Most companies hide vital support information in their CSR systems. What software rev is pushed out to my cable modem? What are the known faults with this mod

Most companies hide vital support information in their CSR systems. What software rev is pushed out to my cable modem? What are the known faults with this modem on the Time Warner network? I'd like to be able to push the "update firmware" button myself rather than convincing someone at TW to do it for me. This volunteer army operates with one hand tied behind its back -- it tries to help people without most of the information required. Openness and information can help companies reduce support costs. However, I suspect that they don't want customers to actually know how the sausage is made as it's often not as pretty as advertised.