Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream

Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream
Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus 2002-05-08

An ambitious hackware project promises to bring illicit broadband "uncapping" to the masses, and with it the risks that come with high-speed hijinks.

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-09
Anonymous (6 replies)

Make no mistake, any who do this are not hackers, they are thieves. They steal not only from the ISP but also from anyone else on their node. It is sickening that there is always a few idiots, massive idiots, that have to cause problems for everyone else. But hey, If I had a dollar for every looser ...

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Yeah well... 2002-05-09
Myko (8 replies)

I like how you generalize everyone into one big worthless pile. That makes no sense. I'm sure you pay for EVERY program you use, right? Or send each artist the 3$ for the mp3 that you download that they wrote, and is actually contained on a CD on a shelf at Best Buy. Hello Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle.
...

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Yeah well... 2002-05-09
Anonymous (3 replies)

how is DerEngel a theif - he isn't stealing anything - just like napster wasn't a theif... they didn't steal music. Merely because someone goes out and demonstrates a weakness in a system, doesn't mean that that person is criminal. The only criminals are the people who are uncapping their modems (...

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Yeah well... 2002-05-09
Anonymous (3 replies)

The fact is that Uncaping modems is not that bad in my eyes. The ISP, like all companies wants the most money out of its users. To me this is the wake up call to those companies that there is a way to break up their manopoly for expensive high speed bandwith. So if the rates go up expect more unC...

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Yeah well... 2002-05-10
Anonymous

What to you mean "if" rates go up?

Comcast just jacked people another $10/mo after they told them it would go down. This, after they implemented their joke of a Usenet service (1 GB/MONTH!!! limit, that's about 2 days worth of HEADERS ONLY).

When the corporate attitude of the broadband monopol...

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Yeah well... 2002-05-10
The Midnight Runner

It isn't that bad, until your neighbor decides to uncap his modem, and you are stuck with 9600 baud frame rates when you play Q3.

If it's uncapped, it can turn into tragedy of the commons really fast.. Two people on your segment uncap, and set up all sorts of servers. If I couldn't do what I wa...

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Yeah well... 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Hello Dumb***...

Continue to uncap, making connections slow for others, and the cable service unprofitable, and don't be surprised if it is no longer even offered in your area......

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Yeah well... 2002-05-09
Anonymous (5 replies)

Did you miss spelling class? It's I-before-E-except-after-C, buddy. It's THIEF, not THEIF....

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that's weird 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Or according to your little spelling rule: wierd .....

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You are idiots!!!! 2002-05-10
Anonymous (3 replies)

You are all morons. It is stealing no matter how you justify it. You must be a bunch of spoiled children. So, if you rob a bank and get away with it, it is not stealing? If you shoplift and don't get caught its not stealing? Come on, use your brains....

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Re: You are idiots!!!! 2006-12-06
Anonymous (1 replies)

I'd say the record-breaking billion-dollar profits that banks record, and the 7-figure salaries their CEOs take home each year also constitute stealing....

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Re: Re: You are idiots!!!! 2007-08-02
Anonymous

The profits are there, and always will be ... anyone who defends corporations that are making billion dollar profits and paying ceo's money they are positively not worth - just shows their ignorance. The bandwith that's out there is "finite" - that's true - but if the isp's would put reasonable pric...

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Re: You are idiots!!!! 2007-01-10
VoIP

Well, seeing as how I work in a VoIP based comapny and know how HIGH SPEED SERVICE PROVIDERS charge you for a connection speed you never get, I promote this idea. It is not stealing, it is getting what you are paying for. Or at least collecting what you were cheated out of.

Sort of like how I "ha...

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Re: You are idiots!!!! 2008-02-20
the keeper (1 replies)

cable has a pretty fast connection speed already. although the bigger files get the more they need to design a load balancing system for their capping.basically direct the bandwidth to the modem connections that seem to need and use more. in short connection one is viewing this page only needs *** k...

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Re: Re: You are idiots!!!! 2008-07-21
Anonymous

What the hell are you talking about? The company caps speeds so when you're downloading linux other people can still use the service. What you're talking about is a parking lot without lines, it doesn't make sense. And when you get service you're ordering maximum throughput not some guaranteed min ...

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Yeah well... 2002-05-10
Mike Barnhart

I before E? Seems you are one of those who was tricked into a silly rule...

beige, cleidoic, codeine, conscience, deify, deity, deign,

dreidel, eider, eight, either, feign, feint, feisty, foreign, forfeit, freight, gleization, gneiss, greige,

greisen, heifer, heigh-ho, height, heinous, heir, h...

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Yeah well... 2002-05-10
Etymologist

While, I agree with your correction, please explain the "rule" for the word "weird" for me.

(and you forget the rest of it ... "except when it's 'ay' as in neighbor or weigh.")

Thanks

Your friendly etymologist smartass

"The only rule to remember in Modern English spelling is, 'There are no r...

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Yeah well... 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Correcting his spelling? wow. Grow up! You must be 15 :-)...

