Getting cable internet

[larciel]

Long story short, my house is wired for free cable. It had been done by previous owner and I didn't bother to be a good boyscout and report it to the cable company when we moved in.

I'm thinking about getting cable internet but wonder what'd happen to my tv?

 

[beat mania]

You do not want to let the cable guy come out to your house for ANY reason if that's the case.

 

[larciel]

guess I'm stuck with DSL until at least Feb. 2009 then.

 

[imported_Mike]

Depends on the cable company. In my area, you'd get shut down, refused service (even if willing to pay), sent a bill for the cable usage (they can see exaclty when and how long you've used the connection), and then prosecuted (misdemeanor).

 

[Homerboy]

Im confused. How is your house "wired" for free cable?

 

[thebigdude]

Originally posted by: beat mania
You do not want to let the cable guy come out to your house for ANY reason if that's the case.

He is correct.

 

[smack Down]

Originally posted by: Mike
Depends on the cable company. In my area, you'd get shut down, refused service (even if willing to pay), sent a bill for the cable usage (they can see exaclty when and how long you've used the connection), and then prosecuted (misdemeanor).

Complete BS.

 

[BassBomb]

Ironically, I had "free cable" when my house was brand new, because we had Cable Internet.

Using a digital splitter will give you ALL channels!

After about a year they found out and cut it, and offered us a great deal to get basic cable so we took it.

I live in Canada BTW

 

[AlienCraft]

It's perfectly legal to wire one's house to distribute a TV signal.
As long as you don't have any decoder boxes in use, ther is nothing they can do about it.

 

[imported_Mike]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: Mike
Depends on the cable company. In my area, you'd get shut down, refused service (even if willing to pay), sent a bill for the cable usage (they can see exaclty when and how long you've used the connection), and then prosecuted (misdemeanor).

Complete BS.

?

The cable company knows when you tap into their "hot" signal so no bs at all. They can find out the day it was done and thus how long it has been going on.

 

[redly]

I've always wondered how they can detect that your house is "plugged in"

 

[KK]

Originally posted by: Mike

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: Mike
Depends on the cable company. In my area, you'd get shut down, refused service (even if willing to pay), sent a bill for the cable usage (they can see exaclty when and how long you've used the connection), and then prosecuted (misdemeanor).

Complete BS.

?

The cable company knows when you tap into their "hot" signal so no bs at all. They can find out the day it was done and thus how long it has been going on.

Are you the same person that said that the more people recieving the OTA transmission the weaker the signal gets?

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: Mike
Depends on the cable company. In my area, you'd get shut down, refused service (even if willing to pay), sent a bill for the cable usage (they can see exaclty when and how long you've used the connection), and then prosecuted (misdemeanor).

Complete BS.

actually I believe he's right about this. They can compare signal levels if they really wanted to. But it's probably a lot more trouble than it's worth.

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: Mike
Depends on the cable company. In my area, you'd get shut down, refused service (even if willing to pay), sent a bill for the cable usage (they can see exaclty when and how long you've used the connection), and then prosecuted (misdemeanor).

If it's a standard analog signal (not a 2-way digital connection, in which case you'd need a decoder box anyway), I fail to see how they would be able to figure that out.

OP, kinda funny that you say you "weren't the good boyscout and reported it"...that's a nice spin on "decided to use the free cable myself"

Anyway, you can get self-install kits for comcast internet. Go to Circuit City, they have them there, usually free (but you have to buy the modem, which Comcast would charge you to rent anyway so it isn't all bad).

 

[larciel]

Originally posted by: Mike
Depends on the cable company. In my area, you'd get shut down, refused service (even if willing to pay), sent a bill for the cable usage (they can see exaclty when and how long you've used the connection), and then prosecuted (misdemeanor).

What part of CA are you in?


Yeah it's only analog, up to ch.99

 

[FoBoT]

stop stealing cable, don't be a thief

 

[Farang]

Stealing cable is actually theft.. the more people who steal cable the higher the price is for everyone else.

With that said, it depends how your house is wired for cable. If it's just a case of the filter being removed, the cable guy will see that if you try to install internet or if he comes to work on or install at any of your neighbors houses.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: beat mania
You do not want to let the cable guy come out to your house for ANY reason if that's the case.

