Official Time Warner Cable Thread

[dlfl]

Regarding STA1520 Tuning Adapter blink codes, see:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7627392#post7627392

And if you power cycle the TA and it blinks for a short time then the light goes off permanently, hit the reset button on the front of the TA. Also disconnect the USB connector when power cycling the TA and don't re-connect until the TA has achieved solid green light status OR is blinking six-blinks-pause. At that point, if you still aren't getting all channels, it may be necessary to reboot the TiVo to force the "Acquiring Channels" function.

[rsro]

Im located in Orange, Ca and several channels are showing "To be announced" in the guide. channels 475 - 500. Is anyone else in the area having the same problem?

[kochsr]

my wife and i both talked to the RDU phone operator about multistream vs. singlestream cards, and she had no idea what they had. i'm just going to assume they use multistream cards here in RDU. strangely enough, my (non-technical) wife has been through multiple tivo cable company installs, and is pretty well versed in it!

[notting]

my wife and i both talked to the RDU phone operator about multistream vs. singlestream cards, and she had no idea what they had. i'm just going to assume they use multistream cards here in RDU. strangely enough, my (non-technical) wife has been through multiple tivo cable company installs, and is pretty well versed in it!

They certainly used multistream cards when I had my install done a couple of years back. I'd assume they haven't switched policy, although who knows what they'll send the tech out with.

[BL]

Here's an issue I wasn't aware of, and if covered before, I apologize, but this thread is so large its hard to search.

I just replaced my cable box with a Premiere and a Motorola M-Card. I called to check my bill with Time Warner Maine and the rep said the charge is $8.50 per month. I said that I had previously been charged $1.75 or $2.50 and he said that was only because I also had a Time Warner DVR. He said the if the M card is the "first" box, the monthly charge is $8.50.

Has anyone ever heard of anything like this?

It looks like I could buy an M-Card for about $20. Does that sound right?

[kochsr]

Well, the install went OK from the multistream perspective. just put it in, read the numbers and got it authorized. not sure about what i'm supposed to be getting in HD though for my RDU cablecard. I get all of the local stations in HD (all in the low 1000s) but no espn hd, etc. i wonder if this is a plan issue or an SDV issue. between the cost of the tivo and the cablecard, kind of makes me just want to use the terrible dvr so i can get some content!

[Teeps]

not sure about what i'm supposed to be getting in HD though for my RDU cablecard.

Did you try rerunning guided setup, or channel scan?

Did you ever see a blue screen with graphic "please wait acquiring channel information?"

Try this link: http://www.tivo.com/setupandsupport/tivo-tuning-adapter-wizard/

Also, it can be helpful at times if you include your city and state in your sig.

[Teeps]

Me too!

Another truck roll scheduled for Tuesday 28Jun2011, we'll see how that goes.
Hope it's not needed.

Tuesday's truck roll conclusion: need new service drop from the utility pole.
Thursday's truch roll conclusion: new drop installed. Tech found questionable splice near the pole termination, and rodent chewed cable.

After connecting the new drop; all channels appeared to be working with reasonable dwell time after selecting a channel. (about 7pm pst.)

At 11pm pst Seed channel not working. 5:30am pst checked channels before work. Speed & Versus both not working.

Another service call to be scheduled next week.

[cwoody222]

Will a TiVo Series2 get updated guide data over a Time Warner digital phone line?

[Teeps]

Will a TiVo Series2 get updated guide data over a Time Warner digital phone line?

How does your TiVo "phone home"?
If over an "old school" modem then probably not.

[SCSIRAID]

Will a TiVo Series2 get updated guide data over a Time Warner digital phone line?

I have made successful modem connections over TWC Digital phone from a computer so you have a chance of success with TiVo.

[SCSIRAID]

Quick question....recently dumped Time Warner digital package along with their DVR's. Kept the high speed internet only and am able to access the analog channels and unencrypted QAM channels.

Would love to be able to see the guide information on the QAM local channels in order to record shows in HD......

Two questions:

1. Will TW lease a CableCard to me since I no longer subscribe to digital TV service?
2. IF so, with a CableCard installed, will I be able to access the guide information on the clear QAM local channels?

Thanks in advance for any info....

1) Depends on your TWC Division. Suggest you add your location to your profile so we will know where you are located.

2) Yes.

[SCSIRAID]

PS - won't TW find it odd that I want a cablecard when I don't subscribe to digital service any longer?

They probably will... but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I believe a Tuning Adapter will also do what you want and would be much easier to deal with.

[cwoody222]

They probably will... but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I believe a Tuning Adapter will also do what you want and would be much easier to deal with.

A tuning adapter will not give him guide data.

And the local channels will not be SDV anyway. They're not allowed to be.

[SCSIRAID]

A tuning adapter will not give him guide data.

And the local channels will not be SDV anyway. They're not allowed to be.

The TA will supply a Channel Map to replace the one provided by the Cablecard (which in this case isnt present) which 'should' provide the linkage required to get the guide data to work. It doesnt matter that no SDV is in play.

[cwoody222]

What about when the frequency of the QAM channel changes (mine does frequently). Would the TA keep up?

[SCSIRAID]

What about when the frequency of the QAM channel changes (mine does frequently). Would the TA keep up?

Yup... It has the 'current' channel map which would be updated in real time.

[dlfl]

Thanks for the very informative posts.....

So....when I make the call to TW, shall I request a Cablecard or Tuning Adapter?
Well TA's are usually free. I'm curious to see if this works the way SCSIRAID predicts, and also to hear what reaction you get from TWC when you ask for either a TA or a CC when you don't subscribe to digital service. ;)

[cwoody222]

The TA will supply a Channel Map to replace the one provided by the Cablecard (which in this case isnt present) which 'should' provide the linkage required to get the guide data to work. It doesnt matter that no SDV is in play.

Interesting... I just noticed on my channel lineup on my area's TW website it has two versions of the "Basic" lineup listed. One with locals in HD and one without.

The one with has a note that says a QAM tuner and SDV adapter is required. So I guess at least here they officially support giving you an SDV adapter even with just Basic service.

Also, lately I've noticed more and more channels have NOT been "timing out" when I wake up in the morning meaning they're not SDV like they used to be. I have a list of local SDV channels that TW gave me a year ago and some of those seem to NOT be SDV any more. Most all of my HD channels were SDV last year which doesn't seem to be the case now. I wonder if they've scaled back in areas that were heavy SDV last year?

