Only one cable modem?

tinribs · 20-09-2005, 09:38

Hi All,

First post.
I've been an NTL TV customer (along with Broadband and telephone) for several years and have finally decided to switch to Sky (it's cheaper and they have SKY+). Unfortunately I don't want to lose my broadband connection as I've had no problems and the only way I could get broadband from anyone else would be to change to a BT line - unless any broadband ISPs are allowed to use NTL phonelines.

There is a problem unfortunately. I live with my brother who is a dedicated XBOX Live gamer. For this reason he has a seperate NTL line and cable modem. I have since been told that if I cancel the NTL TV service (and hence lose my STB and broadband connection that comes through it) I am not able to have my own cable modem installed instead as NTL only supply one cable modem per house.

Now I am aware that I could share the connection with my brother's modem and it would be simplicity to up his bandwidth (currently 1MB) and connect my PC via a hub/router etc. My brother is paranoid about losing bandwidth and is likely to refuse to agree to any modem sharing solution. Aside from moving house is there any way around this situation?

TIA

Tinribs

marky · 20-09-2005, 09:46

Hi and

to cf

I would have thought you could have 2 if they was on seperate accounts,
but ive no doubt someone will be along shortly with the facts

Nemesis · 20-09-2005, 09:50

If there are 2 accounts, I can't see what the argument is .... however, sharing the existing SACM should not be a problem, as long as when one is gaming the other is not downloading huge amounts of stuff.

SMHarman · 20-09-2005, 09:50

^ What he said, but for the same money as your and his separate bb connections he could move from is 1Mb / 64k upload (which is the important part for gaming) to a 3Mb/ 300k upload (which is much better for gaiming).

You could buy a router with QoS and proritise all gaming traffic

Unless you file share which could cause problems.

Roy MM · 20-09-2005, 09:50

Think AOL do BB through ntl line.

to cable forum.

Nemesis · 20-09-2005, 09:58

AOL BB using SACM is through ntl.

tinribs · 20-09-2005, 11:18

OK,

I just got off the phone to NTL. They have confirmed that you can only have one modem per house - it's not an account thing, apparently its technical and is related to signal strength etc. - the girl I spoke to couldn't offer more information than that. The only option she could suggest (apart from networking or me switching to BT) was for me to keep the STB and use it as a modem only. This is perfectly reasonable except for the fact that I don't physically have the room for the STB plus the SKY+ box which will arrive if/when I do go to Sky.

The only other option is for me to go to AOL - a thing which fills me with dread as I used to work for Computeq technical support and am very aware of their shortcomings (Computeq and AOL are one and the same thing now FYI).

Looks like I'm stuck unless anyone else has any bright ideas!

Tinribs
__________________

All,

I've just noticed that I've posted this in the Telewest forum instead of the NTL forum - can someone move it or tell me how to get it moved?

TIA

Tinribs

Graham M · 20-09-2005, 11:45

Sounds like "something smelly" to be, because you can have a Cable Modem and a STB (which takes up more line bandwidth), so why cant you scrap the STB and get 2 modems which would surely require less signal???

Nugget · 20-09-2005, 11:46

Can't you just lock your brother in a cupboard?

by the way

MovedGoalPosts · 20-09-2005, 11:49

I anticipate that ntl expect each cable modem to have it's own direct connection to the cable coming from the street cabinet. If you were to have two cable modems there would thus need to be two cables from the cabinet to the house, no doubt something that ntl would not normally do.

With the current STB and CM arrangement, no doubt the street cable is split at the intake to the house. No doubt some tech will explain why this split cable can't be made to work with two CMs instead of the CM / STB arrangement currently present.

ian@huth · 20-09-2005, 11:53

There have been many posts by members who have more than one cable modem in their house. I would call NTL and ask again. If they refuse (which cannot be on technical grounds as they say that you could still have broadband via your STB) tell them that you will get a cable connection from AOL which will lose them a direct customer and the associated revenue. Ask them to put you through to their superior and if that fails the retention team.

tinribs · 20-09-2005, 12:38

OK,
Firstly thanks for all the helpful replies (the unhelpful replies were worth reading at least

)

The plot thickens. I've just spoken (again) to NTL. This chap has told me that "although they don't normally do this for customers" I can change my STB for a modem but they require thirty days notice to do it. Initially he told me I would be "sans internet" for a month, then he said a couple of days, finally, I was told that on the day I cancel my subscription (TV) they would arrange for an engineer to visit and do the replacement before the TV service is disconnected.

It all sounds good, but also the potential for major cockups seems to be extremely high.

Does anyone have any advice before I do the deed and cancel the TV subscription?

TIA

Tinribs

SMHarman · 20-09-2005, 12:50

Tell your brother to share and up the connection to a 3Mb one.

Scopeuk · 20-09-2005, 16:11

i dont know what your level of technical skill is but if you wanan make your brother feel all warm and fuzzy you could configure a m0n0wall or pfsense box (m0n0wall pfsense ) to prioritise gaming trafic its the same pricipal as a gaming router just cheeper if you can find an old pc and get a cheep hub. dont quote me on this but i belive pf sense can also do per ip balancing so you cold guranty him atleast 1/2 the b/w more than hes getting now if you take a the 3 meg

bob_builder · 20-09-2005, 16:20

I thought that the STB an SACM that are currently on the same cable would be on the same brodband segment. In that case, you are already "sharing" your internet connection with your brother and there would be no difference whether you shared it before or after the cable modem.