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Everyone has questions.
These are some of the more common ones...
Contacting Support
1.1: How do (former) Shaw@home users contact Rogers@Home support?
1.2: Where is the Shaw@Home and Rogers@Home support websites?
Connection Problems
2.1: What is the definition of the term "Block Sync"?
2.2: My Online/Block Sync light is out - what do I do?
2.3: What can I do to avoid sync problems?
2.4: I have a motorola cable modem. What do the light sequences mean?
2.5: How come my internet speed is slow on my Terayon/TeraPro or Motorola CyberSURFR (Wave) modem?
2.6: Is it true that having poor TV reception can cause problems with my @Home connection?
General Questions
3.1: How fast is Rogers@Home?
3.2: Is there anything I can do to improve my network performance?
3.3: What are the differences between the Nortel LANCity, Terayon/TeraPro and Motorola cable modems?
Technical Questions
Security of your home PC
4.1: Are there security issues when using Rogers@Home or Shaw@Home?
4.2: What is a firewall and should I be using one?
Installation/Configuration
5.1: What does the @Home proxy do and should I use it?
5.2: Can I use the @Home service without installing their software?
5.3: What is "dynamic" setup?
5.4: What is "static" setup?
5.5: What are the advantages to using a dynamic or static setup?
Technical Reference
6.1: I hear everyone mentioning signal, RF and noise, what does it all mean?
6.2: What is a node?
6.3: Why do I see a flashing RD light on my Motorola modem or the Receive light on my Terayon/TeraPro?
1.1: How do (former) Shaw@Home users contact Rogers@Home support?
Toll Free Support Line : 1-888-288-HOME (4663). Right now Shaw@Home users
can still call 416-290-6400 until otherwise.
Email Support: support@rogers.home.net
1.2: Where is the Shaw@Home and Rogers@Home support websites?
Shaw@Home's support website is at http://support.shaw.ca
They have a very good support page with support for unsupported programs
such as Outlook 2000 and others.
Rogers@Home maintains a website at http://rogers.home.com/help/
for customer support. This site contains numerous pages which may be of
interest to Rogers@Home customers experiencing problems, including:
- Troubleshooting guides
- R@H User Guides
- R@H Software updates
- The R@H User Policies, including:
- End User Agreement
- Acceptable Use Policy
- Customer Support Policy, and
- A checklist for moving your Rogers@Home connection to a new computer
- Network News
(including scheduled
maintenance notices and notices
of unplanned outages)
There is a considerable amount of information available on this site.
2.1: What is the definition of the term "Block Sync"?
Block sync is a technical term used in conjunction with the LANCity cable
modems. It is the condition in which a LANCity is allowed transmission
access to the local cable infrastructure. Block sync can be lost if either
your local upstream or downstream signal strength is too powerful or too
weak. It can also be lost if either your upstream or downstream channels
are plagued by noise and/or interference. The intermittent loss of block
sync will cause packet loss, jitter (uneven packet latencies) and poor
upstream/downstream throughput. It is basically your worst enemy, with
respect to cable modem internet access. The loss of block sync is indicated
by a flickering or complete absence of the bottom of the two, bright lights
on the side of the LANCity cable modem. Both of those lights should always
be completely solid and should never flicker or go out. If that is not
the case, you definitely have a problem on your hands. If the block sync
light flickers or goes totally dark on a regular basis, your connection
is in serious jeopardy and should be corrected ASAP by Rogers Cable.
The block sync term, although originally used in conjunction with the
LANCity, is often associated with the Terayon cable modems and many others.
All cable modems have some sort of "online" light on them. This is the
equivalent of the block sync light on the LANCity and should be looked
upon with the same importance.
2.2: My Online/Block Sync light is out - what do I do?
Sync problems are unfortunately one of the most common, and least quickly
diagnosable problems that we as subscribers deal with. They're a nightmare
for any cable operator to ascertain, let alone rid themselves of.
