[TriLUG] Roadrunner Port Blocking issues / tech support hilar ity

[Ryan Leathers]

Ah, but its worth it Jeremy.  In a sea of devices on a shared media network,
knowing a MAC address is really valuable.  With it, the provider has a
greatly enhanced capability to troubleshoot, upgrade firmware, offer
differentiated classes of services, build private VLANs, even provide
services NOT reliant upon TCP/IP.

Of course, if they don't DO any of this stuff, then registering your MAC
address is just an extra headache both the customer and provider could live
without.  



-----Original Message-----
From: Jeremy Portzer [mailto:jeremyp at pobox.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2005 9:59 PM
To: Triangle Linux Users Group discussion list
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Roadrunner Port Blocking issues / tech support
hilarity


On Tue, 11 Jan 2005, Jeff Groves wrote:

> I change my IP address at will by changing my MAC address of my router,
turning off the 
> router and firewall for about a couple of minutes, then powering up the
modem then the 
> router.  This works if your router allows you to change your MAC address.

Up here in Comcast territory, you have to register your router's (or
computer NIC's) MAC address with the company before you will be allowed
through the network.  (I think you get an IP address from the DHCP server,
but your packets are blocked from going anywhere.)

So if/when you get a new router, or change its MAC address, you have to 
call them up and let them know.  I guess this is done to discourage 
nefariousness, but it still seems like a lot of hassle for them, and a lot 
of call center expenses.

So just remember - it can get a lot worse than TWC!

Jeremy Portzer
New Carrollton (PG County), Maryland

-- 
/---------------------------------------------------------------------\
| Jeremy Portzer        jeremyp at pobox.com      trilug.org/~jeremy     |
| GPG Fingerprint: 712D 77C7 AB2D 2130 989F  E135 6F9F F7BC CC1A 7B92 |
\---------------------------------------------------------------------/
-- 
TriLUG mailing list        : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
TriLUG Organizational FAQ  : http://trilug.org/faq/
TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
TriLUG PGP Keyring         : http://trilug.org/~chrish/trilug.asc