Below is info on how to find and use a utility that will tell you about your head end and other info about your ISP.

I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing short of hacking your ISP's head end server to change your bandwidth. But I figure I should pass this info along. Bottom line..If you have good speeds, DO NOT CHANGE MODEMS.

Now onto my journey....
I had comcast/home leasing their 3com cmx cable modem. I was getting a genuine
600+ KBYTES dwn (for the less informd that is = ~6mgs)
100 KBYTES up
UNTIL I purchased a new 3com office connect cable modem (damn deal of the day at buy.com)
When they 'provisioned' my new modem my speeds dropped to :
150 KBYTES dwn
8 KBYTES up (yes a little better than dialup)

I have a dozen friends on @home in my area. None had quite the speeds I had, but none are anywhere near as slow as my upload speed. (btw Comcast only promises an up speed to 'up to 128k" which is equiv to ~12-14k)

These friends all have ~40+ KBYTE upload speeds and get in the 300KB download range

What seems apparent is that all "NEW" or "Re-Provisioned" accounts are being capped but that if you were setup at an earlier time you are not subject to the dismal speeds. So.....

Questions:
1.If something is capped ONLY at the head end and monitored continuously because of the docsis protocol, why would I have gotten such a high speed before and not been 'capped' before this 'provisioning' of my new modem?

2. How did I 'slip' thru the cracks?

[VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONs]
3a. What happens if I go back to my leased modem?
A service rep with @home said the mac info from my old modem is already deleted from my account, (they simply overwrite with the new mac info) so question is:
3b. If I try and have them re-provision the old modem, is there any chance it will give me back my old speeds?
3c. Is there anything I can do to 'save' my old speed limits?

4. Is there a way to view the firmware on both modems and maybe see if there was a difference in the settings??
[Edit: I was able to view some info on my working cable modem using a program called docsdiag.jar
Docdiagnostic page
»homepage.ntlworld.com/robin.d.h.···iag/#cmx

It displayed a lot of info including the bandwidth caps but unfortunately they were listed as '0bps' as you will see below]

Mine displayed
3Com OfficeConnect Cable Modem3.1.0,hardware version:B.2,software version:3.1.0

Downstream channel frequency = 650984497 Hz
Downstream received signal power= 0.0 dBmV
Upstream channel frequency = 31600000 Hz
QoS max upstream bandwidht = 0 bps
Qos max downstream bandwidht = 0 bps
SigQu: Signal to Noise Ratio = 33.5 dB
Cable Modem status = Operational
Upstream transmit signal power = 50.0 dBmV

There was a load of other information that could be displayed but it didnt seem pertinent to my quest.

Any suggestions on HOW TO GET MY OLD SPEEDS BACK will be appreciated. Boy its one thing never to have had monster speeds, but once you have them, its hard to go back to just good speed.

No other providers in the area. And I am on the outskirts for a DSL connection. (about 18000' away from the dslammer) Odd thing is I recommended this service to about 15 people that got it. I would never recommend for even a regular user this service with this dialup upload speed.

The purpose of this post was to let others know not to change modems or request a re-provisioning IF they have decent speed. I have always been actively lurking for info (even when I had the good speeds) and NEVER once saw anything mentioned about troubles with a new modem being capped.

Further info that might help:
In that DiagDoc utility I was able to ascertain that the new firmware that they are using for my modem (which I assume is controlled on the head end) is:
Firmware filename on offer = 3com_2940_v2_09.bin
Firmware upgrade status = Upgrade at next re-boot
Firmware upgrade operation = Failed
Current firmware = 3.1.0

Interesting that the upgrade states 'failed'. Not sure what that means though.

TIA for any suggestions that might allow me to get back the really decent speeds.

Edit: I thought that it was evident that I have tweaked the hell out of my registry and made sure all the cable connections are tight and allow as little signal degradation as possible. (nothing between the modem and the splitter) For the record, the 3com IS docsis compliant. I have my RWin set at ~125,000 with 0 packet loss at that configuration. I had it up as high as ~220,000 when I had the better speeds but since the cap, that figure hasnt done anything to help so I dropped the Rwin down to a 'relatively' more modest setting. MTU is at 1500.
The codered worm has nothing to do with this.

I was hoping someone with insider knowledge could explain a little bit more about the .bin file:
[Firmware filename on offer = 3com_2940_v2_09.bin]
I assume that it is similar to a bin file that would be installed for a bios upgrade on a PC. Isnt there a way to get my old modem provisioned with the 'old' bin file and not have them zap the new caps on it?