If a person has cable tv and plugs that cable line into a cable modem on a computer will the computer modem be able to surf the net?? Thank YOu for any replies.

 

Yes, if the internet signal is being provided for the modem to manage.

 

IOW, you have to have cable internet service - you can't just hook up and start using internet. The only exception would be if you took your modem to a friend's house on the same network as your cable provider - you <i>may</i> be able to get a signal there.

Each cable modem has a special serial number (called a MAC address) built-in to it. For the modem to work on a cable provider's network, the provider must "allow" that MAC address to access the network. If they do not know the MAC address or have not allowed it, then you will not get a signal.

Good luck!

 

Another thing to note if you have a lot of different cable outlets in your house.
When you put the incoming cable through a larger spliter something happens to prevent the modem signal from getting through, either the signal becomes too weak or the splitter wont let the signal through meaning the cable modem wont work.

The common practice is to have the cable coming in go through a 1 to 2 spliter. On one of the outs hook up the cable to where the cable modem is, then the other out hook up to the splitter that goes to the rest of the house outlets.
The cable guys did this in my house and I have 4 other jacks as well as my inlaws house where there are 10 jacks.

Hope this helps

 

What he said.

 

If I understand you correctly -- you can't!

The cable modem signal is either a USB connection or RJ-45 connection to an Ethernet card. You have to have one of those connections in your PC.

Your normal modem in your PC is used for dial-up connections over telephone lines. The connection to a cable modem is not able to act as a telephone switch accepting dial tone, dial pulses, etc. Also the PC modem is maxed out at 56K (usually), and the cable modem connections are 10 Mega-bit connections in a format that the PC modem does not understand.

The other posters were talking about the connection of the cable modem to the TV cable, not the cable modem to the PC.

 

LOL - never thought of it that way. Your question could be deciphered a few different ways. Maybe you should clarify exactly what you have and what you want to do with it.

But, the general answer here is No, it will not work.

 

The other posters were talking (correctly I might add) about the coax connection to the cable modem. This has nothing to do with a dialup modem, phone lines, or dial tones. The "cable modem signal" comes through the standard TV coax cable into the cable modem. The USB or ethernet connections are only the method of getting a connection to a PC or router and have nothing to do with actually getting a cable modem online.

 

I don't really think he's talking about physical medium.. I think he's just talking about grabbing some random cable modem and plugging it in and hoping for access.