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Official Comcast CableCard Thread!

3M views 9K replies 2K participants last post by  laria 
#1 ·
There seems to already be a lot of CableCard talk on many threads so in an attempt to keep them consolidated by company here is an official thread for Comcast, I just made this thread since I am a Comcast customer, if others want to make official threads for their cable companies go for it! Making one thread for each cable company should ease everyones diging through 100 different threads for cablecard info.

Some relevant info that I have read about comcast so far is the following:
-If you explain to Comcast that both cable cards are for one device people have been successful in no additional monthly charge, one user reported getting good success with calling comcasts 800 number and speaking with a cable card department
-Others have had good luck with going to their local comcast office and getting cable cards directly from them, this saves the installation fee and is quicker

Myself...I called Comcast and got the same spiel as most others have heard, free card for the first one and additional charge for the second of 5.95 (may not be exact, I didn't write it down) and installation charges for both the install of both the first and second cable cards of 20something bucks and 15something bucks. I realize now that I left out some details about my device that may have lead on to these extra charges, I am out of town now but plan on hitting my local Comcast office on Saturday and just trying to get them to give me the cards and I will do the install, or I will call back and try and speak to someone who understands and get the second (additional outlet) monthly charge dropped as well as the installation costs. BTW I live in the Chicago area since some people have experienced different things with the different areas of Comcast. Let me know your thoughts on my experience, what you have heard and try and keep comcast details on this thread so we can all have an easier time keeping up with what others have heard. Also post your region so we know which flavor of comcast you are dealing with.
-AJ
 
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#7,877 ·
Can I get a definitive ruling on if I can access onDemand (like Howard TV) shows with a Premiere and a Comcast m-card? I'm seeing conflicting information on their site/this site/Comcast support, etc. I don't want to be able to record...just watch onDemand programs. Thanks in advance!
 
#7,880 ·
khomel said:
Wow, Comcast JUST told me on the phone that onDemand works with M-Cards. This has been verified, for sure?
OnDemand doesn't use a set frequency so it won't work unless 2-way communications is available which it isn't with a TiVo. Theoretically it's possible to use OnDemand with a tuning adapter, but it was never designed for that and Comcast doesn't use them anyway.

Basically the person you spoke to had no idea what he was talking about. It won't work.

Like I said PPV can work if you call in to order (though I've never tried that), but not OnDemand.
 
#7,882 ·
khomel said:
Bummer. Thanks for the confirmation! Looks like I'll stick with the crappy Comcast boxes for a while. Unless I just forget about onDemand, of course...
You can always keep a cable box for OnDemand and get a TiVo for everything else. Most Comcast packages include 1 free box which you "pay" for whether you actually have it or not.
 
#7,883 ·
I'm sure this has been asked before, but I want to make absolutely sure before making any plans. I have a series 3 with a motorola m-card in it. From what I've gleaned, if I want to watch a specific PPV event like UFC or WWE, I can call Comcast and order it and it'll work fine on the tivo. Is this accurate?
From what I have read in this topic, yes. You will have to call in the order but you should be able to watch it on your TiVo. That's all the info I can offer since I don't have first hand experience with PPV and TiVo.
 
#7,884 ·
You can always keep a cable box for OnDemand and get a TiVo for everything else. Most Comcast packages include 1 free box which you "pay" for whether you actually have it or not.
But then you would probably have to pay for an "Additional Digital Outlet" at approximately 8-9 dollars a month. Without the Comcast box, you wouldn't have to pay that fee.

Consequently, On Demand wouldn't be free any longer.
 
#7,885 ·
a68oliver said:
But then you would probably have to pay for an "Additional Digital Outlet" at approximately 8-9 dollars a month. Without the Comcast box, you wouldn't have to pay that fee.
I think that depends on what package you have and in what area. I've been on the triple play package for over 3 years and have never had to pay an additional outlet fee despite having 2 tivos and an hd cable box. I did have to pay for the hd part of the cable box until recently when I switched to the hd triple play which has no hd fees. So basically I'm just paying the package price and nothing else.
 
#7,886 ·
I have an HD TiVo with an M-card and I recently picked up an open box, brand new TiVo Premiere from hhGregg for $75. The same day I scheduled a service run to install an M-card. (It still pisses me off that I can't install the damn thing myself.) The install went relatively well. It took them (there were two techs) a little while to get it working and receiving all my channels but it's been fine. My problems started when I got my first bill.

