On Wed 14 Sep 2016 at 20:05:50 (-0400), Felix Miata wrote: > Alan McConnell composed on 2016-09-14 17:11 (UTC-0400): > > >My final problem is: how to get my Jessie to get on line. I don't think > >this is > >anything anyone here can help me with, since I live in a retirement community > >which has a huge contract with Comcast. > > Is it a cable account, or is it a DSL account? Appropriate help from > here, should you choose to accept any, depends on your answer. > > >I called a tech person here, and he gave me > >a username and password which got me, and keeps me, online . . . but only > >for the > >Windoze side. I gotta do some exploring to see if I can make this work with > >Jessie. > > Luckily[1], I'm not a Comcast subscriber, so I cannot speak to this > from experience. Maybe something following can spur you into finding > a path to a solution. > > ISTR that some cablecos provide both a router (aka firewall and > possibly a switch) and a modem in the same box, like DSL providers > typically do. DSL providers normally require a login process with > username and password. OTOH, cable providers typically do not > require login, depending instead on the unique MAC address of the > cable modem.
I always assumed that cable companies relied on the fact that you're at the other "end" of a piece of wire that comes into their building. When lightning takes out my modem, I shall just buy another of a type approved by Cox. They'll discover the MAC when I connect it. (I hate combined modem/routers.) Obviously some others take a belt and braces approach, perhaps because a multiple service is being supplied to a ?building(s) over which they feel they have less control. We get the typical residential service of one wire/service/bill. If you want to steal the service, you need to get climbing. Cheers, David.
