two modems in the same house?

[Blazeshaska]

ok well i have a computer downstairs with the cable modem. well about a month ago i bought myself a computer for my room, and i have a PS2 with online capabilities. i was wondering if i could buy a second cable modem for my room instead of buying a router and running cables through the houset. ijust wanted to know if it wouldnt mess anything up with my isp if i had two sources for internet. my isp is roadrunner by the way

 

[SJConsultant]

ok well i have a computer downstairs with the cable modem. well about a month ago i bought myself a computer for my room, and i have a PS2 with online capabilities. i was wondering if i could buy a second cable modem for my room instead of buying a router and running cables through the houset. ijust wanted to know if it wouldnt mess anything up with my isp if i had two sources for internet. my isp is roadrunner by the way

RR is not going to allow you to run two cablemodems off the the same line unless you pay for it.

You'd be better off finding a way to network them using cable or go wireless.

 

[alienb]

What makes you say that? Please have a clue of what you're talking about before you reply.

Anyways man, you'd be better served to buy a single router, and run all your stuff off that.
Go to your local bestbuy, circuit city or whatnot, and get a Linksys or something.

 

[SJConsultant]

What makes you say that? Please have a clue of what you're talking about before you reply.

Please quote the person you are responding to so we may know who you are talking to.

Otherwise *IF* you were talking to me why in the world would you tell the OP to go buy a router if he could hook up more than one cablemodem to his service?

Cablemodem operators typically require MAC addresses of modems to be registered before they can be used. So if you have additional or contradicting proof then please educate us all on everything you know.

 

[roninblade]

Just a little question if its true that u can only have one cable modem and 99% ISP's supply the cable modem, why can u buy them in wal-mart, how do u kno if ur isp lets u have more then one cable modem in ur house, thanks

 

[Empyrean]

Just a little question if its true that u can only have one cable modem and 99% ISP's supply the cable modem, why can u buy them in wal-mart, how do u kno if ur isp lets u have more then one cable modem in ur house, thanks

You can buy them because you can personally own one. The company will let you use that one instead of the one they send you. You just have to give them the information.

You'd need to call your ISP and ask them for details.

 

[PaHick]

You sure can run two modems in your house, but youll have to pay for a second service. And why would you want to pay close to double(not sure if they will give you a break) when you can buy a router for under 50 bucks and run some cat5e? The first month or two of running a router and its paid for.

 

[alienb]

I was talking to you, but whatever. You can have more than one cable line, but it's not really worth the purchase price of the modem, plus the additional monthly fee that the ISP would require. I have had two cable modems running in the same location before, the ISP just charged roughly double. The price of a decent cable modem is more than a very nice, (wireless even) router, and since I doubt he's going to use a lot of bandwidth with his PS2 and two computers, it makes more sense for him to just set up a simple home LAN.

 

[Lethal]

You can buy them because you can personally own one. The company will let you use that one instead of the one they send you. You just have to give them the information.

Some ISPs give you the option of renting/buying one from them or providing your own. In fact, I imagine they can't legally force you to use their equipment any more than they could force you to buy a PC from them to use with your connection.

Our ISP gave us some cheezy Terryan (sp?) that my husband was sure was a bottleneck. Replaced it with a Motorola Surfboard and the speeds went up noticeably.

 

[SJConsultant]

I was talking to you, but whatever. You can have more than one cable line, but it's not really worth the purchase price of the modem, plus the additional monthly fee that the ISP would require. I have had two cable modems running in the same location before, the ISP just charged roughly double. The price of a decent cable modem is more than a very nice, (wireless even) router, and since I doubt he's going to use a lot of bandwidth with his PS2 and two computers, it makes more sense for him to just set up a simple home LAN.

What part of my post did you not understand then since what you are saying *agrees* with what I said in the first place?

You might want to try a little reading comprehension before spouting off about people being "clueless" and making yourself look like an a$$.

 

[roninblade]

Some ISPs give you the option of renting/buying one from them or providing your own. In fact, I imagine they can't legally force you to use their equipment any more than they could force you to buy a PC from them to use with your connection.

