Ian Douglas wrote:
I currently have a spare hard disk with windoze already installed on it which I can temporarily put in the firewall PC for the registration process.
That'll work... It will make things simpler.
I think the sales rep said they currently recommend "Terayon TeraJet 210" cable modems.
I know nothing about those. You'd better be sure they do RJ45!
Found the DHCP Mini-HowTo. Will print it out and start reading it later today.
DHCP is easy, frankly. The firewall needs to run dhcpcd (the client) to talk to NTL. My IP address has only changed once in more than a year. One of the good things about dhcpcd is it polls NTL every 3 hours and renews the lease so it never expires.
The NTL sales rep eagerly rang back last night, still as clueless as before, but this time he offered me free installation if I signed up there and then so I went ahead and booked it up for 14 August. From what I could gather all the engineer will do is install a cable modem socket, give me a list of companies from whom I can obtain a modem, then disappear out of the door. If I want him to bring a modem with him and setup my PC for me (Windoze PCs only) then there is a £50 installation charge. I chose the D.I.Y route.
I rent my CM from NTL, a decision made because I knew that new models were being deployed in some places and I wanted a free upgrade. I got a new one! The engineers were very helpful, put the cable end where I wanted it, made me up an extra long cable for inside, and dropped off the CM. I did the rest. It isn't worth £50!
Thanks for all your help and advice Laurie,
My pleasure. I wish I had more time to help more. I'm in Ipswich, BTW.
Cheers, Laurie.