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My dad asked me some questions about this thread, so I thought I would share some of what I have learned about the world of High Speed Internet, uncapping, etc. Gosh I love my Dad!
Shelly: "Your service could be capped, or your Windows settings could be incorrect." All CABLE and DSL Service is capped. No matter what, regardless of registry settings. Registry settings will not change the caps. DSL is capped at the ISP end, While cable is capped at the modem's end by the Config File that is downloaded by the modem from the TFTP server. A simple registry tweak will not change the caps.
Shelly: "Install the patch, you should see a dramatic speed increase." Not so...The caps will remain the same and therefore downloads will not improve much if at all. You may think they are but despite popular belief 99.9% of users are not effected by this registry "flaw".
Shelly: "There are default settings in Windows that are designed for dial up modems. These must be changed if you are using a broadband connection or they will limit your computers ability to handle data packets efficiently." This is not entirely true, if you are using an ethernet card and not a dialup card then the "defaults" are not used and your packets will be handled just fine. Windows does know the difference between Ethernet cards and dialup cards.
Shelly: "My cable service, like most in thia (sic) country is not, and never has been capped." Sorry to break it to you, but your country is and always will be capped, without caps specified to a cable modem a cable modem will not function correctly and cannot establish a signal to the main SERVER NODE.
Shelly: "DSL is limited (Capped) by the CO, it has nothing to do with the modem" You are correct in this statement, DSL unlike cable modems do nothing to modify the modem to establish a cap it is all at the server end. But cable modems download a config file from a TFTP server which specifies a CAP and many other settings such as DHCP settings and amount of IPs that are available to a single Modem. No CABLE modem can function properly without specified settings and caps.
Shelly: "Cable service can be limited in speed by the provider, but not at the modem. You can buy your own cable modem, and not use one from the cable company." This is total and complete CRAP. The cable modem is the only place cable companys can limit YOUR cable service (outside of limiting their node) once again..A config file is downloaded that specifies caps..if there is no config file...no caps...no internet
This is what a Motorola Surfboard SB4200 Cable modem Goes through (as the following logs from Cable Modems configuration page explain, see my notes in logs). ----------------------------------------------------------------------
************ 7-Information I510.0 *** BOOTING *** SB4200-0.4.4.0-SCM06-NOSH ************ 7-Information F502.1 Bridge Forwarding Enabled. ************ 7-Information F502.3 Bridge Learning Enabled. ************ 7-Information B0.0 Baseline Privacy ************ 7-Information I500.0 Registration Completed ************ 7-Information I0.0 REG-RSP Registration Response ************ 7-Information I0.0 REG-REQ Registration Request ************ 7-Information D509.0 Retrieved TFTP Config hsd1.5M.cfg SUCCESS //Config file downloaded ************ 7-Information D507.1 Retrieved Time....... FAILED ************ 7-Information D511.0 Retrieved DHCP .......... SUCCESS ************ 5-Warning D520.2 DHCP Attempt# 1 BkOff: 5s Tot DSC:1 OFF:1 REQ:1 ACK:1 ************ 7-Information D0.0 DHCP CM Net Configuration download and Time of Day ************ 7-Information T500.0 Acquired Upstream .......... SUCCESS // Cable modem establishes CAPS for upstream ************ 8-Debug T503.1 Acquire US with status OK, powerLevel 43, tempSid 792 ************ 8-Debug T505.0 Acquired Upstream with status OK // Cable modem verifies upstream with main server ************ 7-Information T501.0 Acquired Downstream (639000000 Hz)........ SUCCESS //Now the downstream Caps ARE SET!! WOOHOO! ************ 8-Debug T509.0 Acquired DS with status OK, DS Freq 639000000, US Id 2 // Cable modem verifies downstream with main server
------------------------------------------------------------------------ STATUS PAGE FROM CONFIGURATION PAGE ON CABLE MODEM
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Acquire Downstream Channel : Done Obtain Upstream Parameters : Done Establish IP Connectivity using DHCP : Done Establish Time Of Day : Failed Transfer Operational Parameters through TFTP : Done Register Connection : Done Initialize Baseline Privacy : Done Cable Modem Status : Operational
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is a cable modems actions after a boot 1. Power check and stabalize 2. Contact Server 3. Server (ATTBI is all i can verify) checks MAC Address of Modem 4. Cable modem downloads settings and config file and other information neccasary to function. 5. Cable modem loads the settings, CAPS and other features offered in config file. 6. Cable modem establishes controlled connection with server. 7. Once both agree that the connections are correct and settings are nice and neat, Its free to rome the internet.
Finally, while it is true that a cable modem CAN NOT BE UNCAPPED, Caps on a cable modem can be RAISED. This is what my dad will not let me do. }>
I hope this clears up some things. If you have any further questions I'll be happy to try and address them to the best of my ability.
Zakbob.
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