Comcast Self-install/Router Recommendation

Comcast Self-install/Router Recommendation

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Subject Author Date
Comcast Self-install/Router Recommendation Bruce 08-21-2005
Posted by Bruce on August 21, 2005, 12:27 pm
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Hi,

Six girls will be sharing a 3-bedroom, 2-story apartment near UC Davis,
CA, when the fall quarter starts. For tv, they will have the standard
(extended basic) package from Comcast. For internet, five want SBC
Yahoo! DSL, and one (my daughter) wants Comcast. Some of the SBCers may
later move over to Comcast if the DSL service is poor. (The CO is 11,424
feet from the apartment address.) Or, the opposite could happen.

I'm in charge of getting Comcast tv and internet set up. Comcast tells me
that the apartment address does have cable tv capabilities, but the
service is turned off. I believe the current tenants moved out this week.
I don't know if it ever had Comcast internet, so I don't know the
condition of the line.

Comcast is scheduled to turn the tv on and drop off a self-install
internet kit in two weeks. I'll drive up there to accept the kit and set
it up. I have a few questions about self-install and wireless routers.

The last time I did a self install was when you had to connect to an SAS
region to provision the modem. I see that it's different these days.

http://www.broadbandreports.com/faq/comcast/2.1+Modems#11356

According to this faq, one has to use the Comcast software provided to
provision the modem. The SAS method is no longer used. The faq states
that you may be able to 'ditch' the setup procedure once provisioned,
thereby avoiding the installation of any other Comcast software and
browser branding. Has anyone done a self-install lately that can advise
me on this?

When I set up the self-install with the representative over the phone, he
only took the address of the install and my daughter's name. Should we
have at least chosen an account name so that it would be in their
database when we did the self-install?

I have to have wired and wireless capabilities. Some machines that will
be using Comcast are wired only, and some also have wireless
capabilities. These are desktops and notebooks, upstairs and downstairs.

Someone else is setting up the SBC Yahoo! DSL which will also be wired
and wireless. Will these two wireless signals peacefull coexist?

Since there will be a high density of wireless users in the area, I need
to select a router that will provide good security. I've been looking at
the following, but I have to admit it's beyond me to decipher what's
important and what's marketting. Should I automatically eliminate any of
these? (I have an old D-link 514 in my house now, that works fine, but I
suspect security capabilites have long since passed this one up.)

D-link 524, 624
Netgear WGR614, WGT624, WPN824NA
Linksys WRT54G, WRT54GC, WRT54GS

I've asked a lot in this note, so if you get this far, thanks in advance.

Sincerely,
Bruce


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Posted by on August 21, 2005, 3:03 pm
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["Followup-To:" header set to comp.dcom.modems.cable.]
> Hi,
>
> Six girls will be sharing a 3-bedroom, 2-story apartment near UC Davis,
> CA, when the fall quarter starts. For tv, they will have the standard
> (extended basic) package from Comcast. For internet, five want SBC
> Yahoo! DSL, and one (my daughter) wants Comcast. Some of the SBCers may
> later move over to Comcast if the DSL service is poor. (The CO is 11,424
> feet from the apartment address.) Or, the opposite could happen.
>
> I'm in charge of getting Comcast tv and internet set up. Comcast tells me
> that the apartment address does have cable tv capabilities, but the
> service is turned off. I believe the current tenants moved out this week.
> I don't know if it ever had Comcast internet, so I don't know the
> condition of the line.
>
> Comcast is scheduled to turn the tv on and drop off a self-install
> internet kit in two weeks. I'll drive up there to accept the kit and set
> it up. I have a few questions about self-install and wireless routers.
>
> The last time I did a self install was when you had to connect to an SAS
> region to provision the modem. I see that it's different these days.
>
> http://www.broadbandreports.com/faq/comcast/2.1+Modems#11356
>
> According to this faq, one has to use the Comcast software provided to
> provision the modem. The SAS method is no longer used. The faq states
> that you may be able to 'ditch' the setup procedure once provisioned,
> thereby avoiding the installation of any other Comcast software and
> browser branding. Has anyone done a self-install lately that can advise
> me on this?
>
> When I set up the self-install with the representative over the phone, he
> only took the address of the install and my daughter's name. Should we
> have at least chosen an account name so that it would be in their
> database when we did the self-install?
>
> I have to have wired and wireless capabilities. Some machines that will
> be using Comcast are wired only, and some also have wireless
> capabilities. These are desktops and notebooks, upstairs and downstairs.
>
> Someone else is setting up the SBC Yahoo! DSL which will also be wired
> and wireless. Will these two wireless signals peacefull coexist?
>
> Since there will be a high density of wireless users in the area, I need
> to select a router that will provide good security. I've been looking at
> the following, but I have to admit it's beyond me to decipher what's
> important and what's marketting. Should I automatically eliminate any of
> these? (I have an old D-link 514 in my house now, that works fine, but I
> suspect security capabilites have long since passed this one up.)
>
> D-link 524, 624
> Netgear WGR614, WGT624, WPN824NA
> Linksys WRT54G, WRT54GC, WRT54GS
>
> I've asked a lot in this note, so if you get this far, thanks in advance.
>
> Sincerely,
> Bruce

I had moved into my new apartment in 3 months ago & didn't need to
install Comcast software to do a new connection. When I started
the browser, it was an automatic send to the "self-install" site
where some prompts were done. ahem, there was a huge bug at the
self-install/provisioning site where one just kept looping back
to the main menu.