Now, besides reporting your condition to technical support- and even
us if you're not receiving quick enough results- please make sure to try
out the following:
- Cycle the power on your modem. Yes, this sometimes is all that is needed
- just getting the modem to reinitialize itself may fix your problem. Or
it may not. NOTE: If you have a Terayon BECAREFUL doing this,
you can damage the modem they are suseptable to power surges!!
- Try pinging your gateway - if you can ping it, you may not have a sync
problem after all (though I've yet to hear of a cable modem with a burnt
out sync LED, it is possible!)
- Check your CATV - if it's fuzzy, then perhaps there's an infrastructure
problem affecting you and your area - there's little you can do in this
instance.
- If you have alternate (dialup) access, check out the Network News pages
mentioned in section 1.2 of this FAQ.
- You have an unauthorized splitter (Radio Shack) which may be lowering your
signal dropping the modem. Replace splitter.
- Call support and listen for outages in your area prior to being connected
to a live support person. If you find out there IS a problem - then there
is no reason to continue waiting for a live person - the problem is being
worked on, and you should free the line for someone who may have a different,
or as of yet undetermined problem. Be sure to send them a message indicating
you experienced a problem - this is vital in a recurring problem situation,
since it provides a paper trail of your problem.
2.3: What can I do to avoid regular connection or sync problems?
- I always recommend that users ensure that their network cards (NICs) are
using the most recent drivers available. It sounds strange, but I know
that drivers have in the past been at least partially responsible for perceived
sync problems.
- If you've recently installed new software, try uninstalling it and see
if that makes a difference.
- Make sure the patch cable between the modem and the NIC is not wound up
on itself, or in with other cables. CAT-5 cables are supposed to, by design,
prevent cable cross talk, but you may have one which just isn't up to par.
-
If you have intermittent sync problems, try a new coax cable - they are
relatively inexpensive, and who doesn't need a spare network cable at one
time or another?
- Plug your cable modem into a different electrical outlet - or move it off
a powerbar that has other items plugged into it - small electrical variations
in the input power can prove to confuse the delicate electronics of your
modem.
- Only use your cable company authorized splitters. 3rd party splitters
have been known to cause modem signal problems. When in doubt, use
a cable company splitter only.
- Don't dismiss calling support and asking them to test your connection.
They may, if they find something strange, schedule an in-home visit to
diagnose things further. This is especially important, considering that
technical support can check your upstream/downstream signal strength and
noise/interference ratios. Non-compliant numbers are a definite indicator
to Rogers that something is very wrong with your connection.
If that doesn't fix things up for you, feel free to contact one of the
regional representatives, as listed on our Contacts page. They
can often arrange for your local Rogers maintenance departments to investigate
your problem more deeply than support has been able to. Please note however,
that the RHUA's arrangement with Rogers is that the proper avenues of support
must be followed prior to involving the maintenance departments - so please
make sure you've done all of the above.
2.4: I have a motorola cable modem. What do the light sequences mean?
* NOTE: It should be noted that the "White" Motorola modems
do not have the RD/TD lights. You can still use this diagram to diagnose
a modem problem.
The diagram above shows the different light sequences.
- No lights on - Check power cables
- Modem has power, waiting to boot up
- Running self test
- Looking for Downstream link, modem disabled or problem with signal (return) from
you back to cable company. Contact your cable provider for assistance.
- There is a database/provisioning problem on the cable providers end. Contact them to
correct this. This is not a signal related error.
- Check your Ethernet connector, possibly loose, or you have a bad Ethernet cable.
- Modem is running a self-test, downloading new firmware from cable router/modem headend,
resetting key. This shouldn't be a problem unless the modem is looping over and over,
in which case you should contact the cable company (This also happens with you use poor
splitters like Radio Shack's [DON'T USE!]).
- There is a diagnosic problem/failure with modem. Try resetting. If this fails, contact support,
you may need new modem or they may need to just reflash the modems firmware.
