Re: Can NTL see past a router?
 

Please tell us why you hate routers so much.

With a PC directly connected to the 'net it is much more vulnerable to attack.

Having set up a home lan with 3+ PCs hardwired and 2 wireless laptops, I'm happy that the setup is secure and a whole lot more cost effective than 5 separate NTL cable connections!

Re: Can NTL see past a router?
 

Wouldn't be the proxy? That only affects port 80 TCP connections outbound from the PC. We're talking ICMP echo requests inbound to the modem/router, here, which don't go near the proxy. We'll know your modem's IP and router's IP (if you have a router connected) and can therefore ping them both. The modem will always reply if it's online, but the PC router may reply (in which case you know it's online) or may not (in which case you can't assume it's offline, since it might be firewalled).

Re: Can NTL see past a router?
 

They can take an educated guess at the number of devices (based on network traffic). They can also have a fairly good idea of what networked apps (FTP, Web, Mail, Kazaa, Limewire etc) you are running. This is based on the amount and type of network traffic your connection carries.

They can't (AFAIK) legally get into your PC though.

Re: Can NTL see past a router?
 

Pings are responses from the network card unless told otherwise. Sometimes devices will respond to ping even if they are in single user mode ie no O/S networking started.

My Belkin by default has firewall on but ICMP reply also on. So it will nicely steath port scans (drop packets rather than deny) but will respond to ping requests. I have turned off the ICMP reply so should now be pretty well stealthed.

Now usually on the inside (LAN) of the router is setup an address range like 192.168.1.0/24 (Belkin may use 192.168.2.0/24). This is a reserved IP range for internal networks and is not routable over the internet. The normal level of support rep on first contact probably does not have the know how to get around that (present company excepted).

Now if the firewall on the router is off where opted off or implicitly off because it is in access point mode (not routing) then they may be able to see your PC.

Re: Can NTL see past a router?
 

Belkin routers have a LAN IP of 192.168.2.1 and by default assign from 192.168.2.2 to .100 to devices connected to the LAN. :)

Re: Can NTL see past a router?
 

It is possible that a connection to your IP on port 80 is connecting to your router's config page at a guess. Would be wise for you to tell your router that admin access is only available from the LAN side to stop people trying to hack your router from the internet.