[somewhat off-topic] Comcast and Verizon

[mark-OGhnF3Lt4opAfugRpC6u6w at public.gmane.org (Mark J. Dulcey)]

Ward Vandewege wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 26, 2009 at 12:43:55PM -0400, Mark J. Dulcey wrote:
>> I do know that Comcast has a connection validation step that requires 
>> you to download a validation app (Windows and Mac only) and run it; 
>> until you do that you can only connect to Comcast's servers. 
> 
> In fact, this is not true. Their docs make you believe that, but the way
> around this is to call Comcast customer service and ask them to activate your
> modem. Takes 5 minutes. Basically all they do is associate the mac address of
> the modem to your account, and allow that modem on the network. 
> 
> I did this for my parents in law (they run Ubuntu) when they moved into a
> house that had never had cable installed. I did it while the installer was
> still there, which allowed me to verify that everything worked before he
> left.

That might be true. However, I consider carrying along an old Windows 
laptop to be a lesser evil than having to talk to a human being employed 
by Comcast :) (No, I don't do business with them personally, but I have 
had occasion to deal with them on behalf of people I help with their 
computers.)