of setup might have trouble passing data to the correct machine, or
>how it`ll handle multiple machines trying to use the same app at once
>(ie. IE)

Nope, it'll work fine. The machines know what to do with the data.
I've got two halves of my network running through seperate hubs and
nothings gone wonky.
Hubs are fine for small networks, a switch is only required in larger
installations.
---

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Colin Wilson wrote:
>>> (b) does NTL support fixed MAC addresses only ?
>> The modem has one MAC address, that is all ntl see.
>
> Telewest used to require the PC that would be using the line to
> have its MAC address registered, and it wouldn`t work on anything
> else. You could register (IIRC) up to 4 addresses. Does this not
> apply to NTL ?
>
>> You need a router (£20 for a 4port one). A hub wont work as you
>> need sometime to do the NAT which the modem can not do, nor can a
>> hub.
>
> Elsewhere in the group over the last month or two, a suggestion was
> made that a hub / switch could be used in conjunction with a router
> to allow more than one machine to connect via the *one* NAT`d port.
>
> ie.
> -- PC#1
> ----cablemodem---hub <
> -- PC#2
>
> If I get chance i`ll try to find the original post, but it sounded
> to me as though the hub / switch setup didn`t have any problems
> with "routing" the traffic - I specifically asked in the same
> thread as I didn`t think it`d work as described.

Won't work as NTL only supply 1 IP adress, replace the hub/switch with a
router & it will.....

Actually there is a piece of software which supposedly would enable your
suggested config to work, but would suggest that they go with the router
anyway...

Graham wrote:
>>> (a) I don`t think the USB and ethernet can be used concurrently -
>>> can anyone confirm either way ? (i`m assuming it only supports one
>>> connection at a time)
>>
>> No. Only one at a time
>
>
> The OP is asking if he can use a USB connection to a cable modem
> and an Ethernet connection via a switch to a second PC
> and share the connection. He can do this if he enables ICS in the
> main PC.

You sure, it looks like he wants to plug both into the cable
modem.......won't work

> > (a) I don`t think the USB and ethernet can be used concurrently - can
> > anyone confirm either way ? (i`m assuming it only supports one
> > connection at a time)
>
> No. Only one at a time


The OP is asking if he can use a USB connection to a cable modem and an
Ethernet connection via a switch to a second PC
and share the connection. He can do this if he enables ICS in the main PC.

You get NAT and DHCP by doing this.

In fact he doesn't even need the switch, just a crossover cable between the
two NIC's.
Not as elegant a solution as a router I grant you, for one thing the Gateway
PC has to be running to get the Net on the second PC, but I have set up many
'minimalist' systems in this way and they work OK.

Graham wrote:
>>> (a) I don`t think the USB and ethernet can be used concurrently -
>>> can anyone confirm either way ? (i`m assuming it only supports one
>>> connection at a time)
>>
>> No. Only one at a time
>
>
> The OP is asking if he can use a USB connection to a cable modem and
> an Ethernet connection via a switch to a second PC
> and share the connection. He can do this if he enables ICS in the
> main PC.

No he isn't. He is asking if he can connect two PCs to the modem. One using
USB, one using Ethernet. It won't work.

Simon