- The modem is having problems getting a key from the router (for encryption). If this cycles
over and over, contact support (This also happens with you use poor splitters like
Radio Shack's [DON'T USE!]).
- Power, Cable, PC all on solid green, modem is all ok, you can use the modem to use the Internet.
- Power light burnt out. This isn't critical, the modem will not be affected in any way.
- The modem can't find a forward signal from cable provider to you. If you have any splitters (such as
Radio Shack's please remove them. They can disrupt your signal) otherwise, contact your cable
company for assistance.
- Cable light is burnt out, yet the modem is working fine. Not critical but you may not know if the
modem is having problems if the cable light does go out (due to maintaince etc). May consider
asking for replacement.
- PC light is burnt out, modem functions properly, not critical, again you may consider
replacing the modem but its not required.
2.5: How come my internet speed is slow on my Terayon/TeraPro or Motorola CyberSURFR (Wave) modem?
There are many factors tha cant cause this. This answer is broken down into two answers:
- Terayon/TeraPros are able to handle signal noise and adjust accordingly.
However, if the noise "level" or threshold on the cable provider's end
(nodes and or router) is too low then the modems switch their "maximum"
bandwidth to match the new "level" threshold. This level may also be configured
on the cable company's router requipment to prevent customer modems from
dropping offline during noise problems This happens because noise can get
into a cable system and cause problems. Although your internet connection
is temporarly slow, this allows you to remain online while they fix the
problem instead of having the modems drop offline.
- For Motorola modems it's different, the only time you would experience
slow speeds other then your own cabling issues (and splitters) is when
the node that your on is experencing noise or has too many people on it.
Your cable provider can detect the noise and correct the problem. As for
having too many people on your node, your cable provider has a threshold
when to resegment your node.
- For both brands of modems, having poor cabling, splitters can cause
problems for you and can slow your internet connection down. You
might want to have your cable provider check the signal in your house and
then they may consider replacing your cable lines etc.
- There are other factors as well.
2.6: Is it true that having poor TV reception can cause problems with my @Home connection?
Yes and no, It all depends on what channel frequency your cable provider
is using. They may ask you to check channels sometimes because they want
to see if your signal is being affected.
As an example, say my Motorola modem's channel frequency was located
between channel 24 and 25. Your cable provider would ask you to check both
channels and see the clarity on them. If there was fuzziness on either
there is a possiblity that your signal is being affected and that your
internet speed might be slower. Of course, this is not always true, it
all depends.
3.1: How fast is Rogers@Home?
The maximum download speed with the Rogers@Home service is 3 Mbps (megabits
per second), or the equivalent of 375 KB/sec (kilobytes per second). Conversely,
the maximum upload throughput is 400 Kbps (kilobits per second), or the
equivalent of 50 KB/sec (kilobytes per second). That's what the service
can deliver under optimal line conditions, data segment load and distribution/
backbone circuit load. However, a more realistic top end speed, due to
protocol overhead, is generally in the 300 KB/sec to 320 KB/sec.
Of course, this doesn't mean that you will see that high a speed - there
are many factors which influence the effective throughput of your connection
- and many of them are outside the control of Rogers, or @Home. Just as
with any other internet service, cable is susceptible to widely varying
network performance depending on how busy the network and servers you're
trying to reach, who else is using the system at the same time as you,
and what they are trying to do. As such, you may see considerably less
throughput than 300 KB/sec - even on a perfectly functional network.
That said, no subscriber should be paying a premium price for a less-than-premium
service. Unofficially we've learned that Rogers' Support people
will try to ensure that your minimum throughput speed, on a reliable test,
exceeds 150 KB/sec (or roughly 50% of the theoretical maximum). While we
believe this information is reliable and acceptable, Rogers support personnel
continue to deny any knowledge of this guideline.
3.2: Is there anything I can do to improve my network performance?
Well, you could talk your neighbours into one of the "other" services available,
but that would certainly ruin your midnight Quake games (and we wouldn't
want that, would we?).
