It would be extremely cool if they let you connect a modem up, register it and yourself on the database and off you go as they do in the States on some ISPs, but until then it's not really an option unless you go down the dodgier route.
North America do a lot of things differently though, they've no probs with people doing what they want with the cable so long as they don't cause issues with other people's services, in which case they get their return blocked
