Good things to know about cable modems

[bconway at alum.wpi.edu (Brian J.Conway)]

Since everyone loves to share cable modem stories, tonight AT&T felt the
need to send a DOCSIS/firmware/whatever update down the line to my modem,
and unforunately, it's didn't take.  Instead, it left the modem useless
with the 5 lights flashing sequentially despite repeated powercycles and
resets.  After scheduling to have a tech come out tomorrow morning at 9
and being informed that if the problem was my equipment (a 5-month-old RCA
cable modem), I would be charged 50 bucks in addition to the cost of
paying for a leased modem.  Going back through the manual, I found the
factory reset combination (hold reset while turning the power on and
continue to hold for 5-6 seconds), and low and behold, it came back up
connected, presumably with the new update in place.  In conclusion, the
factory reset is cheaper than a new modem and a tech visit.  I suppose 15
minutes of downtime since installation 143 days ago is acceptable, though.

Brian J. Conway
bconway at alum.wpi.edu

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl
is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."
     - Albert Einstein