Re: Insight Broadband

[Todd Davis <tdavis@msfw.com>]

Of course, if you have already set up your account with the windows
machine the easiest thing to do is just "clone" the MAC address of the
Windows box.  

Most of the home "internet router" devices have the ability to clone the
MAC.  Once you've put the device between your windows machine and the
cable modem, pull up the web interface of the gateway (from the windows
machine) and locate the option to clone the MAC address.  Some devices
like the D-Link ones just have a clone button that will assign the MAC
of the machine your using to browse.  Others, like Linksys models will
have you key in the MAC address for the gateway to use.

Once you have assigned the new MAC to the gateway it is just a matter of
telling the gateway to retrieve a new IP address (usually another
button).


On Wed, 2003-08-13 at 20:21, Bill Fehring wrote:
> Chad, 
> 
> As far as I know, InsightBB's internet service is fairly consistent over
> the coverage area.  Getting this to work with linux though, is not a
> difficult thing to do at all but indeed there is a trick to it.
> I'm not sure what sort of networking background you have, but I will try
> to give you an "efficient" explanation.
> 
> As far as the cablemodem goes, it's simply an Ethernet bridge connected
> to a smarter-than-average Layer 2 network.  When you have a device (ex:
> a computer with a NIC) plugged into it, it of course has a unique MAC
> address right? Well, this is what insight uses for security of some
> degree.  They have a DHCP server that knows which of these MAC addresses
> are authorized, and which are not.  For the ones that are authorized, a
> public IP is assigned, along with the relevant gateway.  For the
> unauthorized devices, a private, non-routeable IP in addition to a
> pseudo-gateway type thing.  When you try to go to any website using a
> private IP on insight's network, you are redirected invariably to
> http://sas.r31.insightbb.com , which is a webserver that takes your 
> your 16-digit Insightbb.com account number and 12-digit registration
> code, and allows you to register the MAC address you're using.  They
> then tell you to reboot, because in windows, this will force a dhcp
> renew request, which will in turn result in receiving a public ip.
> More information is available on the "Device Change" process at 
> http://help.insightbb.com/account/device_change.html .
> 
> Please note though, that I have not tried this myself, as I am not an
> insight customer, and this theory of operation is something I just
> thought up after helping a few friends get their unix-like operating
> systems working with insight.  Presumably though, your plan of action is
> as follows:
> 
> 1. Connect the Linux machine to the cablemodem.
> 2. Run `dhcpcd eth0` to get a private IP on insight's network. (this is
> assuming that eth0 is the NIC connected to the cablemodem.
> 3. Fire up a browser (the newest version of Firebird is really nice have
> you tried it? ;-P) and go to http://sas.r31.insightbb.com
> 4. Run around your house screaming until you find your account number
> and registration code.
> 5. Enter in this information and click "Submit"
> 6. On the next screen, click replace to replace your old device's mac
> address (the windows box) with a new one (of the linux box)
> 7. On the website I'm getting this information from,
> http://help.insightbb.com/account/device_change.html it looks as if you
> may have to give it a name, though since you are REPLACING, that may not
> be the case.
> 8. Now the website says you have to reboot, which we all know is bull,
> run `dhcpcd -k eth0` to release the current ip address and `dhcpcd -n
> eth0` to renew the dhcp lease (and get a new, working IP address).
> 9. As you've probably discovered already, you get some very speedy 3
> megabit per second downloads on insight, try not to get busted by the
> RIAA ;)
> 
> Oh by the way, a little "gotcha" I've heard a few people mention.
> Supposedly, this device registration site uses Active-X controls or
> something.  If it seems to be not working in the browser of your choice,
> you may end up borrowing the NIC out of the linux box, putting it in
> your Windows machine only to do device registration in the worse excuse
> for a browser ever, IE.  After you're done, simply put the NIC back into
> the Linux machine and use dhcpcd.  Another solution would be (provided
> the Linux box was to be a router) get iptables and masquerading working
> real fast (hah) and just use IE on the windows box through the Linux
> router just as you will be after it's working.  Or, if you're really
> into it for some fun, try getting IE working under the latest build of
> wine.
> 
> I again remind everyone that I haven't tried this, I've had a long day,
> and I'm exhausted.  Feel free to correct me anything about this that may
> be wrong. (I realize that the previous statement is dangerous on a
> mailing list)
> 
> -Bill 
> 
> 
> On Wed, 2003-08-13 at 14:28, Chad Fendt wrote:
> > Hello,  I have recently moved to IL and am trying to
> > get my cable internet setup with InsightBB.  They seem
> > to not be very Linux friendly.  Does anyone on the list
> > have experience setting up a Linux box on the InsightBB
> > network?  Right now I have a Windows machine using the
> > cable modem, but I would like to eventually setup
> > a router/firewall and allow the two machines to share the
> > connection.
> > Thanks for any help, 
> > - chad
> > 
> > 
> > ______________________________________________________________________
> > Do you Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software


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