In the past month and a half,I have had 3 cable modems blow up. I tried the usual suspects, new surge protector, new A/C outlet on a different series line and the modems were 3 different manufactures. Here is my question, can someone actually hack into the back of my Netopia firewall and actually run a program that zaps my cable modem? I have had cablevision come out and rerun lines, run tests, the usual suspects. I know a sudden spike is capable of coming off the actual cable, but can it be what I said? The reason I ask is because the cable company is capable of telneting into the back of my modem, so why not someone else???? I apologize if I am sound a tad paranoid, but I’d still like to know.

what does cablevision think? your description of the problem is vague.

Is the cable grounded outside? You could invest in a UPS (uninterupted power supply) that has a connection for the coax AND RJ45. I have not seen one of these in person yet, but I have seen them advertised. I would guess for home use they are still around $60 - $100 (larger ones are much more).