Nic

Yeah, they should ask you for the MAC ID number on the back of the modem. Once they set you up, you should be good to go. Another thing maybe worth mentioning-I moved a while back and the cable man came out to hook things up. The modem was not connecting at first. Turned out it was my firewall blocking it. Just something to keep in mind if you have a firewall.

ricky

Exactly. The mac address of the modem needs to be authorized on the network.

Cebby

Well, I tried calling and seeing if I could get around the "using their CD" thing, but I got a tool on the phone who insisted. So.... I tried to install it. I kept getting an error that it could not access my "kernel32.dll" file. I call them up and about 10 minutes later, it's humming right along.

I downloaded a large file (266Mb) from MS was getting over 7mb DL speed. Yep - just SLIGHTLY better than DSL...

Currently it is plugged in directly to my wife's machine - after I fix her issues, I'm going to hook it up to my router, etc. I'm still using the DSL line for now...

Churnd

They're always going to insist that you use their stupid CD. They have absolutely no reason to do so, as it does absolutely nothing for the functionality of things. Ask them to give you a good reason why, and they'll come up with some BS. What gets me is I can't figure out WHY they won't just drop it. Are they making money off of it or something? I don't get it. Don't worry though... if you ever get tired of their stupid crap, you can uninstall it and restore IE to it's defaults.

Are you using the router on your DSL line now? If so, you'll need to hard reset it before hooking it up to the cable modem. DSL uses PPPoE, and your router had to be configured that way in order to function. Cable doesn't use anything special... it's a plug and play deal which is why a routers default settings will work fine. Don't forget your usual wireless security measures if you have it.

Cebby

Got it rolling along now on the cable modem. All I had to change in the router control panel was from PPPoE to Obtain IP Automatically and it was off to the races.

I have the Vonage kit from Sams Club that I'll be setting up tonight.