Our ISP gave us some cheezy Terryan (sp?) that my husband was sure was a bottleneck. Replaced it with a Motorola Surfboard and the speeds went up noticeably.

suprised by that kinda because the ISP, not the Modem sets the upload and download speeds, with optonline back in jersey i was able to force a config file with 100K up from my 15K up, now here in PA i cant do that because my modem sucks

 

[PHUNBALL]

What part of my post did you not understand then since what you are saying *agrees* with what I said in the first place?

You might want to try a little reading comprehension before spouting off about people being "clueless" and making yourself look like an a$$.

I just had to laugh at this, he obviously did not read your comments carefully...

 

[Geef01]

I'm not sure about RR, but I know that Comcast does let you have more than 1 modem except its at double the price. Unless your living in a solid Brick building with steel reinforcement I would suggest using wireless for the connection.

 

[Komataguri]

It dosn't matter if you buy another modem.

You won't have an IP address asigned in your ISPs system for that modems MAC address, so it won't connect. And since they usually charge and arm and a leg for a second IP and/or connection...

Router + Cat5e for the win!



Also, a cable company CAN force you to use their equipment. You are using THEIR service, And if they demand that you use THEIR equipment for THEIR service, then you have to. Using any other hardware than THEIR equipment could violate the TOS and earn you severe fines, termination of your account, Or they could even try to trump up the charges to trying to steal bandwidth with unauthorized hardware.

 

[IceWindus]

Just buy a wireless router for the love of God.

 

[Komataguri]

Depends on how many walls and floors are between the PS2, computer and router/cable modem.



personally, I don't like my wireless going through more then 4 walls. I'm just psychotic about quality tho.

 

[Sco-bar]

Also, a cable company CAN force you to use their equipment. You are using THEIR service, And if they demand that you use THEIR equipment for THEIR service, then you have to. Using any other hardware than THEIR equipment could violate the TOS and earn you severe fines, termination of your account, Or they could even try to trump up the charges to trying to steal bandwidth with unauthorized hardware.

You may want to double check your facts on this. As I remeber you also had to use AT&T phones up until the mid-80's and we can see where that go them. I believe that as long as it is authorized equipment you can use it. The phone company can't tell you any more that you have to use their phones, and the cable company can't tell you that you have to use their TV, so it stands to reason that they also can't tell you that you have to use their modem.

 

[Ockie]

You may want to double check your facts on this. As I remeber you also had to use AT&T phones up until the mid-80's and we can see where that go them. I believe that as long as it is authorized equipment you can use it. The phone company can't tell you any more that you have to use their phones, and the cable company can't tell you that you have to use their TV, so it stands to reason that they also can't tell you that you have to use their modem.

Actually, they can. A modem is far more complex than a dumb phone. A phone doesn't need to be entered into a system and provisioned. They could claim that it puts thier network at risk by having unkown user equipment and they could also argue that now they would need support staff just to punch in codes from customers own modems and it could open a whole can of worms when it comes down to support because now they are dealing with a diffrent modem.

 

[Komataguri]

You may want to double check your facts on this. As I remeber you also had to use AT&T phones up until the mid-80's and we can see where that go them. I believe that as long as it is authorized equipment you can use it. The phone company can't tell you any more that you have to use their phones, and the cable company can't tell you that you have to use their TV, so it stands to reason that they also can't tell you that you have to use their modem.

Well thats obviously different. TVs are not bidirctional communication devices that have to be entered into their network and records.



Cable Boxes are, And they can force you only to use their cable box. Using a cable box other then theirs is highly illegal and is generally seen as unauthorized descrambling of their encrypted channels.


The same could be said for their ISP service, The modem conforms to international standards, Yes. But they can easily demand you use any hardware they desire for any myraid of reasons.

 

[PHUNBALL]

Well thats obviously different. TVs are not bidirctional communication devices that have to be entered into their network and records.



Cable Boxes are, And they can force you only to use their cable box. Using a cable box other then theirs is highly illegal and is generally seen as unauthorized descrambling of their encrypted channels.


The same could be said for their ISP service, The modem conforms to international standards, Yes. But they can easily demand you use any hardware they desire for any myraid of reasons.

That's not necessarily true, take cable card equipped televisions for example. The FCC mandates that this option be available to consumers, thus elliminating the cable box and allowing users to utilize their televisions built in tuner. So, the rules have changed a little in recent years...

Cable companies still must conform to FCC regulations, they can not make up rules regarding equipment at will...

