UPDATE 2! I CAN'T USE DHCP? Cox just shut off my internet service for downloading Battlestar Galactica

[Eeezee]

Whoops, hit enter too quickly

Soooo anyone else get their service shut off for downloading television shows? I was under the presumption that television was still arguable

Update
I tried plugging everything back into my router and suddenly the account has been temporarily disabled! "Your account has been temporarily disabled, please call customer service." So I plugged ethernet directly into the computer again and now it works!

WTF COX?!

Update 2
I cloned my mac address to the router and that definitely fixed the problem, but now I can't use DHCP on this computer. That's okay, I had it on static IP before this fiasco anyway. This is still all very ridiculous.

 

[Reckoner]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Did you receive a letter?

 

[Mackie2k]

For downloading or uploading?

BitTorrent? Stick with Newsgroups.

 

[aircooled]

How were you notified?

 

[FleshLight]

I dled over 80gb of usenet articles last month on west.cox.net , most of them being about television shows.

 

[chambersc]

Originally posted by: FleshLight
I dled over 80gb of usenet articles last month on west.cox.net , most of them being about television shows.

Usenet = no uploading...FTW!

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Did you receive a letter?

I wasn't notified. Here's what happened today

- Wake up, go online to check a torrent that was downloading, notice internet is down and that firefox isn't working either
- Troubleshoot modem for awhile and conclude that it's just an outage, which happens about once a month in my entire apartment complex anyway
- Come back about an hour ago (8PM), still no internet, implying that it wasn't just an outage since they only last a few hours typically
- Check router settings, replace coaxial cable, replace 5 ethernet cables with brand new ones, still no luck
- Take the router out of the loop, plug the modem directly into the computer
- Upon opening a webpage, an HTML page made by COX pops up and says the following

1) You are sharing Season 1 of Battlestar galactica
2) Delete the files, turn off sharing
3) If you don't delete the files, your service may be disabled permanently!
4) Click this link to reactivate service

- Deleted the files, closed azureus, clicked link, service came back after about 10 minutes

No, a letter was never sent. I even checked my e-mail at a computer lab earlier. There was no notification at all.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: Mackie2k
For downloading or uploading?

BitTorrent? Stick with Newsgroups.

BitTorrent. My problem with Newsgroups is that sometimes files get corrupted, which can be a pain in the butt. That and I've only tried using them a few times, so I'm not very familiar with how they work.

 

[RapidSnail]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats

Originally posted by: Eeezee

Did you receive a letter?

I wasn't notified. Here's what happened today

- Wake up, go online to check a torrent that was downloading, notice internet is down and that firefox isn't working either
- Troubleshoot modem for awhile and conclude that it's just an outage, which happens about once a month in my entire apartment complex anyway
- Come back about an hour ago (8PM), still no internet, implying that it wasn't just an outage since they only last a few hours typically
- Check router settings, replace coaxial cable, replace 5 ethernet cables with brand new ones, still no luck
- Take the router out of the loop, plug the modem directly into the computer
- Upon opening a webpage, an HTML page made by COX pops up and says the following

1) You are sharing Season 1 of Battlestar galactica
2) Delete the files, turn off sharing
3) If you don't delete the files, your service may be disabled permanently!
4) Click this link to reactivate service

- Deleted the files, closed azureus, clicked link, service came back after about 10 minutes

No, a letter was never sent. I even checked my e-mail at a computer lab earlier. There was no notification at all.

Is that freaky or normal?

 

[child of wonder]

They probably have a Sandvine server that directs your traffic to that little website. Once you click the link your modem is allowed out to the internet.

I'm a Sys Admin at an ISP and we do something similar.

However, I agree. Downloading TV shows should NOT be illegal.

 

[redgtxdi]

WHoaaaaaaaaa!!!! Now that's some seriously aggressive maneuvering by a cable company!! :Q

 

[SludgeFactory]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Whoops, hit enter too quickly

Soooo anyone else get their service shut off for downloading television shows? I was under the presumption that television was still arguable

Eh, maybe in forum land it was arguable. Not so much in real life. Ever.

