Limited Area Network Assistance!?
Limited Area Network Assistance!?
Hey everyone, newcomer here on the forum, just started posting. I’ve got a quirky internet problem I thought someone might be interested in solving. In my neighborhood, they call it "Community Internet." All devices need to be registered via an online portal using their MAC address. It’s fine as long as we have one Ethernet cable, but here we only have one. I’m dealing with lots of wired gear—Plex Server, a few PCs, consoles, TVs, and networked devices like NAS and Hue Bridge. I’ve tried personal routers and switches, but nothing works. My idea is to build a small server with a couple of network cards, route the main internet through the LAN port, and share it among all devices so we can get around the restriction. Is this even possible? Or do others have another approach? I’ve reached out to Spectrum, but they won’t let me unlock the VLAN for my own router. Thanks for taking the time to read!
You can obtain the router's MAC address and connect everything smoothly. This method works well with laptops configured as routers using NAT. It’s advisable not to rely on MAC addresses for security, since they’re easily spoofed. If you prefer, you can capture the port traffic, grab a MAC address, and use it directly without setting up the network. This approach seems like a poorly thought-out setup.
I've mostly tested a standard Ethernet switch, which can only handle one device at a time—probably assigning just one IP per port. I plan to purchase a better router and check if it works. The network layout seems poorly designed; all apartments have a patch panel in the main area and are wired with multiple Ethernet ports, but only one is connected from the control room. WiFi is distributed throughout the neighborhood, which might seem convenient, but I find it frustrating when I can't fix my own setup. Thanks for the suggestions! I'll let you know if it functions properly.