The first basic principle to apply is that your internet connection
will not be quick, if your computer is busy doing other things. Shut down
all those taskbar "quickies".... they're just stealing CPU cycles from
you. Close down applications which are not in use. Don't overburden your
computer with other tasks if it's not capable of handling all of them.
(I will point out that while it may be enjoyable to listen to a CD while
surfing the internet, doing so on a P100, with 32MB of ram, and using a
software-based wavetable synthesis sound card is almost certainly a death
knell to low priority tasks such as screen rendering).
Ok - now that you've got all the unnecessary programs shut down - how
about your hard disk? When was the last time you defragmented it? Surfing,
by nature, results in a lot of information being written to the disk cache
for later reference. If your disk is fragmented, then you will find that
it takes longer to write the files to disk for caching purposes. Clean
up some free space and defragment regularly (this will help in many operations,
not just with surfing).
Finally, there are registry changes which some people suggest will increase
your speed. The most common of these are the MTU (the Maximum Transmission
Unit, or most amount of information your computer is allowed to include
per packet) and the RWIN (the receiving TCP window size, or the
amount of information your computer will buffer before requesting more).
If statically configured, I recommend that the MTU (Windows registry value
of MaxMTU) be set to 1500, with an accompanying RWIN (Windows registry
value of DefaultRcvWindow) of either 32120 or 64240- no larger.
If dynamically configured, I recommend that both the MTU and RWIN values
be completely removed and that MTU discovery be enabled. The relevant registry
values are PMTUDiscovery and PMTUBlackHoleDetect. They should
be both set to 1. The dynamic solution is preferred because performance
degrading packet fragmentation won't occur with this setup. I am able to
meet all the maximum performance parameters of the Rogers@Home service
(i.e. 3 Mbps downstream, 400 Kbps upstream, <10 millisecond latency,
etc.), provided that the proper conditions exist, with the latter setup.
Please see this
thread at DSL Reports for
more information on how to implement the dynamic setup. Their tweak
page contains links to discussions on the RWIN and MTU values.
It must be kept in mind that some versions of Windows contain a default
RWIN setting of 8192, which will barely accommodate a 56K dialup modem.
Due to this shortcoming, it is imperative that the registry be tweaked
if everything but the downloading speeds of your service seem fine. If
you are the curious type, checking your registry for the DefaultRcvWindow
value is a good idea. If it's set to 8192, either remove it completely
and implement a dynamic setup, or tweak it according to the above recommendations.
And remember, if nothing is wrong with your connection and the speeds are
great, looking for more through registry tweaks probably isn't a good idea.
Don't fix it if it ain't broke!
3.3: What are the differences between the Nortel LANCity & Terayon TeraPro and Motorola cable modems?
First off, the LANCity is a dark gray colour, metallic and looks like a
slightly rounded rectangle with ten little fins on top. The TeraPro comes
in two versions: one that is jet black and rectangular, and another version
that is dark blue, which some subscribers liken to a shark fin. Both mainly
consist of a plastic construction.
The LANCity was one of the first kinds of cable modems that ever appeared
on the market, way back in 1995. Developed by Massachusetts based LANCity
Corporation, the company was soon bought out by Bay Networks. In turn,
Bay Networks was acquired by Nortel Networks in 1998. Sadly, Nortel chose
to discontinue the production of these impressive pieces of hardware after
it consolidated Bay's operations with its own. The LANCity architecture
is based on the 10Broad36 Ethernet standard and uses a mixture of both
reserved and contention time slots for its MAC (media access control) mechanism.
Its physical layer makes use of Q-PSK (quadrature phase shift keying) modulation
on two different 6 MHz channels- one for upstream transmission and one
for downstream. The LANCity is rated to deliver a maximum of 10 Megabits
per second in both directions, provided that it is not rate-limited
and in the proper environment. Symmetric broadband access products are
a true rarity nowadays, so this is definitely notable. The LANCity architecture
is bridged, rather than routed, and makes no use of any virtual circuit
based technologies like Frame Relay or ATM. Its design is simple, elegant
and efficient, delivering the maximum possible performance under a carefully
managed and maintained cable plant.
