After four years, I left the cable company. Ask me questions

[Midwayman]

What's the secret password to bypass level 1 tech support and talk to someone who can tell me more than "is it plugged in?" "did you reset it" etc.

 

[baydude]

I canceled my cable broadband service 6 months ago and it still works today with my own cable modem. I am not getting billed either. How is this possible?

 

[soundforbjt]

My cable box has a firewire out that the company has disabled, it worked when I first got the box. Why do they disable it? They would give me no answer.

 

[rudeguy]

My cable box has a firewire out that the company has disabled, it worked when I first got the box. Why do they disable it? They would give me no answer.

Security would be my guess. The less open ports the better? In just guessing though. Firmware updates ate pushed out a few times a year and that's what killed your FireWire.

What were you using it for? esata may still work

 

[rudeguy]

I canceled my cable broadband service 6 months ago and it still works today with my own cable modem. I am not getting billed either. How is this possible?

One system controls billing, one internet service. They will eventually audit and figure it out. You won't be billed though.

Just don't get a DMCA notice and put yourself on the radar.

 

[rudeguy]

What's the secret password to bypass level 1 tech support and talk to someone who can tell me more than "is it plugged in?" "did you reset it" etc.

Tier 2 is a myth nowadays.

It's either deal with it and maybe fix it or demand a service call and risk being charged. Give then a chance though. They have to follow certain steps and checking power and connections is always the first.

 

[Ksyder]

I canceled my cable broadband service 6 months ago and it still works today with my own cable modem. I am not getting billed either. How is this possible?

Was that the same cable modem you were using when you had the service?

Obviously they would deauthorize the mac address of whatever modem you were using at the time, or is it the same one?

 

[ultimatebob]

What kind of deal do you guys have the Nielsen Ratings people? I once returned a broken DVR that was damaged by their monitoring equipment while I was in the ratings, and the Comcast rep didn't give me ANY trouble at all after looking up my account and inspecting the DVR.

Was a special flag on my account, telling them to look the other way?

 

[ultimatebob]

omfg i had the WORST experiences with that shit hole. yeah their prices were competitive in their market, but holy fuck hope you dont ever need them to do something for you

I liked Charter! Sure, they tended to have unscheduled outages on weekends, but their customer service was much nicer than Comcast.

 

[GregGreen]

why go that far?

Use analog output (decoded) and run it to any DVR burner/tv tuner/video capture device.

It goes all the way up the food chain though. The cable company, the networks and the studios are all super paranoid and have so many security demands that its just funny. Especially when every box outputs to analog with no encryption.

I've thought for a long time they couldn't see the forest through the trees.

 

[BUTCH1]

Maybe because some broadcasters don't have the money to upgrade to HD and they're not just going to stop broadcasting altogether because of that...so you still have SD.

Some channels that feature older programming will just be wasting bandwith transmitting in HD. Some of the older TV shows were shot in 35mm film (like ST,TOS) and look nice in HD but by the late '60's a lot had switched to videotape because it was so much cheaper, it'd old, crappy, 480I and transmitting it over HD won't make it any better.

 

[n0b0dykn0ws]

I'm anxious for the Comcast rollout here, but I only care about internet.

I have ADT for security, and I have read time and time again how Comcast's voice service and ADT don't get along.

My DirecTV contract expired in June, and I was able to negotiate a free Genie, GenieGo, and $10 off my bill for 24 months.

Unless Comcast has same tech, which I haven't heard of, I would never consider switching my cable service.

At this time the only other internet provider in my area is AT&T, and I'm paying $80 a month for up to 6 Mbps down and a paltry 384 Kbps up with a basic phone line.

 

[cpacini]

This isn't true.

I had a tech come out to fix my Internet, and as he walked upstairs to get to the cable modem, he noticed me and my roomies were watching a football game (the irony here is that it was on broadcast TV). He asked if we had satellite TV, to which we stupidly replied "no". He then went on to go upstairs and fix the Internet issue. And when he was done, without telling anyone, he went outside and cut our ClearQAM feed. Just like that.

He literally shut our TV off in the middle of the football game when he had no particular reason to. We weren't rude to him, or otherwise do anything weird to antagonize him, he just did it because, well, we were getting cable we didn't deserve. We should have said "we had an antenna", but it never occurred to us that anyone would ever be such an asshole/he caught us completely off guard. He came back inside, and I actually had to shake this prick's hand, thanking him for fixing the internet. I was really too stunned to know what was going on; I remember mumbling something about ClearQAM or something, but he wasn't having any of it.

And, if you haven't guessed already, it was Time Warner Cable.

Now, I'm not arguing -- nor will I entertain -- discussions about whether I was stealing, whether I deserve "free" cable or not, etc etc etc, but I just wanted to tell people that the idea that the cable company doesn't care what you're doing isn't always true.

My father used to work for the local cable company as a door to door sales guy, and he would do stuff like this to people all the time. The way it would usually go down is if he found someone hooked up illegally he'd knock on the door, tell them that he has to turn it off unless they want to sign up right there. If they said no, he went outside and shut it off. Would go back and knock on their door again and ask if they still didn't want to sign up. He made plenty of sales because someone wanted him to turn the game back on.

 

[Red Squirrel]

why go that far?

Use analog output (decoded) and run it to any DVR burner/tv tuner/video capture device.

