[alexwright]

All the cable modems I've used (UK) have always downloaded a an image over TFTP on boot. As I understand it they can come up with a very minimal loader and reach out for their config to the local "node" for configuration, and this can include new firmware. On the support line they're adamant that you reboot the things before proceeding past the IVR. Which makes sense.

The last I heard about it the different levels of service (bronze/silver/gold they were at the time, 5/10/20Mbit/s) are just based on the MAC the modem sends on this initial config/handshake. When I moved from 20 to 50 I was told to reboot the modem and it came up will an all new shiny more craptastic than ever web interface as well as setting it's WAN port to 50Mbit/s