NETGEAR CG814M manual Verifying the Readiness of Your Internet Account

Reference Manual for the Model CG814M Wireless Cable Modem Gateway

Verifying the Readiness of Your Internet Account

For broadband access to the Internet, you need to contract with an Internet service provider (ISP) for a single-user Internet access account using a cable modem.

For a single-user Internet account, your ISP supplies TCP/IP configuration information for one computer. With a typical account, much of the configuration information is dynamically assigned when your PC is first booted up while connected to the ISP, and you will not need to know that dynamic information.

In order to share the Internet connection among several computers, your gateway takes the place of the single PC, and you need to configure it with the TCP/IP information that the single PC would normally use. When the gateway’s Internet port is connected to the broadband modem, the gateway appears to be a single PC to the ISP. The gateway then allows the PCs on the local network to masquerade as the single PC to access the Internet through the broadband modem. The method used by the gateway to accomplish this is called Network Address Translation (NAT) or IP masquerading.

What Is Your Configuration Information?

More and more, ISPs are dynamically assigning configuration information. However, if your ISP does not dynamically assign configuration information but instead used fixed configurations, your ISP should have given you the following basic information for your account:

Preparing Your Network C-9