Comcast: CableCARDS Really, Really ComplicatedWhy the sluggish CableCARD adoption rates? ( old news - 01:00PM Thursday Aug 16 2007) tags: Video · business · hardware · cable · ComcastComcast currently has 14.1 million digital cable customers, yet only 100,000 of them are using CableCARDs. Critics suggest that part of the low adoption rate is the fact that cable operators don't want to cannibalize DVR and set-top rentals. They argue that cable operators, therefore, aren't trying very hard to promote them, and make installs a more complicated affair than necessary. The cards apparently require a special visit from a Comcast astrophysicist to install, and even they can't seem to get the things working within four hours. The Washington Post blog notes that Comcast blames the complexity of the third-party devices that require the cards (such as TiVOHD) for these installation headaches: "Our goal is to ensure that any customer requesting and using a Cable Card has the best and easiest experience possible." Linnen added that Comcast has "already successfully distributed more than 100,000 of these cards to our customers." But: "given the complexity of some newer [consumer electronics] equipment, Comcast may require that a professional technician handle installation and activation to ensure that cards are installed and activated properly." There's currently just over 300,000 total CableCARDS currently in use.
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ninjatutle
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA | umm why didn't he just bring his new Tivo to the billing office and have them insert the unit and hop along back home. | |
|  | 
Me Too
@comcast.net | Re: umm because when the power is cut to the device the card is no longer paired to the equipment and will require that a tech go back out. | |
| | |
ninjatutle
join:2006-01-02
San Ramon, CA | Re: umm Each time you unplug the device you need a technician present? Sounds like job security to me. | |
| | | | mbuonaccorsi
join:2001-08-15
Waukesha, WI | Re: umm No, CableCards do not need to be re-paired when the power is cut. | |
| | | | Joe12345678
join:2003-07-22
Des Plaines, IL
| said by ninjatutle  :Each time you unplug the device you need a technician present? Sounds like job security to me. no but they likely need to be paired to cable hub that they are instated on. | |
| bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
 ·Packet8
 ·Cox HSI
| Huh? "Our goal is to ensure that any customer requesting and using a Cable Card has the best and easiest experience possible." Linnen added that Comcast has "already successfully distributed more than 100,000 of these cards to our customers." But: "given the complexity of some newer [consumer electronics] equipment, Comcast may require that a professional technician handle installation and activation to ensure that cards are installed and activated properly." Strange... I remember Cablecards being billed as so easy, a caveman anyone could do it. Assuming they are standards compliant, it was suppose to be plug and play.
I'm wondering if some of the cable providers are making the install harder with hoops for people to jump through on purpose to keep people renting their boxes. It should not surprise anyone since this type of behavior has happened in the past (for example, Telcos not telling people they don't have to rent their ancient phones anymore, etc. etc.)
--
Prove it...
Save the Internet Time (NTP) service, use the pool. | |
| | 
en102
Canadian, eh?
join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA | Re: Huh? Ding.ding.ding... BINGO.
Why make competition easy.
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Canada = Hollywood North | |
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FiL
Premium
join:2005-08-16
Silver Spring, MD | Re: Huh? "Strange... I remember Cablecards being billed as so easy, a caveman could do it"
I see where you were going with that...striking it out...
I RESENT YOUR STATEMTENT! | |
| | 
MadMANN
Premium
join:2005-08-19
·Comcast
edit:
August 16th, @07:13PM
| said by bmn :Assuming they are standards compliant, it was suppose to be plug and play. What standards? There are no standards for manufacturers to follow and each make/model have their own little qwerks when it comes to interfacing with a cable system. There are certain brands of TVS where I can slip a card in the back, call the office and have it working withing 15 minutes. Then there are the other models where you follow the same procedure and it can take an hour or more.
Then what do you do? Should cable techs have the user manuals for every model of TV or STB memorized?
On one model, you power off, slide the card in, turn it back on, find the series of numbers needed in the menu, and call dispatch. On another model, you Power on, slide in card, find the numbers, have dispatch activate it, power off, and power back on.
