Astound → [Equipment] ZyXEL (Hitron) BRG35503 on RCN

»www.newegg.com/Product/P ··· 25188005
»www.amazon.com/ZyXEL-Com ··· 0BHZLHBI

I bought this unit via a Comcast (Xfinity) promotion, and used it with Comcast for a year or two - it has worked beautifully. I recently switched to RCN, and their techs have been unable to successfully activate service with the unit. We have spent hours with them, including a technician visit and much remote provisioning, or whatever they try to do, but it does not work.

All RCN specifies for BYOD is DOCSIS 3.0 compatibility:
»rcn.com/dc-metro/high-sp ··· you-need

[The information here:
»RCN Forum FAQ »What are the RCN Approved (BYOM) Modems?
seems outdated.]

OTOH, one or two of the RCN support people we spoke to claims that it won't work with RCN, and indeed, virtually all mention of this unit online is in the context of Comcast (and sometimes TWC), but I've never seen anyone claim to get this working with RCN, and one of the Amazon commenters asserts that it won't, although he doesn't explain why, or how he knows.

Is there any reason it should not work with RCN?

Thanks, but:

1) Nothing in the description says that it is *not* compatible with other networks, just that it is certified for Comcast

2) I have been unable to find anything reliable on the 'net indicating that modems can actually be 'locked' or somehow restricted to a specific network. If it's really fully DOCSIS 3.0 compatible, what mechanism would prevent it from working with any arbitrary DOCSIS 3.0 network? Do you have a link or any explanation of how this could / would be implemented?

Just buy a new modem dude, they aren't expensive.

SB6141 and be done with this.

I probably am going to buy a new one, but:

1) It's annoying to have to put up with this sort of stuff from the company.

2) I'm not even sure that the 6141 will work - the latest excuse from RCN seems to be that they require an 8 channel (DS) box, so I'd need the 6141.

If I do buy, I'll probably just pick up a used Arris CM820 off eBay (for $35-$40) - that's the model they use, I like enterprise gear, and it supports 8 channels.