Wife had an omen and now wants a cable modem. She told the guy to come back tomorrow so I can ask the right questions. So, besides the obvious questions about roaming charges, service areas, and–wait, those are cell phone questions!–what should I be wary of? What should I ask about? How am I likely to get screwed by the whole process?
Um, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. I had a cable modem 2 years ago, and it was just like cable TV - always on, no problems. Flat rate, blazing fast, fairly idiot proof once it was set up. Tarzan speak well today, yah.
Ask him not to install their junky unnecessary software. (Roadrunner didn’t install anything on my pc)
Umm. please take off your filthy work boots when you walk across my clean carpets?
Seriously, it should be a painless process. Ditto mblackwell. Don’t let them install a custom browser or anything. You don’t need it. Make the technician verifies connectivity and mail delivery BEFORE he leaves. Otherwise, if he returns, it’s a service call. Also, specifically ask for a line filter. it should be free, but it’s better than having to pay $50 for him/her to return to install a $5 part. They may be installing these by default now, but when cable modem service was new, it was a common problem.
What sort of “junky unnecessary software?”
Will it cost me more to add another computer? Can I do it myself? Do I add a hub or something to do it or can I use an old fashioned cable splitter? (Okay, one of those higher-quality, DSS-rated splitters.)
Thanks for the link. Now I feel dumb! 
drop I have no idea how much you know about computers, so sorry if the following seems to be ‘talking down’ to you.
Before install, I can’t think of any questions in particular, but if you feel like doing me a favor, ask him if you’ll be getting a dynamic or static IP address (I’ve recently been told “No more static IP addresses”, but I think the tech was full of it.)
Anyway: I have @Home, and really, REALLY like it. Service has been overall good for me and they’ve been pretty responsive when I’ve had trouble.
Their newsfeed stinks, so if you’re a fan of .binaries. groups on the UseNet, plan on getting a Newserver service like SuperNews. If this is gibberish, then don’t worry about it.
When the guy comes to install, ask him to fill out the following info:
Computer Name:_________________ (it’ll be numbers and letters and IDs you on the network)
Workgroup:_____________________ (probably @home)
Gateway:_______________________ (a four part number like 111.2.333.4)
IP Address:____________________ (same as above, or none, depending on whether they give you a dynamic or static address)
Subnet Mask:___________________ (same as above)
DNS Host:______________________ (most likely numbers and letters)
Domain Name:___________________ (words like washington.dc.home.com)
DNS Config:____________________(two sets of four part numbers)
And, of course, don’t share this info publically.
I had a friend who didn’t get these when his system was set up and it was like pulling teeth to get them later. If you ever have to reinstall Windows, you’ll NEED these.
Let me know if I can help!
Fenris
Oh, and I recommend getting a firewall program. I’m not really convinced on how serious the risk is, but at the same time…better safe than sorry.
Fenris
No, really, it makes me feel dumb. My 'puter training ended long enough ago (to give you an idea HOW long, IIRC, 9600 baud was the theoretical top end for a phone line) that I don’t really understand some of the terminology.
Questions raised by link: Will I need to install a firewall? (Dumb question: Is that hardware or software or both?) Are a cable modem and DSL the same thing? So, it requires a NIC if I don’t already have one installed (this one no, my own box yes)? I use AdAware at work and am lucky it didn’t kill anything there. Where the hell has Nanook been?
The difference is…?
And fear not about talking down to me about this. Even the stuff I used to know I’ve forgotten!
Will you need to install a firewall? I use a software one (mainly for piece of mind), a buddy at work sneers at me, insisting a hardware one is required, and I’ve got a friend who never uses one at all. Pick your level of comfort. I’d recommend it, though.
Cable and DSL are not the same thing. IIRC, Cable is about twice as fast as the average DSL connection.
@Home (in my area at least…they seem to be franchised) insisted I use their hardware, so they installed a cable modem and a cable modem card. Finding out what hardware they provide or allow you to buy would be a good question to ask.
I use AdAware too and it’s never caused a problem
I don’t know where Nanook is.
