super newbie help

[allen13]

I recently bought a premodedcable modem and the download speeds are between 10 and 20 megs ive seen people on the forum with over 300 and i was puzzled at how is this achievable

the modem is a MOTOROLA SURFBOARD SB5101U and its connected to time warner cable the guy who sold me the modem tried different ones and he gave me the one with the highest download speed. i would like to learn how this wizardry is done im completely ignorant in every aspect of how to get higher download speeds and how to mess with the modem please help :]

[drewmerc]

if i could be bothered i'd write a big piece on the failure of the american free market and it's resulting 3rd world telecoms
but i'm to lazy