(un)unique cable modem MAC address

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[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Dec 14, 2003
Messages
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I bought a brand new DLink DCM-202. I hooked it up and (oddly) it connected to the internet right away. I thought Great! Except that my plan is for 8mbps/768kbps and I couldn't seem to get above 384kbps upload. I looked at my modem's config page, and sure enough the limits were set at 6mbps/384kbps. Now I would just blame this on the cable company, but my old router had the higher settings... I replaced it because while I got the 768kbps upload, I was hardware limited by it to only 3mbps. Anyway, I called up the cable company a few times, and while one of the times they said they could help me out, the general message was that someone else already has that MAC address registered (and the lower speed plan) so I can either live with the lower speed or replace the modem! And the help they said they'd give me never happened. (The plan was to remove the MAC address from the other account, since it should be impossible for that person to be using a valid MAC address.) But how is it even possible for someone else to be using a cable modem with the same MAC address? Could there have been a glitch in the DLink manufacturing process that made a duplicate modem? Has anyone ever seen a duplicate MAC before?
 
someone could be cloning the mac address,

just rma the modem and be done with it
 
trying to RMA it... just a pain in the ass because I cut out the UPC for a rebate.

You think it's easy enough to spoof the MAC? Seems cable companies wouldn't be too fond of that and would try to do something about it when they discovered such a case...
 
you have to mod your modem to be able to clone the mac address,

its pretty much only doable by hardcore hackers or if you buy a mod for your modem

usually people use it to uncap their bandwidth with a stolen mac from somone on the same network ,
 
yeah - doesn't make sense to me. person is only getting 6/384 and they had their modem setup before I did... seems like an awful lot of work, and seems like they are still paying for the service...
 
It's possible D-link made more than one modem with the same MAC.
 
Yeah, spoofing a MAC on your computer/NIC is one thing, doing it to the modem...another thing entirely. I'd blame D-Link for this one, seeing as the other person with it, as you say, isn't even taking advantage of faster speed and is still playing fully. Should be able to talk D-Link into it.
 
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