Is it possible to use 2 cable modems (with individual accounts) at one home?

[Cat]

I'd like to add another connection to my residence, but I'd rather not have to go with DSL. It is possible to start another account with my ISP, buy a second modem, and use it exclusively for myself? Is it 1.) technically possible, and 2.) would my ISP even be willing to do this? It seems that 1.) would be possible, as the bandwidth used by a single cable modem is merely a trickle compared to theoretical bandwidth. I don't know how cable is partitioned ( and don't really care, frankly , ) but I would think that if there isn't some special box/node located at each house, this should be possible.
Currently with Cox, in northern Virginia, if anyone has some firsthand knowledge.

Please, no speculation, just facts from those qualified to answer.

Thanks in advance.

 

[gsaldivar]

yes, this is techically possible. all you need to do it run a splitter to a second cable modem. each modem will have a unique provisioned IP, and its own dedicated bandwidth.

yes, your ISP should be willing to do this. if not, just say you are renting a room to someone and want separate billing or something...

 

[Z24]

How reliable is your cable service? You said you'd rather not go with DSL, but here's an interesting thought: keep your existing cable, and get a DSL connection. Then get a router that supports 2 broadband connections. When both are working, you get a load balanced connection, if either one of them fails, you have automatic redundancy.

If both accounts are through cable, it's likely that if one failed, so would the other.

 

[Z24]

Consumer level dual WAN router: Hawking FR24
Higher end (but still reasonably priced): XINCOM Twin WAN Router (XC-DPG402)

 

[Soybomb]

Yup should be fine, although its worth it to call. If your signal strength is borderline now they might have to do some more work for you to have two modems running there.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

I don't see any issue with having two accounts. Obviously, you'll get two bills! I've taken my cable modem to a friend's place and connected it, and we were both running without issues.

 

[JackMDS]

Every Cable feed have many parallel Modems, it is nature of the medium.

So as long as you have valid accounts and strong signal you can put as many Cable Modems that you want on the same feed.

However if the DSL service in your neighborhood is in the same ?Speed? bracket as the Cable you would have much more flexibility having both rather than two Cable accounts.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

I have to agree, if I needed two accounts, and had DSL and cable available, it would clearly be one of each! An outage of one service wouldn't normally affect the other one...

 

[Cat]

Having two cable accounts is much cheaper. My ISP's uptime is fine, knock on wood.

 

[Garion]

Just keep in mind that two modems is NOT necessarily equal double speed. Cable systems are a shared media, just like old Ethernet. When there's slow times, it might just be that the cable, or it's upstream pipe to the Internet is full. Adding another cable modem isn't going to help that circumstance in the least.

Also, the load balancing routers, like the Hawking most likely don't do full load balancing of the connections. Just because you have 2x 3Mb cable lines doesn't mean you can download one file at 6Mb/s - It's going to have to do some kind of traffic distribution based on destination IP and conversations. On the same note, your max upload speed PER CONNECTION will be limited by the cap of a single modem.

And, of course, 90% of the time, if there's a problem it will affect both modems. Not ideal.

If you really want to pay more and get more bandwidth, call your ISP. Some cable ISP's allow you to pay more for the service and get your limits bumped way up. It's definitely easier and cleaner than two modems and a load balancing router, and probably cheaper too. If you're aiming for redundancy, get a DSL line in addition to your cable and use one of the load balancing routers and go for it!

- G

 

[Cat]

These are to be two totally separate connections. Thanks for the warning, though.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by: Cat
Having two cable accounts is much cheaper. My ISP's uptime is fine, knock on wood.

Cable is "much cheaper" than DSL? What are the costs of each? Around here, it's pretty much the same for each service...

 

[JackMDS]

It is a Big country. Thus there is no One Rule for the "Best"

In New York City DSL is $15 per month less expensive than Cable. However the Cable is two to three time faster than the DSL.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
It is a Big country. Thus there is no One Rule for the "Best" In New York City DSL is $15 per month less expensive than Cable. However the Cable is two to three time faster than the DSL.

I realize that the pricing varies widely, that was my point.

 

[Cat]

Klaatu..verata...

Two cable accounts are cheaper because I'd already get a discount for having cable TV, and I would have to activate a land line, which is at least +$20 a month tacked on the the DSL.

I called Cox, (my cable provider) and was told that only one account per address is allowed. I'm still tempted to just order service, bill it to my parents' address, or even just try to bill it under my name. The owner of the house is on our current bill. Is this stupid, or does something think this will work?

 

[Kadarin]

A couple of comments:

How much bandwidth can a single incoming coax handle? I'm guessing probably enough, given that Comcast is doubling (download) speed to everyone over the next couple of months. Secondly, if you run too many splitters off the line, your power levels and your signal to noise ratio may decrease past the point of signal usability. If your cablemodem has a stat page you can look at (i.e. the SURFboard can be reached via a web browser at the private ip of 192.168.100.1), check these against specifications per your isp.

 

[easternerd]

what about multilinking ?
use 2 modems and enable multilink ..
i guess the modems are capable of this sorta feature...
and your isp supports the feature.