Bingo. They can absolutely come after you for theft of services. You can and will be convicted, and probably have to pay a pretty steep fine.

Even if the line was never disconnected or deactivated, it is still theft of services.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: larciel
guess I'm stuck with DSL until at least Feb. 2009 then.

Stuck with DSL?

 

[Born2bwire]

Originally posted by: KK

Originally posted by: Mike

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: Mike
Depends on the cable company. In my area, you'd get shut down, refused service (even if willing to pay), sent a bill for the cable usage (they can see exaclty when and how long you've used the connection), and then prosecuted (misdemeanor).

Complete BS.

?

The cable company knows when you tap into their "hot" signal so no bs at all. They can find out the day it was done and thus how long it has been going on.

Are you the same person that said that the more people recieving the OTA transmission the weaker the signal gets?

Technically that is true, but I doubt on a level that would affect the performance of any of the customers.

 

[darkswordsman17]

They don't do jacksh!t to people here. We had someone breaking into the cable box on the apartment and running a line to their apartment. We found this out after losing cable a couple of different times, one time for an extended period. Called the cable company, the guy comes out, says he fixed it and leaves. We then lose cable again sometime shortly after that (might have been the same day even). Call them back up and they send someone again, this time its a different guy, says he found a splitter on it and that their box has clearly been broken into (the cable inlet/outlet for the building is in a lockbox bolted to the outside of the building). He said he reported the box and they'd replace it. A couple of days later they put a new one on there, get everything squared away and lock it. Less than a week later its broken into again and we lose cable. I call them and cancel internet. Switched to ATT DSL, and have been using that since, but I'm thinking of switching since somehow my ATT bill seems to be more expensive lately. That reminds me I need to call them. And here I thought I'd have a nice hassle free sunday...

 

[1sikbITCH]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
Im confused. How is your house "wired" for free cable?

Obviously they spliced into the neighbor's feed or broke into the box and hooked up there.

As to the OP's assertion that he/she simply didn't act as a good Samaritan by reporting the theft, that is like finding stolen money and then deciding to spend it. You still are in possession of stolen money. From Time Warner's website:

Passive Theft

Passive theft occurs when someone moves into a new residence or business facility, notices that the premises receives cable services without an account, but nevertheless does not take any steps to become a subscriber or have the service disconnected.

If they have patched into the neighbor's feed, they might prosecute, but otherwise I doubt they will do anything other than disconnect the service.

 

[Perknose]

Originally posted by: Born2bwire

Originally posted by: KK
Are you the same person that said that the more people recieving the OTA transmission the weaker the signal gets?

Technically that is true, but I doubt on a level that would affect the performance of any of the customers.

Care to explain??? :shocked:

(Maybe I'll learn something new today.)

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: MikeyIs4Dcats

Originally posted by: smack Down

Originally posted by: Mike
Depends on the cable company. In my area, you'd get shut down, refused service (even if willing to pay), sent a bill for the cable usage (they can see exaclty when and how long you've used the connection), and then prosecuted (misdemeanor).

Complete BS.

actually I believe he's right about this. They can compare signal levels if they really wanted to. But it's probably a lot more trouble than it's worth.

They can actually tell depending on what kinda cable you're getting. If you're getting free digital, no shizzle they will know because that's a server side enabled thing.

If you're talking about Comcast's basic vs standard cable they can't tell because that's all analog. Now, depending on what kinda filter they're supposed to install they can tell, but almost all the filters I've seen are dumb filters that are simply band pass filters and don't send data back telling them what's been filtered.

 

[BoomerD]

First of all, if you're not paying for cable, will they even let you have their internet services? Here, Comcast requires you to have at least basic cable in order to have internet. (or at least it used to be that way a couple of years ago)

Next, I don't know about today's technology, but several years ago, the cable predecesor to Comcast used to drive down a street scanning for cable connections. They said their equipment measured (the flux capacitor load?) the load on the lines between the cable box and the house.
IF their meter (or whatever) indicated a load where there was no customer listed, then the tech got out and physically checked the connection to be sure there was signal between the box and the house. If there was, it got disconnected and the customer got a not-so-nice note attached to their door inviting them to sign up for cable. I would imagine apartments and other "multi-family" residences would be more problematic.