tech327
join:2003-01-02
Louisville, KY
| Corporate policy for AOs in apartments.
This is something I'm going to contact the corporate office about as well, I'm just posting here for everyone else's thoughts.
I had a major signal issue at my apartment this week. My downstream dropped to -30 thanks to some work done on the node near my home. The drop from the work occurred at 1:30 am and I called in to just see if it was work which it was, so I was fine with that. In the morning at 10am I was still out so I called to see if the work was still underway. It was not. I was then informed no one could be dispatched to my home at at time I could be there until Saturday. I finally got things rectified to get someone out that day. The technician that came out though initially it was my splitters causing the issue. (I have to run two to hook up my tvs and internet since the installer would not do AOs and also said my signals were fine after I hooked them up.) He checked the signal before the splitters and it was still horrid (like -18db downstream). He check the apartment above me to verify nothing up there was pulling off the signal and could find no evidence of that. He then told me an installer would be dispatched to hook up an AO so long as my landlord was fine with it.
I called my landlord, got him to OK the AO, then waited. I had to place three more calls to get the tech out there that was supposed to be (at one point being lied to and told there was again an outage in my area). The tech came out I told him what was going on and where the AO would have to go according to my landlord and then I'm informed that no matter what Insight corporate will not let them do any AOs in apartments.
Now I didnt go off on the installer cause it's not his call. However, I'm not asking them to run an AO for every device I have. Their signal is dying and for them to provide me with the service I'm paying for correctly they need to run a new outlet and cannot do it. They informed me I'd have to pay a contractor to come do run an AO I'm sorry but F*** that. I could understand if all was fine and i just wanted to clean up some loose wires with AOs, I have no problem paying for that. But this is ridiculous that for me to get a solid signal from insight I have to pay someone else to do this.
I'd like to state for the record I understand reasons why a policy like this would be implemented but this is not a case where it needs to be. It sure is a thumb to the nose of apartment renting subscribers. |
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IGGY
No Guru Just Here To Help
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-30
Chatham, IL
| Unfortunately we've seen to many users here have similar frustrations. I had a friend locally that until recently had problems getting upgrades from Insight do to there ( Insight's ) apartment policies. They lost about 6 months of increased income from this subscriber do to there policies. Something was finally worked out between the complex owner / management and Insight to were work could be done and my friend could finally get there upgrades. But now there moving out of state.:)
I'm sure Insight has there reasoning for having certain policies in place. But it seems to me that these policies only upset there customers and decrease the chance to offer more services to those who want them.
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Test Your Security Team Z Member Cable Modem Diagnostics InsightBB 3000/384 XP PRO |
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Monolyth
join:2004-01-15
Springfield, IL
| reply to tech327
Yeah, renters generally don't have it easy when it comes to shared services. Mostly because many apartment complexes have old wiring that doesn't meet cable specs so we get this kind of case. And sometimes DSL users have issues too with faulty or extremely old telephone wiring.
My first 2-3 nights of having cable I lost signal for 3-5 hours about every hour due to signal noise (58-62 upstream power  ). It has stabilized now around 48-56, but my numbers back home were well below 40.
Anyway, simple fact is, if you don't "own" it then the chances of any company coming in and doing any work on it are sketchy unless there are already talks going on with the Landlord and the company to make changes/upgrades. You may want to try and get together with other tenants and collectively request that the Landlord speak with the company firsthand and have all lines inspected.
Many voices are much louder than one, and it will sound less like "whining" to the landlord and more like something that's pissing the renters (their source of income) off. 
Just a suggestion. Peace. |
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anarchist4000
join:2001-03-28
Cicero, IN
| reply to tech327
From what I've heard from insight in the past they will run the line up to your house and from the wall jack to the modem but anything through the walls is your responsibility. When I first got cable there was a low signal strength so they came out with a couple bucket trucks and dragged the line across a few poles to my house. They also left me some of the same cable to run through my walls to where the modem was going to be along with a splitter to use.
Haven't had any signal strength issues after that other than when the power company snagged that same line with their bucket truck...
If you can convince your landlord to rerun the cables using heavier lines it would probably work best. If he's a really good landlord he'd create a second block to split the lines from. One for most people and one for people with cable internet. That way insight could possible keep dragging individual lines to wherever all the lines were split in the apartment complex and run a direct line to those rooms from there. Some sort of coax patch panel would be the best way to do it. |
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XuhQshinR
join:2001-09-18
Bradenton, FL
| I am a former installer for Insight In the Noblesville Fishers area. The reason that Insight can not do an A/O (additional Outlet) in an apartment is Liability. There have been cases where the renter has claimed the Landlord said it was ok and then the Landlord only approved a "Wall Fish" outlet. Most cable companies do not do wall fish only contractors do those. Most cable installers are not furnished fish tapes or glow rods for exactly this reason.