Then there are certain TVs that have the tendency to attenuate higher frequencies more than a standard F connector should. Therefore, a line with good signal can be connected to those TVs where it becomes low enough to cause problems. And do you think these TVs have a diag screen that shows SNR and incoming levels? Absolutely not. This makes troubleshooting that much more difficult.
Then there are the models that separate the digital tuner from the analog tuner, requiring a splitter behind the set, degrading the signal more than if it had an integrated tuner. And trust me, an extra 2way splitter can be the difference between smooth operation and headache.
Standards? They don't exist, yet they definitely need to exist for the sake of both consumer and MSO. | |
| | | 
Ebolla
join:2005-09-28
Dracut, MA
| Re: Huh? Also doesnt help when manufacturers have firmware updates needed but dont inform customers.. examples.
Mitsubishi needs 6.01 or later
Panasonics PT-52LCX65 needs 1.44 or higher
Philips needs 1.4.0.0 or higher
Samsungs with older firmware tend to drop the last HD channel until realigned again.
Samsungs saying "cable card out of date" just need tv's clock set...
Thats just 5 examples I can think of at this time. | |
| | | bmn
? ? ?
Premium,ExMod 2003-06
join:2001-03-15
hiatus
·Packet8
·Cox HSI
| said by MadMANN :said by bmn :Assuming they are standards compliant, it was suppose to be plug and play. What standards? I was talking about the cablecards themselves... Should have been more clear. However, I can't argue with anything you posted. There needs to be a standard method of installing cablecards into televisions.
--
Prove it...
Save the Internet Time (NTP) service, use the pool. | |
| okie11
join:2003-11-20
·Charter Pipeline
| not the easiest thing When i was in the field i installed about 50 of these and they suck. the firmware from the vendor was always outdated and it usually took 1/2 hour to download the newest firmware. then we would wait to see if it would work then call our head-end and wait another 1/2 hour for them to do their voodoo magic then if all the planets were aligned it might, just might work.
If it did actually work then we'd hope that we didn't get called back in a week cause it lost its provisioning. I tried as hard as i could to convince people to stay away from them. | |
| | ace1974
join:2007-06-09
Goldsboro, NC
| Re: not the easiest thing I know the feeling, when I use to work for Cox I use to hate those dam things, sometimes they would work and sometimes they wouldnt, and the one's tht did work we were right back out there in a week for a service call because they kept going out...Cable cards are one of the worst devices ever made.. | |
| | | 
AlphaOne
I see
Premium
join:2004-02-21 | Re: not the easiest thing I think the problem is with the cable operators, it's either their system suck, or their just making it hard for people to adapt them, or both.
It should really be a plug-n-play device, which requires some provisioning and activation. | |
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MadMANN
Premium
join:2005-08-19
·Comcast
| Re: not the easiest thing said by AlphaOne :I think the problem is with the cable operators, it's either their system suck, or their just making it hard for people to adapt them, or both. It should really be a plug-n-play device, which requires some provisioning and activation. Right. EVERY cable system in America sucks. It couldn't be the lack of standards amongst TV/STB manufacturers, right?
Everyone has some conspiracy theory. 
»Huh?
| |
| | Philippe23
Premium
join:2007-03-14
Lee Center, NY
| said by okie11 :When i was in the field i installed about 50 of these and they suck. the firmware from the vendor was always outdated and it usually took 1/2 hour to download the newest firmware. then we would wait to see if it would work then call our head-end and wait another 1/2 hour for them to do their voodoo magic then if all the planets were aligned it might, just might work. If it did actually work then we'd hope that we didn't get called back in a week cause it lost its provisioning. I tried as hard as i could to convince people to stay away from them. Considering that Cable Cards we designed by Cable Labs, which is owned by the cable companies this just reflects on the cable companies. If, like the phone companies post-Carter Phone, cable systems were an open spec & application system, they probably won't such because "the market" would make them easy and dependable. Instead your cable companies just make a crappy product that they don't want and complain about at every step of the way.... | |
| | 
djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
·RoadRunner Cable
 ·DSL EXTREME
edit:
August 16th, @02:02PM
| We got a S3 TiVo. Took the installer about 10 minutes to install, and he had never seen a S3 TiVo before. Never had a single problem with the setup, either. I watched him perform the setup. There was nothing difficult about it. So it CAN work, and it CAN work easily if done right by all the parties involved.