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Re: Yeah well... 2005-06-01
DeF-CoN (1 replies)

I hack(white hat, i tell companys wha the problem is with there source codes and then they fix it), but ive never tapped a modem, what if your internet goes down to around .001 mb pers sec, and you uncap to get it back up to your usual 2mb? IS THAT STILL ILLEGAL?...

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Re: Re: Yeah well... 2008-07-21
Gunshinzero

Do you people even know anything about cable internet? If your speeds drop uncapping wont help at all. It's going to be a signal quality issue or the circuit is maxed. There is no legal justifiable reason for uncapping your modem....

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Re: Yeah well... 2002-05-09
Tornberry (2 replies)

Nicely said Myko. Until you look at yourself, you should not have the right to judge others. The only reason I would use this "uncap trick" is to get me back on the speeds we payed for. (2000/384 is not the same as 1100/350.)...

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Thanks, but... 2002-05-09
Myko (8 replies)

I'm not saying what I did was right, I'm simply saying, that if you're going to moosh everyone together in a group, you better make sure you don't fit the criteria as well.

If you download a commercial artist's music, and don't own the CD, ideally, you're stealing.

If you're using Adobe Photos...

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Thanks, but... 2002-05-10
ov3r (2 replies)

Very beautiful... Totally agree....

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Thanks, but... 2002-05-10
Anonymous (1 replies)

Tell me, when a burgler breaks into your house and kills your children, is the burgler not responsible because the security system didn't work right? Oh, sure -- you'll tell me that this is extreme, I realise. Where do you draw that line where the defeating of security no longer becomes wrong? An...

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Re: Thanks, but... 2008-05-09
Sol

If a burglar broke into your house and killed your family, they'd be called a murderer. Anyways as far as the uncapping goes, I figure if you're not using it to steal any programs/music/games and are just using it to get bandwidth that seems deserved there's nothing wrong with it. For example if a...

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Holy Ones.... 2002-05-10
Anonymous (1 replies)

I always get a kick out of that "anons cant say anything".

One of the great things about the internet... anonymous free speech.

I was not that anon poster....but what do you expect, a name and address from the guy?

Or even better...an IP address to DoS?

Oh yeah, you can't do that an...

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Re: Holy Ones.... 2007-05-03
Rita G

If you truly believe that Artists make their money touring, the you truly live in a world all your own. Stealing is stealing, bottom line. Stealing is the primary reason a loaf of bread is now 10 time more expensive, and why the is a 97% SGP markup on batteries. I think it's pretty callous to cu...

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Thanks, but... 2002-05-10
Anonymous

And you "really" believed it was a ligitiment 'optimizer' ? No wait, don't answer that, i'm sure you do.

It's amazing how stupid kids are today....

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IP theft and PP theft are completely different. 2002-05-10
Henry Stern (1 replies)

There is a big difference between intellectual property theft and physical property theft. It is a moot point as to whether stealing a piece of software is theft, but uncapping a cable modem denies service to everyone else in the neighbourhood and raises the infrastructure costs for the ISP.

The...

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Re: IP theft and PP theft are completely different. 2008-02-20
Anonymous

bandwidth wouldnt exist if ppl didnt use it they sell us a network connection and choke it what good is that really.

thats like us having to pay cable bills even though overpriced commercials plauge tv enough to probably cover all cost for any company and the internet they dont give you a choice th...

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Myko the tragic 2002-05-10
Anonymous (2 replies)

Earth to Myko -- some of us DO pay for all of the music we listen to, and DO pay for all of the software we use.

I realize it may be hard for your little ego-centric mind to contemplate the idea of not being entitled to something simply because you want it, but welcome to the real world.

Forgi...

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Re: Myko the tragic 2005-10-02
Anonymous

Amen! I congratulate the author of the article for focusing more on the aspects of the problems, and a lot less on the person that he used as an example, because if people had seen how he is acting in these posts in the article itself, they might downplay the severity of what the article was trying...

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Re: Myko the tragic 2006-10-22
Anonymous

Personally, I don't give a shit if it bothers people when I download music, or mess around with speed settings. You complaning about it, and DRM measures aren't going to stop it.

On the speed subject, since I'm paying for 8mbps download, I'm going to GET 8mbps. Obviously, the teleco company does ...

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Thanks, but... 2002-05-10
Nathan Woodruff (1 replies)

I've met a bunch of punk teen age something kids. Some almost in their 30's. I've got to say that you are close to the top of my list. I am in my middle 30's.

I'm not holier than thou myself. I've driven 155 in a 65mph zone. But, I can afford a car that can do that.

My point is, if you had mon...

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Re: Thanks, but... 2006-12-06
Anonymous

It seems like the whole point of modem hacking is motivated by telcos throttling heavy downloaders. In this case, it doesn't matter how much money you throw at your internet connection, because even at the fastest package offered by the telco, they're still going to castrate your internet connection...

