Static IP for Small Businesses with their own Modem

In Oct of 2015 we started having intermittent outages in our service and we have hosted apps and VoIP phones. Knowing that could be for a myriad of reasons, we went through the checklist:

Service down - No - Signal Seems fine on Comcast End no outages in the area

Modem/Router Functioning - Not sure - because we have a leased modem/router from Comcast

Server On-line - Yes

Internal Network functioning - Yes

Hub or switch working - passing traffic for internal network

Phones functioning - diagnostics reveal functioning phones

Given that both the VoIP phones and internet connectivity would go down simultaneously, but that we had traffic internally on our LAN still working. The Modem/Router seemed like the likely culprit.

We contacted Comcast about upgrading the nearly 4 year old equipment. Answer: Your current modem in not on the list for an upgrade, you are not eligible for to upgrade your modem/router.

Will you send a tech to check the modem and make sure it is functioning properly:  That will cost you $99 for a service charge if nothing is wrong with the modem. Hmm.  After a month and a half of this dance, with our network still suffering the same issue (Regularly dropping calls and hour long outages at random times) we contacted Comcast again, and we told that we should call every time the network wasn't working, after amassing sufficient issues, we were told that they would send out a tech at no cost to check the modem, when we tried to call the person that made this offer to us, she would not return the office manager's phone calls to actually schedule the service call.

We called to upgrade our service to see if that would make a difference as the problem was intermittent and centered around the busiest times of the day.  Interestingly enough this entire process only took about a total of 20 minutes and comcast employees were only too willing to increase what they were charging us.

Not getting any response on the service call, we decided that we would hire the resources and purchase the equipment to fix the issue.  During the time we are waiting for the new equipment to arrive from the suppliers the network began to have increasing problems with daily outgoes at specific times that led us to believe that the issue on further scrutiny was more likely the hub.  We directed a fan towards the hub and encountered no more failures, but still had issues with call dropping.

Once the equipment arrived we contacted comcast to register the new modem and then preceded to install the equipment.  In taking with the comcast Tech rep, she wanted to make sure that we knew what our Static IP address was so that we could program it into the modem, which we did. About 5 hours later having no success in getting the network to accept the connection from the new modem, we called comcast again and the new Tech rep told us that the Static IP had been turned off and that it was now on dynamic DHCP.  

Once we knew that we reprogrammed the modem and everything worked as it should (Modem, its connection to the network, the server, switch/hub, VoIP phone, etc.).  Given the hour we decided to call it a night, monitor the system and then regroup on the Static IP issue.

The network as we monitored it displayed no more dropped calls or system failures.  

In early when we called to schedule the reinstatement of the our Static IP address the Tech rep indicated that comcast has a policy they they will not provide a Static IP address to a client that is not leasing a comcast modem.  News to us, not in any on-line information listing acceptable modems, not indicated to us by the tech reps to that point (in fact the opposite).  This rep was very kind, courteous and factual about what she could and couldn't do and appropriately passed me to her supervisor, when the request was made. So far so good.

Her supervisor, Marcus reiterated the policy (as if I didn't know) and then proceeded to try to get me to again sign up to lease a comcast modem.  He indicated that the original modem was old and we would get better performance with the new one (not an option in Dec, but it is now?). Not sure what Marcus was thinking about how the new modem was going to solve a problem that no longer exists. Everything is functioning, we don’t have dropped calls or network failures.

We do however need a Static IP to be able to optimize our VLAN and for the expansion of our business (multiple net works at multiple sites communicating with each other).

Do you really think that it is imperative in any way to keep us from having a Static IP address and to be able to service and maintain our own modem (which we have done infinitely more efficiently and effectively to this point than comcast).

No one can give me a reasonable answer that would explain the fascination with bundling these two together with the possible exception of the lucrative nature of of the extra monthly fees (More than $700 for a $90 modem over a 4 year period) and/or that the NSA would be exclusion from continuing to easily gather information from a very small part of the net.

Would you get someone there to authorize the use of a Static IP with the use our newly purchased modem so that we can continue to be a comcast customer?

If not, we have not have a choice but to move to an alternative ISP (Except perhaps for your very expensive ethernet services, perhaps that's the point).