Can I use someone elses modem on my cable line?
13-12-2007, 18:09
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#1
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cf.member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 1
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Can I use someone elses modem on my cable line?
Hello All,
My little brother has Virgin Media cable broadband (used to be ntl) at his university tenancy. He's got a 4mb connection and is coming home for xmas. He says he will bring his cable modem and use it from our house.
I also have VM (telewest) but am on 2mb. My brother seems to think that if he plugs his modem into my cable connection at home I will get his 4mb connection and we can use that until he goes back. Is that true?
I'm scared that VM will think we are trying to do something dishonest and cut my connection or something! 
I'm not very technical so could someone tell me if this is okay to do?
Thanks
Kate
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13-12-2007, 18:12
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#2
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Poole, Dorset
Age: 23
Services: Sky+
V-Box
VM 10MBit
Posts: 10,108
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Re: Can I use someone elses modem on my cable line?
Not normally, no, they are normally tied to the UBR of the address it is registered, they have been known to work within small distances
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13-12-2007, 18:24
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#3
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Cable Forum Team
Join Date: Jun 2003
Age: 44
Posts: 11,926
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Re: Can I use someone elses modem on my cable line?
The modem is supplied for use at the specific customer address. Use anywhere else is against the terms and conditions of service. Arguably it could also be construed as theft of services, since you are only paying for 2 meg speeds at your house.
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13-12-2007, 18:29
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#4
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bah
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Nr Carnforth
Age: 33
Services: I want ntl 10mb *stomp*
Posts: 5,315
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Re: Can I use someone elses modem on my cable line?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob
The modem is supplied for use at the specific customer address. Use anywhere else is against the terms and conditions of service. Arguably it could also be construed as theft of services, since you are only paying for 2 meg speeds at your house.
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I'm not sure there is any wrong doing here Rob after all it works (as you know) so long as it is a modem registered to the same bit of the network. They are not stealing anything as both the 4mb and the 2mb connection are paid for.
I'd give it a shot and to heck with it, it will either work or it won't.
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13-12-2007, 18:38
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#5
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cf.mega poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: London
Services: 20Mb VM CM, Virgin TV
Posts: 5,309
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Re: Can I use someone elses modem on my cable line?
Quote:
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they are normally tied to the UBR of the address it is registered
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Not quite true, but moving modems across large distances is going to fail. Particularly from ex-ntl to ex-TW areas, where the historical differences in provisioning haven't been removed yet.
__________________
"An inquiry into the CONSTITUTIONAL ERRORS in the English form of government is at this time highly necessary; for as we are never in a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate prejudice"
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776.
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13-12-2007, 20:50
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#6
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vm.employee
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: The dog house
Services: In Touch: XL V+, XL BBI, XL V Phone , Virgin Mobile, Vodafone Mobile.
Posts: 404
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Re: Can I use someone elses modem on my cable line?
I think the bigger issue is that one is ex-TW and one is ex-NTL, they are still (at HFC and provisioning levels) two separate networks and won't work interchangeably.
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13-12-2007, 22:07
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#7
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cf.mega poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: London
Services: 20Mb VM CM, Virgin TV
Posts: 5,309
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Re: Can I use someone elses modem on my cable line?
Yes. Quite. That's what I, er, said.
__________________
"An inquiry into the CONSTITUTIONAL ERRORS in the English form of government is at this time highly necessary; for as we are never in a proper condition of doing justice to others, while we continue under the influence of some leading partiality, so neither are we capable of doing it to ourselves while we remain fettered by any obstinate prejudice"
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776.
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13-12-2007, 22:12
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#8
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i*NIX
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: In your base =)
Services: Your pseudo 'tech' ego.
Posts: 1,062
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Re: Can I use someone elses modem on my cable line?
Quote:
Originally Posted by BBKing
Yes. Quite. That's what I, er, said.
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Can I join in also?
The structure of the provisioning platform is quite different between ex-TW and ex-NTL, so no it will not work.
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15-12-2007, 00:19
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#9
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cf.addict
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 116
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Re: Can I use someone elses modem on my cable line?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeph
Not normally, no, they are normally tied to the UBR of the address it is registered, they have been known to work within small distances
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Going back a few years I used my Brother in law's modem to rule out a problem with our line, when our modem wouldn't connect (after being told by a relatively unhelpful tech that if our modem was found at fault by an engineer they would charge us*), although BIL only lives about 20 houses away on the same street so it was a fairly safe bet
back to the original poster, as most everyone has said it almost certainly won't work if it's out of the general area.
*it was on we'd bought, and they'd just moved over to renting the modems (I got the modem replaced by 3com direct).
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