Satellite has been provisioned with cards, installed by end users for over a decade. Sounds like CableLabs, Motorola, and Scientific Atlanta just need to get their shit together. I'm sorry if it's been a pain in the ass for the field techs, but it doesn't need to be that way.
If cable really wants to reclaim that analog spectrum, they need to realize people don't want clunky, ugly cable boxes on every TV in their house. We also have things like S3 TiVos and Windows Vista Media center that can utilize CableCARD. CableCARD is not going anywhere, so cable companies NEED to fix the broken processes.
-- Rob
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Laser eye surgery rocks! I love frickin' laser beams. | |
| | | mbuonaccorsi
join:2001-08-15
Waukesha, WI
| Re: not the easiest thing Agreed. Here's an idea to help the tech's... don't require a tech to install it. Any monkey can install and setup a cablecard... that's why they were designed the way they were. Unfortunately, most cable companies require a tech to install and charge some outrageous install fee to do something that anyone can do themselves and call in to activate.
The only thing I'll add for Sat cards is that the card isn't actually doing the decoding, it just carries an ID and authorization, the tuner in the box still decodes the video. For CableCards, both is happening on the card. Or so I understand it. | |
| | |
notsure
@comcast.net
| Actually the biggest problem I've found is CSG. They are still stuck in the 1980s. Lots of hand keying of equipment ID numbers, adding stuff to inventory that really doesn't need to be, and authorization queues that hold up the whole process.
»www.csgsystems.com/ | |
| | 
qdemn7
Smurf in My Loop
Premium
join:2003-09-16
Fort Worth, TX | Wit the new HD Tivos is you HAVE to use a Cable Card. They have NO analog inputs. | |
| | | WeKnSmith
join:2001-08-09
Noblesville, IN
·AT&T Midwest
| Re: The problem is said by qdemn7 :Wit the new HD Tivos is you HAVE to use a Cable Card. They have NO analog inputs. That is incorrect. I have a Series3 TiVo and a new TiVo HD. Both are capable of using analog cable without a CableCard. You do have to have a CableCard in the unit if you wish to access any of the channels that are in the digital cable programing packages. | |
| | | afiggatt
join:2007-07-12
Sterling, VA
| said by qdemn7 :Wit the new HD Tivos is you HAVE to use a Cable Card. They have NO analog inputs. No, the new TivoHDs have analog NTSC tuners along with digital ATSC & QAM tuners. They certainly can be used for analog cable and TV broadcasts. The ATSC tuner can be used to receive and record free over the air digital & HD broadcasts from your local stations. Of course, it would be silly to use an TivoHD only for analog recording, but it does have that fallback if the cable system has not yet implemented Analog-Digital-Simulcast (ADS) of the analog tier or if you want to record a local broadcast station or translator that is only available in analog NTSC. | |
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qdemn7
Smurf in My Loop
Premium
join:2003-09-16
Fort Worth, TX | Re: The problem is Yes you are right. I was thinking of the regular non-cable analog inputs. Still wouldn't do me good since cable is dropping the analog signal and going all-digital. | |
| | | 
packetscan
Premium
join:2004-10-19
Bridgeport, CT
clubs:
·Optimum Online
| Bull Stuff "The Washington Post blog notes that Comcast blames the complexity of the third party devices that require the cards (such as TiVOHD) for these installation headaches:"
Hmm so the encryption that comcast requires for the digital signal this a problem of third party devices, Yea OK....
