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Back then (2000-2001) everyone I knew would buy a Netgear firewall with NAT. Maybe it was my circle of friends but it was WELL UNDERSTOOD not to ever connect y

Back then (2000-2001) everyone I knew would buy a Netgear firewall with NAT. Maybe it was my circle of friends but it was WELL UNDERSTOOD not to ever connect your machine directly to your ISP. Common DSL providers back then were Telocity and Speakeasy.

toast0 2y ago
I came of age with Windows 95 and friends... All my IRC friends pretty much dialed in directly to the internet from our main PC. When we got cable or DSL, if you had one computer, it got to connect directly. Windows 98 Second Edition came with internet connection sharing, so you could dial up on one computer and share with the LAN, and I think it worked for cable/dsl with two NICs as well. Many of my circle ended up with a Linux (or BSD) box doing NAT too. There was other software to share on Windows if you didn't have 98SE.
- rvnx 2y ago
  Totally this. You had one PC connecting to the DSL box, having directly a public IP, and then if you were smart you would install a second network card in your computer with a crossover Ethernet cable connecting to the second computer. Routers were super expensive, they came only later when internet was democratized more. Same for switches. Most users were using Ethernet Hubs at that time.
giantrobot 2y ago
Home routers almost all had MAC cloning as well. ISPs would send a technician out to set up service and would only want to connect the modem to a single system. The modem would then lock onto that MAC and refuse to connect to other hosts. So home routers would clone that system's MAC address on the WAN port so the shitty modems wouldn't complain. At the time many broadband ISPs expected you to sign up a new broadband account for each connected machine. They'd balk if you mentioned connection sharing, I had an AT&T CSR go so far as to tell me it was illegal. This idiocy subsided as WiFi became more common and added directly to home routers.
- supportengineer 2y ago
  I've never had a technician come out to set up a broadband connection. It was always self-install. I found my first NAT router: Netgear RT314 purchased in February 2001

toast0 2y ago

I came of age with Windows 95 and friends... All my IRC friends pretty much dialed in directly to the internet from our main PC. When we got cable or DSL, if you had one computer, it got to connect directly. Windows 98 Second Edition came with internet connection sharing, so you could dial up on one computer and share with the LAN, and I think it worked for cable/dsl with two NICs as well. Many of my circle ended up with a Linux (or BSD) box doing NAT too. There was other software to share on Windows if you didn't have 98SE.

rvnx 2y ago
Totally this. You had one PC connecting to the DSL box, having directly a public IP, and then if you were smart you would install a second network card in your computer with a crossover Ethernet cable connecting to the second computer. Routers were super expensive, they came only later when internet was democratized more. Same for switches. Most users were using Ethernet Hubs at that time.

giantrobot 2y ago

Home routers almost all had MAC cloning as well. ISPs would send a technician out to set up service and would only want to connect the modem to a single system. The modem would then lock onto that MAC and refuse to connect to other hosts. So home routers would clone that system's MAC address on the WAN port so the shitty modems wouldn't complain. At the time many broadband ISPs expected you to sign up a new broadband account for each connected machine. They'd balk if you mentioned connection sharing, I had an AT&T CSR go so far as to tell me it was illegal. This idiocy subsided as WiFi became more common and added directly to home routers.

supportengineer 2y ago
I've never had a technician come out to set up a broadband connection. It was always self-install. I found my first NAT router: Netgear RT314 purchased in February 2001