Cable Modems

[Mike Kallies]

The modem got bumped last night.  The old one has been put back and is
working as before.

I know we've got some ISP guys lurking here.  I was rather hoping that
somebody on the list knew DOCSIS well enough to explain how this could
work.

Given that the modems seem to operate on MAC broadcasts to reach
provider equipment, I have no idea what happens if multiple providers
commission the modem.  So it's good that it's bumped.  Occam's
razor... probably a slack provider, or a late decommissioning.

Next step will be to call Teksavvy about provisioning this modem.  If
there are any problems which require a Rogers tech, we'll go DSL

Mike


On Tue, Jun 17, 2014 at 8:18 AM, Anthony de Boer <adb-SACILpcuo74 at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> Mike Kallies wrote:
>> Hypothetical Question.
>>
>> I have this "friend" who is a subscriber to an alternative cable
>> provider for Internet access.
>>
>> About 10 months ago, this cable provider told him that his recent
>> Internet problems were because his Motorola Surfboard modem was no
>> longer supported.  Not only this, they added that it was likely the
>> *cause* of his problem and they couldn't help him unless he replaced
>> it.
>>
>> The next day, the modem began working just fine, and he thought it
>> would be the end of the story.
>>
>> 10 months later, with strange upstream packet loss problems, and not
>> wanting to shell out full price for a "supported" modem, which would
>> probably make no difference, he grabbed an SMC modem with DOCSIS 3.0
>> off Craigslist.
>>
>> Plugging it in... he found that his Internet connection was a lot faster...
>>
>> ... 4-8x faster than he paid for.
>> ... and from a different ISP!
>
> Almost certainly the modem was still configured to the seller's account
> with his ISP.  Depending on whether a second connection knocks off the
> other one he may already be opening a ticket.
>
>>
>> This raises a few questions:
>> 1.  How is the modem linked to the ISP?
>
> Modem's ID and/or account info programmed into it.
>
> They may still own it, depending on the contract between them and the
> seller.  So it might even be stolen goods.
>
>> 2.  Why is he getting free-ish Internet from this third party provider?
>
> Seller's account.
>
>> 3.  Does the seemingly repaired packet loss issue with the SMC modem
>> mean that the cable problem *was* the modem?
>
> Could be, but the multiple providers have their own connections between
> the cable infrastructure and the Internet, and it's quite possible the
> old ISP was saturated there.  It's happened before.
>
> --
> Anthony de Boer
> --
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