Originally posted by: Eeezee
My problem with Newsgroups is that sometimes files get corrupted, which can be a pain in the butt. That and I've only tried using them a few times, so I'm not very familiar with how they work.

PAR sets are your friend.

 

[Suture]

It's easy, as the previous poster said, look into PARing. I use Newshosting.com, and have never had any issues with them for the few years I've used them. Service is fast, I hold stable at 2.3MB/sec.

 

[mercanucaribe]

You deleted the files??

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
You deleted the files??

QFT


That's frickin' disturbing though.

 

[Steve]

Your router was blocked b/c Cox uses MAC address filtering, I'm guessing.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: Eeezee

I tried plugging everything back into my router and suddenly the account has been temporarily disabled! "Your account has been temporarily disabled, please call customer service." So I plugged ethernet directly into the computer again and now it works!

WTF COX?!

Blacklisted MAC addy... clone your PCs MAC address to the routers?

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: mercanucaribe
You deleted the files??

Yeah, I don't see why not. I don't care about them, and in case Cox is using a rootkit or something it's much easier to just delete the file and ensure access. I'm just going to take the DVDs from a friend that offered to loan them to me anyway

I find it really absurd that I can no longer use my router. WTF?

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: sm8000
Your router was blocked b/c Cox uses MAC address filtering, I'm guessing.

Why block the router if they're just going to direct me to a reactivation page and let me continue using the internet?

Edit: And if they're mac address filtering, why are they only doing it now? I regularly use two computers on a router

 

[child of wonder]

It's not your MAC address that's blacklisted. A Sandvine server can direct all traffic from a cable modem (the cable modem has it's own IP just like how a home router gives out 192.168.0.0 addresses to computers hooked up to it) and traffic from that cable modem is automatically forwarded to that website.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: child of wonder
It's not your MAC address that's blacklisted. A Sandvine server can direct all traffic from a cable modem (the cable modem has it's own IP just like how a home router gives out 192.168.0.0 addresses to computers hooked up to it) and traffic from that cable modem is automatically forwarded to that website.

Right, but that really doesn't explain how the connection works fine when connected directly to the computer, as opposed to the router, unless this "Sandvine" thingy knows somehow the packets are going thru the router.... which would probably imply mac filtering, which would be defeated by cloning the PCs NIC MAC into the routers mac!

 

[RelaxTheMind]

In the long run you can get more, up to date, and show more people copyrighted stuff if you get a Tivo, cable DVR, or especially a media center pc (or similar). Go figure. As far as I know its completely legal. Im pretty sure you know a couple people that have fight/game nights where they charge like $5 at the door for stuff like this.

 

[child of wonder]

I missed that part.

Yes, if he removes the router and everything works fine then it is blocking the MAC, which is pretty stupid because that's simple to get around.

 

[Zugzwang152]

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: child of wonder
It's not your MAC address that's blacklisted. A Sandvine server can direct all traffic from a cable modem (the cable modem has it's own IP just like how a home router gives out 192.168.0.0 addresses to computers hooked up to it) and traffic from that cable modem is automatically forwarded to that website.

Right, but that really doesn't explain how the connection works fine when connected directly to the computer, as opposed to the router, unless this "Sandvine" thingy knows somehow the packets are going thru the router.... which would probably imply mac filtering, which would be defeated by cloning the PCs NIC MAC into the routers mac!

Most people are not that smart. And even so, they can access your modem directly as a last resort anyway.

 

[chrisms]

An ISP wouldn't block your router, they would block the connection to your modem. Cox isn't going to deal with your router at all.

Next time this happens, unplug the power to the modem and the router. Shut down your computer. Plug in the power to the modem. Wait for it to come back online, then plug in the router. Then start up your computer.

They may have sent a hit to the modem which reset its connection, causing your modem and router to be out of sync. Thus when you connect directly to the modem, the two devices sync up again and your connecton works.

But again, unless Cox supplied the router they are not going to touch it nor even know it is there.