Can your ISP know what router you are using?

[Shaun Kennedy]

I am in the process of moving from my old apartment into my mother-in-law's. She already has cable internet through the same provider I used in my old apartment. When I moved in I switched her modem/router with the one that had been provided to me by the ISP (I have not yet shut off service with them). Everything was working fine for about 2 weeks, then today my internet just goes out, still connected to wi-fi just fine, but says no internet connection. I hook up the old router/modem she had and the internet is back on. I've got no real reason to suspect something is wrong with the router I brought, but it made me curious is it possible that my ISP detected that specific router connected to a different customer's cable and blocked it somehow? Or is there a different more likely reason?

 

[bill001g]

They do know what devices are on their network. That is why you must register the mac address when you activate service.

They can not really tell exactly where you have installed it. You likely could take it across the street to a neighbors house and it would work fine forever there. It would be in effect on the same wire going to the central equipment. When you move it farther you are in effect changing the wire you are using to connect so they can tell what devices are connected to what wire.

Kinda depends on the cable company if they care much if you move things around. Many times as long as they get their money for a device on their network they don't care. They may though suspect someone is cloning mac and other hacks that people attempt so they may have deactivated it because their fraud software flagged it.

 

[spdragoo]

Yes, they can tell. Otherwise, they wouldn't be able to justify charging you the monthly fee to "rent" the cable modem in the first place. To be honest, though, I wouldn't have bothered hooking your modem up in place of hers to begin with, as that would entail going around & redoing the wireless connections on all of the Wi-Fi devices. And unless you're planning on moving out again shortly & staying with your provider, I would have gone ahead & cancelled your service (plus turned the modem back in), because otherwise they're essentially charging you for a service you're not using.