Cable Modem Q

[RangerAx]

alright guys..let's see if I can step through this as quick as I can...
We have roadrunner with Time Warner..and when it works it's great...when it works..
about 1 year ago the modem crapped out after at least 5 years, and they gave us a new one..when we got that, it started giving us problems right away with cutting out after 15 - 20 mins, they looked at our set up and told us several things...like the cables we were using weren't compatible (they were gold plated) and the splitter wasn't either (I had a three way on there so maybe I'd buy that)...and so all was changed according to what they said...and the problem persisted...after much tinkering I finally figured out the modem overheated after about 15 mins and when it did...poof, connection down...tried telling them this repeatedly but to no avail...until last week the modem went out altogether (we had a 4 inch desktop fan blowing on it to keep it cool which worked most of the time)..now when it died and gave it a once over to discover that the power supply was running out about 16v when it was only supposed to run 12...hmm wonder how long THAT'S been going on...overheating anyone? now I know cable modems (some at least) have reputations for not lasting long, but by comparison 5 years to 1 year, i thought it kind of...coincidental...
soooooooo, moving on (yes finally) the new cable modem happens to actually be an Ambit ...a simple to the point modem that happens to be at least a 5 year old model that comcast used to use, and yet it works great...sooooo I though to self..maybe this means I can hook up my wireless router again and get it to actually work right, so I did, and it worked...
for about an hour, before I determined IT was overheating at that point...(power supply is normal however)
sooooo..router back out of the equation....cable modem still works just fine..
which finallllly leads me to my question
the Ambit has both USB and ethernet ports. Obviously you only hook up one at a time to a single computer, but the manual for the modem indicates that you can hook up both ports to two different computers if your provider supports it...having tried dealing with TWC's online chat nitwits who don't have an answer...(seemed like a simple enough question to me, can I do it or not?), I was hoping someone on here might know if you can do it...
all the online chat tech could do was give me yet another 1800 number to call, and seemed surprised that the manual even suggested it was possible (which I quoted)

 

[Spencer Elder]

Hey
... ok the modem might have the USB and 100mb Ethernet ports on the back of the modem but i would only use one "(ie) the Ethernet" run it agian to the wireless router... 1. see how long it works.. did it stop after an hour or did you stop it .. and for the overheating issue they should get pretty warm now just make sure it can breath a lot don't have fans in them.. 2. if that doesn't work you can get a USB wireless device on your computer or a PCI (white slot) wireless device and do internet connecting sharing (assuming your running windows) and your pc will broadcast the connection back out to you Wifi device and you connect from there... 3. you can also tell your cable provider that you want a Wireless modem and that would work unless you have a home network you might run into a issue with at and have to stick with 2 or hopefully 1 but with that said good luck with your home networking IM me if you need more help
Spencer