I was charged $8.50 for HDTV on top of the $8.50 I was already being charged. Added to that was another $8.50 for an additional outlet. So now, I am paying an additional $17 for something that should only cost me up to $2.50 per FCC regulations.

Of course I was not happy with this, so I emailed we_can_help@comcast.net with my situation and what I felt should be fair.

The next afternoon I got a call from a Comcast rep. We talked for a while and I agreed on the following. She would waive the additional outlet fee, reduce the second HDTV fee to $3.50. Plus a $15/month credit for 1 year.

So, as it turns out, I should be paying slightly less than what I was before installing the 2nd M-card. All thanks to this thread and a Comcast rep that was actually willing to be reasonable.
 
#7,887 ·
I have an HD TiVo with an M-card and I recently picked up an open box, brand new TiVo Premiere from hhGregg for $75. ..........

I was charged $8.50 for HDTV on top of the $8.50 I was already being charged. Added to that was another $8.50 for an additional outlet. So now, I am paying an additional $17 for something that should only cost me up to $2.50 per FCC regulations.

Of course I was not happy with this, so I emailed we_can_help@comcast.net with my situation and what I felt should be fair.

The next afternoon I got a call from a Comcast rep. We talked for a while and I agreed on the following. She would waive the additional outlet fee, reduce the second HDTV fee to $3.50. Plus a $15/month credit for 1 year.
I am not sure, but I think that $8.50 might be the "HD Technology Fee" which should only be charged once per account. The jury is still out on what exactly that fee covers. Does it cover the cost of HD technology on Comcast provided equipment in the home or HD technology at the headend? In my case, I have no Comcast equipment in the home other than the cablecards and I am not being charged an HD Technology Fee.

I believe the FCC regs cover the cost of cablecards and don't say anything about additional outlet charges. So it seems reasonable that they may charge you more to add another Tivo (additional outlet).

While I don't understand how you and the CSR arrived at the "correct" charges, they don't agree with the rate card in my area. But rates vary across the country.

You and I do have something in common. They can't figure out how to program the billing computer to charge the published rates and offer a one year credit to compensate.
 
#7,888 ·
I am not sure, but I think that $8.50 might be the "HD Technology Fee" which should only be charged once per account. The jury is still out on what exactly that fee covers. Does it cover the cost of HD technology on Comcast provided equipment in the home or HD technology at the headend? In my case, I have no Comcast equipment in the home other than the cablecards and I am not being charged an HD Technology Fee.

I believe the FCC regs cover the cost of cablecards and don't say anything about additional outlet charges. So it seems reasonable that they may charge you more to add another Tivo (additional outlet).

While I don't understand how you and the CSR arrived at the "correct" charges, they don't agree with the rate card in my area. But rates vary across the country.

You and I do have something in common. They can't figure out how to program the billing computer to charge the published rates and offer a one year credit to compensate.
I don't know that we arrived at the "correct" charges but at least they were something Comcast & I could live with.

The "HDTV Service" (verbatim from the bill) charge is something that hacked me off. Especially if it is a charge for the cablecards. I am in the same situation as you are. I have no Comcast equipment in my home other than the cablecards. These would be the same cablecards I would need if I had digital only. If that were the case, I wouldn't have any additional charges other than for the 2nd card. But for some reason, since I have HD service, they charged me for $8.50 for a year and tried to double it when I added a second card. If it's equipment on their end, I have less of an argument. I don't see how adding my second TiVo to the account would be a burden on their equipment.
 
#7,889 ·
Things turned out a bit better than I expected.

I ended up adding a single HD box to the family room... just so that we have the option of watching On-Demand. That one ended up being the "free" first connection.

For my 3 TiVO boxes, they charged me less than they quoted me on the phone. Instead of a "per TiVO" charge of $8.00 "digital outlet" plus $1.5 "Cable Card"... they only charged me a single $8.00 "digital outlet" fee, plus the $4.5 for the three CCs.

I think it ended up OK in the end, it is costing me $12.50 total to support all three TiVOs.

/Jim
I just had another Comcast - Portland, OR experience to share. In January, I had 1 cablecard (S-type) installed in my second S3 Tivo that I brought to Portland from my vacation home. To put this in perspective, I have long had a S3 Tivo installed here. My only television also had a cablecard slot, so I was using 3 cablecards (no comcast boxes at all). I was being charged nothing for the first card, $1.50 for the second card, and after much debate and arguing a few years ago, $8.00 for a "additional outlet digital service" really my 3rd cablecard. They bought me off for awhile on this by giving me some type of price break for a year, without conceding I really should only pay another $1.50 for my 3rd card.