[kochsr]

Filled out the form to get the sdv adapter. How long do they take to ship it?

[lrhorer]

Interesting... I just noticed on my channel lineup on my area's TW website it has two versions of the "Basic" lineup listed. One with locals in HD and one without.

The one with has a note that says a QAM tuner and SDV adapter is required. So I guess at least here they officially support giving you an SDV adapter even with just Basic service.
Hmm. That's odd. Most of the OTA channels constitue the majority of high penetration programming - that which is not likely ot be missing on any node. If anything at all is linear, one would expect it to be the locals.

[cwoody222]

Hmm. That's odd. Most of the OTA channels constitue the majority of high penetration programming - that which is not likely ot be missing on any node. If anything at all is linear, one would expect it to be the locals.

Local OTA aren't SDV. They're legally not allowed to be. But the SDV adapter will provide the correct channel assignment to the TiVo so it can tune it and provide guide data. (previous poster taught me that!)

[SCSIRAID]

Local OTA aren't SDV. They're legally not allowed to be. But the SDV adapter will provide the correct channel assignment to the TiVo so it can tune it and provide guide data. (previous poster taught me that!)

you might add... 'without a cablecard'.....

[randywalters]

This won't happen if the TiVo is recording. When it's not recording, it will time out and display a message on the screen telling you to press Select or else it will release its lease on that SDV channel and it will go black.

This is done because there are only so many leases available for an SDV channel, and someone else might not be able to tune it if all the leases are in use, which could happen if enough people just tuned to the channel and left it there for a long time.Well a month later and i've been having the same problem almost every day or evening - when i change to an SDV channel i keep getting a black screen with the message "This channel is temporarily unavailable. Press SELECT to try tuning to this channel again....." on dozens of channels on TWC's SDV channels list, but when i press SELECT it still won't tune to any of them. Then five minutes later i try again and now i can tune to most of them (but not all). The LED on my Tuning Adapter is solid green the whole time. While all this is going on, i am able to tune to these channels just fine on my 8300HD sitting right next to my Tivo S3. Tivo has only missed one scheduled recording in the past month, and one other time it missed the first several minutes of a race but then started recording after a few laps.

I've called TWC several times and they can't explain or figure out why this is happening, so i'm now thinking that my problem may be caused because i'm running a pair of 4-year-old TWC one-way S-Cards, and i've requested that they come and swap in a pair of newer two-way M-Cards instead and see if that fixes my inability to tune to these channels - this is scheduled for tomorrow evening.

Another issue me and a few nearby neighbors are having on our 8300HDs since SDV was activated a month ago - when we tune to an HD channel we get a graphic on the screen saying this channel is temporarily unavailable, and to press A to try again (which still doesn't tune the channel). This doesn't happen nearly as often as it does on my Tivo S3 though, and only seems to happen in the evening and night time. It's as if they don't even have enough bandwidth for their own equipment now that they've added those two dozen new HD channels.

[SCSIRAID]

Well a month later and i've been having the same problem almost every day or evening - when i change to an SDV channel i keep getting a black screen with the message "This channel is temporarily unavailable. Press SELECT to try tuning to this channel again....." on dozens of channels on TWC's SDV channels list, but when i press SELECT it still won't tune to any of them. Then five minutes later i try again and now i can tune to most of them (but not all). The LED on my Tuning Adapter is solid green the whole time. While all this is going on, i am able to tune to these channels just fine on my 8300HD sitting right next to my Tivo S3. Tivo has only missed one scheduled recording in the past month, and one other time it missed the first several minutes of a race but then started recording after a few laps.

I've called TWC several times and they can't explain or figure out why this is happening, so i'm now thinking that my problem may be caused because i'm running a pair of 4-year-old TWC one-way S-Cards, and i've requested that they come and swap in a pair of newer two-way M-Cards instead and see if that fixes my inability to tune to these channels - this is scheduled for tomorrow evening.

Another issue me and a few nearby neighbors are having on our 8300HDs since SDV was activated a month ago - when we tune to an HD channel we get a graphic on the screen saying this channel is temporarily unavailable, and to press A to try again (which still doesn't tune the channel). This doesn't happen nearly as often as it does on my Tivo S3 though, and only seems to happen in the evening and night time. It's as if they don't even have enough bandwidth for their own equipment now that they've added those two dozen new HD channels.

I dont believe the M-Cards will make any difference. The 'unavailable' issue is coming from the TA being unable to secure a tuning resolution. Have you looked at signal strengths (specifically the RDC and FDC) in the TA Diags?

[randywalters]

I dont believe the M-Cards will make any difference. The 'unavailable' issue is coming from the TA being unable to secure a tuning resolution. Have you looked at signal strengths (specifically the RDC and FDC) in the TA Diags?Yes, and i think it was one of your previous posts that i found from searching around that helped me look at this, and i was within spec:

‎on 6/‎26/‎11 when i was having problems tuning to channels:
App(s) SARA version v1.61.26.1
FDC: 2 dBmV
RDC: 36 dBmV


Right now on 7/26/11 and i'm currently able to tune all of my channels:
Tuner: 2dBmV
FDC: 3 dBmV
RDC: 44 dBmV

[SCSIRAID]

Yes, and i think it was one of your previous posts that i found from searching around that helped me look at this, and i was within spec:

‎on 6/‎26/‎11 when i was having problems tuning to channels:
App(s) SARA version v1.61.26.1
FDC: 2 dBmV
RDC: 36 dBmV


Right now on 7/26/11 and i'm currently able to tune all of my channels:
Tuner: 2dBmV
FDC: 3 dBmV
RDC: 44 dBmV

Those numbers look great... Are you splitting the cable prior to the TiVo/TA to feed the two or using the TA Passthru to feed the TiVo?

[randywalters]

Those numbers look great... Are you splitting the cable prior to the TiVo/TA to feed the two or using the TA Passthru to feed the TiVo?I have a 3-way 2400MHz TWC splitter feeding (1.) my 8300HD, (2.) a 20 foot run to a bedroom TV, and (3.) passing through the Cisco TA which then feeds the Tivo. I've also temporarily eliminated the splitter and 8300HD and ran the cable straight from the wall to the TA pass through to the Tivo but i get the same problem.

