[ale] OT: Comcast modem

[Edward Holcroft]

So today I got a call from Comcast, after all was set up and working fine:
they want the "customer serial number" of the modem.

I have two questions:

1. Is a "customer serial number" and a "serial number" the same thing? My
new modem has a "serial number" right next to the MAC address, but nowhere
does it say "customer serial number".
2. Why would they want or need any additional number? Clearly there's
no technical reason to have any further information about my stuff, since
everything works.

When I see posts like this, I get a little nervous:
http://forums.comcast.com/t5/Customer-Service/Comcast-stole-my-modem/td-p/1022493

If Comcast does not have the serial number of my equipment, they'd be hard
pressed to claim that it's theirs.

ed


On Fri, Feb 15, 2013 at 12:53 AM, JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:

> I had comcast residential service on dhcp for about 10 yrs. During that
> time, my IP changed 4 times. Only once did that change cause any issues - I
> was in China, ddclient automatically changed the IP for  the DNS entry, but
> propagation took about a day to get to over there for some reason.  Now
> when I go on travel, I reduce the TTL for DNS in case I need to take
> drastic steps for any reason - even with static IPs.
>
> Setup whatever dynamic DNS service and forget about it. My Mom's
> connection has a subdomain on dyndns that her router manages so I can reach
> it easily with ssh.
>
> Edward Holcroft <eholcroft at mkainc.com> wrote:
>
> >Thanks all for the advice on this.
> >
> >I've just hooked my Motorola surfboard 6121. The process with Comcast
> >was
> >seamless (after they transferred me three times, that is).
> >
> >The SB is showing bonded downstream and upstream, so I guess my
> >neighborhood has the newer infrastructure.
> >
> >I use an old Watchguard Firebox that I upgraded to pfSense as my main
> >router, with an IPSec link to my office. I noticed that the VPN link to
> >the
> >office was still up after the changes, which seemed a little strange to
> >me,
> >'cos that would mean my IP never changed. Indeed, I still have the same
> >IP
> >address from Comcast even after switching modems. Does anyone know how
> >often those Comcast IP's get renewed? I thought it was fairly
> >regularly, at
> >the very least when equipment gets replaced.
>
> --
> Sent from a Linux system.
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-- 
Edward Holcroft
Madsen Kneppers & Associates Inc.
3020 Holcomb Bridge Rd. NW
Norcross, GA 30071
O (770) 446-9606
M (678) 587-8649

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