Resetting/Refreshing Modems?

Factual Questions
1

I have Comcast cable internet. It’s generally pretty speedy and reliable, with the exception of a few random outages here and there.

I had one of those today. My phone and internet were down, but my cable TV still worked. I called Comcast and they “reset” my modem from wherever their call center is. So I got my internet back, but it was pretty damn slow.

Anyway, I ran a couple speed tests (I use dslreports) and where I used to get close to 20,000 kb/s I was now getting just over 1,000. I believe my advertised speed is 15,000 kb/s.

So I called them back just now and they reset my modem again, and now I’m back to being speedy.

My question is…is this any different than power cycling the modem by just unplugging it for 30 seconds (although I have to admit my modem has a battery backup, so I’d have to take the battery out to do this).

What are they doing when “resetting” my modem? Why did it need to be reset anyway? Why were my internet speeds throttled down by the initial reset earlier in the day?

Thanks in advance, I just want to understand this process and possibly learn a way to do this myself to save the hassle of waiting interminably long on the phone.

2

Unless their version of “reset” means something else, then yes, “reset” would be identical to power cycling the modem itself.

I’m guessing that they remotely reset modems since it saves time, instead of having to instruct each and every customer to power cycle the modem (or reset with the pin at the back)

3

I’ve reset my Comcast modem several times. There is an inset button on the back of it that can be depressed with a pencil tip.