Mac addresses visible behind a router?

[ChrisBeach]

Hi, my friend and I were having a discussion last night about him cancelling his internet services (due to lack of funds). He wants to use his neighbours internet (its one house, he lives in the attic which was turned into an appartment) and his neighbour agreed with it, so nothing illegal, but he was worried that the Internet Provider.. whom he just cancelled (Cogeco Cable) would see his mac address on his home network and become wise to him using his neighbours internet. Now first of all, if cogeco magically did know, there isn't anything they could do about it, its all on a home network, and the connection is fully paid for, so I told my friend not to worry, but we started talking.. and I wanted to know.. would it be typical that an ISP could even see your mac address, they are using a router to connect all the computers in the house, so wouldnt the ISP just see it as one computer (the router) unless they digged deeper, and if they did could they actually see the individual mac addresses?

Just a bit curious, thanks in advance!

 

[BOKA]

ISP will not see MAC address behind a router, they will just see router's MAC.
As a sidenote, they do not care who connects to their cable drop, as long as this cable drop is paid for.

 

[SimonDavies]

It's of no concern to the cable co\ISP what mac addresses sit behind the modem\router, they only own the line and as long as it's paid for then it's no concern who uses it (legally of course).

 

[ChrisBeach]

Thanks, for settling my curiousity

 

[GlenJohnson]

They get paid for one line going out. If it's like most setups, they clone the mac address of one computer into the cable modem. This is the mac address they see. Once the router is hooked up to the modem, all other computers are behind the router so nobody sees them. Good luck.

Glen A. Johnson
If you're from the Illinois, Wisconsin or Florida area, check out Tek-Tips in Chicago IL
To get the best answers to your questions, check out faq950-5848