The Ambit U10C018 cable modem, used extensively in many of the eastern Comcast regions, is very light - about the size of a thick PDA:
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picked one up on eBay last Fall for under $20, and it has worked flawlessly since then with my Time Warner RoadRunner service. It has a more detailed web page than my Motorola SB5120 (which crapped out after less than a year), and it's smaller and lighter - which leads to the problem: It sits flat on a desk, but it's so light that the stiff cables make it slide around to wherever the cables want to take it.
I wanted to keep the Ambit in one place, a place close to my Linksys WRT54GS wireless/Ethernet router -
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and with good ventilation.
The solution - a wire and mesh "step sorter" from Staples, item #827865:
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I used this to make a well-ventillated modem rack which conveniently fits over and around the Linksys router. Imagine the PDA in the photo increased by 50% in each dimension - that represents the Ambit modem. I took the step sorter and turned it on its back and put the rubber feet on the back - which is now the bottom of the modem rack. I bent the front wire mesh back 270º so that it hangs down in the back when the sorter is on its back, leaving about a 1/4" inch lip on the back of the mesh, and the mesh now forms a ventillated platform for the modem. The cables still skewed the modem left or right, so I strapped the modem down with a black tie wrap.
The sorter now sits on what was its "back", and the modem faces toward what was the sorter's "top". This entire setup conveniently fits over the Linksys router, giving the modem and router close proximity and free airflow, with both their cable sets exiting toward the back. Total outlay - less than $10. The wire sorters are even on sale now for less than $6 on the Staples website.
*TimDaniels*