To the best of my knowledge, Comcast, etc use the hardware or MAC address of your NIC as an additional security measure. You must register it with them when you sign up for your service and it checks this number to be sure the person connecting is a registered user.
ComcastHSI (comcast.net) does not now and has not *ever* used your computer's NIC's Media Access Control (MAC) address as a "security measure".
Your cable modem and the device directly connected to it (computer or router) transmit its MAC address to Comcast's DHCP servers to obtain an IP lease. That's all.
Some older segments of the ATTBI network, now part of Comcast, require MAC registration. This is still not for security. It's just legacy from ATTBI's defunkt/feeble attempt at long-term IP allocation.
If you use the Clone MAC Address function on most routers, it will pull this address off the machine your using and pretend to be that machine. This will allow users to share a cable modem with such "security" measures
This is not a method of getting around any security measure. MAC cloning simply makes the router smell like your computer - so the modem will talk to it, after it's already seen your MAC address. This is about permission-to-talk IN THE MODEM. Cloning is NEVER required. The normal procedure is to power-cycle the modem to simply make it forget which MAC address it has seen.
- Dan.
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