 

[PaHick]

Well thats obviously different. TVs are not bidirctional communication devices that have to be entered into their network and records.



Cable Boxes are, And they can force you only to use their cable box. Using a cable box other then theirs is highly illegal and is generally seen as unauthorized descrambling of their encrypted channels.


The same could be said for their ISP service, The modem conforms to international standards, Yes. But they can easily demand you use any hardware they desire for any myraid of reasons.

I dont know any ISP that makes you rent their modem, but I do know that my ISP(Adelphia) only will support certain modems, meaning they will only provision modems they agree to. Reason being ...they dont want to have to be pushing firmware for every make and model out there. And to ensure noone is uncapping a modem they dont have firmware for, they only provision modems they agree to. Plus it must conform to the newer DOCSIS standards.

 

[Empyrean]

Actually, they can. A modem is far more complex than a dumb phone. A phone doesn't need to be entered into a system and provisioned. They could claim that it puts thier network at risk by having unkown user equipment and they could also argue that now they would need support staff just to punch in codes from customers own modems and it could open a whole can of worms when it comes down to support because now they are dealing with a diffrent modem.

Hmmm, I have to disagree here. They could claim a lot, and those claims would be false. You are confusing issues here. The cable modem used by a user is not going to threaten the security of their network. If it does, I would highly suggest using a different ISP. They are going to need the MAC address and possibly some additional information about the modem for you to use it. They can refuse to provide you technical support for *your modem* if you choose to not use theirs. Like someone else mentioned, they can hardly tell you what modem you must use, anymore than they can tell you what computer you must use.

This all relates to the 'line of demarcation'. The exact point of this line is sometimes argued, but basically the cable company doesn't control the cable service inside your home. ISPs usually provide a cable modem just to make things easier and more convenient for the general consumer.

 

[Komataguri]

I dont know any ISP that makes you rent their modem, but I do know that my ISP(Adelphia) only will support certain modems, meaning they will only provision modems they agree to. Reason being ...they dont want to have to be pushing firmware for every make and model out there. And to ensure noone is uncapping a modem they dont have firmware for, they only provision modems they agree to. Plus it must conform to the newer DOCSIS standards.

Who said anything about rent?


All ISPs I've delt with always give you all the equipment you need free, for as long as you use their service.



And you just said it yourself, Adelphia forces you to use only hardware they want. For the simple reason of security and logistics.

 

[jpmkm]

I'm pretty sure roadrunner charges a montly rental fee for using the cable modem they supply.

 

[Sco-bar]

I'm pretty sure roadrunner charges a montly rental fee for using the cable modem they supply.

So does Cox.

 

[Haven]

Comcast used to Charge $10 per month for Cable Modem Rental. Later they dropped the charge to $5 per month. I have had a cable modem for close to 6 years. I rented a Cable modem for 4 years. 2 Years at the $10 price ($240 total for that rental), and 2 years at $5 per month ($120 total for those two years), So I spent a total of $360 for cable modem rental.

Early last year (2004) I purchased a Motorola cable modem. I paid out $75, got a $70 rebate, and a $20 rebate. I made $15 on the deal. I haven't had to pay anything since. January (2006) will be 2 years of owning my own cable modem, I think I saved money.

This is why you may not want to rent a cable modem from your provider, and would instead want to purchase your own.

As far as running two cable modems, in theory it should be possible. I would talk to your cable company to see what they would charge you. It might be easier to do as others have said, get a wireless bridge/router, and do wireless or just run some Cat5 through the ducting.

 

[Komataguri]

I'm pretty sure roadrunner charges a montly rental fee for using the cable modem they supply.

Not here they don't


Road runner has never charged for any of its equipment, They even give you a router if you want it, all for free...so long as you keep their service.


And I can't imagine that Roadrunner in certain locations do charge, while other locations do not.

 

[jpmkm]

Not here they don't


Road runner has never charged for any of its equipment, They even give you a router if you want it, all for free...so long as you keep their service.


And I can't imagine that Roadrunner in certain locations do charge, while other locations do not.

Uh... I could use the exact same argument to show that roadrunner does indeed charge for equipment everywhere. I get charged a rental fee for the cable modem so therefore everyone everywhere gets charged a rental fee. How would you know better than I would what is on my bill?