Well, shit, I thought I had my problems solved, but I just can't catch a break.

I'd managed to order a VOIP cable modem from a company online which specializes in selling cable modems. They sent me the wrong modem, I'd ordered an SBC and they sent me a Cisco instead. No problem, I thought, since the Cisco was an even better modem than the SBC was going to be.

Turns out, the one they sent me was stolen. When I tried to activate it on Comcast, they told me that it was a rental-only model, not available for sale as a retail item, and that its serial number and mac address was actually still in their inventory as being one of their rental units. Comcast, understandably, won't activate it for me. Comcast were also quite understanding when I said that I would like to hang on to it to try to send it back and get my money back from the people who sold it to me.

I'm awaiting an email back from the sellers to see if they'll be honorable about it.

Now I have to shop for a goddamn modem AGAIN.

The problem is that there are not many out there which have the VOIP ports if you're specifically avoiding Arris units.