My solution was to call Comcast tech & they told me about the bug
& setup my connection from their (comcast's) end. Another problem
cropped up due to my router's cache (netgear fr114p) which kept
finding the self-provisioning site & not too many other sites;
solution was to unplug the router, wait 10 secs (counted to 15) &
replug the router.

If the website has been fixed, then it would just prompt you for
info as in account number (listed on the bill), etc.


Posted by Claude J Ortega on August 21, 2005, 3:35 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options


parcxman@netscape.net says...
> Hi,
<snip>
>
> Since there will be a high density of wireless users in the area, I need
> to select a router that will provide good security. I've been looking at
> the following, but I have to admit it's beyond me to decipher what's
> important and what's marketting. Should I automatically eliminate any of
> these? (I have an old D-link 514 in my house now, that works fine, but I
> suspect security capabilites have long since passed this one up.)
>
> D-link 524, 624
> Netgear WGR614, WGT624, WPN824NA
> Linksys WRT54G, WRT54GC, WRT54GS
>
> I've asked a lot in this note, so if you get this far, thanks in advance.
>
> Sincerely,
> Bruce
>

Do a google search for network stumbler (freeware), running it on a wireless
system will list the WAP's that are in range.

Also airsnare, which will list attempts to access your WAP.

--
Claude


Posted by Bill M. on August 21, 2005, 6:58 pm
If you were  Registered and logged in, you could reply and use other advanced thread options


wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Six girls will be sharing a 3-bedroom, 2-story apartment near UC Davis,
>CA, when the fall quarter starts.

<snipped>

Sadly, I have no experience when it comes to 6 girls sharing an
apartment.

>Comcast is scheduled to turn the tv on and drop off a self-install
>internet kit in two weeks.

<snipped>

I also have no experience with the current self-install procedures,
but it's been discussed here before, so I'm sure someone knows.

>Someone else is setting up the SBC Yahoo! DSL which will also be wired
>and wireless. Will these two wireless signals peacefull coexist?

Probably yes, but since this is an apartment, the potential exists for
other apartment dwellers in the building to be using wireless, as
well, so it's possible that the air will be dense with wireless
signals. Keep in mind that while you have 11 channels to choose from,
they partially overlap their adjacent channels, so you'll want to
choose a channel as far away as possible from other channels currently
in use. You may want to revisit this topic periodically, especially if
the wireless user experience degrades, since networks can come and go
as tenants move in/out.

For example, you may have put the wireless router downstairs on the
main floor and someone upstairs needs to access it. The signal might
travel at an angle through a wall, through the ceiling/floor, and
possibly through another wall before making it to the PC. Meanwhile, a
tenant next door might have installed a router upstairs immediately on
the other side of the apartment wall, using the same channel, so
his/her signal will be much stronger upstairs than yours. Turn your
router off and 'listen' for other networks on one of the PC's, then
move away from those networks by selecting the appropriate channel.
Cordless phone and microwaves can also interfere, BTW.

>Since there will be a high density of wireless users in the area, I need
>to select a router that will provide good security.

I wouldn't accept anything less than WPA or WPA2. This is a college
town, after all, so the likelihood of kids monitoring open networks
seems high. WEP is too easily cracked, so I'd use WPA/WPA2 with a
shared passphrase (Pre-Shared Key).

My $0.02. :)

--
Bill


Posted by Philip J. Koenig on August 23, 2005, 10:21 am
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parcxman@netscape.net (Bruce) writes...

> I have to have wired and wireless capabilities. Some machines that will
> be using Comcast are wired only, and some also have wireless
> capabilities. These are desktops and notebooks, upstairs and downstairs.
>
> Someone else is setting up the SBC Yahoo! DSL which will also be wired
> and wireless. Will these two wireless signals peacefull coexist?
>
> Since there will be a high density of wireless users in the area, I need
> to select a router that will provide good security. I've been looking at
> the following, but I have to admit it's beyond me to decipher what's
> important and what's marketting. Should I automatically eliminate any of
> these? (I have an old D-link 514 in my house now, that works fine, but I
> suspect security capabilites have long since passed this one up.)
>
> D-link 524, 624
> Netgear WGR614, WGT624, WPN824NA
> Linksys WRT54G, WRT54GC, WRT54GS


Motorola makes a decent DOCSIS (cable) modem that includes
a WiFi access point. Friend of mine uses this and it works
fine, and has a decent configurable firewall function. It
was purchased retail somewhere. (Best Buy?)

As for wireless security, AFAIK it doesn't support WPA, but
it does support WEP. You can make WEP a little more secure
by tweaking certain parameters like MAC restrictions and
SSID broadcast, depends on how far you want to take this.
I personally keep having weird problems getting WPA to work
on XP boxes, and if anyone is using older OS's it could
also be an issue to get WPA working, so keep that in mind.



--
* Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which *
* differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are *
* even incapable of forming such opinions. -- Albert Einstein *
* *
* To send email, remove numbers and spaces: pjkusenet64 @ ekahuna27 . com *
* Simple answers are for simple minds. Try a new way of looking at things. *


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