OT: Cable Modem Question

[Meanie]

Long story short:

I helped moved my uncle into a home. Several family members helped also because they were able to get some of the furniture my uncle gave away. Everything seemed to turn up at the home as intended except his cable modem from provider. Nobody is claiming responsibility and I suspect some. Provider is charging for the modem and my mom is desperate to see if anyone will admit "mistakenly" taking it.

Anyone think of any idea why a modem would be taken unless for parts on the dark market? Can it be used elsewhere, like one could in the old days? Can it be reprogrammed? I want to be wrong about those I suspect but I cannot fathom how it vanished out of thin air.

[catalpa]

Look an Ebay for that model modem and you will have an answer as to it having a value to others.

[dpb]

Or perhaps everybody is being straight up and it was in a box thought to be empty and tossed out or similar mislaid...

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[Meanie]

I'm the one who put it in a box with other office items and the contents of that box arrived, sans modem.

[Meanie]

Which is why i asked if they can be re-programmed or "hacked" so to speak and used elsewhere. Considering one can now purchase their own personal modem (which I have done), if a provider's modem can be re-programmed or modified somehow, then it could obtain a new "ID" and be registered.

[Anonymous]

It's probably a long shot, but you might call the cable provider, and ask if they can detect if and where someone is trying to use that modem.

Otherwise, I would put ALL the family members on notice that they are under suspicion, unless modem is "found" and returned, no questions asked. Otherwise they are all "out of the will" :-)

[trader_4]

Sounds like a great way to start a family feud over $50 when no one knows what happened.

[Oren]

The beating will continue until the morale improves :-)

[Rod Speed]

But they will be picking the nursing home so you'll be soorree...

[Rod Speed]

Whoever took it out of the box obviously does.

[Scott Lurndal]

If you know what you're doing, it's not difficult at all to change the MAC address of a device. Generally it's in a serial-EEPROM, mmc or sd flash device and there is a method used at manufacturing to write it (usually via the I2C bus).

[Xeno]

But are you going to do that on a device that typically costs less than $100???

[Meanie]

My mother is being charged $350 by the provider on the final bill cause they are unable to return it.

[Xeno]

Find one of the same type/model on EBay and return that. It's not like they will be reusing it. They will be junking it but they don't want others out there that could be hacked. My guess is that putting one in their hot little hands will "balance their books". In this country at least, after a set period they don't even want the old modems back. I kept the last two modems, not that I ever used them again. It wasn't all that long ago that I dumped the last one in the bin. I hadn't used that one since 2013 when I sold that house.

[Xeno]

When I moved into this new house I had the get the *new* modem

*registered* on the network. Normally it can be done by the user but, in this case, it wouldn't link in so they sent a tech out to set it up. He had a heap of trouble as well and eventually sorted it out - an issue at the upstream end. If I wanted to install a BYO modem, the provider will charge a $100 fee to register it to the network.

So, yes, they should easily be able to do that.

[trader_4]

$350 for a cable modem, especially a used one, is outrageous. I'd be filing complaints with the state and local regulators. How old is this modem? New ones go for $50 to $175. I'd certainly try Xeno's idea, if you can find a used one. But if they are that level of shysters, they probably have a label or other identifier on theirs or check the serial number and won't accept a substitute. You could offer them $100 and if you really want to make trouble, I guess you could file a small claims suit. The cable company here is more ethical. They have sold modems for ~$125 and you can also buy your own somewhere else and use it.

[Rod Speed]

More likely to see it binned so they don’t get caught using it instead of risking returning it.

[devnull]

Yah, that's exactly why I don't ever rent equipment from the Cable Company.

[Xeno]

I think here the only item rented from a cable company is the TV box. That is the only device I have ever been asked to return. And I did! The good point about that was that the company provided the mail satchel for return so it cost me nix.

[Xeno]

Democrat free zone here. Republican free zone too, it has to be said.