Years passed. In January I bought a second TV. So I removed the cablecard from my first TV and put it into my second S3 Tivo. It worked flawlessly. Finally, I figured I might as well spring for 1 more cablecard, thinking it would be another $1.50 "2nd cablecard for multi cablecard device" fee.

I was wrong. Comcast billed me another $8.00 "additional outlet" fee for this last card. When I called and complained, I was initially told I was actually being undercharged, as starting January 1, 2011, the rates changed to $8.00 per cablecard after the first one being free! Getting next to a supervisor, I was told this is true, but my $1.50 charge on card #2 was a grandfathered rate. I never noticed this on the most recent rate card they sent, and still find this impossible to believe - especially for the old S-type cards!

Since I refrained from swearing, the supervisor quickly offered to give me a big break on my bill for the next 12 months. I have both digital preferred TV and high speed internet service. The base charge on my most recent bill for these 2 services is 125.94. The supervisor gave me the current promo rate for new customers of tv+internet of 79.99/mo for 6 months, followed by 94.99/mo for the following 6 months, saving me on average some $38/mo for the next year. Of course I'm sure I kissed off that $1.50 card rate forever....

We'll see if it actually comes true.

Any other recent Portland experiences shedding any light on their new cablecard rate structure? Of course I do not trust anything
I hear directly from Comcast at the end of an 800 telephone number!

Cheers! :mad:
 
#7,891 ·
This is as long thread, so I hope I can be helped with questions that are repetitive.

I just got a Series 3. Does this require a service call for cable card installation (Comcast)?
Is there anyway to pick up the cards and do it yourself?
Can I remove the cable cards from existing TivoHd and install them in the Series 3?
Thanks!
 
#7,892 ·
As an update:

I ordered the service today.

$90 Preferred Plus Triple Play (first 12 months, then $20 more)
$1.5 for CC #1 (TiVO HD XL)
$9.5 for CC #2 (TiVO HD)
$9.5 for CC #3 (TiVO HD)
$7 for cable model/telephone interface
?? Taxes

About $120 + taxes, which for the first year will be less than my current Frontier bill... and then about the same after a year. However, I expected Frontier to go up once my price protection ends this summer so Comcast is still probably less money for the first 2 years. Comcast also offered a $250 gift card.

I never would have switched if Verizon was still running the FiOS service in Portland. I am not going to like Comcast's 250 GB BW Cap... but now that all of my backup data (742 GB) is already uploaded to the cloud, I should be OK unless I switch backup providers.

/Jim
Well keep in mind that FIOS prices haven't gone up yet. Despite all the doom and gloom talk nothing has changed at this point. And you can get FIOS without a contract. So i'd stick with what you have and see how it plays out. Without having to get a contract means you have nothing to lose and should things go bad you can change then.
Besides, their package prices are significantly cheaper than comcast.

I have FIOS internet as well, in Gresham, and it's working fine. That said, i've never had internet and TV from the same provider. Had to dump comcast internet when they added that 250gb bandwidth cap and now use FIOS for internet. But have had Dish for TV for years.

Though since it seems you already switched, what are the package prices of comcast? Their site kinda sucks for that info. I'm weighing my options of buying a cheap refurb premiere and hacking in a large hard drive and then going fios or comcast. Their site doesn't list HD fees which is all I care about. Just one premiere on one TV. Just want the usual TNT, USA, Syfy, Travel, discovery, history, HGTV, food network, etc. in HD. I get that and DVR from dish for $41 right now.
Still not going to use them for internet though.
 
#7,893 ·
Talked to Comcast.
They are requiring a service call for 16.00 to install the cards.
Also, with the Series 3, as I understand it, I have to have TWO cards, be they M-cards or S-cards. Is this correct?

Comcast/Chicagoland is up to 7.95 PER CARD!
I did not realize that the cards had gone that high especially since their reps are quoting 1.50 still.
 
#7,894 ·
Talked to Comcast.
They are requiring a service call for 16.00 to install the cards.
Also, with the Series 3, as I understand it, I have to have TWO cards, be they M-cards or S-cards. Is this correct?

