# Moving a Comcast Cable Modem (need answer fast)

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-a-comcast-cable-modem-need-answer-fast/622753>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 22, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-a-comcast-cable-modem-need-answer-fast/622753 "2012-05-22T20:21:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-a-comcast-cable-modem-need-answer-fast/622753/1 "2012-05-22T20:21:25Z")

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My mom’s internet is down. We both have comcast, but are several suburbs apart. Can I take my cable modem there to see if it works there to see if the problem is her modem or if it’s something else?

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**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-a-comcast-cable-modem-need-answer-fast/622753/2 "2012-05-22T21:22:27Z")

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Yeah but you’d have to call the cable company and say “I need to register the MAC address for my new modem” and they’d have to register it for you. Then when you switch back you’d have to call again.

Comcast is supposed to be doing the modem testing. They can do it from their location. If they think it’s broken they’ll come replace it with a new one, seeing as how you rent it from them.

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**Author:** ![vix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a88e4f/32.png) [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)\
**Post date:** [May 22, 2012, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-a-comcast-cable-modem-need-answer-fast/622753/3 "2012-05-22T23:27:56Z")

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Have you called Comcast to see if they can “send a reset signal” to your mom’s cable box? That’s fixed my outages n a few occasions, and is quick and easy.

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**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-a-comcast-cable-modem-need-answer-fast/622753/4 "2012-05-23T01:19:45Z")

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I strongly urge you \*not \*to do this. It’s far from the easiest way to troubleshoot, isn’t going to glean valuable information, and is likely to end up with both of you without internet for weeks.

Try power cycling, then contacting Comcast to see if there’s a known outage.

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**Author:** ![Mdcastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/958977/32.png) [@Mdcastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mdcastle)\
**Post date:** [May 23, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moving-a-comcast-cable-modem-need-answer-fast/622753/5 "2012-05-23T14:15:20Z")

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Issue is resolved. My mother originally asked me to come out and see if I could fix it, but then my stepfather decided to try, and when he couldn’t, they just called Comcast to come out today and fix it.