Cable modem sharing

[Jeff7]

Hope this question is OK, but I'll ask anyway. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

The cable company says that they only allow 2 computers to use 1 cable internet connection. Is there any way they'd know if I was using more? I've got 4 computers here, and only two people - myself and my sister - use the Internet a lot; my parents barely know anything about the Internet, and don't use it much.
But basically, would the company be able to find out? I'd tend to think not, because (not sure about this) I guess it's not allowed to have many TVs in one house using the same cable connection, but many people do it anyway.

[Ygor]

They probably won't, as long as you aren't using them all at the same time for heavy downloads or uploads.

[barry glisson]

If you networked them through a firewall wouldn't that only show 1 computer to the cable co.? barry

[Richie Rich]

I use a Lynksys Cable/DSL Router and have four computers networked using the one cable connection with one ISP. All computers can access at the same time with no problems.

The Router makes it look like there is only one connection to the internet. It has a built in fire wall.

The cable companies aren't going to tell you about the router 'cause they want you to pay for more connections or limit them.

The router costs about $150.00 or less and setup is a sinch.

Rich

[Entragian ][]

Same as Richie Rich. I use the same Linksys router and have 2 constant connections to the net 24/7. When friends come over, we all hook up through the router (max of 4 on router plus uplink. so the router can handle roughly 255 computers with hubs)
with around 8 people piping through the router, we have never noticed any speed loss or stability problems.
Hope that helps. btw, the tech who installed the cable modem actually told us about the router.