[geeks] Cable modems/routers

[N. Miller]

On Thu, 17 Jun 2004 12:41:28 -0500, "mrl" <vlack-lists at vlack.com> said:

> hrm... don't remember the brand (I'm at work now). I want to replace it
> because:
> - it came with no documentation. when we called the cable company about
> it, they said "it should just work". it didn't. they said "there is no
> web server in there, you can't http to it". not true. they said "you
> don't need a username and password to log into the thing". yes, we did.
> - when we finally do get into the thing (my dad said he found a default
> u/p on the web), there's no way to configure it. you can see some
> settings, i guess to give you some idea of what's wrong if you're
> troubleshooting, but there's no port-forwarding, inputting our own dns
> servers, turning on/off dhcp, setting its own internal ip address, etc.
> it's possible that we can log in with another u/p, but with a stupid
> cable co and no docs, that's not going to be easy.

That sounds like the RCA my roomie had with the Comcast 
service she turned off yesterday since we are all moving.

I was poking around trying to find out if there was a way 
to open high ports for P2P and gaming, and to turn on ICMP 
so I could do network checks when working from home.

Only docs were "end luser" 'plug in this here' type stuff in 
a pdf on the CD, and a util that fetched almost completely 
useless info off of the thing, aside from the MAC.

The worst thing about the cable modem was that it was 
not on any kind of surge protector/UPS, and the construction 
going on in our block has caused the power to snap a couple 
of times in the last couple of weeks.  End result--a "sorta" 
brain dead modem--worked for a few hours, then would lose
its settings and you'd have to go and power cycle it.

I am very glad I bought a very small UPS a couple of weeks
ago when I hooked up my desktop computer.

But, it would be really nice if these kind of companies had 
a tier of service between the end luser that "doesn't care 
how it works" and business class so people like us could 
have something flexible that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

=Nadine=
-- 
  N. Miller
  vraptor at promessage.com