Hello Ross.

24 Sep 04 16:47, you wrote to Björn Felten:

 BF>>    They know where their cable goes (I don't think you can hook
 BF>> on to someone else's cable), and usually you get an account
 BF>> number/name and a password to log in with, that's usually enough.

 RC> I have had Cable Internet since 1999, my ISP has to have the Modems
 RC> mac addy or I get no public IP..

Not only that, communication (period) would be impossible w/o a MAC
address. It is not so much about authentication but that MAC is the
hardware layer. FWIW, MAC addresses can be changed, easily.  In fact, my
Cisco 2621 allows me to change the MAC address for the interface to
whatever I want.  I recall Sun workstations allowing the user to change the
MAC address as well.

 RC> Having the MZC address of your clients cable modem has the same effect
 RC> as PPPoE.

PPPoE is used to add more security on a shared medium because MAC alone is
not secure (at all).  My ISP (DSL) maps addresses via VCI.  Each virtual
circuit can request up to a maximum of 3 leases via DHCP.  Because of this,
PPPoE or PPPoA is not needed.

Matt

e-mail: matt [at] thunderdome.ws | icq: 16568532 | yahoo: mbedynek

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