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Thanks, but... 2002-05-10
Medievalist

I post semi-anonymously to avoid getting spammed. Any real hacker can find me relatively easily - there are clues all over the net, dating back to at least the early 80s....

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Thanks, but... 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Everyone steals a little. If you claim you don't, then you are lying. Myko just got the short end of the stick.... it happens to people all the time. The thing is when you unlock you cable modem, you are not just stealing from a company, you are stealing from other people , and that is not a good...

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Thanks, but... 2002-05-10
Spectrum

You broke the rules, live with the results....

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Re: Yeah well... 2002-05-10
LimboBoy

There's a trend I'm noticing increasingly, corporations being quick to call their consumers on any wrongdoing in their part, but the inability for the consumers to do likewise. It's perfectly legal for a company to exert its monopoly and raise rates while limiting value, but the consumer is suppose...

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Idiot 2002-05-10
Nagora

"I like how you generalize everyone into one big worthless pile. That makes no sense."

All thieves are thieves, what is there that makes no sense in that? Saying that a thief is not a thief is the nonsense.

"I'm sure you pay for EVERY program you use, right?"

Yep.

"Or send each artist th...

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Yeah well... 2002-05-10
Anonymous

DerEngel should be considered to be no higher on the food chain than a virus author. A thief is a thief. If you do not pay for the software you use then you are a thief. Get a clue, wrong is always wrong....

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Yeah well... 2002-05-10
Anonymous (1 replies)

Well yeah, I do pay for my programs, and I have better things to do than chase down MP3's. Listen, if you are dipping an extra bucket into a shared bandwidth pool, then you poaching on every other cable customer, not just the provider. Stealing is stealing....

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Re: Yeah well... 2006-12-12
Anonymous

wow.. accidently got to this thread.. folks ya really gotta find somethin better to do with your time.. enjoy the day...

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RE: Yeah well... 2002-05-10
Medievalist

Myko, I agree that DerEngel is not necessarily a thief. I don't know what he does with his own connection, nor do I know what contract he has made with his service provider - but the act of writing an exploit is not in itself unethical.

However, you've made the same mistake in your reply that ...

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Re: Yeah well... 2008-07-21
Anonymous

Dude bandwidth setting are linked to the billing system where I work and I'm sure it is everywhere else. A person may give their friend a discount package but they're still paying for exactly what they get...

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Re: Yeah well... 2009-10-06
Anonymous

whose fault is it if you leave the key to your front door under your welcome mat and you lose a 60 inch tv, xbox 360, ps3. just because you assume the public is stupid and a bunch of zombies that will pay rediculous amounts for severely capped internet that is way behind the times (japan gets intern...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
RayReis (at) aol (dot) com [email concealed] (1 replies)

I feel that there should be no speed limit via cable modems. The ISP's should make higher bandwidth available to the home user. This may actually keep customers honest. A lot of hackers do their evil because this higher bandwidth is normally unattainable, which makes it an attractive taboo. In an...

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$36,000 OC3 a month ??? Small Biz gets the SHAFT!! 2008-03-05
Shafted

This issue as I see it is ass Backwards on this site. Biz takes the hit as we have to pay VERY high T1 costs just to supply content to our customers at an reasonable speed. We pay for OUTBOUND and you pay little for inbound. We get screwed NOT the residential customers. Residential has it easy. ISP...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

if this kid had any sense he would have given himself a more modest increase in speed. I doubt that a 25% increase would be noticed, unless he ran a warez server or kazaa. I have DSL. I don't understand where the cable modem folks have any room to complain. their speeds are typically double or tripl...

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Re: Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2006-09-05
Anonymous

Who's the theif? Do the ISPs charge less for slower connections? No....

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Re: Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2009-06-26
Anonymous

Internet should be free, just like the man who create it wanted it to be...

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Re: Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2009-07-23
Anonymous

WhatEver!!!...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-09
Anonymous (2 replies)

Great all we need is a all in one program for the dumbasses of the world to jump aboard on the uncapping. 40k upstream damn right I uncapped it. I dont consider it stealing just talking what is rightfully mine. ...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous Ranter (1 replies)

See that, I didnt even read this and here it is, a "rightfully mine" type.

If it was yours "rightfully", don't you think it would have been in your contract?

No, it is yours "wrongfully"

Broadband is already fast...why bother to make it faster at the risk of losing the service? Not to ment...

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Re: Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2006-12-06
Anonymous

If a company develops a cure for cancer or AIDS, would they have the right to charge $10k for the service? People don't always do what's "right", but neither do companies in their contracts....

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50 times 28kbs speed my broadband company claims 2002-05-10
Jon in san diego

so where is it? oh do i need to do something on my end to activate that advertised speed? I get 30-33 kbs sped now, the cable company has never been clear on how i get that speed if i have to do it myself or not....

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-09
Anonymous (1 replies)

I guess it is fine that the ISP dosen't provide me with a minimum service level agreement, yet applies a cap to my maximum bandwith. If my service is running at 128K and I pay for 512K service are they not stealing from me? The only way I found out what my 'service agreement' capped me at was by loo...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

you need to learn how to read an agreement...

