Att cable/ICS

[ramayes]

I recently signed up for ATT Broadband Internet. I've been having trouble with using it on networked computers and am wondering if anyone else has had this problem.

The issue is that ATT does not want you to have multiple computers using the connection at the same time. They want to charge you extra for each one (Fair enough). I asked if you were allowed to have different computers use the connection; the answer was yes, but only one at a time.

Now, here's the problem. If one computer on the network has an IP assigned by ATT, the rest have 192.168 IPs, I can't share printers and files.

My first try at a fix was to use my firewall to get a dynamic IP from ATT and then assign local IPs to each computer. This does not work since the MAC address of the firewall is not registered on ATT's network they drop the connection. (They wont register it)

My next thought is to use Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on one computer (that's registered) and have it function as a DHCP server for the other computers. I would hook the cable modem to a USP port and use the network adapter connect to the network.

Does anyone have any experience with this or have any other ideas.

[bailey]

first, I don't think ics will work with broadband very well.

get yourself a router and all att will see is one ip connection,
then connect the other computers through the network hub or better yet switch.
should fix all your problems.

[ramayes]

My firewall is a router. But it won't work. ATT can see the MAC address of the router. Since it is not registered on their network, they drop the connection.

[doctorgonzo]

You say that AT&T won't register the MAC of your router? If that is the case, then you have to complain, complain, complain. You are paying for bandwidth, and how you divide that bandwidth up is your business. It's not as if you are the first person in the history of AT&T broadband to use a router to share an internet connection.

[Confused]

Get your router book and set it up for cable modem. You should only have to change it to Dynamic IP Address and put in a host name if you were given one.
Chas

[ramayes]

Confused,

That is exactly what I did. Each time I plug in the router, it works for a about a minute, then I loose the connection.

[K A Hall]

Set it up the way Confused advised and then call ATT and tell them you have installed a new NIC and need to change the MAC address. They will probably send you to a website to get it registered or they may do it over the phone. This will register the MAC address of the router and you should be all set.

[glc]

Most routers have a MAC clone option - just clone the MAC address of your registered NIC into the router. This beats using ICS all to heck. However, ICS *will* work - with either 2 nics or a nic and a USB cable modem.

This is a new one on me with AT&T - I thought they keyed off the MAC of the cable modem.

[K A Hall]

Personally I use Mediacom and I have no idea how they do it. All I know is it works. I have however seen other posts here about MAC addresses, NIC’s and Cable internet. I seem to remember HAL talking about having to call when he swapped out a NIC in order to register the MAC address.
I have never noticed the MAC clone option until you mentioned it and it is there but when you click on it, it appears to do nothing but open a blank page. I will have to look into that.

Nevemind. I see how it works now.

[ramayes]

My router won't clone a MAC address. Any suggestions as to one that will? I'm on a budget, but it sounds that that would be a pretty easy way to go.

[piasabird]

ICS should work with 2 network cards. Try a Broadband Router designed for this with a built in switch and firewall. I think technically all routers can have a firewall if you know how to set it up.

[glc]

The Linksys BEFSR series routers have a MAC clone option.

[ramayes]

I'm going to try the router solution, but I did make one more observation. When I have the cable modem plugged into the USB port, and the NIC card is active, I can't get on the internet. When I release the IP address from the NIC card using winipcfg, everything works fine with the internet access.

I was wondering if anyone had any insight as to why this would conflict? It leads me to think that the ICS won't work since I would need to have an active NIC card.

Is it possible that ATT has some type of spy ware? Or is there a way, via a cable modem to see other hardware on my computer? Or is this just a simple conflict of having two IPs on the same computer?

[ramayes]

Cloning the MAC ID did the trick. Thanks everyone!