Ubee DDW366 Questions

You answered your own question in the last sentence.  As long as you are comfortable managing your own home network, request a refund and purchase a separate modem and router.  That will give you complete control over your home network.

As Chris posted, the gateway devices are dumbed down for the novice user.  I can understand why ... Cox does provide support for them and it would be difficult to support of users were changing settings they knew nothing about.  For the user that wants plug-and-play and wants total support from the provider the gateway is a good option.  For the user that wants control, a standalone router is the way to go.

I think it's bad form to handicap devices for the purpose of support. Cox doesn't support non Cox networks, and if the customer buys a gateway at retail, it's just that. I can understand changing the firmware for the modem part, but removing items from customer equipment without permission or documentation is foolish IMO. Fastest Wifi...yea right!

@HealthEdge, I can see why they do it.  There are a lot of people who don't know or care to know anything about networking.  They just want their installation to work.  For them the dumbed down gateway is fine.  Just an example I overheard while waiting at my local Cox store:

A Cox rep was explaining modems/gateways to a customer ... it went like this:

Cox rep: this one is single band the one next to it is dual band.
Customer: what does that mean?
Cox rep: if you have a single device the single band is fine.  If you have 2 devices, like both you and the Mrs. have laptops, you need the dual band.

Obviously, the customer knew nothing and Cox rep didn't have a clue about what he was selling or was trying to BS the customer into buying the more expensive unit.  Not a knock on the customer, as I said some people just want it to work without getting into the details.  For the rest of us techies ... we head to a place like newegg and get an unlocked device.

While I can understand disabling things for novice users, the fact that I purchased this unit from Cox directly to me means it shouldn't have this custom firmware and locked down settings. That's like if I go buy a car and find out it has a secret key that allows you to change the oil, and without that key only the dealership can do that. It should be the same as if I purchased retail. At the VERY least this information should have been provided at the time of purchasing/setup. Had I known features and settings I need access to were restricted I would have gotten a retail one to begin with, saving myself some time.

Either way my question is answered and the retail modem (which was much cheaper than the Cox one) is in route. I'll see about a refund when the new one arrives. Thanks for the help Chris.

ChrisL said:
however that is the indented purpose of the equipment we provide.

But Cox didn't provide the gateway in OP right? He bought it retail. Doesn't any gateway on Cox's network, whether from Cox or a store, get it's firmware modified? Or is it configuration file controlled?

AllenP said:
Cox rep didn't have a clue about what he was selling or was trying to BS the customer into buying the more expensive unit.

This is exactly what I am talking about. Lack of training and understanding is not bliss. That is bad customer service on Cox's part. If Cox wants to sell home networking equipment, they need to learn more about home networking.  

Then I stand corrected. I thought the modifications was integrated into the firmware. May I ask how Cox's system tells the difference between Cox and retail modems?  Is it by S/N? 

@Health Edge

It's by device model.  The units we sell are specific to MSO's and are not supposed to be available via retail channels.  Granted some of these devices leak into retail channels however should you acquire on this way our system will treat it as one of ours and update it accordingly.  If you are not wanting this to occur the best option is to stick with purely retail models.