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Why is this even a story? 2002-05-09
Anonymous (2 replies)

The guy agreed to pay x for y level of service. He then uncapped his modem. The ISP caught him and banned him. Big deal, no harm no foul, etc. This is not a matter of whether someone is a criminal, but of whether or not they violated a contract. This guy clearly did....

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Why is this even a story? 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Because that's not the story. Its primarly about the people uncapping their modems and the new uncapping software, with an anecdote of what the possible consequences are....

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Why is this even a story? 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Well it could be considered a story in that respect since under @home uncapping was not part of the AUP or the contract. Most companies after the collapse of @home modified the contracts without notice to give them carte blanche to impose bandwidth caps with no notice and no options. The original ...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous (4 replies)

roughly speaking, it seems that this whole issue

boils down to X amount of bandwidth available for

N amount of people; each person is "on their honor"

to take X/N bandwidth, and if they do not how is

this much different from going 150 mph on the

freeway? ...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous (9 replies)

My car will only do 138 on the freeway due to the speed/rev limiter. But I'd love to figure out how to be able to do 150 when I wanted to... If traffic wasn't so bad and if I could uncap the speed/rev limiter I could do it.

Lack of speed is not the problem it's only the symptom. Do you realize t...

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re: 2002-05-10
Petester (1 replies)

ha, yea you can increase the rev limit or speed governor.. if you can't go faster than 138 and you're redlining in top gear then there ain't anything to do unless you build your engine/get a wider geared tranny but if it's a governor, that's different. all that is controlled in the ecu (engine compu...

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Re: re: 2007-04-05
Weasel

Pee Tester,

well put.. I disagree with the overall car/rev-limiter/speed analogy because it's difficult to think that the road (the "pipes") has an overall maximum physical speed limit (sure, one could break the imposed speed limit, but that wouldn't cause the rest of the traffic to go slower, an...

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Bandwidth should be free for everyone? Yeah, right. 2002-05-10
Anonymous

I really don't see how underutilizing fiber connections has got anything to do with cable modems and uncapping them. Whoever puts money into fibers and leased lines has every right to use them in any way they wish. First thing is that it's their property, not yours to decide what to do with and se...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Seamus McBlrfl, a long-time Network Professional

So what is it about lighting an unused strand of fiber that runs between Chicago and Kansas City that you think will improve things? Do you really think fatter pipes at the core of some telecom's network will magically make things go faster in your little corner of suburbia?

High-speed Internet ...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Keep in mind that fibre isnt free, and lighting up all the unused resources wouldnt be without expense. The highways, to continue with a previously used analogy, is a public resource; a public expense. The fibre is a private resource, although it will be sold to the public. ISP's arent in the bus...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

In the case of cable modem's that's not true... the bandwidth in a given node is limited... so they base the size of a node on the number of people in it, assuming each user is using a certain amount of speed... if suddenly each user is taking 2-3x more bandwidth something is going to give...

Thi...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

I agree that there is a lot of un/under utilized bandwidth capacity out there, and that I am paying my cable co. way too much money for my connection.

But, the problem is the local connection. If my neighbors on the same branch are all maxing out at 10Mb then there is the choke point.

That is...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Pocketmnky

Yeah, but it's their network, isn't it? You ISP pays for that bandwidth. Install, upkeep, support, everything. If you want to have unlimited bandwidth, either run an optical line out of your garage, or pay for the bandwidth the way they do!

Uncapping isn't a question of morality, it's a questi...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
The Midnight Runner

The issue is not the backbone... Yes there is a ton of it!

The issue is the sidebands that are available. Most places do not have fiber running up to their door. Not even on the poles. It's coax.

You have a OC-12 or whatever to the backbone. The line that injects into that is coax, which is m...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

er, no, not pure greed.

The routing equipment costs $$$$$$$$$.

They just put the fiber in all at once, and light it when they can afford the routers. It only costs once to lay down a whole whack of cables....

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous (1 replies)

if they'd let me pay for the extra bw i'm taking, i would...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Exactly! I'm about to take a 65% cut in DL bandwidth just to crack the 128K barrier that AT&T has over me. Oh ya, did I mention that I'll be paying more than twice as much as I do now to get it? I never could get a quantitative answer from AT&T as to what my service was supposed to be, only "seve...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Your analogy is incorrect. It's not about your car speeding 150 mph, it's about you claiming an entire freeway LANE for yourself....

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Your All Wimps Own Up To Your Actions 2002-05-10
NonovUrbizniz

It's different because if i live next door to you and you uncap your modem I loose bandwidth that i'm paying for. If your driving next to me doing 150 your indangering my life but you not reducing my speed.

