Cable modem and SMC Barricade

I have a Motorola 4100 Surfboard cable modem that supports usb and RJ 45 connections. Is it possible to connect it to my PC using the USB port and to the SMC router with the Ethernet jack? I know both ports will work simultaneously, but I don't know if I will need a 2nd IP... I'm thinking I will. The benefit, you see is that I could connect one extra system this way. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks for all of your helpful articles, guides, reviews, & posts, BTW! This is a great site!

1. Seven Port SMC Barricade
lbyard Oct-12-01 08:25 PM
In response to message 0

I'm thinking you will also, but I don't know for sure. I just swapped the SMC7004BR Barricade I was using for an SMC7008BR Barricade. It has seven LAN ports, 1 WAN port, Serial interface, and printer server. It's very nice package and works great with Surfboard SB2100D cable MODEM on a 2-way cable. It's fanless, plugs directly in the wall (no power adapter), and uses the same HTML interface as the 4-port version. The LEDs are better than the 4-port Barricade and all of the Ethernet jacks are on the front of the unit. I've seen prices of about $167 on the Internet. I currently have five PCs plugged into it and plan to speed test it with seven PCs next week when I am scheduled to build two Athlon XP computers for a customer. Larry

2. RE: Cable modem and SMC Barricade
CertifyMe Dec-05-01 02:09 AM
In response to message 0

Hi...
I had a l-o-n-g conversation with techs at Motorola and my cable co. about routers and the Surfboard 4100. If you've ever run netsta or ipconfig from a Windows command prompt, you'll find out that the modem has it's own IP address and does Network Address Translation. The specs allow for up to 32 connected devices, behind it's own single IP address. It's a router, with only one port...I'm guessing. Technically the best solution would be to attach a hub, since routers create data collisions etc. that slow down the interplay of devices competeing for access to the one upstream connection (single IP address). I'd seriously dought that a router could be assigned two IP addresses by a network. To see the various configuration specs type in IP address 192.168.100.1 This is the default address of the modem and should bring up the Configuration Manager. This will show you all of the internal workings of the modem and, wether or not Base Line Privacy has been implimented, which my Network won't If Enabling Base Line Privacy is possible, convey details to: csewell@optonline.net

3. RE: Cable modem and SMC Barricade
lbyard Dec-05-01 04:07 PM
In response to message 2

>…since routers create data collisions etc. that slow down the interplay of devices competeing for access to the one upstream connection (single IP address).
That certainly has not been my experience. I’ve clocked three PCs simultaneously and heavily using a router connected to A Motorola/Surfboard SB2100D MODEM on a cable system and could not tell from the performance of one of them that the others were even using the Internet. Besides most routers are switches and collisions should not happen. I would think a router on a cable system is about as fast a node on the Internet as many of the nodes through which packets must pass to get to and from the PCs connected to the router and the web, ftp, etc. servers on the Internet to which they are communicating. In other words, I do not think a broadband router is a bottleneck to small LANs. Larry