Ben, this message isn't only to you, i just chose to reply to your
message in particular.


 >> Yes well I can get a lease just fine on my b0rken at&t cable modem 
 >>but can't route packets. I can't even ping the default route :-( A 
 >>co-worker told me they need my serial number and MAC from my cable 
 >>modem again. Seems they need to be reprovisioned. Assholes.

 >I know it's a horrid throught, but have you considered calling AT&T? 
 >Have_any_ of you called AT&T? For most of you (cable syncs, get an IP, 
 >no internet) they'll have you go to a web page (everything _but_ that 
 >web page is filtered), you'll enter your account number, then the last 
 >9 digits of your account number in the next box. Click SUBMIT, and 
 >presto chango,the cable modem reboots and you're on the 'net.

 >As much as AT&T sucks, they are your ISP, you should try calling them
 >before bitching and whining to a mailing list. (And put some throught
 >into it, if you register your WINDOWS box with them, then unplug the
 >WINDOWS box and plug in the LINUX box, you didn't register your LINUX
 >box, so it's probably NOT going to work)

Since you asked, yes I did call them. I got a nice young women who 
insisted that I should be able to connect to their provisioning page 
without an IP address (my modem quit synching sometime early Sunday 
morning). I explained to her that it wasn't going to happen, but as is 
often the case when you're dealing with the chronically inept, it was 
easier to type in the address and try to humor her. She actually had me 
type it in three times before she gave up and escalated it to their 
networking group for investigation. She said they'd call me in two to 
three days. We both know already that no one is going to call.

I'll also mention that it took two phone calls and a visit to the local 
AT&T store front over a two week period to get the modem properly 
provisioned in the first place.

If I call AT&T tonight to check on the status, they'll have no record of 
my previous calls, no record of my modem, no record of any changes being 
made to the local network, and of course they'll tell me that none of 
the other users in my area are having problems either.

In the mean time my access point dials into Visi and I'm mulling over 
whether I want to continue to put up with the poor service and 
relatively poor quality of the AT&T network service, or whether I can 
live with a 56Kb dialup connection. I'm leaning towards the latter, if 
for no other reason than to send a message to AT&T/Comcast.

--rick