Cable Modem/USB

Fluffer · Post by **Fluffer** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 6:01 pm

Recently got a cable modem installed. Its connected via a NIC in a PII 233 MMX Win 98, Office 2000 machine. What I would like to do is occassionally connect my laptop to the cable modem via a USB lead.

A) is this possible?
b) if so what settings etc do I need to set up on each machine and more importantly how?

Any simplified answers would be much appreciated.

Cheers

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Thu Jul 11, 2002 10:05 pm

if your talking bout sharing it you would need a router and a swith then an ethernet to pc card or it it has a usb port ethernet to usb connecter. if you mean plugging the modem to the laptop by its self just unplug it from the comp and connect it to the laptop. install the drivers and configure.

Robot Army · Post by **Robot Army** » Mon Jul 15, 2002 10:36 am

Best bet really is to use a router. Your cable modem caches the MAC addr. of the interface connected to it, so if you dont use a router, you'll be stuck having to reset the cable modem every time you want to switch from one machine to the other (because each machine's NIC has a different MAC addr.). With a router, the modem always sees the same MAC by default, so you can switch things around all you want behind it without disturbing the modem .....

Fluffer · Post by **Fluffer** » Mon Jul 15, 2002 2:12 pm

This is all getting a tad expensive etc. Maybe I didn't explain things too well or I just don't understand what I am trying to do. So I will have another go.

Have a cable modem working fine on a PC.
I also have a laptop with NO NIC card and a 56k modem

What I would like to do using a USB link is simply connect my laptop to the cable modem OCASSIONALLY if I need to download stuff off the net etc PLUG n PLAY if you will.

I don't want to set up a network etc I am just trying to see if it is possible to take advantage of broadband on my laptop via a USB instead of using a 56k dial in modem.

Hope that makes some sense. If this possible? If yes how? if no then fair enough.

Thanks for the replies so far :-)

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Mon Jul 15, 2002 3:41 pm

well if your only doing it once or twice a month. then do it my way. or even yet connect the laptop to the desktop comp with a crossover usb cable and just downlaod it with the desktop. then transfer.

Fluffer · Post by **Fluffer** » Mon Jul 15, 2002 3:47 pm

I assme you are talking about something similar to a direct cable data transfer?

If so that sounds interesting, if I can get broadband speed. If not what sort of speed through the cable are we talking about?

Is a crossover USB any different from a standard USB cable?