It goes all the way up the food chain though. The cable company, the networks and the studios are all super paranoid and have so many security demands that its just funny. Especially when every box outputs to analog with no encryption.

Yeah I don't think they can do much about analog, at least till they decide to remove it and require digital and even then once it's out of the cable box it's basically free game I would imagine. I could totally see them petition the TV makers to have some kind of proprietary tech and all cable boxes would use that tech, and it would be encrypted right to the TV. But even then people will always find a way.

Ironicly, I just canceled my cable today actually. I had been contemplating for a while as I don't watch enough TV to justify 70 bucks per month.

 

[master_shake_]

is corporate actually like the way i am thinking??

fat old guys in suits smoking cigars lit by 100 dollar bills, talking about the old days when basic cable was 3 channels and you paid double for that back then too?

are they as out of touch with reality as they are portrayed by every single techie out there?

how can they ever compete with new options created just to remove them from your house one step at a time??

does google make them shit themselves?

does intel making cable tv scare them in to a fetal position?

are they even relevant anymore?

 

[lamedude]

If I had the capital, and it was not a conflict of interest with the company I work for, I'd totally want to start an ISP, and NOT go public.

CLECs tried that (with little success) until the FCC killed line sharing. At least one is doing okay. The ILECs will fight gov't funded fiber.

Why do cable/satellite boxes suck so bad?

That's the other duopoly. You're choice for cable boxes are Motorola or Cisco. They're incompatible with each other so add vendor lock in to the reasons to not care. If a MSO has both you have situations like Comcast delaying software upgrades to the minority for years.

 

[Doppel]

What is the real fear that people in the trenches have at cable companies over cord cutters or those adopting new tech? The CEO of time warner I think it was recently played the thing off as no big deal, but the numbers speak differently. I went from $30/month phone bill down to $3.50 with OOMA. Cable can't compete with that because they are selling a hugely inferior product. And what will my cable company do when fiber hits my area (it is slowly) and I can get 5X the speed for the same cost? Can their lines even keep up?

 

[Wingznut]

Good stuff, Rudeguy... Thanks for answering all the questions.

 

[The Sauce]

Anyone who got 50% off was paying way to much to begin with. These are the people who were paying $65 for internet, $100 for cable and $40 for phone. Otherwise its not as easy as just pushing a 50% off button.

To get the best deal, go in educated. Know the price of the competition for similar services.

I pay those prices! I'm a sucker! What should they be around? (I know this probably varies somewhat by location.)

 

[The Boston Dangler]

is corporate actually like the way i am thinking??

fat old guys in suits smoking cigars lit by 100 dollar bills, talking about the old days when basic cable was 3 channels and you paid double for that back then too?

are they as out of touch with reality as they are portrayed by every single techie out there?

how can they ever compete with new options created just to remove them from your house one step at a time??

does google make them shit themselves?

does intel making cable tv scare them in to a fetal position?

are they even relevant anymore?

no, not at all. their greatest talent is creating situations where any possible result goes in the win column.

 

[rudeguy]

What kind of deal do you guys have the Nielsen Ratings people? I once returned a broken DVR that was damaged by their monitoring equipment while I was in the ratings, and the Comcast rep didn't give me ANY trouble at all after looking up my account and inspecting the DVR.

Was a special flag on my account, telling them to look the other way?

No notes...I am sure of that. I don't believe Nielsen tells the cable company who has their boxes.

You can break all the equipment you want. The only way to charge you for it is if you don't return it. Otherwise, light it on fire and as long as it still scans in, you are fine.

Also you can't be charged for equipment while your account is active. I once had a pile of 6 DVR's that I was too lazy to return. I kept them for a good 6 months before I finally returned them.

 

[rudeguy]

is corporate actually like the way i am thinking??

fat old guys in suits smoking cigars lit by 100 dollar bills, talking about the old days when basic cable was 3 channels and you paid double for that back then too?

are they as out of touch with reality as they are portrayed by every single techie out there?

how can they ever compete with new options created just to remove them from your house one step at a time??

does google make them shit themselves?

does intel making cable tv scare them in to a fetal position?

are they even relevant anymore?

They are for sure out of touch. I have no clue nor any inspiration to know what or how they think.

The new options aren't anything to worry about right now. Google is only in what, 2 or 3 towns? Intel's foray into TV stalled more times than a Ford on a hot day. The general thinking was that if a customer preferred free tv and cheap internet, let them have it.

 

[rudeguy]

What is the real fear that people in the trenches have at cable companies over cord cutters or those adopting new tech? The CEO of time warner I think it was recently played the thing off as no big deal, but the numbers speak differently. I went from $30/month phone bill down to $3.50 with OOMA. Cable can't compete with that because they are selling a hugely inferior product. And what will my cable company do when fiber hits my area (it is slowly) and I can get 5X the speed for the same cost? Can their lines even keep up?

There was never a fear. Its a numbers game. Fiber crosses maybe 3% of a cable provider's footprint. Even if 50% of those customers switch, its not enough to worry about let alone adjust corporate strategy.

I'm not saying that is the right way to look at it, but that is honestly how its looked at.

 

[alkemyst]

What did you do when toner cartridges spilled out during changing them?

 

[Scotteq]

What did you do when toner cartridges spilled out during changing them?

Pick up the spillage and use it to powder random objects; such as door handles, toilet seats, and outgoing set top boxes??