Clarity, please

Jane Gilbert jgilbert at safenet-inc.com
Wed Jun 27 13:19:53 EDT 2001


I can offer a little bit of clarification on Comcast's stance on VPNs.

In their @Home subsriber agreement, it definitely states the use of VPNs is
forbidden:


"...THE SERVICE IS FOR PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY AND CUSTOMER
AGREES NOT TO USE THE SERVICE FOR OPERATION AS AN INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER,
A SERVER SITE FOR FTP, TELNET, RLOGIN, E-MAIL HOSTING, "WEB HOSTING" OR
OTHER SIMILAR APPLICATIONS, FOR ANY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE, OR AS AN END-POINT
ON A NON-COMCAST LOCAL AREA NETWORK OR WIDE AREA NETWORK, OR IN CONJUNCTION
WITH A VPN (VIRTUAL PRIVATE NETWORK) OR A VPN TUNNELING PROTOCOL;"

(See section 6.b.viii   http://www.comcastonline.com/subscriber-v3-clr.asp )

The reality is though, that the policy is not being enforced unless the VPN
is being used excessively (whatever that means).  I don't know of anyone
who's had trouble just checking their mail or doing some quick work at
night.   Here is an article and excerpt on that:

"Even though their subscriber agreement now specifically forbids VPN usage
in any form, Comcast says it's OK for telecommuters to keep using the
residential service if they don't use VPN too much. But it's not clear how
much is too much." 

http://www.growingresults.com/article/s0/a53017.html

And some additional articles if anyone's interested:

http://www.practicallynetworked.com/news/comcast.htm

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1004-200-2536215.html?tag=st.ne.ron.lthd.ni


Jane Gilbert 
SafeNet, Inc.
Tel:  (410) 931-7502 
http://www.safenet-inc.com



-----Original Message-----
From: Edgar Faulkner [mailto:edgarf at crossport.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 9:09 PM
To: 'Stephen Chowning'; Christopher Gripp
Cc: VPN at securityfocus.com
Subject: RE: Clarity, please


>>I guess that I was under the assumption that some or most cable companies
offering broadband internet had a tendency to look out for/block vpn
encoded packets, ostensibly to force someone using vpn to upgrade to a more
expensive "business" level service.<<

That seems to be the rumor going around for the last year or so, but so far
no one I know with cable has had a problem with vpn. About half our work
force is using cable and running vpn 24X7 to the office, and none have had
any blockages so far. Maybe the vpn issue is too thorny for AT&T to enforce
the policy, since, if they did, a lot of customers would start moving to
other broadband options (IMHO)...

Edgar Faulkner
Crossport Systems, Inc.
mailto:edgarf at crossport.com
www.crossport.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Chowning [mailto:schowning at home.com]
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2001 2:59 PM
To: Christopher Gripp
Cc: VPN at securityfocus.com
Subject: Re: Clarity, please


I guess that I was under the assumption that some or most cable companies
offering broadband internet had a tendency to look out for/block vpn
encoded packets, ostensibly to force someone using vpn to upgrade to a more
expensive "business" level service.

Steve

Christopher Gripp wrote:

> There are no problems with using VPNs and cable modems.  Not to say you
> might have to take certain things into account when using the
> combination.  Just that for the most part VPNs work with Cable Modems
> just like they work with DSL or any other internet connection.
>
> Chris
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephen Chowning [mailto:schowning at home.com]
> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2001 1:48 PM
> To: VPN at SECURITYFOCUS.COM
> Subject: Re: Clarity, please
>
> <snip>
>
> >From reading posts to this
> newsgroup, this seems problematic via VPN over a cable modem. As I have
> never
> set up either vpn or a ssh connection before, my knowledge on these
> matters is
> limited.
>
> <snip>


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