I had previously found a few posts where only the RF input on the TA was used (instead of passing through) but i haven't tried this method. From what i gather doing it this way won't make it perform any better.

I'm also skeptical about the newer M Cards being any better, but the CSR (a real live American who actually sounded knowledgeable about Tivo and CableCards) indicated that their newer M Cards might play nicer with their new SDV network than my old S Cards are and recommended a truck roll to check my setup and signal. At first i declined, but they don't charge to come out and can come after i get home from work, and i'm hoping he can check my for problems with my TA or maybe replace it so i requested a visit. Maybe the tech knows some tricks to get all this stuff working better.

[SCSIRAID]

I have a 3-way 2400MHz TWC splitter feeding (1.) my 8300HD, (2.) a 20 foot run to a bedroom TV, and (3.) passing through the Cisco TA which then feeds the Tivo. I've also temporarily eliminated the splitter and 8300HD and ran the cable straight from the wall to the TA pass through to the Tivo but i get the same problem.

I had previously found a few posts where only the RF input on the TA was used (instead of passing through) but i haven't tried this method. From what i gather doing it this way won't make it perform any better.

I'm also skeptical about the newer M Cards being any better, but the CSR (a real live American who actually sounded knowledgeable about Tivo and CableCards) indicated that their newer M Cards might play nicer with their new SDV network than my old S Cards are and recommended a truck roll to check my setup and signal. At first i declined, but they don't charge to come out and can come after i get home from work, and i'm hoping he can check my for problems with my TA or maybe replace it so i requested a visit. Maybe the tech knows some tricks to get all this stuff working better.

A typical 3 way splitter has two outputs that are -7db and one that is -3.5db. Does yours indicate which output is which on yours and if so what is attached to the -3.5? Your levels may be a touch high but I seriously doubt they are high enough to be a problem except perhaps for a little pixelation. You could try to change the 3 way to a 4 way and drive the TiVo directly from the splitter with the extra tap to drop its signal level a little bit... The TA has gain on its RF output which you dont really need.

There are also balanced 3 ways will all outputs at the same level but you dont see those very often.

[randywalters]

A typical 3 way splitter has two outputs that are -7db and one that is -3.5db. Does yours indicate which output is which on yours and if so what is attached to the -3.5? Your levels may be a touch high but I seriously doubt they are high enough to be a problem except perhaps for a little pixelation. The TA was on the 3.5 output. I moved it to one of the 7db outputs and now my Tuner is -2 dBmV, FDC is 0 dBmV, and RCD is 44 dBmV. I am now able to tune to virtually all the problematic channels without issue, and the few that say are temporarily available can now be tuned by pressing SELECT, which has never worked before. And a few times pressing SELECT didn't work so i did channel up/channel down and the channel then tuned in ok. I've been changing channels for the past half hour and now channel tuning 95% reliable, where it was about 50% reliable in the past weeks.

HOWEVER, a few hours before reading your reply and moving the TA's feed from the 3.5 output to the 7, i'd gotten an automated call from TWC saying they found and corrected a Network Issue and my services should now be restored, and asked if i wanted to cancel tomorrow's truck roll (i declined).

So now i don't know if my newly improved situation is because of moving from 3.5 to 7, or if it was already fixed at TWC's head end and moving the splitter feeds had nothing to do with it. Ummph.


You could try to change the 3 way to a 4 way and drive the TiVo directly from the splitter with the extra tap to drop its signal level a little bit... The TA has gain on its RF output which you dont really need.I do have a few Monoprice 4-way 2400MHz splitters, but none of the outputs are labeled.

It's getting too late now but tomorrow morning i might swap in a 4-way and connect the Tivo and TA directly to the splitter instead of using the TA's pass through.

[INARUSH]

Hello. Just wondering if anyone has experienced the following or has any recommendations. Looking for any help I can get.

Just came back to Tivo with a Series3 and Time Warner. Picked up the new Tuning Adapter and Cablecard. Installed (long process!). I have everything working except for a few channels. The only one I care about that is not working is the Travel Channel HD (or non HD for that matter). I get "this channel is not authorized".

Service is in Charlotte, NC.

Most of the other HD channels work just fine. I believe I am getting all of the ones I am paying for. Is this a Time Warner issue with not authorizing the card for this channel? Or, is this a Tuning Adapter issue?

Thanks in advance.

[mmcgown]

I'm no expert, but I think this is TWC not fully authorizing your channels.

[Fofer]

I called to try and add the Choice Tier. That didn't work out so well, no new channels were appearing, so I called again. What followed was nightmare of epic proportions as TWC had to send technicians out to my house, about 5 times over the course of three weeks... as they ran new cabling to my house, swapped my CableCard (three times,) ran new cabling again. Of course along the way... I lost authorization to all my non-local cable channels. Basically had no TV for the better part of a month. So they came back again and this time had me uninstall my TiVo (!) so they could take it to another neighborhood "node," hook it up to a pole there and try to get my channels authorized again. Every tech giving a different excuse from the next, all of them clueless and nobody knowing how to get my *&^%%$ channels back.

At one point they actually blamed the summer heat; that it must have been affecting the cabling and weakened it to the point where channel authorizations wouldn't go through. That if we tried later in the night when it cooled down, it'd probably go through. :rolleyes:

In the end, of course, as I'd insisted it would be from minute #1, it turned out to be an authorization issue with my account in their system. A kind woman named Karla, higher up in the advanced technical support group, sorted it out for me.

I will never be so bold as to try to add any channels again to my TWC lineup. They're a complete joke when it comes to TiVos and cable cards. Never again.

[mmcgown]

Welcome to the wonderful wacky world of TWC. I've had their "service" since 1982, and I can tell you: it doesn't get any better than this!

[mmcgown]

On my TWC statement today....

On August 19, 2011, Time Warner Cable will begin
collecting a new fee called State Cost Recovery Fee
which is intended to recover a portion of the costs
imposed by Texas on Time Warner Cable. The State
Cost Recovery Fee is not a tax and Time Warner Cable
is not required by law to collect it.

[Arcady]

I am so happy that on Monday I will be driving to the TWC office to turn in my cablecards, tuning adapters, and cable modem and finally say goodbye to this horrible company.

And then I need to find the thread for Insight Cable...

[Teeps]

I am so happy that on Monday I will be driving to the TWC office to turn in my cablecards, tuning adapters, and cable modem and finally say goodbye to this horrible company.

