[wellylug] Broadcast flood?

[Sam Cannell]

The cable network is essently a wide-area Ethernet network.

Just as with a regular Ethernet network, your computer uses ARP to
resolve IPs on your local subnet to MAC addresses, and fires packets
destined to them directly out to the network.

Because this traffic never passes Paradise's cable router, it won't be
charged for.

For traffic outside your subnet, your computer will send the packets 
through your default gateway, just as they would on a multi-subnet
ethernet network.  This traffic will be charged as national because it
passes through Paradise's router.

In any case, all the broadcast traffic you see is local to your cable
subnet, and hence will not be charged for.

Hope this helps,

Sam

On Thu, Feb 26, 2004 at 02:47:38AM +0000, JP wrote:
> The way I understand it (and I could be talking
> through my arse) you are physically on a sub-net with
> a bunch of other people when you are on cable (and
> somehow separated when on dial-up).
> 
> Because of that, you will get arp requests, which
> match IP addresses to the MAC address on your network
> card.  I guess the arp table on everybody's machine is
> refreshed periodically.  With a point-to-point
> protocol, there's only one IP->MAC mapping to do, but
> on a subnet of many machines there could be a lot of
> such mappings.
> 
> As to whether or not you are charged for the traffic
> -- dunno.  I understood that any traffic to/from
> paradise servers (and not beyond) was free.  No sure
> if that also applies to people on your subnet.
> 
> </speculate>
> 
> Anyone care to elucidate?
> 
> Cheers
> Tony
> 
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