I worked in the AT&T/Comcast system for 3 years. I started with on-site audits and then moved to cable modem installation/trouble-shooting.
In that system, if the installer did the "right" thing, a physical trap would be installed on the line that would prevent you from getting video signal. It would only pass the necessary channels for the cable modem. Sometimes though, that trap would be forgotten, and people would have free video service for years.
If you lived in an older neighborhood, or even a typical neighborhood, you probably had an aerial cable connection (cable line comes from the hard lines above the street on the wooden telephone poles. The trap is usually installed up there, at the connection point. It doesn't require a special tool to remove (it just screws on and off), but you'd have to find a way to get up there - which most people can't.
If you lived in a "nicer" and newer neighborhood, you most likely have an underground connection, where the interface box simply sits on your property somewhere, and the cable line is ran to your house in the ground. These interfaces boxes usually weren't well-made, and could be accessed easily.
When I used to audit, we just randomly select areas, and drive there everyday. Since an interface point usually connects between 4-8 houses/customers, we can check many people at once. Climb up on my ladder, with a list of what service (if any) each house is supposed to have. No one would be "caught" so to speak, because there's no way to prove that you having that active cable service, wasn't an accident. So it's not like we were cop-like intimidators. We simply changed your physical connections to reflect what you're paying for. We never went to the door and scolded anyone or anything like that. We just shut you off. If you were a repeat "offender" - again, we can't really prove this - we'd just eventually cut down the line to your house (as opposed to unscrewing it, or putting that trap on), so that these "accidents" didn't happen again.
In that system, if the installer did the "right" thing, a physical trap would be installed on the line that would prevent you from getting video signal. It would only pass the necessary channels for the cable modem. Sometimes though, that trap would be forgotten, and people would have free video service for years.
If you lived in an older neighborhood, or even a typical neighborhood, you probably had an aerial cable connection (cable line comes from the hard lines above the street on the wooden telephone poles. The trap is usually installed up there, at the connection point. It doesn't require a special tool to remove (it just screws on and off), but you'd have to find a way to get up there - which most people can't.
If you lived in a "nicer" and newer neighborhood, you most likely have an underground connection, where the interface box simply sits on your property somewhere, and the cable line is ran to your house in the ground. These interfaces boxes usually weren't well-made, and could be accessed easily.
When I used to audit, we just randomly select areas, and drive there everyday. Since an interface point usually connects between 4-8 houses/customers, we can check many people at once. Climb up on my ladder, with a list of what service (if any) each house is supposed to have. No one would be "caught" so to speak, because there's no way to prove that you having that active cable service, wasn't an accident. So it's not like we were cop-like intimidators. We simply changed your physical connections to reflect what you're paying for. We never went to the door and scolded anyone or anything like that. We just shut you off. If you were a repeat "offender" - again, we can't really prove this - we'd just eventually cut down the line to your house (as opposed to unscrewing it, or putting that trap on), so that these "accidents" didn't happen again.
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