And then I need to find the thread for Insight Cable...

Good for you.
Cheers.

(rhetorical) But, why would you think Insight will be any better?

[nhw3w]

My TivoHD hard drive died (again!). When this happened before tivo shipped me a new box and TWC in NYC had to send a guy out to re-authorize the cable card.

If I just put in a new drive will THAT require another truck roll?

[dlfl]

My TivoHD hard drive died (again!). When this happened before tivo shipped me a new box and TWC in NYC had to send a guy out to re-authorize the cable card.

If I just put in a new drive will THAT require another truck roll?
Until recently the answer was almost certainly "yes". A new FCC ruling just went into effect that is supposed to force some cable operators to allow "self install" (i.e., via a telephone call or web site) but there are loopholes in it so my bet would be the answer is still "yes", since TWC is unsurpassed in passive resistance to anything benefiting TiVo's. The FCC is a paper tiger when it comes to enforcing either the spirit or the letter of their rulings.

[MeInDallas]

My TivoHD hard drive died (again!). When this happened before tivo shipped me a new box and TWC in NYC had to send a guy out to re-authorize the cable card.

If I just put in a new drive will THAT require another truck roll?

I noticed on the website here in Dallas it shows that you can get self install and has the instructions on there and everything including numbers to call to get them authorized. When I called them about this they told me "No the website is wrong we have to come out to install them." :rolleyes:

[JimWall]

I noticed on the website here in Dallas it shows that you can get self install and has the instructions on there and everything including numbers to call to get them authorized. When I called them about this they told me "No the website is wrong we have to come out to install them." :rolleyes:

if you replace the drive yourself and copy the old drive over using winmfs then you would not need to reauthorize.

[Grumock]

My TivoHD hard drive died (again!). When this happened before tivo shipped me a new box and TWC in NYC had to send a guy out to re-authorize the cable card.

If I just put in a new drive will THAT require another truck roll?

should not. Really just need to have the card unpaired and then paired back up on the account, with hits resent to the card after the card is paired.

[muzzymate]

Oh Time Warner, I can see this relationship going so well. Here's the beginning of my Time Warner story. I'm already annoyed with them and I don't even have service at my house yet.

After many issues with AT&T Uverse and 4 bad/replaced DVRs over the course of a year, I decided to return to the great Tivo experiences I've had with Series 2 Tivo & DirecTivos. Decided to go with a 2 Tivo Premiere units - one for the main TV and one for the master bedroom TV. For my area, this means using Time Warner for television. I order internet and digital TV from them, specifying that I'll need 2 cable cards for the premises. The CSR rep tells me I'll also need to fill out the online form to order the Tuning Adapters which I do immediately following the call.

Installation day comes and the tech arrives with the cable modem, two cable cards, and no tuning adapters. However, since he does not have the tuning adapter he refuses to activate cable TV since we live in a switched video area. Also, since the work order he has states to activate both television AND internet, he can't install the cable modem because he can't do a partial work order. Unfortunately, my wife is the only one at home and doesn't really understand everything and the installer leaves without doing anything.

Before my wife has a chance to call me, I get a call from an agent at Time Warner saying that I asked to be rescheduled. After being on the phone for about 40 minutes and talking to 4 different TWC representatives, I finally have the work order separated so they can install the cable modem first and then when the tuning adapters finally arrive, I need to call back and schedule them to install the television.

It was never clear from the online order form how the tuning adapters would arrive. I probably should have called back and asked but assumed everything would be allright. Now I know not to assume anything with Time Warner.

Thankfully my Tivo's have been performing beautifully using the OTA tuners. Hopefully, I can get the cable modem activated before they run out of guide data.

[Iluvatar]

I am so happy that on Monday I will be driving to the TWC office to turn in my cablecards, tuning adapters, and cable modem and finally say goodbye to this horrible company.

And then I need to find the thread for Insight Cable...


Irony is that TWC just purchased Insight outright. Welcome back!

[muzzymate]

Irony is that TWC just purchased Insight outright. Welcome back!

Resistance is futile! You will be assimilated.

[Arcady]

Yes, I knew someone would bring that up. But here I am on Insight, with 5 functional CableCards, no need for stupid tuning adapters, and internet speeds that make TWC seem like dialup.

Hopefully it will be a while before Time Warner comes in and messes it all up.

[MeInDallas]

if you replace the drive yourself and copy the old drive over using winmfs then you would not need to reauthorize.

I did that a long time ago to 1TB drives. We were just talking about "self install" for cable cards.

[Rochdaker]

Time Warner having a "special" 79.00 for internet and digital cable. upgraded my internet only to this special. On the phone I told the agent I had TIVO Premiere and needed the cablecards only, the agent said I HAD to get the cable box($8.99) "the only way the system would allow the pricing and I still had to pay 2.25 for the card in addition". figured oh well, just won't install the box. Tech comes out and we install the card and he proceedes to tell me , you will only get your local stations in HD on TIVO, (something about 2 way connection) so we installed the cable box too. so basically anything other than network TV I can't use the TIVO for.... Any Help out there...?????

[mmcgown]

You need an M cablecard and a tuning adapter only. You do not need their cable box.

Call them back and tell them to fix your problem, and tell them if they can't, you will have to file a complaint with the FCC. Then file the complaint.

Your situation is exactly what the FCC ordered the cable companies to STOP doing on August 8.

[Rochdaker]

You need an M cablecard and a tuning adapter only. You do not need their cable box.

Call them back and tell them to fix your problem, and tell them if they can't, you will have to file a complaint with the FCC. Then file the complaint.

Your situation is exactly what the FCC ordered the cable companies to STOP doing on August 8.

Do they charge for a tuning adapter? DO I have to pay for the box? (they said yes) And supposedly it is a M series

[cwoody222]

Do they charge for a tuning adapter? DO I have to pay for the box? (they said yes) And supposedly it is a M series

The tuning adapter is free.

You should not have to pay for the box. If you do, you're eligible to receive an amount equal back because you BYOB (bring your own box, TiVo). If they don't know about this, or don't offer it to you, file a complaint with the FCC. It's a requirement as of last month.