--
Reach out and Tap someone! | |
| | 
telcolackey
The Truth? You can't handle the truth
join:2007-04-06
Death Valley, CA
| Re: Bull Stuff said by packetscan :Hmm so the encryption that comcast requires for the digital signal this a problem of third party devices, Yea OK.... Encryption is most likely required for many reasons including theft of service, porn channels unexpectedly tuning while a child channel surfs, content restrictions, etc. | |
| | | cliftong
join:2006-09-04
Philadelphia, PA | Re: Bull Stuff Porn popping up will happen without encryption some time back the Disney channel in new jersey was switched with spice | |
| DMS1
join:2005-04-06
Carrollton, TX
| Too many variables I think the real problem is that using CableCARDs results in too many party's products having to work together properly. For example, you could have a Motorola CableCARD in a Sony TV connected to a Comcast network. All three elements are intimately interconnected and need to work together, yet the exact flexibility that CableCARDs aim to achieve makes it impossible to test all possible combinations. | |
| | BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs:
·Comcast Formerly ..
edit:
August 16th, @01:29PM
| Re: Too many variables unlike , say , a westell modem on a verizon landline using cyberonics as an isp ? or say a dell laptop running a 3com pcmia card on linux ?
the different layers are not an excuse. cablelabs made the standard which the cable provider , adapter and the tv manufacturer should follow.
There is a vested interest for them to make it not work. I had a cable card and it worked great except it kept getting decommissioned in the cable system every month. When I would call they would "hit" the card with a signal again and it worked great for another month. I used to just call every morning on the 29th and get it reactivated.
I got tired of calling and after 9 months just got a dvr from them. all of a sudden everything worked. the cable card was moto and so is my dvr, what is the difference ?
Seems to me they want these to fail so they can say , see we tried and it failed. | |
| | |
Ebolla
join:2005-09-28
Dracut, MA
| Re: Too many variables the differance is that the box is in 2way communication with system and can take updates from comcast and sends a passive signal to TV. Your tv with a cable card is not, if your card and tv dont communicate correctly it may require a reset to get them to "handshake".
Most of the issues with cablecard/tv communications are the cards being updated with new firmware from comcast but the tv sets need you to contact manufacturer for it. About one and a half years ago some Sony tv's couldnt take cable cards until sony sent the customer new firmware. Personally I like cablecards, but getting them active with some devices are a complete pain. | |
| | | ace1974
join:2007-06-09
Goldsboro, NC
| The major problem is the cable companies have multimillion dollar headends and yet you have these crap third party vendors designing these 30 dollar piece of junk electronic cable cards and expect them to work with these highly technical headends, Thats why the cable company like you to use their Set top digital converters because if you dont these are the kind of problems your gonna run into.. | |
| | | | BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs: | Re: Too many variables they are moto cable cards man, they should work with the moto head end gear in a moto system. | |
| 
treeman
Premium
join:2000-07-15
Mcgaheysville, VA
·Comcast
·Speakeasy
edit:
August 16th, @01:35PM
| Cable cards We have 4 HD sets, two are using the SA 8300 HDDVR's, and two are using Cable Cards. The reason the we do not have CC on all the sets is that two are HD ready (meaning no tuners or CC slots) and require a set top box, one is a KP46WT520(RPTV CRT)and one is a 37" LCD FLM 3701 in the masterbedroom. The two sets using the CC are a Samsung HL-R5667W and a HL-S6188W, they have had cards in them for 5 months and have been great, guess I am one of the lucky ones. The reason that I had cards put in was to see the difference in the PQ and also to reduce the cost of our monthly bill down from around 200 to around 165. By taking the SA 8300's out of the link and letting the Samsungs handle the reception makes a noticable difference in the PQ. When the Comcast techs were here( 2 of them) it did take a while to get them set up, not thier faults at all, but rather when they called in to get them "authorized" was finding someone in the office that knew what to do on thier end. Once they found that person things went as they should, one thing they did say was that Samsungs took the cards a bit better than most sets and they said that the worst set was the Toshiba's and tried to talk those customers out of the cards, when they were leaving that where they were headed next was to try and get a Toshiba running again with a CC, and that it was thier 4 or 5 revisit. At that point Comcast should make them get either a new set or a box, by the way my CC's are SA's | |
| | 
Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
·Embarq
| Re: Cable cards said by treeman : ... when they were leaving that where they were headed next was to try and get a Toshiba running again with a CC, and that it was thier 4 or 5 revisit. At that point Comcast should make them get either a new set or a box Cack
--
A monthly desktop thread is what happens when a Paris Hilton mentality mates with a computer | |
|
Spunky03
@thtechnologies.com
| Just had a pair installed in my TivoHD I just had Comcast visit my house and put a pair in my Tivo. After four hours and have the tech call just about everyone he could think of (and actually getting them on the phone) it's working great.