Just refreshed: If you’re not running a FTP site or a server it probably doesn’t matter. Behind every URL is an IP address. The Straight Dope’s is 65.201.198.9 (if you put that in your browser, the SDMB should come up. If you have a dynamic one, it changes every time you log on…they’ll give you one that’s available. If it’s static, it’s the same every time. (You want a static one if you’re going to be running an FTP site)
Fenris
Hey! That’s my old thread! I thought I had followed up on it, I guess I never did. The installation went great, cable rocks, and I didn’t have any problems whatsoever with it…until this summer, when I was down 3 separate times. I exchanged modems twice before we finally got a (smart) tech out the last time. Our physical cable line at the connection point on the pole was bad. The connectors were corroded and the signal was too weak, although our cable TV channels were fuzzy they still came in. The tech replaced the connecters and I could get online again and our cable TV reception lost its fuzziness. So watch the actual cable line, ours was probably 10-12 years old.
I had to buy a network card, that was about $50. I’m still using Zone Alarm, it seems to be doing a good job.
Cable is really fast, you’ll love it.
I don’t know if anyone is going to care since I am adding on so late in the thread, but you might also ask if your cable connection is capped (only allowed to use a certain amount of bandwidth upstream, downstread, or both). Mine, for example (roadrunner), is capped at 512k upstream. I know of a few @home networks that are not capped at all. As far as I can tell this can make a pretty big difference when uploading files (I can upload at only about 45k a second, while a friend on @home can upload at around 200k a second).
As for firewalls, hardware or software, it really depends. I really don’t believe that any hardware firewall can be set up way better than a software. Hardware may be easiest to install, however. As for me, I have a linux machine connected to my cable modem which serves as a firewall and masquerades net packets to the 7 machines on my LAN at home. I’m not an expert on hardware firewalls, but I can say software firewalls can be very versatile yet very secure at the same time.
BAH! This is apparently a topic that comes up fairly frequently, so I think there will ALWAYS be someone who cares! Especially me. Especially since I haven’t talked to the cable guy yet. BTW, welcome to the SDMB. It’s a nice place to hang out.
Setting up a server, and a home network, like that–is it the best/only way to add more computers to use the one line in? I have an old 90mhz P1 (32mb & 420mb HD) in my trunk–can I use that as my server or is it too slow/small? I set up Linux on it once but didn’t really have any use for it at the time.
dropzone, do a Search here or on the UnaBoard on “Linksys” and you will find far more information than you need on the need for/plusses/minuses of a hardware or software firewall. As you will see in those threads, I and others swear by a hardware solution, like the Linksys. It’s what protects the UnaBoard.
A static IP is only needed if you are running a Board, web server, whatever and want a stable location. But, I have also found that DHCP servers seem to be very flaky with the DSL and cable companies both. When I switched to static IPs from dynamic, nearly 95% of my recurring connection problems vanished. My only problems left are nameserver crashes.
Also - ask if the service he is installing uses PPPoE, and pray that the answer is “no”. It’s a long story, and if you search here or on the UnaBoard for “PPPoE” you should find out why it is a bad idea.
Thanks, folks! Next question, as I also run those searches, browse the AT&T Broadband site (next to useless, but they advertise that it is the “home networking solution powered by Linksys,” so that sounds positive) and do work, is this: wired or wireless? The computers’ locations are pretty stable, but portability might be nice. Advantage to wired looks like speed, but does that really matter at the less-than-impressive (by LAN standards) inbound/outbound speed? Wireless is just a few bucks more for hardware (damn, this stuff has gotten cheap!), but is it less secure? Folks next door are also on the system and…
Hmmmm, can’t beat the price on Zone Alarm and it seems to get pretty good reviews from others. Nice to keep business in the Zone family, too.
Ohhhhh! So that’s the difference between a dynamic and static IP address, huh?
Waht’s wrong with @Home’s browser? It can’t possibly crash more than IE.
Also, if you ever want to have more than one PC, or change to a new PC, you may care if the cable service is ‘keyed’ to your hardware address.
Short explanation: Every ethernet card has a MAC address, some number kinda like an IP address, but bigger. Example:
0c:52:f3:83:9a … (don’t remember how big it is.) These are theoretically unique to each ethernet card. So, if you get a new computer, it will have a different MAC address, and if the cable service is looking for the first MAC, you’ll be denied access.
So, ask if it is keyed to the hardware address and if so, how hard it is to change around.
Some routers (think of this like a smart cable splitter, with firewall capabilities) will masquerade as whatever MAC address you want, so you may be able to get around this problem later, but it’s good you know now.