My Cable Modem Works!

After 4 calls to Comcast, I was getting frustrated. A tech can't be sent out for a while, at least, it will be more than a week before my schedule can facilitate a tech's schedule. I decided that the only thing left to do was get a new cable modem. I've had mine for three years, so maybe it went bad. While we were running around tonight anyway, I stopped by Best Buy and bought a new Motorola Surfboard modem.

I got home, put the new modem inline, and called Comcast to get it configured. Believe it or not, I finally got a male (the other four calls were women) who understood not only how Comcast's network works, but how to troubleshoot a network problem. (See my post about being told to call Microsoft to get a new IP address below.)

This turned out sort of weird. I put the new modem inline, then called. While we were troubleshooting, I explained my setup. I have a Hauppage WinTV USB2 unit. My cable comes into the room, and goes to a splitter, which goes to the cable modem and the WinTV unit. It's been like that for years, and I haven't had a problem. Well, go figure, I should have thought of this myself, but the tech told me to take the splitter out of the loop. Every single time in the past I assumed it couldn't possibly be something, no matter how trivial, I got bit in the butt, and this time was no different. Well, while he was adding the MAC address and C/S number for the new modem, I prayed. I rarely do while I'm troubleshooting. I claim to be a Christian, but like most 21st century Americans, prayer is mostly reserved for meals, particularly pious times, and trials and tribulations. But I prayed for the cable modem issue. I really need my Internet connection. Anyway, when it was over, I asked if I could have my old modem put back in. He said it was; my account was showing my old modem. I checked the front, and sure enough, it was the old one (Motorola Surfboard 5100 instead of the new 5101.) That was weird. I'm not sure how the old one got back in place. I boxed the new one and told my wife we can get our $80 back; we troubleshot to a much cheaper component.

I'm just glad to have it back. I wrote a while back about my work laptop dying, and I had to send it back. Well, just as I was leaving for the day, I saw a new box in my supervisor's cube with a New Egg packing slip. I pulled it out, and sure enough, it was my Toshiba laptop! Now I can get it set back up to take on my upcoming business trip.

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