The poor tech had to contact two different groups. The main activation number and then a special tech to work some magic so the EMM and ECM numbers would start to work.
I really don't think it's the hardware like they say. I simply think it's just typical Cable Company not training anyone and trying to hide this as to not cut into a revenue stream.
However with recent legislation I think we are going to see a lot more of these hitting the streets. | |
|
Mr Anon
@sbcglobal.net
| Why? Maybe its my ignorance but I don't see why this can't be just like cable modems or plug and play. We can't buy the cards they are given to us.
Before the cards are issued to us we the should be setup and once installed in the system they should be able to communicated secured to the office and finish whaterver setup is left.
I don't see why this is so hard other that a purposeful increase in complexity | |
| | cghh
join:2001-01-15
Milpitas, CA
| Re: Why? said by Mr Anon :
Maybe its my ignorance but I don't see why this can't be just like cable modems or plug and play. We can't buy the cards they are given to us.
Before the cards are issued to us we the should be setup and once installed in the system they should be able to communicated secured to the office and finish whaterver setup is left. Due to restrictions from CableLabs, current cablecard devices are required to be only one-way, which means that they cannot handshake with the head end. The encryption algorithm they use computes keys derived from both the cable card and the specific host device (e.g., TiVo or TV), and this has to be registered at the head end. Modems are inherently two-way, so they don't have a problem with this. | |
| | | 
Morac
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ
·Comcast
| Re: Why? While Comcast now has a self-provisioning system, when I got my first CableModem, I had to call into Comcast and read off the MAC and serial numbers off the modem in order for them to provision it.
That wasn't any different how CableCARDs work currently. When you put the CableCARDs into the device you are giving a set of 3 numbers (per card). Once the cable company has these three numbers, the card is paired and will work will all the channels you paid for.
The main difference between this setup and the old modem provisioning setup is that if you take the cards out of the device and move them elsewhere the pairing numbers change (even if you then put them back into the same device). This should be as easy to fix as calling into the cable company to give them the new number, but this isn't always the case (see my post later on in the thread).
--
The Comcast Disney Avatar has been retired. | |
| | 
PGHammer
join:2003-06-09
Accokeek, MD
clubs:
·Comcast
| CableCARDs can plug into either one-way devices (such as most TVs, or the Tivo S3) which can be *self-certified* by the manufacturer (this is the less-expensive route, and the one taken by most manufacturers of CC-using devices); the other option is to submit an *example device* to CableLabs for a very expansive (and expensive) series of additional tests for what is called *CableLabs certification* (this is required for all two-way devices, such as STBs, cable modems, non-Tivo DVRs that take CableCARD, such as the early Sony DVR that is no longer manufactured but still sold in some retailers and online, and some upcoming newer TVs). The self-certification process has two sets of specifications: required and optional. The problem is that the headend equipments are used to dealing with two-way devices (mainly STBs and cable modems), and aren't necessarily prepared to handle a large (or even medium) influx of one-way devices. It also doesn't help that the TV manufacturers (those actually making the TVs) have been freely interpreting the specifications for basic host devices from CableLabs in different ways (and some have been getting them wrong). Lastly there is the *updated firmware* issue: Firmware for a TV is like a BIOS for a computer; however, most TV owners would really rather not be bothered keeping their TV's *BIOS* up to date (heck; most *PC* owners would rather not have to worry about BIOS updates; and now they have to do the same thing for their TVs?). What the STB does is free the TV owner from worrying about all the extra details that have to be taken into account to assure compatibility with CableCARD (it is also why fewer and fewer CC-ready TVs are being built as the years have gone on; the vast majority of current-model TVs that accept CableCARD today are the largest models). Just two years ago, more than *half* the 42" plasma TVs sold in North America were CC-ready (to put that in perspective, 42" is the smallest-size plasma display); nowadays, it's less than ten percent (and none cost less than $2000USD MSRP). | |
| NOCMan
Verizon Fios User
Premium
join:2004-09-30
Flower Mound, TX
| Tech's refuse to follow directions Tivo includes directions and the tech's just blindly slap both cards into the box and go about trying to activate it.
