Linksys Embraces DD-WRT
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There was once a good old day when Linksys was good...
I run DD-WRT on a Netgear Blackhawk (D7000 iirc, not one of the new ones), and it's been solid. Of course Comcast decided to push a friendly firmware update to my cable modem this weekend which reset the config, took it out of bridge mode and re-enabled the modem's own DHCP and routing services (and Lord knows what else), taking me offline. Annoying (not to mention a potential security nightmare)... mostly because I spent an hour jacking around before it even occurred to me to login to the modem and check it's settings.
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@JeffReady That is why I never use the Cable Companies Modem's if I can help it.
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@brianlittlejohn said:
@JeffReady That is why I never use the Cable Companies Modem's if I can help it.
How often is there really a way to switch them out?
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@scottalanmiller All the cable companies where I live will support any DOCSIS 3.0 compatible modem. I just go buy the one I want.
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@brianlittlejohn said:
@scottalanmiller All the cable companies where I live will support any DOCSIS 3.0 compatible modem. I just go buy the one I want.
Yes, this. I own mine, and I always tell people who ask to buy their own.
On top of the security issues and companies like Comcast broadcasting their own "free" WiFi from the router in your house, there is the monthly rental charge.
If you buy your own and have service for more than 14ish months, you will have recovered the cost.
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@scottalanmiller Yeah I own mine, but part of the Comcast situation is that they have to reg the modem on their end and (apparently) can still push updates down to it. Annoying at minimum.
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@JeffReady said:
@scottalanmiller Yeah I own mine, but part of the Comcast situation is that they have to reg the modem on their end and (apparently) can still push updates down to it. Annoying at minimum.
Modems are registered by MAC. How would they even push an update down to your hardware?
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@JaredBusch said:
@JeffReady said:
@scottalanmiller Yeah I own mine, but part of the Comcast situation is that they have to reg the modem on their end and (apparently) can still push updates down to it. Annoying at minimum.
Modems are registered by MAC. How would they even push an update down to your hardware?
The cable modems here ( on Cox) all are managed by Cox, not the users. Kinda assumed it was that way everywhere.
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@Dashrender said:
@JaredBusch said:
@JeffReady said:
@scottalanmiller Yeah I own mine, but part of the Comcast situation is that they have to reg the modem on their end and (apparently) can still push updates down to it. Annoying at minimum.
Modems are registered by MAC. How would they even push an update down to your hardware?
The cable modems here ( on Cox) all are managed by Cox, not the users. Kinda assumed it was that way everywhere.
You should be able to bring your own even with Cox. Comcast (Xfinity) and Charter both let you do that.
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@JaredBusch said:
@Dashrender said:
@JaredBusch said:
@JeffReady said:
@scottalanmiller Yeah I own mine, but part of the Comcast situation is that they have to reg the modem on their end and (apparently) can still push updates down to it. Annoying at minimum.
Modems are registered by MAC. How would they even push an update down to your hardware?
The cable modems here ( on Cox) all are managed by Cox, not the users. Kinda assumed it was that way everywhere.
You should be able to bring your own even with Cox. Comcast (Xfinity) and Charter both let you do that.
Oh I most definitely can - but that doesn't mean that they don't control it completely. I'm talking about the cable modem, not the router.
I'm sure if I dug around on the internet I could find the information so I could log into the cable modem myself - but I haven't seen a need for me to do that.
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The reasons I got my own, no monthly rental fees, and they always push their combo modem routers. Those suck.
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@JaredBusch Beats the crap out of me, but when I was using their own modem and had changed the password, they were still able to push down the updates. I got my own modem (same brand, but upgraded to actually work with higher speeds unlike the garbage they stuck me with originally) -- and here again they were able to push down an update. Maybe they are built such that theres a way to force some part of the firmware to be updatable? All I know is version number changed, the modem was taken out of bridge mode, and all the garbage I had previously disabled (modem based DHCP, modem based Wifi network, etc) got turned back on.
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@JeffReady said:
@JaredBusch Beats the crap out of me, but when I was using their own modem and had changed the password, they were still able to push down the updates. I got my own modem (same brand, but upgraded to actually work with higher speeds unlike the garbage they stuck me with originally) -- and here again they were able to push down an update. Maybe they are built such that theres a way to force some part of the firmware to be updatable? All I know is version number changed, the modem was taken out of bridge mode, and all the garbage I had previously disabled (modem based DHCP, modem based Wifi network, etc) got turned back on.
That is very interesting.. Something I will potentially end to look into.
I only have a modem, not a router, so it is not possible to not out of bridged mode at least. -
I'm sure there is a default password burnt into those devices that all carriers know that allows them to configure them for their networks.
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@JeffReady said:
There was once a good old day when Linksys was good...
I run DD-WRT on a Netgear Blackhawk (D7000 iirc, not one of the new ones), and it's been solid. Of course Comcast decided to push a friendly firmware update to my cable modem this weekend which reset the config, took it out of bridge mode and re-enabled the modem's own DHCP and routing services (and Lord knows what else), taking me offline. Annoying (not to mention a potential security nightmare)... mostly because I spent an hour jacking around before it even occurred to me to login to the modem and check it's settings.
Are you me? lol
This happened to me a couple weeks ago - same setup, same software, different router.