By un-capping your modem your not only breaking your service contract with the provider yo...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

The only thieves are the ISP's who offer unlimited bandwidth, then becuase you use what exaactly what you pay for decide to cap you. It totally stinks, my ISP is going to be capping soon. If i don't use all my bandwidth in one month will i get a rebate or will it carry over until the next month? I t...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
LiquidX (2 replies)

why not give us the bandwidth were paying for in the first place? i mean if its 1500/256 and were only getting 1200/150 i feel that i have a *right* to uncap it up to what i pay for, dont you?...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

why not learn something about networks before you fault your isp because tcp ip has some overhead? The actual data being moved is not the only data, you have packet headers, application level wrappers, lost packets. this is academic. go to www.cisco.com and do some reading....

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
HTiL

yes thats true, i feel the same way with my 'a'dsl..

if you look at their agreement (most isp agreements) they specificly say blah blah does not guranteed 1500 or whateaver your cap is, only upto.. my dsl is 1.5/512, i get about 1/256 and theres not a damn thing i can do about it, with adsl there i...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Rob (9 replies)

Most ISP's offering DSL throttle bandwidth from their location. The downside to this is that you don't know exactly what your cap is. DSL providers have always had an interesting way of dodging speed issues by stating that no SLA exists for the service, or that there is a set overhead. At least w...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Actually, that is an accurate assessment. I work as cablemodem support for one of the larger companies, and I always hear the engineers talking about how the reverse path is the most precious resource we have, which is why the upload speed is often much lower than the download speed. Apparently, the...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Nex

NO NO NO!!!!

128 is not hardware!!!!!! That's where it's at, uncap upstream. Now if i knew how to get by ATT, I don't wanna loose my cable :-( But 128 up SUX....

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bandwith uncapped by ISP 2002-05-10
t0rm3nt3d

when i first had my cable installed i was supposed to have unlimited down but only 128 up. i called them and had a nice long chat with them about the lack of performance when it came to gaming. i told thme that i pay $50 a month and i expect to get what i am paying for, high speed access and low low...

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Clarification. 2002-05-10
Myko

Yes, I'm the person that is in the article.

My uncap wasn't heavy, it reset me back to the @home cap.

When I did it, I was completely unaware that it edited the config file on the physical cable modem itself. I really did assume it was a connection optimizer, something that changed settings in the...

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Re: System limitation 2002-05-10
Jeremy

From what I read when I used to be on the Cable Modem bandwagon, some systems have a limitation on the upstream, some do not. By "used to be" I mean CableOne bought local service from the now defunct @home, capped us at 1/4 of our previous speed, raised our monthly rate $10 unless we subscribed to ...

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they brought it on them selves 2002-05-10
Anonymous ISP Net Eng.

On the contrary, if you look into your DSL modem, it will tell you what speed you are getting. This is rather easy to do with Xyzel modems (642, 645, etc) management interfaces. For example, while working with Sprint I discovered that the service customers were getting for 1.5M/384 was delivered a...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Yeah right an 128 kbits upload limit, if you're happy with it, then i suposse you havent used the "Broadband" experience, i had to chance to an diferent plan in order to get an higher upload speed from my provider right now 384 kbps, 512 download, original plan: 128 kpbs up/1024 down, and i pay an h...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

If I was seeing anywhere near 1.5/128k I would leave it as is. The sad truth is my cable company has capped our upload at 16k. Im sorry but 16k takes the BROAD out of broadband. So, until there is another viable connection or until Comcrap changes their ways, uncapping I will be....

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream - Re: DSL Limits 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Yes, "bleed over" will occur because the modem is set to use a specified range of your phone line for upstream and downstream. Those phone line filters simply filter out the frequencies reserved for your modem from the rest of your phones....

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Using What's Paid For 2002-05-10
Anonymous

From a legal perspective, if you pay for X and you take X+Y, you are stealing. Uncapping cable modem speed to get more than you are *guaranteed* is no different than stealing from a brick and mortar store. And, most broadband ISP's do not provide an SLA unless you are a business customer. Those S...

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Take back whats ours 2002-05-10
Anonymous (1 replies)

I have to agree with LiquidX and Anonymous. Get what you actually pay for. These ISP rape you with costs and give no reasonable service. Take back whats rightfully ours...

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Re: Take back whats ours 2005-08-28
Anonymous

An ISP promises X dl speed and you get less than X than it would be a right to uncap? or would it?.....seems justified...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

ok way way way UP HERE in the Canadian wilderness here I sit.You may think living in unholy unvirtual western Canada sounds like about as appealing as going to a granny stripper retirement home for wrinkled nipples but we do at least get one thing that many of you have to wait or are STILL waiting f...

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Cable Modem Ethics 2002-05-10
DerEngel

Uncapping your cable modem becuase you think your ISP is ripping you off is not a good reason. Your ISP never forced you to sign up, you did that on your own. Cable is the best broad band service you can get.

Uncapping a cable modem is a sport, there are always rules and always exceptions to thos...

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Most would Agree, Don't Charge for Bandwidth and everything will be fine. 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Well if they didn't charge for bandwidth, then they would have these problems. DSL Providers dont charge for Bandwidth and they are doing fine....