After the FIOS tech could not get it done I asked nicely to follow the directions and he said it would not work, but he did it anyways and it worked.
Still it's the law and these cable companies need to quit crying. The set top boxes literally sucked even the FIOS ones and nobody really cared to fix them because it was them or nothing. Now that there's competition they're trying to back out of their commitments.
--
Mac Chatter
»www.macchatter.net | |
| RoundTuit
join:2001-12-28
Columbia, MD | Comcast: CableCARDS Really, Really Complicated Wrong headline. Should be....
Comcast: Really, Really Incompetent! | |
| | |
treeman
Premium
join:2000-07-15
Mcgaheysville, VA | Re: They don't care? There is more than a 1 dollar difference here, I pay 99 cents for the first card and 3.75 for the next. Our boxes were 14.95 with the DVR capabilities and 11.95 for the other boxes(SA 8300)with out the DVR capabilities
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| 
dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| Jack my price up I bet if they jacked cablecard service fee to what cable box rental fee is, ALL these cablecard issues would mysterously vanish.
theres LOTS of GREEN in them thar' cableboxes.
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth | |
| |
dabulls 44
@comcast.net
| Signal Quality Cable Card are so finicky with the signal quality. They will absolutely not work with out perfect signal. Even thou a Dct will work on the line with less than perfect signal.
Having Self Install kits (sik) for cable cards will be worse than SIK for Hsi. We call them repeat in a box. The average Joe thinks to add an additional outlet just spit the line and then to add another one split it again (daisy chain). Then they add an amp to improve pic quality on last tv. With using equipment they bought at Rat Shack or walmart. Now he decides to get a new tv with a qam tuner. Picks up a CableCard and wonders why it doesn't work.
Also take a look at all tvs with cable cards. They all have firmware updates. When you look to see what it fixes they all say cable card issues.
Now lets blame the cable company for tv manufactures firmware and the in house wiring. You can blame them for not fixing the wiring problem.
I never had a cable card not work because a Comcast problem.
I fix the wiring so all thats left is the sub to upgrade their firmware. When they do and call me back it all ways works first try. | |
| | | | | | magnushsi
join:2002-11-06
Cedar Springs, MI
| Re: Signal Quality One correction, the cablecard doesn't care about signal quality, (it doesn't have a tuner) it cares about data integrity. TV manufactures use a wide range of tuners that aren't always as "open" to varying signal levels as settops. Thus they regularly have issues passing good data to the card. | |
|
Morac
join:2001-08-30
Riverside, NJ
·Comcast
edit:
August 16th, @05:43PM
| Partially a training issue as well. When I got my TiVo S3 I had a Comcast contractor come out to install them. This is how it went. He brought out 3 cards. The first one when inserted spit up an error meaning the card was bad. The 2nd card (first slot) one brought up the pairing screen and he phoned into the office and read off the numbers and all was well. The third card (second slot) also brought up the pairing screen, but when he called in it didn't work right away. It turned out that the card was upgrading it's firmware, but the card diagnostic screen on the screen didn't indicate it was doing so (this screen is populated with info provided by the cards). The whole process from arrival to leaving took about 4 hours and he said it was one of the better installs he's seen. While time consuming, it isn't something I couldn't have done myself. In fact I have done it myself.
