A system and method for provisioning a user terminal (18) for accessing a wideband cable data distribution network, such as an Internet-over-cable system, utilizes an auto-provisioning web server (28) to allow provisioning of a user cable modem (16) without need for a field technician to separately input associated modem identification information via a telephone. An LDAP directory (22) is used to store all provisioning information, and is accessible by a DHCP server (12) to selectively allocate network IP addresses to only provisioned terminals.