Even carpet fish (cable under carpet) is no longer being done by Insight and most other cable companies. This again is due in large part by law suits of people wanting easy money. Yes some have claimed they tripped over the cable that was ran underneath their carpets.
Just to let you know that it is not the installers laziness but a corporate decision so blame it on people in the past that wanted quick easy money by filing claims against the cable companies that cause you this inconvenience.
Wall fish by a cable company is very rare because it can take a long time and if you have ever seen the stacks of work orders a cable installer has to do on a daily basis you would understand that they do not have the time. Even though the cable companies have eliminated the wall fish most installers rarely get home on time as they are over worked and usually under paid for what they do.
I know .. I loved my job but too many hours and still too many bills left over at the end of my paycheck.
So be kind to your installers... They generally "people persons" or they wouldn't be in the business. They do what they can within reason.
One thing you may be able to do is. Ask the installer for some cable, Do the fish yourself, call for a tech when you have it done, have him put the compression fittings and a wallplate on for you and make you a good jumper cable. I used to do that for my customers and I would imagine that many others do it as well. Team work and planning...what a concept! Good luck.
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*** Be proud....Support Our Nation by Supporting Our President *** |
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tech327
join:2003-01-02
Louisville, KY
| reply to tech327
I work for a cable company believe me I know the things that go on like that.
It boils down to I was told by an Insight Employee that I would have to get a new outlet to get a solid signal. I can provide documentation as well from my landlord for approval.
As I said before I understand reasons they wouldnt but Insight could be 100% absolved of liability in this case and it shouldnt be this big of a pain. I know it's not this big of a deal with my cable company because of all the complaints registered on us this is NEVER one of them. |
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AlkalineArmy
Premium
join:2002-03-14
Greenfield, IN
| When I first moved to the town I live in now over 2 years ago, I lived in an apartment temporarily until we could find a nice house. I called Insight and asked them what I had to do to get service. They assured me that they had a deal already worked out with our apartment complex and all I had to do was "get permission" from the landlord. Being as I had never lived in an apartment before and didn't know how these things worked, I just assumed this was verbal permission, which I attained easily. However, when the tech came out the following week I was informed that it had to be written permission. I know the reason for this, but it was infuriating because the person on the phone didn't happen to give me this small important detail. So, the tech couldn't wait for me to go meet the landlord, so I had to wait an extra week and a half to get my service. Moral of the story is that getting service to apartments sucks  .
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"You gave up on me a long time ago, I can't say I blame you..." |
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kirbdoc
join:2003-09-28
Milton, FL
| reply to anarchist4000
said by anarchist4000  :
From what I've heard from insight in the past they will run the line up to your house and from the wall jack to the modem but anything through the walls is your responsibility.
I've had similar problems and I rent as well. Insight will put in another outlet and drop a straight line in from outside. The only problem is that they will only go straight through the wall. That means another hole in the side of the building which most landlords don't like. Insight, as said in another post, won't wall fish. I got my landlord's permission to wall fish another cable. Insight dropped off a spool of RJ6, I fished it and they came back out and hooked everything up. Didn't cost me a cent. |
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fancydancer
Perception is reality
Premium
join:2002-08-28
Springfield, IL
clubs:
 ·Comcast
·Insight Communicat..
| said by kirbdoc :
Insight, as said in another post, won't wall fish.
Back in August 2000 when I first got service the tech arrived and told me I had to fish the cable through the basement to my room. He left without doing a thing and I had to reschedule. The tech who arrived the second time told me the first tech should have fished the cable. He also ran a new line from the road even though I had cable to the house (he stated it was old and needed replaced). All at no charge. I was happy to have had the new line from the road. After almost 3.5 years I have had little to no problems with my cable (knock on wood). Good thing I had to reschedule, the first tech probably would have used my existing cable and I would have had connection issues out of wazoo and not be the happy customer I am today.
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MCSE- Minesweeper Consultant Solitaire Expert |
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IGGY
No Guru Just Here To Help
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-30
Chatham, IL
| I've ran into very few local technicians who won't run new line. Never had a need for a wall fish. But have needed an inside line replaced or added. In the place we now live we couldn't get a new run from outside. We could have - but no one wanted to do it. Our main cable comes through our neighbors basement and into ours. So when we got service in this place we had to wait until our neighbor allowed Insight in to run a new line through there place to ours. I don't think this is a shared line - it is separate. But may have a greater chance for interference or problems - in my opinion.
