Help trying to understand NTL broadband : 2 * STB + cable modem

[jives11]

Hi,

My neighbour has NTL for TV and internet. She has 2 * STB's and a cable modem. The cable modem is in a study and appears to work fine.

She would like to enable internet access from one of the rooms where a STB resides, primarily for Xbox Live. I know a little about networks, and she asked me to have a look.

the STB's have a CAT5 socket in the back marked 'ethernet'. If I connect a laptop to it, the laptop can see a connection, but cannot get an IP address via DHCP , it reverts to the 169 address range.

if I try a swapped cable, the laptop cannot even see the cable is connected.

if I go into the settings on the STB I can see that it has an IP address in the 10.x.x.x range.

My Question is it possible to connect to the internet via the STB from a PC while also having a cable modem in another room working with another PC ? presumably they all fan out from the same connection to the house ? Do I need to manually set an IP address and use the STB as a gateway ?

Does anything have to be enabled on the account ?

I have a number of PC's and an xbox at home , connected into a switch/BT router and it all works fine using DHCP.

many thanks

[Paul K]

Nope you need to use the cable modem.

[Peter_]

The only way to get broadband in another room is to purchase a wireless router as you are only allowed one cable modem per property and STB are no longer capable of being provisioned for broadband.

[Kymmy]

A wired OR wireless router (though not many just wired routers these days) will need to be plugged into the Cable modem to give more than one PC/Console internet access at any one time.

The ethernet on the STB's are rarely used and these days are disabled once a customer has a cable modem..