said by NoHereNoMo:Only the service provider is entitled to own and hook-up service or make provision for such.
I agree with you...
said by NoHereNoMo:On the other hand, anyone is allowed to own a modem and sell it off if and when they no longer want or need it.
Completely agree...except that some buyers turn out to be the wrong people that modems shouldn't be on their hands...
said by NoHereNoMo:As such, one has no specific reason to presume that the modem they purchase anywhere is "stolen" (except when they do--when buying from sites and sellers who have a history of selling stolen property, such as this one apparently).
I don't see anywhere mentioning that the site was selling stolen modems. I did say that the seller may have gone on a flea market, ebay or craigslist shopping spree and tried to turn it around on his site to unsuspecting buyers. Again, with that site not knowing the full condition of the modem and neither Comcast.
said by NoHereNoMo:And, really, Comcast is so concerned about some cheap (used now) modem that it's willing to blow off customers willing to give them a bundle of money every month amounting to more than the modem is now worth? (Actually, I guess this isn't at all surprising from an ISP that continually charges customers a modem rental fee even when they've been using a modem they legally own and are on record with Comcast as owning.) They should simply reclaim it into their system and credit the new/existing customer with a finder's fee and move on... build up some good will. (Yeah, sure--I'm holding my breath as I type.)
customer who bought from legit stores and got legit modems can activate it with their comcast service and that's been well documented here specially those who want to avoid paying the equip. fee of $7. they key to it is making sure you return their modem and document that return or have a receipt to back it up. Comcast does have issues with customer returning their modems.
Comcast is running a business and you are basically agreeing by paying a monthly to subscribe to their service....if you don't like who they run their business, you can look somewhere else...
again, this whole thing won't happen if buyers like the OP would do a little research...