I've personally always wanted 1 line run for cable internet and 1 for cable tv. Not using a splitter - but actual separate lines. I'll never get it though. I can definitely say that replacing old line makes a huge difference in quality of service. At my girlfriends parents house they experienced this 1st hand. When they moved from there old house to a new one. All the lines in the new house were replaced by Insight. They were amazed how much better there tv picture looked at the new house on the newer lines.
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Test Your Security Team Z Member Cable Modem Diagnostics InsightBB 3000/384 XP PRO |
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kirbdoc
join:2003-09-28
Milton, FL
| reply to fancydancer
said by fancydancer :
said by kirbdoc :
Insight, as said in another post, won't wall fish.
Back in August 2000 when I first got service the tech arrived and told me I had to fish the cable through the basement to my room.
I think if it had been as simple as running a new cable through the basement the tech would have been more than happy to. All the techs I have met have been very helpful (the first one sent me to this site.) But, the previous owner put up a plaster ceiling in the basement. I had to fish the cable along a water pipe with curtain rods I duct taped together. I can't blame them for not wanting to wall fish, it's too time consuming. Although they should offer it for a fee. |
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fancydancer
Perception is reality
Premium
join:2002-08-28
Springfield, IL
clubs: | Agreed. It should be offered nonetheless. |
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XuhQshinR
join:2001-09-18
Bradenton, FL
| said by fancydancer :
Agreed. It should be offered nonetheless.
They wont for two reasons:
1) Takes too long. You should see the stacks of work orders every morning and the routes they have to run. Everyone is on a time schedule and if they ran wall fishes there could never be an on time guarantee time frame.
2) Too much liability and the techs do not carry the tools to do it.
If you agree it should be offered at a fee then the solution is a cable contractor. They do it for a fee and they are usually better at professional wall fish that looks good.
As a former tech I can tell you the above is very true. The techs are very over burdened with work orders and would never have enough time to do wall fish as an offered service. how many of us get pissed when a tech is late or has to reschedule for service? Could you imagine how often it would happen if a tech is stuck on a major wall fish installation?
They would have to hire new techs just to do it and if you think your cable bill is high now...if they had to hire more techs just because someone requests they start doing wall fish the entire customer base would pay.
I hated it when they offered free installation and 3 month trial on Digital. The reason is people would take the offer hoping to get new cable installed in their homes for free, free digital for 3 months and they knew they were just wanting you to cable their house so as soon as you leave they hook up their Sat dish to it and have new outlets in the house with new cable. Happens all the time.
Then after the 3 month trial they would not even follow the rules of bringing the box back to the office (look at the contract, it states the customer is responsible for bringing equip in or be charged a $25 trip charge for a tech to pick it up) so we would have to side step our route to pick up equip.
We never got to go home on time. How many of us out here hate forced overtime by our employers at the last minute?
It happens to most cable techs everyday.
People love to get extra A/O's installed by the cable companies because they are Cheap! but remember that you get what you pay for. Either through the floor, or house wrapped straight through from the outside wall.
Inside walls are not allowed by insights policy as it requires a wall fish. If you ask some techs know of some contractors that do this work at a decent price although it is actually against Insights policy for us to recommend any specific company most techs will mention a name off the record!
Hope I was able to shed some light on the subject.
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*** Be proud....Support Our Nation by Supporting Our President *** |
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lysw1
join:2003-05-19
Jeffersonville, IN
| reply to tech327
Insight sent a crew over to our apartment complex not too long ago, to do wiring upgrades to the buildings. We had a splitter on our outside line and a hole drilled at the second floor to feed an outlet for the upstairs TV. Some of the neighbors complained to the front office about our "illegal" cable.:) The crew was to install new inside wiring and get rid of the old junction boxes on the outside of the building (the birds loved them, though). One of the crew told me that the line was to come into the apartment on the 1st floor, by the door. He took one look at our entertainment center and computers all hooked up by KVM under the computer desk at the opposite side of the room where the cable modem and router were, and changed his mind. They did a wall fish and allowed us to keep our present setup. There could have been no way that we could move all our equipment to the other side of the room, there was no room for it since the door is at the corner and the front windows on the other side of it, and the stairway nearby. We really appreciated it. They did a nice job (pulling the line down from the 2nd floor was very difficult), and the TV cable reception upstairs improved 100%. They replaced the ground block outside as well. I did fuss a little bit when the internet would not reconnect, but was assured that was an Insight problem (it was, it cleared up shortly). I loaned them my needle-nosed pliers and they forgot to return them. I just consider it a token of appreciation:) I wish I remembered the name of the company that did this work for Insight, but I don't. If anyone who works for them sees this posting, I hope they recognize themselves. You all did a quality job! |
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tech327
join:2003-01-02
Louisville, KY
| reply to tech327
I'm not asking them to install an AO to clean up the mess of wires as stated before I have problem with paying someone to do that. The problem lies with Insight themselves have told me that I need another outlet to get the quality of service I'm supposed to have and then they wont put in the AO. That's the problem.
