why do cable company guys have to mess with my hook up???

[Mistergq]

End up getting a flat panel tv for the bedroom. Its an HD tv so I got an HD box from coNcast. This past Thursday, I picked the box up at their office and hooked it up after work. The HD box kept digitalizing. I checked to make sure the connections were tight. 99% sure it was a bad box, I decided to call coNcast and set up an appointment for the future in case the new box doesn't fix the problem. The woman on the phone said it couldn't possibly be the box, it had to be a bad signal. I rolled my eyes, but was surprised to find out that had an appointment for the next morning from 7 to 9. Ok, that's not bad, and I can have a new box delivered to me.

The guy comes at 8:47 (talk about saved by the bell). He goes to the where the first drop point is for the house. Test the signal, signal is fine. He then notices I have a splitter and a power booster. The first splitter is for the cable modem. Then the power booster is for the rest of the outlets. he asks me how many outlets, I say two tvs, and then the last outlet goes to my computer because I have a homemade DVR. He looks at me goes back to work. I did not notice what he did at the main outlet, but he then asks to see the HD tv. I take him to the HD tv, told him the digital box on that outlet was fine, I think its a bad box. he does all the tests to try and fix the box, then asks me if I bought the box (you got to be kidding me with that question), I said no, gets a new box out of his truck, hooks up the new box and imagine this, no more digitalizing. I sign the paperwork, take a shower, go to work.

Well tonight I walk by the main tv where the cable comes in the house and notice the power booster is disconnected. So I go into web admin, disable the 250 and USB PVR leaving only the 150, and guess what, 150 looks like crap (the reason I put the power booster on in the first place). So cursing, I rehook up the power booster, start live tv with 150, looks fine now. I check the HD box, works fine with the power booster.

Why couldn't this moron ask me before disconnecting what I did??? I didn't hook up the power booster for my health.

[RiderFan]

Not that I would ever defend a cable company, but I know when I am trouble shooting problems, I take evrything out of the equation. I start at the simplest point just to get things working, and then build from there. That may have been his approach as well.

[nanook105]

Originally Posted by RiderFan

Not that I would ever defend a cable company, but I know when I am trouble shooting problems, I take evrything out of the equation. I start at the simplest point just to get things working, and then build from there. That may have been his approach as well.

That may have been his approach, but to leave it unconnected was unprofessional

[MGS]

We'll they don't support any "Non Company Eqmt" and he only is required to fix the company eqmt not your amp...

Don't take that the wrong way I'm with you on this... I hate having the cable company come out they always manage to mess something up.

That's why I put together my htpc.. I was so sick of returning there junky motorolla dvr.

[workjohnout]

I am a cable guy with coNcast. A contractor, not employee. First of all, don't ever listen to what some moron says on the phone. They're not installers, they're not technicians and they've never been in a house diagnosing a problem. They read off a script and if you deviate from it you screw them all up.

When you tell me the box is pixelating and the connections and signal are good then automatically it's the box. Their boxes suck and about 1/3 of them turn out to be bad.

As far as a booster goes, if you only have 3 connections then it is absurd to have a power booster and the installer was correct in disconnecting it. All those things do is cause trouble. If you get a snowy picture without it then the line is bad or some other bad line in the system is affecting it and you need to have the lines replaced. Boosters are only needed if you have many many outlets or your lines are extremely long or a combination of the two.

[Mistergq]

Originally Posted by workjohnout

I am a cable guy with coNcast. A contractor, not employee. First of all, don't ever listen to what some moron says on the phone. They're not installers, they're not technicians and they've never been in a house diagnosing a problem. They read off a script and if you deviate from it you screw them all up.

When you tell me the box is pixelating and the connections and signal are good then automatically it's the box. Their boxes suck and about 1/3 of them turn out to be bad.

As far as a booster goes, if you only have 3 connections then it is absurd to have a power booster and the installer was correct in disconnecting it. All those things do is cause trouble. If you get a snowy picture without it then the line is bad or some other bad line in the system is affecting it and you need to have the lines replaced. Boosters are only needed if you have many many outlets or your lines are extremely long or a combination of the two.

I told him 3, its actually 6. The idiots that built the condo instead of spidering the cable, ran the cable from out let one, to out let 2 (master bedroom), to outlet 3 (2nd bedroom), to outlet 4, (third bedroom converted to dinning room), to outlet 5 (back in living room).

