Patrick Murphy wrote:

> That password barrier sould be a good deterrent. I'm a bit uncertain,
> however, what device would require a password - do modems themselves
> allow the requiring of passwords? It's been a while since I've tried
> it, but IIRC, I was able to connect my laptop directly to my broadband
> modem and surf the net.

This depends mostly on your specific ISP. Some require a password, some
don't. My cable connection works like yours: no password required. However,
it won't work by just exchanging one computer for the other, unless it has
the same MAC address. When exchanging computers, it requires a DHCP release
from the first computer, or a certain wait time before connecting a
different computer (i.e. with a different MAC address).


> I like the idea of ISP transparency - some colonies can only get an
> expensive satellite connection, while others would be able to choose a
> less expensive connection.

I'd advise to test anything satellite before committing to it. Satellite
internet connections don't necessarily behave like other connections.
You're not even allowed to open a VPN channel over some of them.

Gerhard

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