Comcast Internet now charging for 2 PCs

[dArKeR]

$4.95 - 1 additional IP (2 total)
$9.95 - Up to 4 additional IPs (3-5 total)

You can no longer use your own router in your home to split.

Just got the letter yesterday.

[many a good man]

1. They'll never know

Get a router/firewall with NAT.

[Norquist Nemesis]

2. Figures.

I could see this one coming and couldn't really avoid it. We had signed up for the digital cable special offer...3 months at $19.95, 3 more months at $29.95 then regular retail of $49.95. We already have comcast digital TV, so it made sense to put it all together but in reality, it was our only choice for broadband. We tried signing up for other broadbands, but we're not within the required distance of a relay station and are told there are no plans in the near future for new stations to be built within our range.

There's no way we could handle going back to dial-up so we're just going to have to bite the bullet. :(

[Syncronaut Seven]

3. Idiots

I think the phone company tried that once with telephones. You only need one IP for the router, beyond the router they don't know WHAT you have. I don't think it's either legal or technically feasible. In any event, it's a breach of contract & I'm sure they have customers just dying to get out of their contracts.

If they think their customer base is going to chuck their routers they're high.

My 2 cents.

[Grown2Hate]

5. I don't know about that...

...I have a wireless router at my house for my cable internet (I have Cox cable and internet), and when I called to get technical help, they could tell from their end not only the fact that I was USING a router, but the freaking BRAND NAME of the router. So I'm pretty sure they CAN tell if you're using one. I'm no tech genius, but that was a little strange I thought.

[dArKeR]

7. They definetly know. The letter is to us not to everyone. It say you

have 'more than one dynamic IP address'.

They go on to say you can

1. pay

2. look into Comcast Home Networking

3. Purchase a new router that will use only one IP address.



(It seems they are trying to stop 'dynamic IP address'.)

[TO Kid]

11. That's easy to fix

They get that info from the MAC address of the router. On most routers you can change the MAC address, so if you set it to match that of your PC they'll think your PC is connected directly.

[Misunderestimator]

4. That's insane

... I have a wireless router. I rarely use my desktop PC unless I need to print something. We have two laptops that are linked to the router. I would be incensed to pay an additional charge. Can you switch to DSL?

[Salviati]

6. yeah, I got that letter too...

The way I read it, and granted I didn't read it too carefully (and am not planning to), is that it tells me that I need to pay extra if I have more than one device hooked directly to the cable modem. Right now I have exactly 1 device hooked up, my router. If they've got a problem with that, and they can tell that I've got 3 computers hooked up to my router, then they can come get me...

The can take my router when they pry it from my cold dead hand!

[many a good man]

8. IP addresses, not PCs

If you read it literally, it seems like they are offering you the ability to have more than one IP address. Does it explicitly state that you can't use a router?

Some people want a separate IP address to have one machine outside their firewall to host a website or something.

I'm not surprised they can identify your router/firewall, because that's what is connecting to the internet. There's no way they can MAKE you give up your hardware firewall; its not your fault the firewall also happens to be a four-port hub!

[ET Awful]

9. They are referring to IP's assigned by their DHCP server. . . .

If it assigned by a device at your location, it is a non-routeable IP address and is not pertinent to their network at all.

So long as you only have one routable comcast assigned dynamic IP address, that's all you will be billed for.

[TO Kid]

10. It's actually reasonable

If you use a router with NAT on (the default for nearly all of them) then you'll only use a single public address. Looks like they're running low on address blocks and are trying to stretch it.