[aymanme]

Can't get my Time Warner Austin to work anymore. Sadly, my Tivo S3 hard drive died and I've tried to restore my backup to no avail. In any case, I started fresh and while the Tivo itself is fine, I can't get them to authorize my cards. I've been on the phone for hours and they finally decided that they need a truck roll (for reasons I cannot comprehend). In any case, their first available is more than a week from now .... Sigh, hoping that maybe it will fix itself or just take some time for the CC to get authorized. The first guy I spoke to changed up the host ids and so on, so there was no chance that was going to work. I think the next guy fixed them but who knows ....

One of the items I noticed was that when I copied my drive over with winmfs the plist -l complained about "bad block 14" on the new drive, while it reads the old drive just fine. I don't know enough about winmfs, but that doesn't sound like what is supposed to happen. Same thing happens with a 2yo S3 image that is known good.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

You need an M cablecard and a tuning adapter only. You do not need their cable box.

Call them back and tell them to fix your problem, and tell them if they can't, you will have to file a complaint with the FCC. Then file the complaint.

Your situation is exactly what the FCC ordered the cable companies to STOP doing on August 8.

I purchased a TiVo Premier which should be arriving on 9/6. I, too have TWC (Anaheim, CA) and I just want to confirm that I don't need 2 cable cards, but rather 1 M Card and a tuning adapter? And the TA is free of charge, correct?

Thanks in advance...

[mmcgown]

Premiere boxes support ONLY M-Cards. You need one (1) M-Card to receive 2 digital channels at once. Premiere boxes only have one CableCARD slot, and it is located in the back.

You need one M-card and a Tuning Adapter.
They may charge a rental fee for the M-card (I pay $2.25/month)
They cannot charge for the Tuning Adapter
They cannot charge you for a cable box and you don't need one.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Premiere boxes support ONLY M-Cards. You need one (1) M-Card to receive 2 digital channels at once. Premiere boxes only have one CableCARD slot, and it is located in the back.

You need one M-card and a Tuning Adapter.
They may charge a rental fee for the M-card (I pay $2.25/month)
They cannot charge for the Tuning Adapter
They cannot charge you for a cable box and you don't need one.

Excellent information. Thank you for the prompt response! :up:

[Teeps]

Can't get my Time Warner Austin to work anymore.

the Tivo itself is fine, I can't get them to authorize my cards.

I had a similar problem(?) after installing a 2TB internal drive.
The cable cards could not be authorized.
What I learned:
When you first put the power to TiVo.
The TiVo should only have one cable card, card 1 (lower slot.)
The TiVo should not be connected to the Tuning Adapter (assuming you have one.)

Either way, Time Warner has to authorize cable card 1 before cable card 2 will authorize.
If both cards are installed, neither card will authorize.
If the tuning adapter is connected, neither card can be authorized.

Summary:
Install 1 cable card in TiVo's #1 slot.
Connect cable from the pole to the TiVo.
Power up TiVo.
Run guided setup.
Once you can see non encrypted tv.
Call Time Warner's cable card support # for your area.

Good luck.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

I had a similar problem(?) after installing a 2TB internal drive.
The cable cards could not be authorized.
What I learned:
When you first put the power to TiVo.
The TiVo should only have one cable card, card 1 (lower slot.)
The TiVo should not be connected to the Tuning Adapter (assuming you have one.)

Either way, Time Warner has to authorize cable card 1 before cable card 2 will authorize.
If both cards are installed, neither card will authorize.
If the tuning adapter is connected, neither card can be authorized.

Summary:
Install 1 cable card in TiVo's #1 slot.
Connect cable from the pole to the TiVo.
Power up TiVo.
Run guided setup.
Once you can see non encrypted tv.
Call Time Warner's cable card support # for your area.

Good luck.

Seeing as we're basically neighbors, your scenario will apply to me once my "Premier" arrives next week. The only difference being, I will need one M card rather than the two cable cards. If I am understanding you correctly, I can install the M card myself and only need to call TWC to have it activated (sync'd)?

[Eccles]

If the tuning adapter is connected, neither card can be authorized.
Odd, our friendly neighborhood TW insider was able to reauthorize my card after my last Clear and Delete All, and the TA was attached the whole time.

[aymanme]

Well, it started working this morning without any more TWC calls. I loaded a backup from a virgin unit last night and let it upgrade and so on. This morning, both cards are authorized and it is working. I went ahead and made a new backup. I think I realize where the backup problem is. I suspect (though I am not sure) that mfstools only backs up the active root partition rather than the one that is on 4 and 7. So when I tried to access 4 after a restore it failed. Or its the 2T drive, but I doubt that. The backup I used was backup -f 9999 -6so ....

[Teeps]

Seeing as we're basically neighbors, your scenario will apply to me once my "Premier" arrives next week. The only difference being, I will need one M card rather than the two cable cards. If I am understanding you correctly, I can install the M card myself and only need to call TWC to have it activated (sync'd)?

I would say yes, but only if you currently have the "M" card in your possession.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

I would say yes, but only if you currently have the "M" card in your possession.

Nope, no M card. I'd have to get it from TWC.

[Teeps]

Nope, no M card. I'd have to get it from TWC.

All you can do is ask them; worst they can say is no; truck roll.

The reality is there is no technical reason preventing a self install of a cable card and tuning adapter. It's not magic.

Call TW and ask about self install.

I'm lucky(?) there is a TW store front/office about 5 minutes away. I've swapped out many TW boxes, cable modems over the years.

[Teeps]

Odd, our friendly neighborhood TW insider was able to reauthorize my card after my last Clear and Delete All, and the TA was attached the whole time.

Interesting.... TW support told me the "hits" she was sending were not getting through the tuning adapter.

It's all working for now...

[Joey Bagadonuts]

All you can do is ask them; worst they can say is no; truck roll.

The reality is there is no technical reason preventing a self install of a cable card and tuning adapter. It's not magic.

Call TW and ask about self install.

I'm lucky(?) there is a TW store front/office about 5 minutes away. I've swapped out many TW boxes, cable modems over the years.

Thanks. I'll give them a call later this week and see what happens.

[rahnbo]

Do they charge for a tuning adapter? DO I have to pay for the box? (they said yes) And supposedly it is a M series

Yes, you pay a small fee for each TA, about $2-$3, monthly. The ONLY reason you need a cable box is if you intend to buy PPV.

Edit: My message appears at least a day late and dollar short.

[hforman]

I'm out in Southern California. When I bought the series 3 Tivo, I called TWC out here and the gave me a good install time. They brought out an M card (as I had requested 2 cards), they plugged it in and got it working as soon as they got through on the phone to their base.

