[PLUG] Comcast cable modem tweaks

[Keith Lofstrom]

I am retitling this for those who still care
about subject lines

"Paul" == Paul Heinlein <heinlein at madboa.com> writes:
> I'll note that if you rent a cable modem from Comcast, but would
> rather use your own routing and/or wireless gear, you can ask the
> installer to disable wifi and use bridging mode. The tech may look
> at you funny, but s/he'll do it for you.

On Tue, Oct 03, 2017 at 03:32:49PM -0700, Russell Senior wrote:
> This is based on anecdotal, third hand information, but I have heard
> that those tweaks will work until they roll out new firmware, at which
> point the local tweaks get paved over.  I don't claim that is reliable
> information, but it sounded very plausible.

I hope to see some confirmation one way or the other
on this.

My wife has had Comcast Business in her current office
building for 18 months.  During installation, the tech
turned off wifi and enabled the cable modem to work
with the already-working ALIX.

No interruptions since, besides the building remodellers
slicing Comcast's cable to her office.  Which the
Comcast tech found and fixed quickly, then stayed to
answer system questions.  He spent more time than I
expected playing with the cable modem; perhaps he 
updated it and restored the settings we wanted.  Or
maybe he was making sure it was going to keep working
for months after he left.

Comcast Business service is spendy, but the service is
surprisingly good.  At least in wealthy NW Portland,
with multiple upstarts competing for the "50+ user in
one building" market.  The tech was knowledgable and
proud of the job he did.

We will move the Comcast Business service to our house
in a funky old West Slope neighborhood.  We'll see if
Comcast techs are as eager out here.  We'll risk a two
year contract with the move; if the organization that 
takes over Frontier's bankrupt shell does a good job,
we'll consider going forward with them instead, and get
10 Gbps or better on that fiber someday.

Keith

P.S.  Comcast cable modem pro-tip:  When it IS working,
make a diagram of where the cables are hooked up
(yours and theirs) and the state of the blinky lights.
Knowing which blinky lights change when the cable modem
STOPS working speeds diagnosis.  I'm going to find the
the modem service manual and figure out what all the
blinky lights actually mean ... real soon now.  

-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com