I used to work tech support for an ISP years ago.... Trying to get people to find their modem and see if it was plugged into the wall was effort.

Imagine trying to get the same people to upgrade router firmware...... no chance

This is why the ISP routers and modems have all introduced remote updates from the ISP, sometimes going further with extra telemetry[0]. Not a great situation for those with the technical knowledge, but I don't think we can expect people to upgrade their router FW on their own.

0: https://old.reddit.com/r/ATT/comments/mqfy9a/just_got_our_ne...

I was pissed to learn that arris DOCSIS modems do not allow you, the owner, to install firmware updates or adjust most settings. Only the ISP gets to do that.

That's because bandwidth caps are enforced by the cable modem and not further downstream. When you pay for 10 Mbps down, 1 Mbps up, that is enforced by the cable modem.

Earlier versions of cable modems had flaws that allowed consumers to push configs on the ethernet port and uncap their cable modems and gain higher speeds than they had paid for.

If the ISP could add a paragraph to their T&C's, then monitor the speed...

"Thank you for upgrading your service to our VVVIP Price Tier! Your first three months as a VVVIP customer is 50% off..."

>If the ISP could add a paragraph to their T&C's, then monitor the speed...

They did, but the overhead at the time was high. And they generally didn't peruse unless you were causing trouble....or slipped up on OPSEC.

Cable ISP network security back in the day was horrid. SNMP string would get leaked. With that you could snmpwalk the entire node you were on. It was amusing.

Yep, what a silly design. I almost want to hack it out of spite.

That is true, there are people who use an ISP modem/router but what of the ones who don't, what of the android TV or phone is that doesn't get updates, what of that winxp/vista/7 computer that won't be upgraded.......?

There are so many other devices out there that are required for this change to work, it is insane to think it could be done.

> Imagine trying to get the same people to upgrade router firmware...... no chance

Which is why there are technical standards for the ISP to do it from their end:

> Technical Report 069 (TR-069) is a technical specification of the Broadband Forum that defines an application layer protocol for remote management and provisioning of customer-premises equipment (CPE) connected to an Internet Protocol (IP) network. TR-069 uses the CPE WAN Management Protocol (CWMP) which provides support functions for auto-configuration, software or firmware image management, software module management, status and performance managements, and diagnostics.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TR-069

(At least on ISP-issued CPE.)

The router is the least of your problems. Consider all the devices connected to those routers which don't recognize 127/8 addresses as anything but loopback—some of which may never receive updates at all, never mind actually getting people to install them.

I assume that most ISPs push out updates automatically unless the hardware is user provided (and thus user supported)? I've been through several rounds of "we're sending you a new router" with UK ISPs where you're aggressively reminded to switch.