For the Tuning Adapter, I just registered online and it was shipped to me. Came with an extra cable and whatever I needed (USB, etc.) Followed the instructions but had a couple issues getting it up and running because I was VERY impatient. Always good to talk to a human and get them to make sure it got initialized as they said that the automatic one from when you call doesn't always go through. What I suspected (and still do) that TWC loads ALL of the channels onto the tuning adapter, not just the SDV channels. That means you will need to wait maybe an hour the first time. Oh, they also say not to power off the adapter. Found out that I really needed to do that for some reason. Probably some firmware upgrade. In fact, what you will see is that, rebooting the TIVO will probably take an extra 15 minutes while the TIVO reads the channel list from the tuning adapter. Every Tivo reboot. No panic. If you unplug the coax going IN to the adapter (cable from the wall), expect the TA to reload all of it's software (unless they changed that recently).

[hforman]

Thanks. I'll give them a call later this week and see what happens.

I don't know about self-install on the cable cards. Some cards are defective and, having the dude do this for you, he can just run back to his truck and get another one. I don't pay for installs as I have this "Inside Wiring" deal (has saved me a bundle).

The one thing I screwed up on is patience. It takes awhile to load the TW software into a tuning adapter. A long time.

[cwoody222]

Yes, you pay a small fee for each TA, about $2-$3, monthly. The ONLY reason you need a cable box is if you intend to buy PPV.

Edit: My message appears at least a day late and dollar short.

No, you do NOT pay for the TA. You only pay for the CableCARD(s).

[Teeps]

I don't pay for installs as I have this "Inside Wiring" deal (has saved me a bundle).



Interesting, this "Inside Wiring" service you pay for.... as I've never paid for a truck roll, and I don't have that service. (I think you might be getting screwed on that inside wiring deal...)

Cable card and tuning adapter installs, as I understand, are included in the monthly cable bill.

[cwoody222]

You can also just complain loudly enough to get a truck roll to free to fix problems. If they're coming to wire a new room for you or something, I'd expect to pay. But to diagnose a problem and fix it, I never will pay them for that. I consider it their responsibility to make sure the services I pay them for each month work properly.

[abredt]

Interesting, this "Inside Wiring" service you pay for.... as I've never paid for a truck roll, and I don't have that service. (I think you might be getting screwed on that inside wiring deal...)

Cable card and tuning adapter installs, as I understand, are included in the monthly cable bill.

Inside wiring costs me $1.00 per month.
cb

[dlfl]

........Cable card and tuning adapter installs, as I understand, are included in the monthly cable bill.
I don't think that has been the norm for TWC. It could vary from region to region and with time of course.

[hforman]

Inside wiring costs me $1.00 per month.
cb

I think mine costs $0.50 but it could have gone up.

[hforman]

You can also just complain loudly enough to get a truck roll to free to fix problems. If they're coming to wire a new room for you or something, I'd expect to pay. But to diagnose a problem and fix it, I never will pay them for that. I consider it their responsibility to make sure the services I pay them for each month work properly.

I don't pay for any truck rolls at all. Once they tried to tell me that if a problem was with my wiring, then I'd have to pay. When I told them I had "Inside Wiring" they said "Oh!". Turns out once or twice I did have an issue with wiring and there was still no charge. Saved some money there. I guess it all works out in the end as I'm not hesitant to call them for help requiring a truck roll, which seems to be for almost anything I call for :) They actually come out and make me new cables and give me new splitters and lots of stuff no charge.

[Teeps]

I don't think that has been the norm for TWC. It could vary from region to region and with time of course.

I've had cable tv since 1982, never paid for a truck roll.

[dlfl]

I've had cable tv since 1982, never paid for a truck roll.
I paid to get my CableCARDs and TA installed -- no other option was available (July 2009, TWC SW Ohio). And if I thought it was worth the trouble, I could find hundreds of posts reporting the same, for TWC and some other operators. I think your situation is the exception rather than the rule.

[SCSIRAID]

I paid to get my CableCARDs and TA installed -- no other option was available (July 2009, TWC SW Ohio). And if I thought it was worth the trouble, I could find hundreds of posts reporting the same, for TWC and some other operators. I think your situation is the exception rather than the rule.

I had to pay for cablecard installs... but not for the TA's.

[Teeps]

I paid to get my CableCARDs and TA installed -- no other option was available (July 2009, TWC SW Ohio). And if I thought it was worth the trouble, I could find hundreds of posts reporting the same, for TWC and some other operators.I think your situation is the exception rather than the rule.

You're right it's not worth the effort.

Yea for me, maybe 29 years of continuous service counts for something...

[snowbunny]

Can't get my Time Warner Austin to work anymore. Sadly, my Tivo S3 hard drive died and I've tried to restore my backup to no avail. In any case, I started fresh and while the Tivo itself is fine, I can't get them to authorize my cards. I've been on the phone for hours and they finally decided that they need a truck roll (for reasons I cannot comprehend).

I am in the same situation - I have a new drive in my Tivo S3 and have a message on the screen saying I should call TW to authorize the CableCards. It gives me big long numbers which I assume are the serial numbers/IDs of the CableCards.

When I call the number, the techs throw up their hands and say "truck roll."

WTF..... I did not take the cards out of the Tivo, nor did I change the tuning adapter. I am sure they understand that a truck roll means taking off work - perhaps this is part of their strategy to be singularly unhelpful and obstreperous.

Icing on cake: my mother tried to use the television last night and got irked that I can't get channels over about 22 (AGAIN, same situation as the last time I hooked up the Tivo). She told me: "You can never get anything right" and stormed off. She would rather I just use the TW box like my sensible brother.

Now what? I don't have time off work right now.

[cableguy763]

I am in the same situation - I have a new drive in my Tivo S3 and have a message on the screen saying I should call TW to authorize the CableCards. It gives me big long numbers which I assume are the serial numbers/IDs of the CableCards.

When I call the number, the techs throw up their hands and say "truck roll."

WTF..... I did not take the cards out of the Tivo, nor did I change the tuning adapter. I am sure they understand that a truck roll means taking off work - perhaps this is part of their strategy to be singularly unhelpful and obstreperous.

Icing on cake: my mother tried to use the television last night and got irked that I can't get channels over about 22 (AGAIN, same situation as the last time I hooked up the Tivo). She told me: "You can never get anything right" and stormed off. She would rather I just use the TW box like my sensible brother.