The TeraPro is among the "next generation" of cable modems. It first
appeared in 1999 as Terayon's newest, full-featured offering to cable operators
and their subscribers. The TeraPro architecture is fully ATM-based, allocating
a virtual circuit to each subscriber on the cable network. Since ATM is
a cell based protocol, subscriber traffic can be managed with precision
and data segments can be loaded more aggressively. The TeraPro contains
an extra feature, however, not found in most other cable modems: an Advanced
"PHY", or physical layer. This feature is made possible by Terayon's
implementation of S-CDMA (syncronized code division multiple access), which
is normally used in the newer digital cellular phones. S-CDMA is a technology
that spreads a signal, or carrier wave, over a particular range of frequencies.
By being able to spread a signal over a whole range of frequencies, the
TeraPros can leverage the cleaner part of the transmission spectrum against
those parts that contain noise and interference. For this reason, the TeraPro
is one of the most resilient cable modems out there when it comes to combating
less-than-ideal line conditions. The rest of its physical layer makes use
of 16-QAM (quadrature amplitude) modulation on a 6 MHz downstream channel
and a 5 MHz upstream channel. The use of Q-PSK is an option on the upstream,
depending on how noisy line conditions are. The TeraPro has the
ability to transmit and receive at 14 Megabits per second, provided, again,
that it is not rate-limited and in the proper environment. The LANCity
and TeraPro may be the only symmetric cable modems that exist in the world
right now. Although I am confident that the last statement is accurate,
I'm not 100% sure of its validity. If anyone can find another such device,
please let me know.
The former Shaw@Home areas use Motorola's CyberSURFER Wave and CyberSURFER
modems. There are slight differences between the two. Both modems preform
the function of filtering and forwarding packets both to and from the PC
attached to it. The transmitting/upstream power of both modems is hardware
limited at 768Kbps shared packet channel using 600Khz channel and 30Mbps
using 6Mhz channel and provides 10Mbps maximum throughput for each modem.
The CyberSURFER modem uses 4-DQPSK for upstream modulation and 64 QAM (quadrature
amplitude) modulation for downstream on a 6 MHz channel. The
CyberSURFER Wave modem uses the same 6MHz for 30Mbps in downstream
but 1.532Mbps using 600Mhz upstream you can see that the newer model has
higher upstream bandwidth capability but your cable provider rate-limits
this. As well, the CyberSURFER Wave is able to switch from 16
QAM and QPSK when noise/ingress occurs on the wire to obtain maximum preformance.
Although the CyberSURFER Wave is better at handling higher bandwidth,
the older CyberSURFER modems "white" model, can handle noise slightly better
but is missing the RD/TD lights on the front (they are inside if you
look). Overall, both modems are the same.
For more information on the TeraPro, please check here.
Technical specs no longer exist on the LANCity since it was discontinued,
but I do have some copies of those specs. I'll see if they can be posted
here. Additionally, I wrote an (rather technical) article comparing these
two devices which can be found here
at Cablecaster Magazine.
Please have a look at it if you are curious about this sort of thing.
4.1: Are there security issues when using Rogers@Home?
There are two types of security issues to be concerned about: one is the
Windows file sharing problem, while the other is the presence of trojan
horse servers. These problems, however, can affect not only Rogers@Home
subscribers, or even cable modem users in general, but all users who have
Windows operating systems installed on their machines. The internet service
in question has absolutely no bearing on these vulnerabilities.