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Doesn anyone else see a problem here? 2002-05-10
Ancker (2 replies)

Does anyone else realize that the cable companies are shooting themselves in the foot?

It's like the 7-11 advertizing that the lock on the back door is broken. And the Alarm system isn't working properly.

I don't see a problem with squeezing out a little extra bandwidth, but when you are inhib...

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Doesn anyone else see a problem here? 2002-05-11
Anonymous

The ONLY problem is WITH the cable companies...

i.e., MediaCom -- Come use our Mediacom Service --

(there is actually no such thing) they lease/rent services from others like @Home & ATT -- then AFTER you sign up you realize that THEIR provider @HOME is going thru bankruptcy!

Then Mediacom AGAIN....

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Doesn anyone else see a problem here? 2002-05-12
Consumer

The reason bandwidth varies is the cable companies use hubs instead of switches, and plan to keep using them as long as they can get away with it.

Even cheap routers that combine firewalls, NAT, print and DHCP servers for less than $100 have switched ports, so why can't the cable providers upgrad...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Bren

We could all sit here and debate the legality and morality of this for an eternity. But, I think it's real simple. There's and agreement in place between the ISP and the customer about unacceptable behavior. There's a reason for this. It is irrelevant whether or not it's right, or whether or not it'...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Olin

Its a catch 22. I am a cable user and I have been unhappy with speeds, but I know it is stealing motivated by greed to take more then my neighbors.

Broadband ISP holding back bandwidth = greed.

Broadband customer taking more bandwidth then others = greed.

If I pay for 10 gallons of gas at ...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Olin

help! my ISP is a thief!!! 2002-05-10
SiX6SiX

so since my ISP when i signed up said unlimited downloads and i get 256 K download/64 upload, the fact i have never got that speed downloading and nowhere near uploading that, coupled with the fact im about to get a 2 gig a month upload/download limit at the start of next month, must mean that the b...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
A Network Administrator

On a cable modem network, the upload speed cap can directly affect the download speed. if the upstream is saturated by uploading (e.g., sending a large PowerPoint file to the boss, or running a Napster or other public service), the downstream will drop to about the same speed. This is a FACT.

...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
TekWorm

A truely interesting debate...

Some thoughts..

Are you absolutely certain about what your agreement promised?

I recently (6 weeks ago) acquired Broadband Service.

The sales pitch included: "Most Customers realize 'blah-blah', and in your particular area.. your connections will likely be above ...

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A Win-Win Solution 2002-05-10
BAShMaster

Capping is old. It should be thrown out, what in today's world of Quality of Service technology. Instead, they replace the serverside FIFOs with QoS pipes that give everyone equal use of the bandwidth. Since it's a pipe and not a cap, when no-one else is using the bandwidth, you get more. But when m...

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propaganda 2002-05-10
wes-side

I honestly believe that this is simply propaganda to try and deter people from uncapping. This is not even a real story. All fiction!...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Jay (1 replies)

Anonymous wrote: "Lack of speed is not the problem it's only the symptom. Do you realize that only approx 10% of the fiber laid in the US is even utilized. The ISP's/Telco's just want your money... We have 1000's of miles of completely un-used network infrastructure. The only reason we don't get mo...

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Re: Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2007-03-27
Anonymous

the agreement is for 10 and you only get 3 so in essance the isp has just stole from you and guess waht there is not a damned thing you can do about ityea try taken them to court ha ha ha the only thing is either cancil or steal so what does a person do?...

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This Is Why DSL Rules 2002-05-10
Anonymous (2 replies)

Thats why DSL rules, its not a shared line and the maximum bandwidth is higher anyway (8mb instead of 6mb), sure you gotta pay for the extra, but you do with cable too. But with DSL you can and you will always get your bandwidth, not have to fight with your neighbors. Sheesh, I tried to tell this to...

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This Is Why DSL Rules 2002-05-11
Anonymous (2 replies)

Quit being a tool..

All bandwidth is shared at one point or another.

Whether it be with your local neighbors, or with the telco's CO. It's STILL SHARED.

Gotta love DSL misinformation.. Yay..

...

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This Is Why DSL Rules 2002-05-12
Anonymous

He's not being a tool... If you are right and he is wrong, then whats the point of having a switch when hubs are so much cheaper?

Fact is, dsl is like a switched environment, whereas cable is more like a hub ya nimrod....

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This Is Why DSL Rules 2002-05-13
Anonymous

Finally some one knows what their talking about.

Node or DSLAM... it's still shared....

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This Is Why DSL Rules 2002-05-12
NetworkStud

Not to say you're technically incorrect, because you are technically correct that cable modem is shared in a neighborhood as opposed to DSL which is shared at the DSLAM level. But whether shared locally or shared at the DSLAM, it's ALL SHARED!!! Period! It's called oversubscription and EVERY ISP ...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
CRasch

I would have a problem if ATT would stop droping my download speeds every time they have a problem with the network. My upload speeds have drop from 364k to 256 allway down to 192kbs. If this keeps up I would be able to use it for VPN to the office. So yes My upload speeds are just as important as m...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Their is also TCP/IP overhead to consider. Just because you are sold 1500/512 doesnt mean you will. If they are giving you at least 90% of your rated speed then they are in compliance with their service agreements. TCP/ip Overhead can sometimes take up to 15% of the bandwidth....