Now what? I don't have time off work right now.
If you pm me the cablecard id and the host id i'm sure we can get you fixed up without a truck roll and you having to take off work.

[snowbunny]

If you pm me the cablecard id and the host id i'm sure we can get you fixed up without a truck roll and you having to take off work.

Will do when I am home & can read it off the screen. :)

I told my mother to go yell at Time Warner instead, so.... if you hear screaming, it's probably her!

[Eccles]

@CableGuy: Per this post (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=8670406#post8670406), providers are now required to support self-installs, and the thread linked from that post lists a Time Warner CableCARD Technical Support Desk: 1-866-606-5889

Do you know if the folks at that number are able and authorized to send the necessary reauthorization hits after a reinstall? It would certainly cut down on the number of times we have to reach out to you for help.

[Myphsto]

I am in the same situation - I have a new drive in my Tivo S3 and have a message on the screen saying I should call TW to authorize the CableCards. It gives me big long numbers which I assume are the serial numbers/IDs of the CableCards.

When I call the number, the techs throw up their hands and say "truck roll."


While I'm in a different state, I have been in this situation many many times with TW in WI. What I do is call support, make sure they know I have TiVos with cable cards, and then tell them to send hits to ALL of my equipment. If these cards were working before, they should still be paired correctly with your equipment.

I find the problem comes up most often when TW changes channel lineups and of course they remember to send out update hits to the cable boxes but at least for me they almost always forget to do the cable cards and tuning adapters.

By telling them to just blindly send hits to everything I have I don't have to be in front of my TV trying to read off the numbers which of course they can never seem to find on their end.

[snowbunny]

What I do is call support, make sure they know I have TiVos with cable cards, and then tell them to send hits to ALL of my equipment. If these cards were working before, they should still be paired correctly with your equipment.


Dunno since I replaced the hard drive rather than did a copy or restore. But I only have the one Tivo with two CableCards - so there should be no confusion over which device(s) to hit. I don't have another Tivo or digital converter box or....

[Myphsto]

Dunno since I replaced the hard drive rather than did a copy or restore. But I only have the one Tivo with two CableCards - so there should be no confusion over which device(s) to hit. I don't have another Tivo or digital converter box or....

The hard drive doesn't matter, the hardware address of the TiVo is what is paired with the cable card(s), similar to a computer there is a MAC address for each tuner which is unique in the universe to each TiVo unit.
I've replaced/upgraded hard drives without a restore and had no issue with the cable card pairing after.

Good luck-- I've had maybe 25+ TW support calls for this issue or missing channels (which is almost worse). It has been getting better now that they couldn't be rid of us cable card customers with poor service.

[snowbunny]

The hard drive doesn't matter, the hardware address of the TiVo is what is paired with the cable card(s), similar to a computer there is a MAC address for each tuner which is unique in the universe to each TiVo unit.
I've replaced/upgraded hard drives without a restore and had no issue with the cable card pairing after.


I work with computers and while most operating systems play nice, it's possible for the OS or a user to change that MAC address. I didn't write down the old MAC address (from before the hard drive switch) to compare with the new one.

I did notice that the host ID for each of the two cable cards only differed by the last two decimal digits, so maybe they are a representation of the MAC address with allowance for a small netmask.

[snowbunny]

Now works thanks to Superhero Cableguy :) If I ever have to go through this again, I will of course not mention CG to the unhelp desk; instead I will say that I will tattoo the numbers on their private parts if they prefer that to typing them in!

[Eccles]

I work with computers and while most operating systems play nice, it's possible for the OS or a user to change that MAC address. I didn't write down the old MAC address (from before the hard drive switch) to compare with the new one.

The MAC address analogy may have unintentionally muddied the waters; the point is that your TiVo's unique ID is determined by a crypto chip on the motherboard and is unaffected by any hard drive replacement or reformatting.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

OK, I have a TWC success story to share!!! Well, 90% success story anyway. I live in Anahein CA and recently purchased 2 Premiers (only 1 has been activated). I went to the closest TWC location that has Saturday hours (Santa Ana) and got 2 M-Cards. " Monica" was very helpful and knew exactly what I was talking about. Se provided me with the two cards as well as a pamphlet that explained how to install them. Here's the 10% failure, though. She was adamant that I did not need a TA with the Premier. She said that was only needed for the older version TiVo DVRs. She was so sure of herself, I left without the TA. Crap! The good news is, the installation AND activation of the M-Card went perfect. Once the Premier saw the card, a screen displayed with all the pertinent info that I needed when I called the number the installation pamphlet provided. "Josh" took the necessary information, placed me on hold for about 90 seconds and voila, I was up and running. Well, except for those channels that require a TA. By the time I realized I needed a TA it was after 5pm and the store had closed. Not that big of a deal as I won't be home the majority of tomorrow and tomorrow night anyway and I can pick up the TA on Monday. But, other than Monica talking me out of getting the TA, today was a very successful TWC/TiVO day.

One question I have for anyone familiar with the Linksys WRT54G router: I am trying to use a TiVo Remote app on my Android phone (it allows you to use the phone as a remote control for the Premier) and I am getting an error msg that says there is no communication with the Premier probably because my router has blocked port 31339. I've scoured the net but cannot find out how to unblock (or open?) port 31339. Can anyone assist with that? I have gotten into the router settings and I think I need to change something in the "games/applications" settings but, what that is, I have no clue. Anyone?

[dlfl]

OK, I have a TWC success story to share!!! Well, 90% success story anyway. I live in Anahein CA ........
That is a relatively good TWC/TiVo experience compared to what has been common in the past. Was the number you called to get your CableCARD set up an 800 series number by chance, i.e., was it a national support number? If so, enquiring minds would like to know it!

If it is a local number, I would be willing to bet that my TWC region (SW Ohio) doesn't have one. And probably none of the good experiences you had would be possible here.

[bearcat2000]

Looks like I will be getting an Elite when they come out, so I called Time Warner as I heard that one needs to make sure that the tuning adapter has been updated with firmware that allows tuning 4 channels simultaneously. Of course they had no clue...supposedly went to go find out but came back to say that they only had capability of 2. But was reading on here that as of 8/8/11 that the FCC mandated at least 4. Does anyone have any scoop or information on this???