Addressing the first of these, the file sharing problem is a gaping
security hole in the various Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is
the most notorious vulnerability of the Windows OSes. This weakness can
allow an outside machine access to all of your computer's files. This is
possible because the NetBIOS file sharing ports are left open by default
on all Windows machines. FYI, these are ports 137, 138 and 139 and you
can view them by doing a "netstat -na" in a DOS window. It is up to the
user to disable them manually. To do this, you must go into your network
configuration and remove all the listed file sharing components. When that
is completed, you will no longer see those ports listed with the netstat
-na command. FYI, subscribers with Nortel LANCity cable modems need not
worry about this issue since Rogers blocks, by default, all incoming and
outgoing packets to the NetBIOS ports. Terayon TeraPro subscribers should
be concerned, however, since these devices don't block any of those ports
at this time. Rogers Cable management is aware of this and may soon take
steps to block the NetBIOS ports with the TeraPros. It just hasn't been
done as of yet.
Addressing the second issue, trojan horse servers are hidden pieces
of software on some computers that can allow unfettered outside access
to those machines. The best known trojan servers are Netbus and Back Orifice.
They affect Windows machines exclusively. You can only be infected by one
of these hidden servers by unwittingly opening an executable file, designated
by the .exe or .com suffix, which contains the trojan server initialization
files. For this reason, you should never, ever open any executable attachments
or downloaded files before checking them first with the latest virus scanner
definitions. You can immediately see if you're affected at any point in
time by doing a "netstat -na" in a DOS box. This command will allow you
to see which ports on your system are listening, or open, to outside connections.
If you see ports 12345 (Netbus) or 31337 (Back Orifice) listening, you
can be sure you are infected with one of these servers. Luckily they are
fairly easy to disinfect with the appropriate programs. Fixes can be found
at SecurityFocus or Packet
Storm Security by doing a search on either site. Also, if you see any
port in the 0-1023 or 5001-65535 range that is listening and, as far as
you know, have no apps running knowingly in the background, you may be
infected by one of the countless clones of these trojans. Again, you can
do a search to find out what you are infected with and then find the fix.
A program called Inzider by Arne Vidstrom
can help you determine what ports are bound to which programs, thus allowing
you to identify any trojans lurking on your system.
4.2: What is a firewall and should I be using one?
A firewall is a piece of software- or an expensive piece of dedicated hardware-
that controls access to various TCP and UDP ports. With a firewall, an
administrator can state which ports they want to be accessible and to whom.
For instance, a corporate admin may only allow certain departments to get
at certain services on their designated machines. This may be done for
security purposes (that is, after all, the primary function of a firewall),
or for other reasons like internal traffic management. There are numerous
firewalls out there for home users concerned about their systems' security.
ConSeal is one of the better known personal firewalls, but there are many
others one can experiment with. A good firewall will allow the user to
state which networks are allowed to access resources on their system, along
with what ports may be accessed, and by which transport and upper layer
protocols. The more specifics included in the configuration, the better,
especially if you are intent on running any casual servers. I strongly
recommend against installing one of the "dumbed down" firewalls, since
they generally make it much more difficult to block by specific port numbers
and IP subnets. I recommend running a firewall, not out of fear of an intrusion,
but mainly for curiosity's sake. They can tell you who is querying your
system and on what ports. FYI, the various Unix OSes, particularly Linux,
FreeBSD and OpenBSD, carry, for the most part, far superior firewalls products
to Windows. If you are very concerned about system security, you might
think about switching over to one of those OSes.
Ports that should be blocked right from the start are the NetBIOS ports
(UDP and TCP 137-139), along with Back Orifice (UDP 31337) and NetBus (TCP
12345). If you are concerned about being ping flooded, you should also
block incoming ICMP Type 8 (echo request) and outgoing ICMP Type 0 (echo
response) packets. You should log any incoming packets to ports 0-1023
and 5001-65535. Repeated attempts by particular IPs on any ports, especially
23, 1243, 12345 and 31337, should be reported immediately to the administration
of the attacking IP's domain. You can find out specific domain admin contact
info by doing a "whois" on the whois.arin.net database server. FYI, repeated
attempts on TCP port 119 by authorized-scan.net.rogers.wave.ca (24.112.31.170),
authorized-scan.security.home.net (24.0.94.130) and authorized-scan1.security.home.net
(24.0.0.203) can be ignored, as they are routine scans for compromised
NNTP news servers.
