Internet grumblings

[kimberkit]

RoadRunner is currently $60/month from TimeWarner. This is a lot for a month of internet. I'd go so far as to say that $60/month for high speed access is Highway Robbery!

Unfortunately, DSL (as well as the newer technology, FiOS) isn't available where I am. What's the competition for TimeWarner's cable modem service? Earthlink cable modem service. Is there any other competition? Nope. So I tried to switch to Earthlink.

I called Earthlink and apparently, TimeWarner does Earthlink's installations. So I called TimeWarner to set up an appointment. According to the TimeWarner representative I spoke to, I can't use my router to split the connection. I find that majorly weird, and really unlikely. Is TimeWarner lying to me? Someone computer-savvy... is that POSSIBLE, to not split a connection?

Comments

[moonlit-me.livejournal.com]

They may just not provide technical support, or have an agreement in the contract that you not use it. Of course it's possible to share the connection, but if the company uses a nonstandard setup it could be more of a pain than just throwing a hardware router in front. Still, you can get something working--worst case scenario, you need to set up one of your machines as a router, instead of using the regular router.

But usually the router will work. You may have an agreement with them not to use more than one IP address--but a router hides all your machines behind one address anyway.

[nescio17.livejournal.com]

I think I had an internet connection that I "couldn't split with a router." The router worked fine.

[jbrjake.livejournal.com]

What they probably mean is they only provide you with one IP address. Back in the day, one IP address == one computer. Of course, this isn't a problem with any modern router, as they all do NAT (network address translation--it's sleight of hand the router pulls off to make several computers look like one to the outside world). Your Linksys device should be able to pull it off fine.

The other possibility is that Earthlink has stringent user authentication. I remember that once upon a time RoadRunner made me log on through a little software utility. That would register my MAC address with the RoadRunner server and allow me to grab an IP. But that kind of authentication wouldn't really work anymore, with everyone putting a wireless access point between themselves and their cable modems, so I can't see Earthlink attempting it. It'd be a nightmare for tech support.

Quite frankly, though, you shouldn't ever say anything to your ISP about sharing your connection. I mean, don't get me wrong, they're not going to stop you. It's just a hassle, because they feel required to lay out some BS about it being prohibited. The big thing they're worried about at this point isn't two people living together sharing a wired router connection, it's the thought of some neighbors chipping in to split a single line through a wifi point.

[kimberkit.livejournal.com]

Nah -- apparently, the switchover was as simple as just waiting on hold for half an hour for Time Warner to change the connection. I didn't say anything about sharing my connection, by the way -- the customer service representative that I got the first time was just really aggressive about informing me that I couldn't split a connection.