said by tomdarch:Wow.... I just placed an order to start service with Comcast, and I decided that I'd avoid the $7/mo rental fee and buy a modem myself. Reading that they neither reset all old rentals nor are they capable of understanding this situation makes me glad that I'm buying a modem.
This thread was discussing a router, not a simple cable modem. A simple cable modem has no personally identifiable information in it. And even a router would not be a problem if you just did your own factory reset on a new router, and before you turned it in to Comcast (if it was a rental).
And FWIW I purchased two Netopia DSL routers from Amazon a couple of years ago, and even though they were advertised as "new" equipment, when I received them they were routers that had been returned to AT&T, and AT&T in turn sold them to Amazon. How do I know that was the case? I know because both of those routers still had the old user's PPPoE usernames and passwords in them (real usernames and passwords, not the factory default dummy authentication entries). Buying a "new" modem or router does not mean that what you get is really new, or that it won't contain information from the previous owner. Have you ever wondered what happens to a modem, router, hard drive, laptop... that is returned to a retailer such as Bestbuy, Staples, Office Depot...? What happens is pretty much that they put new shrink wrap on the box and put it back on the shelf.