As far as regular wall fishes and the like. I work in the industry I know how dispatch runs. The company I work for seems to have no problem doing wallfishes and meeting their schedules and keeping their prices down. Like I said though AOs for the sake of AOs inst the issues. This is a case where one is needed and they wont supply it which frankly is p*** poor customer service. |
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kirbdoc
join:2003-09-28
Milton, FL | reply to tech327
Well said |
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HSD Days
join:2001-05-18
Silver Spring, MD
| reply to tech327
So how was this issue resolved? Or has it been? Nobody said it, but are you sure you needed a new A/O? I've been a Contractor for 4 years and rarely does an outlet just "go bad" one day unless something has cut it or chewed it. You said there was work being done when you noticed the problem, doesn't that lead you to believe it's unrelated to your premises wiring?
And thanks to XuhQshinR for giving props to contractors wall fishes. A lot of times we just had to do it no matter how we were routed. That being said, if anyone needs some professional work done, holla back. |
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XuhQshinR
join:2001-09-18
Bradenton, FL
| reply to tech327
said by tech327 :
As far as regular wall fishes and the like. I work in the industry I know how dispatch runs. The company I work for seems to have no problem doing wallfishes and meeting their schedules and keeping their prices down. Like I said though AOs for the sake of AOs inst the issues. This is a case where one is needed and they wont supply it which frankly is p*** poor customer service.
You say you are in the business? Do you work for an actual cable company responsible for an entire geographical area like Insight is?
Please do not take this the wrong way, but though I empathize for your situation, I can not help but to say that before I was ever in the industry, if I wanted something done in my apartment cable wise or even electrical wise, i did it myself.
You state you are in the biz and you feel that you want a new A/O inside I would of still been upset but if I could not get someone else to do it I would have done it myself by now.
I have both Digital Cable (wife likes cable) and 3 Sat Dishes watching 4 birds and HDTV and 90% of my wiring was done by me, for me, and before I ever worked for Insight.
(I ran two new drops (RG11 and RG6) when I worked for insight and replaced all my splitters)
At this point you know that Insight will not do it due to corporate policy and liability, and it is you that wants the best picture quality or internet service, take matters into your own hands and "getter done". I am a perfectionist when it comes to my home theater and I make sure it is done my way. The best way to have it "my way" is to do it myself since I have the basic knowledge to do it.
I know that Comcast also has the A/O policy on apartments in certain regions as I have been a contractor for them too.
I got into trouble for running a new line for a customer that was in an apartment and I buried it and took it into the existing access hole that the old cut cable was going into. Looked good! They said it is a liability issue! I got chewed out a litte and told never to do that again while directly contracting for the cable company.
Since I was contracting for Comcast I had to go by their rules. Independent contractors have the ability to make their own calls and take more risks. Like I stated before contractors usually do the best jobs when it comes to doing interior and custom cabling jobs.
I have seen independent contractors do amazing things with some million dollar homes too!
I hope you get your cable issue resolved as I know I would not want crappy cable in my home either.
I do not work for any cable companies now as I am back full time into the wonderful world of IT as a nationwide field engineer. The Enonomy is improving people, now if we could get these corporate snobs to quit being stingy and start hiring people!!!!
You think coax if fun...try CAT5 with POS systems, monitors, tied into security systems, and cashless (credit cards)(coming to a McDonald's near you soon!)and others in a commercial environment. Now that's fun and you're always on the road or on a plane. It Sux sometimes not being home!
Get some cable off of the insight guys and other material and make yourself be the one with the best cable reception in the entire complex! Get a job with Insight and see what it is like working there.
When it comes to Playoff and Super bowl time everyone that knows me wants to watch it over here because they know how picture perfect my HDTV is going to be. Not bragging (much);), but I did it all myself. (had to get my own beer too when i wanted one! Now there should be a law against having to do that when you have a perfectly capable wife!:D
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*** I Support Our Troops & Our President! *** |
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tech327
join:2003-01-02
Louisville, KY
| reply to tech327
Yes I work for Charter Communications. My Office handles itnernet issues for 14 states. So yes I do know a little bit about what goes on with these issues. As stated I understand the liability aspect but insight technicians themselves told me that i need another outlet. That is where the point of contention lies.
The more I deal with this company the more I see why I was told that I was over-qualified to work for them when I applied there 3 years ago. |
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HSD Days
join:2001-05-18
Silver Spring, MD | reply to XuhQshinR
XuhQshinR is your company hiring? |
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