Seanster's Cable Modem Facts Page for Net Freaks!

Comments:

Hi. The net is my life, and if you're like me, the cable modem is the only way to go.

I began using it back in September/October 1996 when they started installing about 100-150 beta testers in the Kingston area. I was one of the unluckier testers. My modem was down more often than up, and required several visits from the cable technicians. In late December when they told me that my node was 'certified' and trial was over it was still not working. I guess they were under a lot of pressure to start making money.. Anyway, it wasn't until the second week of January (which I had to pay for) that the damn thing really started working properly. That required a couple more trips from the technicians and some equipment replacement at the head end.

Now that it's working I've begun to encounter network overloading, or at least problems that look like it. Cablenet is apparently in the process of improving that. I can't stand to go back to 288 so I will live with it :)

In Kingston, CGOCABLE (Cablenet) is the provider. They have a T1 from Kingston to Mississauga where the server is located. ISTAR is their upstream provider. They don't have a good rep regarding network loading. ISTAR's upstream provider is MCI.

Cablenet as a provider:

Cablenet people are always friendly and really try to be helpful. The main customer support is an office that handles calls for all the various cable vendors. These people can do basic tests and troubleshooting. A weak link here is that if a service call is necessary, they access (in my case) Cablenet's service web page and create a trouble ticket. Cablenet then reads the trouble tickets and will have someone call to arrange a service time. I have not had much luck with getting the actual callbacks with this mechanism, but it appears to be getting better. I must say that once a service call was finally arranged with an actual Cablenet representative, (usually within a day or two) technicians were ALWAYS here on time, and were ALWAYS friendly and did their best. The technicians are not computer experts, but they know what they need to know.

One area where Cablenet is really lacking is in basic ISP service. What I refer to here is simple things like the fact that they have a newsgroup cablenet.general where users may ask support questions and offer suggestions. Cablenet is not very prompt with answers and is often incredibly tight-lipped about basic network information. They don't seem to realize that even the smallest change can affect users, and they ought to give us prior warning.

Overall I'd say their competence level rates among the low-end of service providers. The necessity of the following section is a good example. I don't want to sound too negative here, as they are definitely improving over time, and they really do listen to customer feedback and act on it.

-Sean McLaughlin

Important Cablenet Hosts and IP Numbers:

Whenever possible, use the names instead of the IP numbers. As cablenet gets busier, services will be moved around and the IP numbers will change but the names won't. DNS servers are the main exception. Never use names for DNS servers! :)

Update: December 1997: Cogeco has changed their IP addresses and many of these numbers are out of date.

Cablenet's main server:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
cgocable.net		Address	207.134.42.11


FTP Server:
~~~~~~~~~~~
ftp.cgocable.net	Address	207.134.42.11


WWW Server:
~~~~~~~~~~~
www.cgocable.net	Address	207.134.42.11


Name Servers:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
primary 	207.134.42.11	(ns.cgocable.net)
backup  	198.53.64.7	(nic.fonorola.net)


HTTP Proxy:
~~~~~~~~~~~
proxy.cgocable.net	207.134.42.12	PORT 8080


POP Mail Server:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
mail.cgocable.net	Address	207.134.42.11
AKA (Thanks Ed!)
mail.cgo.wave.ca	A	207.134.42.11

SMTP Server:
~~~~~~~~~~~~
mail.cgocable.net	Address	207.134.42.11
(cablenet should create 'smtp.cgocable.net' for outgoing SMTP
Mail)
AKA
mail.cgo.wave.ca	A	207.134.42.11

Usenet News Server:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
news.cgocable.net	Address	207.134.42.12
Note: You can access this from cablenet's network only.


Kali Game Server:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
207.134.42.10	(backup.cgocable.net)
(again, cablenet should create a 'kali.cgocable.net' for this)


DHCP Servers:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These are located by broadcast messages, so you don't really
need to know the addresses or names. Anyone know them anyway?

Win 95 TCP/IP Notes:

DNS Configuration

*Enable it :)

'Host' should be a fake, made up name that does not exist. ie.
Don't pick 'www' or 'ns' or 'ftp', pick names like 'tribble'
'xenu' or 'ewillis'.
(If you chose 'www' for example, then your Netscape would think
YOUR COMPUTER was www.cgocable.net, and report that the server
was not responding)

'Domain' should be set to 'cgocable.net'

DNS Server Search Order:
You should enter the IP numbers in the order that I listed them
above, so that
it uses cablenet's primary nameserver all the time.

Your 'Domain Suffix Search Order' should either be blank or set
to
one that you commonly use, like "queensu.ca".
Supposing I did set it to 'queensu.ca', when I use Netscape I
could enter http://www and it would figure out that I meant
qlink.queensu.ca)
If you aren't sure about this, just leave it blank :)


WINS

Disable WINS resolution, select 'USE DHCP for WINS Resolution'
OR
Some people think WINS is the cat's ass, so here's a couple of
free WINS servers:
Primary		WINS 204.118.34.6
Secondary	WINS 204.118.34.11


Gateway

Leave it empty, DCHP will take care of it.

If you have a local lan and a cable modem AND dialup networking, check this out:

Solutions for Multihoming and using Dial-Up networking in Win95

Hardware:

Modem:

Zenith HOME-Works Universal Model: LANHWU-5K

Ethernet Card:

D-LINK DE-220, NE2000 Clone, 16 bit, RJ-45 Twisted Pair

Drivers and Setup software:

http://www.dlink.com/drivers.html#ethernet

Software:

The Ethernet card uses Win95's built-in D-Link adapter driver. Some users including myself have noted that the D-Link drivers cause Win95 to fail to boot up after a reboot. In that case, the Novell/Anthem NE2000 generic driver can be used. I have not noticed any significant difference using the generic driver.

The only protocol necessary is TCP/IP. Other protocols can be routed but how far and which ones are unknown to me.

TCPIP Settings are all the default stuff, except that DHCP is used. A non-cablenet specific program was used, called 'winipcfg' which shows you all the TCP/IP details that DHCP has worked out. IP addr, DNSs', gateway, etc. (It is included with Windows 95 in c:\windows)

It shows a 'lease obtained' and 'lease expired' time for the allocation of the IP address. Win 95 only returns the default 6 hour leases. Cablenet's DHCP server allows a maximum 12 hour lease. (If anyone knows how to get WinIPCfg to ask for the 12 hour lease, please let me know :) If you check mail or ping now and then, you can keep the IP indefinitely.

Update: Cablnet has graciously set the lease time to 12 Days maximum. Win95 users will receive the default 6 day lease.

None of the software is proprietary so feel free to use any operating system you like, but Cablenet supports only Windows and Macintosh. If you need help, ask in a Usenet newsgroup specific to your operating system. If you are desperate and need to get it working by morning, email me and I'll try to help you. :)

Linux/Unix:

I have had a Linux proxy server running Samba (for transparent file sharing between UNIX and Windows) and Socks 5 (for Proxy/Firewall). Using a proxy server is a great way to share the cable modem with the other computers you have lying around the house. See the Linux Firewalling and Proxy Server HOWTO listed below for more information.