Finally, it must be noted that subscribers with LANCity cable modems
may experience what would at first appear to be constant intrusion attempts.
This is because the LANCitys make use of a bridged Ethernet topology, which
contains quite a bit of broadcast and multicast traffic. Many firewalls
won't filter out this type of traffic by default, so it will seem like
these packets are attempted intrusions on your system. They are not, so
there's no need to panic. To verify, just check your logs to make sure
that the destination address is an address other than your own. If it's
broadcast or multicast traffic, the destination address will always differ
from your own. For this reason, it is important to configure your firewall
to ignore (i.e. disable logging and allow) any broadcast or multicast packets
on the network. Only cable modems like the LANCity, which make extensive
use of broadcasting and multicasting, need to have their corresponding
firewalls configured in this manner.
5.1: What does the @Home proxy do and should I use it?
The proxy is a local HTTP (web) server in your province or state's regional
data center, which caches (stores) frequently requested content. It was
originally implemented in order to greatly reduce unnecessary network traffic,
particularly backbone traffic leading to the @Home Network in the US. When
you want to access a website via your proxy, you send a request to your
proxy, which then checks to see if any of the related content is stored
locally. If it isn't, the proxy will access the remote server and send
back the information you originally requested. The new information is then
cached on the proxy for a predetermined period of time.
The proxy is a good idea to use, particularly if your performance is
good. If performance is waning, then turn off the proxy and see if it improves.
If it does, you may want to avoid the proxy altogether. The main thing
to keep in mind here is that if every subscriber avoided the proxy, a substantial
amount of traffic would be placed on the backbone. So please use it if
the performance is reasonable. FYI, version 1.7+ of the @Home client software
will automatically reset the proxy configuration every time you open and
close your browser. Version 1.6 will not, so if you would like to keep
the @Home software on your system, that is certainly the version to use.
Beware, however, that it is only compatible with the various versions of
Netscape Navigator; it will not work with Microsoft Internet Explorer.
5.2: Can I use the @Home service without installing their software?
You certainly can. This is one of the most notable advantages of @Home-based
cable modem service over other broadband competitors' offerings. Many others
require you to install client software, without which, you are unable to
achieve connectivity. Some of these proprietary pieces of software are
highly problematic and even pose compatibility issues under particular
operating systems. With an @Home-related service, you are not obligated
to keep or install any software on your system, although you should certainly
give it a try sometime. All you really need is to enable DHCP (disable
any static configuration), specify your computer's name (in the format
crXXXXXX-Y for Rogers, where the X's are a number supplied on your invoice
and the Y is an a, b or c) and renew your IP via winipcfg (in Windows).
You can do whatever you want after you retrieve your configuration settings.
FYI, version 1.7+ is compatible with both Netscape Navigator and Microsoft
Internet Explorer, but contains a forced proxy, while 1.6 is only compatible
with Netscape, but contains no forced proxy.
5.3: What is "dynamic" setup?
A dynamic setup is described in the previous answer. It makes use of the
dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP), to automatically initialize
your computer's network settings via a remote configuration server. To
repeat: enable DHCP (disable any static configuration), specify your computer's
name (in the format crXXXXXX-Y for Rogers, where the X's are a number supplied
on your invoice and the Y is an a, b or c) and renew your IP via winipcfg
(in Windows). To specifically disable a static configuration, you need
to go to TCP/IP properties under your network configuration in Windows
and disable WINS, DNS, NetBIOS, all bindings, remove all listed gateways
and set it to retrieve an IP address automatically. FYI, when renewing
your IP manually, never, ever choose the "release" or "release all" options
under winipcfg. If you do this and your DHCP server fails, you'll lose
all network connectivity. Always choose the "renew" or "renew all" options
when manually renewing your IP.
5.4: What is "static" setup?