Comcast/Chicagoland is up to 7.95 PER CARD!
I did not realize that the cards had gone that high especially since their reps are quoting 1.50 still.
Yes, you need two cards of any type in the original S3 (w/OLED display).

Are you sure they aren't quoting you an "additional digital outlet" fee which includes the cost of one cablecard? Additional cablecards beyond the first free one on the outlet usually cost about $1.50-2.50. So their $1.50 cablecard quote may technically not be in error.

If you haven't already, be sure to read this FAQ. http://customer.comcast.com/Pages/F...5c8-c8a4-44f7-96f4-def06cced0db&fss=cablecard
 
#7,895 ·
This is as long thread, so I hope I can be helped with questions that are repetitive.

I just got a Series 3. Does this require a service call for cable card installation (Comcast)?
Is there anyway to pick up the cards and do it yourself?
Can I remove the cable cards from existing TivoHd and install them in the Series 3?
Thanks!
If your local headend requires cablecards to be paired (and mine does) then the answer is no. If the cablecard is not paired, some channels will appear to be working and others may not. IIRC, encrypted channels may work, but copy protected channels will not.

Since the pairing pairs the cablecard to the specific device, it can't be moved to another device.
 
#7,896 ·
Thank you for the replies.
It seems like Comcast can do whatever they like.
I was originally told 1.50 over the phone for a cable card.
Further discussion revealed the card would be 7.95 EACH! Ouch.
I protested loudly, so he will credit the install fee (which is a ridiculous exercise...I can do it easier if they would just allow it) only after they have come out.
However, the 7.95 x 2 charges can not be adjusted according to him.
Wish I would have known. I just as easily could have bought another TivoHD.
 
#7,897 ·
If your local headend requires cablecards to be paired (and mine does) then the answer is no. If the cablecard is not paired, some channels will appear to be working and others may not. IIRC, encrypted channels may work, but copy protected channels will not.

Since the pairing pairs the cablecard to the specific device, it can't be moved to another device.
Ok. I think I understand.
Any reason why then, if I unplugged the (original)cable card from the (original) device (Tivo) and then plugged it back in right away, I now can not get all my channels. If I am receiving some signals, is not the device "paired" to the card?
Color me confused. And frustrated.
 
#7,898 ·
Shakopee, MN Comcast customer here with 3 Tivo's and each has a M-type cable card installed. No fee's and I only pay $15 for the guy to sit in a chair to read some numbers to a person on the phone.

Appointments and installs have been a breeze to schedule, guess I live in one of the good Comcast zones!
 
#7,899 ·
Ok. I think I understand.
Any reason why then, if I unplugged the (original)cable card from the (original) device (Tivo) and then plugged it back in right away, I now can not get all my channels. If I am receiving some signals, is not the device "paired" to the card?
Color me confused. And frustrated.
Same thing happened to me. Had to have a truck roll to repair the card. Doesn't make sense, but that's the way it is apparently.
 
#7,900 ·
Ok. I think I understand.
Any reason why then, if I unplugged the (original)cable card from the (original) device (Tivo) and then plugged it back in right away, I now can not get all my channels. If I am receiving some signals, is not the device "paired" to the card?
Color me confused. And frustrated.
I was under the impression that if you remove the card and then install it back into the same device, it should work. I have only removed one of my cards once and then plugged it back in/reseated it and my channels continued to work.

My understanding is that there are essentially 3 levels of service.

1) unencrypted QAM channels. These are usually the local broadcast stations and should be receivable even without a cablecard. However, channel numbers will be incorrect and you can't usually get guide data. There is an exception to this guide data rule in a very limited number of markets.

2) encrypted QAM channels. The cablecard decrypts the channels for viewing if authorized in your subscription package. I don't believe the card has to be paired to receive these channels. The card provides channel mapping so that the channel numbers will be as advertised by the cable company and Tivo can then match the guide data to the correct channels.

3) encrypted and copy protected QAM channels. The cablecard must be paired with the specific device. If paired properly, all of #2 above applies plus copy protected channels can be viewed. However, copy protected channels can not be transferred to another Tivo or Tivo Desktop. In other words, Multi Room Viewing (MRV) is impossible. In my market, Comcast only copy protects Sundance, Encore, and pay tv/HBO, Showtime, etc.

If you removed the cablecard and then re-inserted it, and some, but not all, channels came back, I wonder if the card needs time to refresh its authorization. How much time has elapsed? Have the missing channels returned? What channelsl are missing? If not, I would try rebooting.
 
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