A few months later I started seeing macro-blocking on calbe channels on one of my S3's tuners (which turned out to be caused by the amp on OTA antenna being too high). In order to eliminate the card as a problem I swapped the cards between the 2 slots. This broke the pairing, but it should be as simple as calling in to have them re-paired right? Well this is where the fun begins.
I called in and spoke to a technician who said he could re-pair the cards and put me on hold for a minute. He came back and said the software to do the pairing was down for maintenance and that I should call back later.
The next day I call back and ask to have my cards re-paired. The lady on the phone tells me that it isn't possible to do so over the phone and that I need a tech visit. I tell her she's wrong and eventually ask to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor tells me there is no way to pair the cards over the phone. After talking to this person for over an hour I hang up.
I call back and get another lady in the same call center (Florida, I asked) and told her I needed to get my cards re-paired. Again I was told that wasn't possible. I was insistent and eventually (after making me give the last 4 digits of my social security number,) she relented. I gave her my 3 numbers for card #1 which she entered and then sent a hit on the card and the card stared working. She repeated this for card #2 and it started working. The whole process took less than 5 minutes.
So to do something that should have taken 5 minutes, I was forced to make 3 calls totaling over 2 hours of phone time and give out personal information. This is definitely not a hardware problem, but either a training or policy issue.
--
The Comcast Disney Avatar has been retired. | |
| jmallory
join:2005-11-02
Clawson, MI
| My Vista Media Center Install Wasn't Too Bad Tech came out on Monday, spent about an hour. We did have a provisioning issue occur later on but that was fixed fairly quickly. It is a training issue, if you can find the right person...it is fairly painless. Otherwise....:-
Even though the two techs that got my Media Center were both pretty impressed even though they had never seen one before.
-- Jim | |
| fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
| As usual.. spin and slant added... The reason the low adoption rate isn't purely "cable operators don't want to cannibalize DVR and set-top rentals"... Karl.. are you kidding me?
Price a cable card TV? It's not all about DVR and boxes... customers are not quick to run out and buy a cable card tv as many of them, especially 2 years ago when they came out, were ungodly expensive.. not to mention, the equipment is crap. The tuners are slow and people have been largely unimpressed with the equipment.
Not trying hard to promote them? Do you see them promoting cable boxes are than the DVR "SERVICE"? Time warner and other cable companies put cable card right on their website and here's a news flash, THEY DON'T FEATURE THEIR BOXES on any page of it's own.. but cable card, is.
Techs.. can't get them working with in four hours? Yea.. it happens.. and box installs and regular cable ready installs can take up to 4 hours to trouble-shoot too.
Anytime you want to get two for-profit companies to work together, you will always have inter fighting. Cablelabs set the standards for device makers... and device makers have MANY TIMES screwed up their equipment. Karl.. ever thought about posting those companies that admit that their firmware had problems? or do you care to blame everything on Comcast, a company that doesn't even MAKE the cards...?
Your news stories are going farther and father off the scale that it's becoming a joke. Sorry if you don't like my view or point, but with out others contributing or calling you on this stuff, you're doing nothing but spewing garbage.
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-serving, the lazy, and I’m told it’s a woman’s prerogative..." | |
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KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK
·Cox HSI
·AT&T Southwest
| Reminds me of the early days of DSL provisioning... ... it seems to me, they are required by law or rules to support them, *but* they really don't want to. They want them to fail in the marketplace. Therefore you see dragging of feet, knashing of teeth, wailing and hairpulling.
Simply put, Cablecards should be simple PnP devices that plug in, initialize, and then work flawlessly.
If this doesn't happen, it's service providers don't want it too.
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"Regulatory capitalism is when companies invest in lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, instead of plant, people, and customer service." - former FCC Chairman William Kennard (A real FCC Chairman, unlike the current Corporate Spokesperson in the job!) | |
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i1me2ao
join:2001-03-03
TEXAS | Re: Reminds me of the early days of DSL provisioning... i still dont know what the hell this. and after we got switched to comcast no offer has been mailed about it..
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»www.thereligionofpeace.com/ | |
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