🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi,

Six girls will be sharing a 3-bedroom, 2-story apartment near UC Davis, 
CA, when the fall quarter starts.  For tv, they will have the standard 
(extended basic) package from Comcast.  For internet, five want SBC 
Yahoo! DSL, and one (my daughter) wants Comcast.  Some of the SBCers may 
later move over to Comcast if the DSL service is poor.  (The CO is 11,424 
feet from the apartment address.)  Or, the opposite could happen.

I'm in charge of getting Comcast tv and internet set up. Comcast tells me 
that the apartment address does have cable tv capabilities, but the 
service is turned off. I believe the current tenants moved out this week.  
I don't know if it ever had Comcast internet, so I don't know the 
condition of the line.

Comcast is scheduled to turn the tv on and drop off a self-install 
internet kit in two weeks.  I'll drive up there to accept the kit and set 
it up. I have a few questions about self-install and wireless routers.

The last time I did a self install was when you had to connect to an SAS 
region to provision the modem.  I see that it's different these days.

http://www.broadbandreports.com/faq/comcast/2.1+Modems#11356

According to this faq, one has to use the Comcast software provided to 
provision the modem.  The SAS method is no longer used.  The faq states 
that you may be able to 'ditch' the setup procedure once provisioned, 
thereby avoiding the installation of any other Comcast software and 
browser branding.  Has anyone done a self-install lately that can advise 
me on this?

When I set up the self-install with the representative over the phone, he 
only took the address of the install and my daughter's name.  Should we 
have at least chosen an account name so that it would be in their 
database when we did the self-install?

I have to have wired and wireless capabilities.  Some machines that will 
be using Comcast are wired only, and some also have wireless 
capabilities.  These are desktops and notebooks, upstairs and downstairs.

Someone else is setting up the SBC Yahoo! DSL which will also be wired 
and wireless.  Will these two wireless signals peacefull coexist?

Since there will be a high density of wireless users in the area, I need 
to select a router that will provide good security.  I've been looking at 
the following, but I have to admit it's beyond me to decipher what's 
important and what's marketting.  Should I automatically eliminate any of 
these?  (I have an old D-link 514 in my house now, that works fine, but I 
suspect security capabilites have long since passed this one up.)

D-link 524, 624
Netgear WGR614, WGT624, WPN824NA
Linksys WRT54G, WRT54GC, WRT54GS

I've asked a lot in this note, so if you get this far, thanks in advance.

Sincerely,
Bruce