Antirant
Alright, well, I just got back from Comcast, and I've been able to make sense of just about everything.
Comcast doesn't sell modems. This was a misunderstanding I got from the broken English spoken by the technician installing my stuff this time around, which altered my memory of the installation in Menlo Park. Obviously, if it wasn't presented as an option, it's much easier to understand how I could have ended up with a leased modem. In fact, my vivid imagination is now suggesting that I asked about purchasing the modem and was told they only lease, which might actually have happened.
"But Red," you might be thinking, "what about the $3 discrepancy between December of 2007 and January of 2008?" Well, that's even funnier. Apparently, the modem I turned in was registered to a technician. They can install the modem and set things up, but not enter it into the system properly, so rather than paying for a modem I'd already bought, I actually avoided paying for a modem I was leasing for 18 months! They didn't catch it until a semiregular audit, which must have happened on Jan 1, 2008. In any case, this certainly explains the charges, why I didn't notice them sooner, and why my modem wouldn't work for the new installation.
So now I've returned that modem (sans power supply, since you can never have too many of those and she didn't ask), and won't be charged for it. But I still have "Christina's" modem in my car, which may or may not be a Comcast modem (apparently they can't activate it if it's reported lost or stolen), and which I'll be trying to get activated so I can return the one we have in the apartment, and (hopefully) not end up paying $3 a month for a modem. If they can't activate it, I will buy a modem once and for all (they're like $50 on Newegg, meaning it pays for it self in less than 2 years), and, I dunno, have a useless modem kicking around the apartment. Better than 3 modems, anyway.
So yeah, I managed to solve the mystery to my satisfaction, and learned that instead of being unfairly charged, I was actually avoiding detection on not having paid. All in all a productive experience. But man, that place was crowded (likely with folks getting digital upgrade equipment for the changeover on the 1st).
Comcast doesn't sell modems. This was a misunderstanding I got from the broken English spoken by the technician installing my stuff this time around, which altered my memory of the installation in Menlo Park. Obviously, if it wasn't presented as an option, it's much easier to understand how I could have ended up with a leased modem. In fact, my vivid imagination is now suggesting that I asked about purchasing the modem and was told they only lease, which might actually have happened.
"But Red," you might be thinking, "what about the $3 discrepancy between December of 2007 and January of 2008?" Well, that's even funnier. Apparently, the modem I turned in was registered to a technician. They can install the modem and set things up, but not enter it into the system properly, so rather than paying for a modem I'd already bought, I actually avoided paying for a modem I was leasing for 18 months! They didn't catch it until a semiregular audit, which must have happened on Jan 1, 2008. In any case, this certainly explains the charges, why I didn't notice them sooner, and why my modem wouldn't work for the new installation.
So now I've returned that modem (sans power supply, since you can never have too many of those and she didn't ask), and won't be charged for it. But I still have "Christina's" modem in my car, which may or may not be a Comcast modem (apparently they can't activate it if it's reported lost or stolen), and which I'll be trying to get activated so I can return the one we have in the apartment, and (hopefully) not end up paying $3 a month for a modem. If they can't activate it, I will buy a modem once and for all (they're like $50 on Newegg, meaning it pays for it self in less than 2 years), and, I dunno, have a useless modem kicking around the apartment. Better than 3 modems, anyway.
So yeah, I managed to solve the mystery to my satisfaction, and learned that instead of being unfairly charged, I was actually avoiding detection on not having paid. All in all a productive experience. But man, that place was crowded (likely with folks getting digital upgrade equipment for the changeover on the 1st).