Am I commiting a crime?

[Gandu]

Well I got RDSL service and its part of my ISP's terms that that connection shouldn't be shared with multiple computers except the one where the equipment is installed but I ignored that part of their terms and bought a Linksys Router and now I am sharing it between 3 computers. What are you views on that? Will they be able to somehow figure out that I am sharing between multiple computer?

 

[Killbat]

If they see you're getting a lot of use out of that line, they might suspect you're sharing or running a server.

 

[mztykal]

Yes. Now go turn yourself in.

 

[The Stigenator]

not unless you tell them.

cause your using a NAT, which means the MAC addresses of the mahcines behind the linksys shouldnt show up.. if they are tracking mac id's.. that should help.

As for legal stand point.. i have no comment. many companies (like earthlink) charge you 10 bucks a month extra to have them provide you with a router.

just dont mention it.. they wouldnt know.

 

[Gandu]

I was able to alter my router mac using one of the options and I replaced it with the one of the NIC they provided me cuz my Linky told what the mac address of that card was. they do track macs cuz the first time i put my router on it didn't work and somebody gave the idea to change my router mac with the one their NIC has.

 

[Kadesh]

Mediaone told me as long as only one computer is on the line, it's okay and this includes my Linux NAT box.

 

[Aihyah]

do the other computers spend much time downloading or uploading? if they do then you shouldn't do this.

 

[Gandu]

Yes, I got a lot of data transfer of this line and all three of the computers run at the same time. I checked my last month's datatransfer status and I transferred about 250Gb.

 

[Aihyah]

then its best to get a multiuser account you sure use it enuph.

 

[Aihyah]

>I really appretiate your help but I am already paying $150 for my current RDSL line and I don''t want to pay 3x150 for multiuser account

ah, i had no idea it was that much already I guess you have a high bandwidth account then... i'm pretty sure they almost expect you to share those thought u were running 49 a month

 

[Gandu]

yeap, its a rock solid connection they just don't allow you to share it cuz then it will use a lot of bandwidth real easy. As you can see my last month's use.

 

[Bignate603]

I know that my roadrunner account allows up to three computers on the line but they say they will provide no tech support for networked machines. I don't even need a router, just 3 computers run into the hub and then i have the uplink into the cable modem.

 

[Gorgonzola]

as far as im concerned its part of the service. they provide you with the connection, and you chose what you want to do with it. there is no way i would pay them extra for more computers. using more computers doesn't make it use more bandwidth, coz if the bandwidth is available, then you could be using it all with just the one computer anyway.

 

[Gandu]

Let me tell you guys, that this connection is not what you think it is, the bandwidth doesn't split up so more computers use more bandwidth, or atleast thats what my ISP told me.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Even if you are abusing the terms of your service, I would not call this a crime.

You have essentially violated a material term of a contract, so they could theoretically terminate the contract or even ask you for liquidated damages if your overuse has cost them in some way.

In all likelihood they would just order you to stop using the router on threat of losing your service.

 

[piku]

What I don't get is if you are given a certain amount of bandwidth why does it matter how you use it? Does it really matter if you have 1 computer using up all the bandwidth or 3 sharing the same amount?

 

[randomlinh]

many.. many.. MANY ppl do this. Altho, prolly not many rack up 250GB in traffic.. they may just think you're running a server and tell you to pay more or something.

 

[Gandu]

I tell ya why that much bandwidth is used, my dad and I work from home so we use VPN a lot and all the file transfers are done through this connection and some times are the projects are really big leading to a lot of bandwidth use sometime we even hit about 500Gb but ISP doesn't care how much I use they just want me to use my connection on one computer cuz the more boxes I put on the more bandwidth I will use so they try to limit the bandwidth use by disallowing multiple computers to use the same connection. Arggg I hate that and I am also running a lot of otherstuff which is confidential and please don't start assuming things where all that bandwidth is going? I simply know where it goes.

 

[nEoTeChMaN]

250GB is a child's play.

 

[Buddhist]

Yes you Gandu!
Just NAT it and you wouldn't be doing anything illegal.
-M.T.O

 

[randomlinh]

i wasn't assuming, just saying they might.. my school does hehe.. whoops

but... i don't see how adding more comps behind a firewall/router will suck up more bandwidth.. i was under the assumption you are capped to a certain number, depending on what you're payin for. ie, you have 1.5Mb down/128kb up, so no matter how many comps, you'll max out at 1.5Mb.

Are you on some special RDSL(here, i assume you mean RADSL?) service?

 

[Pyro]

remember, its not illegal if you don't get caught !

 

[AaronP]

nah, you're cool. Your bandwidth limit is the same whether you use one computer or 100. I know that Charter Cable doesn't care if you use a router.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

You pay for a certain amount of bandwidth, you should be able to utilize that much bandwidth. Whether that be by using one computer or 20, it shouldn't matter. Now this may go against their TOS, but how would they find out? I'm not a totally unethical/amoral person, but in this case I think you should be able to use it as much as you want. Your reason for doing so sounds pretty legit...

 

[Emulex]

its immoral, and technically a breach of contract. But people break laws all the time,like speeding, so what?