Cable Modem Diagnostics

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by RLenga, May 19, 2019.

  1. RLenga

    RLenga Private E-2

    I have been buying cable modems (Arris and Netgear modems mostly) at auction from Amazon's return center and reselling them. So far I've sold about 50 and have had 2 of them sent back claiming they don't work.

    Is there a way to run a diagnostic on them on an air gaped machine without having access to the service provider. The ones with combined routers will allow me to test the router functionality of course but not the modem functions without signals being received from the provider.

    Is there a program that would essentially act as a virtual provider to send signals to run a diagnostic?
     
    RLenga, May 19, 2019
    #1
  2. Eldon

    Eldon Major Geek Extraordinaire

    Why don't you buy a small amount of pre-paid data from the ISP?
     
    Eldon, May 19, 2019
    #2
  3. plodr

    plodr MajorGeek Super Extraordinaire Moderator Staff Member

    My ISP, Comcast/Xfinity publishes a list of supported modems for those of us who buy our own.
    I was surprised to see that my modem, Arris SB6121 which I activated in late 2017 is no longer supported. It was at the time I purchased it. Because I'm using it, I can continue to use it (as per the instructions I read on Comcast's site) but if I had to replace this modem and picked the same model, I assume Comcast/Xfinity would no longer activate it aka would not send a signal so I could get on the internet.

    When 2 people returned modems, perhaps it was not because they were non-operational but simply that the ISP did not support that model. No amount of testing would determine that unless you had the same ISP as the purchaser.
     
    plodr, May 20, 2019
    #3
  4. gman863

    gman863 MajorGeek

    As plodr said, the list of "approved" modems can change constantly. For example, even if an older model's box has the Xfinity/Comcast logo shown, it may not necessarily live up to the ISP's latest approved standards.

    Smaller cable ISPs can be especially tricky. A customer at least has to check the ISP's website (or, in worst cases, call the ISP directly) to figure out what specific modems will work on their system.
     
    gman863, May 25, 2019
    #4

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