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Myko's Dad

What Myko did was wrong, and I was very angry at him for costing me my service.

What realy sucks is I didn't know that he did it, or could do it.

We have 3 computer's online. The point is how safe is your system?...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Yeah I can sympathize. I have Comcrap now, but with my @Home service, I maxed out at ~700k/sec at the big servers and PTP between users. Now, with Comcapped, I have the 1500/128 cap, I pay $10/mo for my cablemodem service and $30 more in general for my cable service, and this has just been since F...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

Its all a hoax.... the cable companies are too lazy to intall new lines, and they are raking in the dough.... What do they do? They overload the nodes/network, then they tell everyone they need to raise prices to expand, your bill goes up $5/month, and you get SLOWER service over the same lines with...

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You want more speed - We NEED to support companies like >>>>>>>>>> 2002-05-10
-=PURE=- (1 replies)

http://www.switchpointnetworks.com/

This company has an excellent approach to settle the bandwith problems we all have. What makes this technology so great is they have been upgrading it with no problems and all speeds are same Up/Dn from 10M - 100M - now have installed 1Gig AND already testing a...

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You want more speed - We NEED to support companies like >>>>>>>>>> 2002-05-12
Anonymous

I think the switchpoint is the way to go. Fiber right to your front door .. Hell ya. I would even help pay for the fiber to be run to my house....

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-10
Anonymous

heres a crazy idea how bout the cable companys upgrade their equipment?

Did you know some of their hard ware dates back to when p133s where the top of the line running a masive 16 to 32 megs ram.

If the cable companys upgraded their hard ware then all would get alot more band width probly 2 to 3 m...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-11
Anonymous

I admire that he found the way but disheartened to see that there is an effort to spread this information. This is not good for the net as a whole. There is only so much bandwith to go around and this screws other people on thier node out of thier "fair" share. I'm just as curious as the next guy bu...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-11
Nephilm (1 replies)

I only have one issue here, and that is one of consumer rights. Like a lot of folks I own the cable modem hooked to my network rather than pay $5 a month for an inferior model. If someone executes code on any part of my machine without express consent, I hold that in the same regard as a virus or tr...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-12
Anonymous

you forget though that the changes are made at your end....

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I hope the ISP's cut everyone off - then what? 2002-05-11
Grouchy (4 replies)

If this new "uncapping" tool becomes so widespread and easy to use, the ISP's will have to make a decision: cut everyone off and have no paying customers left, or let it go and just deal with it....

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Uhm 2002-05-11
Myko

You might think it's that cut-and-dry.

There are a million things they can do to combat uncapping.

They can break it down to dollars and cents, and charge you for the extra bandwidth, they can govern the speed on their side, making it near impossible for you to adjust your speed settings (ala DSL)...

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I hope the ISP's cut everyone off - then what? 2002-05-12
Frenzy

They have to deal with it, duh. By the time uncapping really goes mainstream they'll have found a way to deal with it (unless you're usin comcast like me, they're some dumbasses. Read the e-mail reply at end). But seriously, most people who do uncap won't even use ALL of that extra bandwidth. I ...

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Answer to all postings 2002-05-12
Last1standing

Pretty soon you will see AOL/Time Warner offering burstable, non-burstable fibre into commercial accounts. Soon after, the market will break open and fibre, NOT hybrid coax/fibre will be avail to residential accounts. Verizon, AT&T will all have to play catch up....

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I hope the ISP's cut everyone off - then what? 2002-05-12
Anonymous

i hope they do cut them all off. less weight on the line means better speed for those who stay with it. yay!...

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To all the flamers and trolls, and people with... 2002-05-11
Myko

No comprehension skills.

I took full responsibility for what happened, regardless.

I told the abuse guy it was my fault, I told him what I did.

Now, whether it be through the use of a program, or following the simple step-by-step procedure, it happened.

My uncap wasn't ungodly, it wasn't t...

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Cable Modem Hacking - the only way for webcams 2002-05-11
Eto

If I can find a hack that will work on my computer, I will use it. Will I be caught? Not likely. There is no stipulation in my contract that says I can't change my upload speed, there is only a fair-use policy. If I stick to that, what is the problem?

What I would like to see, is an article on th...

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u guys are a bunch of goodie-goodies 2002-05-11
wat kinda threads are these

wtf? whats wrong with uncapping ur cable? it dont make u a thief. It is simply optimising the connection, cause they arent allowing you the full value of what u paid for. Think about overclocking. Thats NOT illegal, chipmakers dont mind it, but it allows u to raise your clock speeds at your own ris...

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Cable Modem Hacking in Germany 2002-05-11
Anonymous (1 replies)

Hi !

