cable modem firmware upgrade

[sam at themerritts.org (Sam Hayes Merritt, III)]

> That has been my experience as well (only from the RF side) and I would
> believe this was a design choice.   The ISP usually wants to keep control
> over the firmware versions of the CM for various technical/support reasons
> versus having consumers mess with the firmware.

Its a design choice but not one that always works out well.

Customers that bring their own modems that aren't on a "certified" list, 
end up with a device that the provider may not have ever seen. Then, if 
you run into an issue with the modem that can be fixed with a firmware 
issue (some vendors have issues that they cannot fix - rhymes with 
netgear) then the MSO has to work with the maker of that modem, even 
though they may have never had any interactions with them, get the 
certificate and firmware for that modem and upgrade customer owned devices 
- possibly turning them into bricks. I'd rather allow customers to turn 
their own modems into bricks.


sam