My setup is cable comes into outlet 1. Then it is split on a two way splitter. One way goes to cable modem. Next out goes to power booster. The power booster out 1 goes to the TV in the living room and then the second out to the loop around the condo. The HD tv is on Outlet 2. there is no tv hooked up to Outlet 3 or 4. Outlet 5 then runs a coax about 15 additional feet to my PVR computer where the cable is split again to 3 more ways: one to a PVR 250, one to a PVR USB, and one to a PVR 150. 250 and USB are pretty good without the power booster. PVR 150 is absolute crap without the power booster. btw: I put more blame on the 150 then comcast's signal - but leave my power booster alone.

Comcast is already charging me for 4 outlets (3 tvs and 1 cable modem). If I would have told him 6, I am likely to end up with comcast charging me for 2 more. Sorry, I am giving coNcast enough money at this point.

[queonda]

I thought cable companies don't charge per outlet like in the old days. They still do that?

[SideShowCecil]

Hey, at least the guy came inside the house. That’s better that the service I received.

When we had our cable hooked up the installer wouldn’t even come into the house. She made the connection at the riser in the back ally then CUT the RG6 that ran down the side of my house, just before it goes thorough the wall into the basement and installed a barrel splice. She put her meter on there and told me the signal was good.

When I asked her to check the connections in the house she told me anything in the house wasn’t her responsibility.

[thundermax]

Originally Posted by SideShowCecil

When I asked her to check the connections in the house she told me anything in the house wasn’t her responsibility.

I've had that problem with cable and phone companies. Last time I called for DSL repair, the scheduler said I could choose an 'inside' person or an 'outside' person. I said send whoever the heck can diagnose and fix my problem please. It took about 4 visits from different techs before they realized it was a problem 1 mile away from my house.

back on topic, a few years ago we had a cable guy threaten to report us because he found a splitter in our apartment. I was worried until he asked for a bribe to hook up more channels.

[Mistergq]

Originally Posted by queonda

I thought cable companies don't charge per outlet like in the old days. They still do that?

yes, what ever they can charge for, they charge for. I can't wait for Verizon FIOS to come to my neighborhood.

[Mistergq]

Originally Posted by SideShowCecil

Hey, at least the guy came inside the house. That’s better that the service I received.

When we had our cable hooked up the installer wouldn’t even come into the house. She made the connection at the riser in the back ally then CUT the RG6 that ran down the side of my house, just before it goes thorough the wall into the basement and installed a barrel splice. She put her meter on there and told me the signal was good.

When I asked her to check the connections in the house she told me anything in the house wasn’t her responsibility.

I am just glad they didn't send a contractor!

[queonda]

Originally Posted by Mistergq

yes, what ever they can charge for, they charge for. I can't wait for Verizon FIOS to come to my neighborhood.

True, Comcast wanted to charge me 2 dollars just for talking with someone over the phone to upgrade my service.

[SideShowCecil]

I’m not too happy about the tech cutting my cable to make a test point outside the house. From what I understand every one of those barrel splices causes a 1db signal drop. I can see at least two more spices on my cable up on the pole before it connects to the riser. So I’m loosing 3db from my service before it even enters the house.

We’re considering switching to a digital cable plus broadband package at the end of May. I’m going to insist my cable from the pole to the house be replaced when the service is installed. If they won’t do it I’ll just go with another service provider.

There are so many options now, the phone company has cable TV, the cable company has phone service, the satellite companies have broadband internet. The market is so competitive now I can’t understand why the utilities continue to allow there customer service to stink so badly. Maybe it’s a union thing.

[Mistergq]

Originally Posted by SideShowCecil

There are so many options now, the phone company has cable TV, the cable company has phone service, the satellite companies have broadband internet. The market is so competitive now I can’t understand why the utilities continue to allow there customer service to stink so badly. Maybe it’s a union thing.

I think once FIOS is a legitimate option (offered in more than just a limited area), both the phone company and cable company is going to have to provide better service - otherwise they are going see us switching back forth.

[cfaslave]

Originally Posted by Mistergq

I think once FIOS is a legitimate option (offered in more than just a limited area), both the phone company and cable company is going to have to provide better service - otherwise they are going see us switching back forth.

Good point.

I live in KC where AT&T is moving in with their "uverse" product. It won't be available in my area anytime soon, but it is available in parts of the Kansas part of town where a coworker lives. He was paying $150 to time warner cable for a bunch of services and they are offering him $90 for the same services plus free pay channels! They are also laying new line to help improve his signal. This has all been since AT&T started selling their product in his neighborhood.

Competition is good.