A static setup relies on your network configuration information to be manually
entered into your settings, as opposed to being automatically initialized
by a remote configuration server. To do this, you need to enter the information
originally supplied to you in your invoice. You need to specify your IP
address and its subnet mask, your primary and secondary DNS servers, your
default domain (in the format segment1/hubsite1.on.wave.home.com, where
segment1/hubsite1 is the name of your segment), your domain suffix search
order (again, in the format segment1/hubsite1.on.wave.home.com), and add
your corresponding gateway.
5.5: What are the advantages to using a dynamic or static setup?
This is a question that we hear a lot. In general, there really are no
advantages to using one or the other. If the DHCP server in your regional
data center is functioning properly, the use of a dynamic configuration
is strongly recommended. However, if it is not, a static configuration
is strongly recommended, particularly under Windows 98. This is because
Win 98 will automatically assign your computer an IP address in the 169.254/16
class B address space, with a dynamic configuration, in the absence of
a DHCP server. In other words, if you're using Windows 98 and your DHCP
server fails, you won't be able to get a proper IP and thus, won't have
any connectivity. Win 95 doesn't have this problem because it will keep
the last IP that was assigned via DHCP. As long as you don't choose the
"release" or "release all" options under winipcfg, you'll be able to keep
your IP and preserve your network connectivity. Again, this is only a problem
if your RDC's DHCP server is down.
It is worth noting that, under the Rogers@Home service, not only are
DHCP leases 7 days in duration, but IP addresses are bound to subscriber
accounts. For this reason, your IP, although technically dynamically allocated,
may never change. As a matter of fact, my own IP address is still the same
on this very day as it was roughly 2 years ago, when I first had my service
installed. FYI, the only thing that must be kept in mind from time to time
when using a static configuration, is that IP addresses are renumerated
on the rare occasion. Although it isn't very likely that anyone with a
LANCity will ever have their IP change on them, TeraPro subscribers are
more vulnerable to such a transition. This is due to the differences in
how IPs are allocated under each of the two architectures. For this reason,
anyone with a static configuration must be fully aware that they will lose
complete network connectivity upon an IP address renumeration. If this
ever happens, you'll have to go back to a dynamic configuration to get
your new IP and then reconfigure statically using the new address and subnet
mask.
6.1: I hear everyone mentioning signal, RF and noise, what does it all mean?
Well, in laymens terms, RF or Radio Frequency is bascially the
signal travelling though your coax cable line. It's important to know that
ALL COPPER WIRES including DSL all have some sort
of RF. As well, each wiring has its own noise problems. You can't eliminate
noise completely because copper ages, as well weather affects the copper
itself by expanding and contracting during summer/winter months. This puts
stress on the wires and can "introduce" noise. It's a never ending battle
to limit noise to an acceptable level.
6.2: What is a node?
A node is a device that converts coax RF signaling into laser signal to
travel over fiber optic lines. This process also works backwards from laser
signal back to coax RF.
6.3: Why do I see a flashing RD light on my Motorola modem or the Receive light on my Terayon/TeraPro?
That flashing RD light or Receive light on Terayons is basically ARP (Address
Resolution Protocol) packets coming from your cable router/modem headend.
Every few seconds, the router/modem headend needs to know where all the
modems are on it's network and sends out packets asking the modems "where
are you". If the router gets a reply, it keeps a record for a predetermined
time (set by cable provider). If it does not get an answer, it keeps trying
until something answers. (Note this only occurs in the Shaw Network)
Think you've got a FAQ? Send it on over and we'll add it to the list!
Think you've got a FAQ? Send it on over and we'll add it to the list!
n.b. creating an FAQ is VERY time consuming. For this reason,
we ask that you please bear with us while we continue to improve, update
and expand upon the information which is currently present here. Our FAQ
is a work in progress and is likely to remain that way for an indefinite
period of time. Fresh, new and thought provoking questions are continually
posed by many of you and we'll eventually answer all of them in this section
of our site.
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