First, I've never done cable modem hacking and i even d'ont know if it`s possible to this in germany.

But i think doing this is OK.

In germany we had to pay to much for a long time for

connectings with a 33,6 kbps modem.

I remember times when charching bills came in from the

German Teleko...

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Cable Modem Hacking in Germany 2002-05-13
Anonymous b

Ii think the same way in here,the services we have suffered for years,at abussives prices,are my only neeed of an excuse to use.

My english also sucks....

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UK Cable Modem Hacking (nearly) Goes Mainstream 2002-05-11
Lee...UK

Ive been reading all these posts as the UK is just starting to get broadband, and I have come across these options to uncap my modem to super fast speeds...but please spare a thought for us in the UK...our only option for speed for broadband is 512k/128k (down/up) and thats at £25 a month, which i t...

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The Future 2002-05-11
Anonymous

I am anxiously awaiting the future of...

http://www.airswitch.com

Just think of the possibilities!!...

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Potential Virus Flaw here 2002-05-11
Anonymous

Imagine a remote hosted uncapper that ran without you knowing? Spread in your email and executed without clicking on a macro. Total chaos. Thats what AT&T needs to get off their high horse....

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-12
gizzmo

Excuse me if I'm wrong, but I hear a lot of people saying things like "I'd kick someone's a** if they made my cable slowdown because they uncapped" and I really just don't see how this affects anyone very much, except of course the cable monopolies. Let me illustrate (this situation will be extremel...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2002-05-12
Me, Myself and I

Considering what I have put up with on my ISP I say tale all you can while you can. Companies like Comcast that raise rates by $10 a month and half the time are not up and running or are as slow as ISDN line should suffer for their stupidity. Uncapping is what the customer is taking back for piss po...

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This is all moot if the network is configured correctly! 2002-05-12
NetworkStud

None of this crap really even matters is the network is configured correctly. Let the hackers hack their modem all day long. If the network and CMTS is configured correctly, no one can overcome any limit set by the network architech. NO ONE! End of discussion....

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Just my opinion 2002-05-13
SDVN

...so if one person is uncapping his/her modem, all others have to suffer?... it would be ok with me to uncap only if I would be getting a better service while everybody else doesn't suffer from it. Smart people have a privilage to get better things, but decreasing speeds of other people... that I d...

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Imagine every idiot having 8mbit at home... 2002-05-13
max at kirgizia dot net

.. now what? I think a small group of uncappers could easily bring down entire corporate networks and ISPs just beacause they didn't like on of their users behavior on IRC. The Internet will drown in the eternal tears of sorrow in case everyone uncapps. Or at least just up to 10 users per ISP - they...

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an interesting question of ethics 2002-05-13
sephalix (1 replies)

It seems to me that in the computer/network world that the definition of stealing is a little fuzzy. Now, i do not consider file sharing or IRC trading to be stealing; you are not depriving anyone of property. but one must question, that since network bandwidth is finite and more bandwidth for one e...

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Let me sum all this up 2002-05-13
Anonymous

To stay on topic, and not stray into the idiocy of a spelling bee.

I work for a Cable internet service provider. And on occasion, when we find a customer that has cronic slow speed issues, and we have exhausted all other methods of trying to restore his normal service, we too use a speed patch.
...

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DOCSIS fundamentally flawed 2005-06-12
Anonymous

This problem could be easily avoided if speed limits were enforced at the head end rather than the subscriber end. The subscriber should be able to purchase and configure all equipment on their end as they see fit. It should be the providers responsibility to maintain and secure the head end properl...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2006-10-05
Juan

I would question how a "corporate partisan" security company got highr placement in GOOGLE than the actual book. How demonizing the author who is standing up for freedom of information is a bad thing. How blaming the author for discovering "security holes" that the Kevin Poulsen of the corporate r...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2007-07-17
Anonymous

The problem isnt uncapping the problem with this internet speed BS is that we paid for fiber networkign in the 90's and NOTHING was ever done do some research and you'll find out that BILLIONS of our tax dollars were consumed by those great assholes we call politicians. Last time I checked we were ...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2007-07-29
Anonymous (1 replies)

My point of view is that my local cable internet provider (Charter) is lousy, ( read the latest ratings, Charter is at or near the bottom) and that if I could get faster service, I would.

There is no competition to Charter in this area or I would switch in a heartbeat. I can hardly wait for a ...

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Re: Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2007-12-06
ShtHappens

I have windstream and use a SIEMENS Speedstream 4100 modem. I pay $99 a month for my DSL, T3, supposed to be 3 megs, but in reality I get 350Kbs, sometimes. Ya I complain, but the response is always the same, your contract states "up to 3 Megs"... so am I wrong for wanting to up my speed for which I...

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Cable Modem Hacking Goes Mainstream 2008-06-18
Anonymous

You can think that opening up your connection is stealing but to be honest with you. How many of you know for a FACT that you are truly getting what you signed up for in your contract?

To be honest, most ISP's will set you at around half the speed you sign up for and when you call in they'll bla...

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