[lug] comcast and multiple IPs

[D. Stimits]

Dan Ferris wrote:
> We have had multiple Comcast Technicians out to our house to fix various 
> problems.  They know we have a router.  They don't give a damn.  Our 
> router is nice enough to allow you to put in whatever MAC address we 
> want.  As far as they could tell, we have a PC connected to them with a 
> 3com ethernet card. :-)
> 

The techs are not the ones that charge more, the tech support phone line 
does that. The cable modems record MAC addresses. Depending on how your 
router is set up, it could be the IP is assigned to the router, and then 
it proxies for each machine; in that case you have only 1 address. In 
the case of normal routing, the router is assigned an IP address, and 
each NIC connected to the router is also assigned an IP address...in 
that case calling tech support would result in paying more fees, as they 
extract the info from the cable modem (you'll end up paying for the IP 
of the router itself as well as the end machines). If you have a bridge 
and not a router, then each end machine gets an IP and the modem records 
each machine's MAC, but the bridge has no IP or visible MAC and is left 
out of the fees. Calling tech support has a default procedure of them 
checking MAC's on the cable modem, then comparing it to billing; they 
won't help you till they decide if you are being billed enough. Going 
through a year of hell is no excuse to not having your rates raised 4 
times by altering terms of the contract. The actual techs are the only 
ones there with a clue about quality, everyone else is the long arm of 
the billing department, no matter how it is labelled.

D. Stimits, stimits AT comcast DOT net