[shwru980r]

Classic bait and switch. How much of a discount are you getting after you pay for the cable box, cable card and now you have to pay for a tuning adapter? You're being played for a fool.

[dlfl]

Looks like I will be getting an Elite when they come out, so I called Time Warner as I heard that one needs to make sure that the tuning adapter has been updated with firmware that allows tuning 4 channels simultaneously. Of course they had no clue...supposedly went to go find out but came back to say that they only had capability of 2. But was reading on here that as of 8/8/11 that the FCC mandated at least 4. Does anyone have any scoop or information on this???
Somewhere on this forum I saw the speculation that TA firmware version .1402, which was pushed out shortly before that August date, was supposed to handle the 6 tuners. I can't find the relevant post now.

Thus, when you get a TA installed, check in the Tuning Adapter Diagnostics pages, under Versions and MACs. The third item down is labeled "Flash:". The 1402 should be the last four characters of that value. The two previous versions were 1202 and 1001 and before that 08##. I don't know what the process is supposed to be if you pick up a new TA and it has an old version. Do they have to do something to push it to you? Or does it update automatically when it connects?

[Fofer]

Classic bait and switch. How much of a discount are you getting after you pay for the cable box, cable card and now you have to pay for a tuning adapter? You're being played for a fool.

The Tuning Adapter is free.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

That is a relatively good TWC/TiVo experience compared to what has been common in the past. Was the number you called to get your CableCARD set up an 800 series number by chance, i.e., was it a national support number? If so, enquiring minds would like to know it!

If it is a local number, I would be willing to bet that my TWC region (SW Ohio) doesn't have one. And probably none of the good experiences you had would be possible here.

The numbers provided on the install pamphlet provided by the TWC office are 877-309-5859 for in CA and 877-893-2205 for out of CA. You will be asked for the SN, the Host Number (xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-x), and the Data Number (xxx-xxx-xxx-xx).

[bearcat2000]

Thanks a ton for the major heads up. I checked my firmware is at .1402...good to know that it is up to date and that I will be able to use an Elite right away when they come out. Hopefully they will give a release date soon.

[Fofer]

How do you plan to purchase/use an Elite? Do you know that your cable co will be offering it? We've learned that TiVo doesn't plan to be selling these directly to consumers.

[bearcat2000]

Of course they are selling these directly to consumers...$499 plus service.

[Fofer]

Ah, I was traveling and missed that news:
http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/07/tivo-premiere-elite-announced-tuners-2tb-storage-499/

Meh, I'll pass. $499 is too much if all it's adding is 2 more tuners (I don't need) and removing OTA.

Looks like I won't be buying ANY new TiVo hardware until they finish the UI, possibly speed it up, as well as improve/fix the Netflix, Amazon, & YouTube apps.

[Teeps]

Ah, I was traveling and missed that news:
http://thisismynext.com/2011/09/07/tivo-premiere-elite-announced-tuners-2tb-storage-499/

Meh, I'll pass. $499 is too much if all it's adding is 2 more tuners (I don't need) and removing OTA.

Looks like I won't be buying ANY new TiVo hardware until they finish the UI, possibly speed it up, as well as improve/fix the Netflix, Amazon, & YouTube apps.

Considering that I paid $700 for my S3 in 2007; this is such a deal...

The sadness is I need to watch less tv not more... this is a sickness. I wonder if it's covered by obamacare?

[Ruefrex]

Hoping someone can give me some guidance before I rip the head off a TWC person on Wednesday.

I finally bought the Tivo two weeks ago, got the cablecard and TA, and set it up. Cablecard worked. TA, clearly, did not. The majority of my channels are the damnable SDV (I'm on East San Fernando Valley cable). Called back, they couldn't get it to work. Guy came out Thursday. Stumped, also knew nothing about Tivo or TAs. Replaced both the cablecard (Motorola M card) and the TA (Motorola again -- does ANY of their equipment work?). Sam result. Checked the signal, said it all looked fine on his end but he'd bring his supervisor out the next day. They have equipment to test with that the regular techs don't, apparently.

He never showed up.

I called back, had them send another guy. He came out today. SO totally worthless I should have filmed him. He told me that the Motorola DVR I have (I kept the DVR because I was sure Tivo wouldn't work, so at least I haven't missed two weeks of programming) doesn't work with my brand of TV, nor does it work with HDMI. I told him that was ********. Besides which, the DVR isn't even hooked into the TV. Crickets.

Anyway.

He muttered on about nodes and the like, but said he couldn't do anything. I finally called Tivo. He put in a three-way call, and the VERY irritating TWC rep (she kept going "I don't want to point fingers," meaning she wanted to point them at Tivo, when it's their damned TAs that don't work) re-paired the cablecard. Still, the TA didn't work. Called back AGAIN, got the dumbest person ever, who said that they'd have to send another tech out before they could send a supervisor. When I told her I'd already been through this, she hung up on me.

Called back AGAIN, after going through Tivo setup per the Tivo rep, and a very nice TWC guy tried desperately to help. Rebooted everything. Nothing. I do have a supervisor supposedly coming out on Wednesday. I've been dealing with this crap from them for two weeks. While I'm pretty resigned to canceling the Tivo service within the 30 days and returning the Tivo to Best Buy, I will do ANYTHING to avoid having to use the crappy Motorola DVR, which is constantly losing signal, locking up with EAS signals, and is just horrible to use. Seriously. I would eat a baby if it would give me SDV channels.

I want to use my Tivo.

Anyone who's had these issues, is there ANYTHING I can do to prepare for this appointment? I've checked everything I can check to ensure that the cablecard is correctly paired and working right. But NOBODY seems to know a damned thing about these tuning adapters, and all I get from TWC is conflicting information.

I am DESPERATE here. I already had to give up my satellite because this stupid building I moved to won't let me put the dish up. I'm forced to use this horrible cable that only works about half the time. ANY input would be incredibly welcome!!

[cwoody222]

Hoping someone can give me some guidance before I rip the head off a TWC person on Wednesday.

I finally bought the Tivo two weeks ago, got the cablecard and TA, and set it up. Cablecard worked. TA, clearly, did not. The majority of my channels are the damnable SDV (I'm on East San Fernando Valley cable). Called back, they couldn't get it to work. Guy came out Thursday. Stumped, also knew nothing about Tivo or TAs. Replaced both the cablecard (Motorola M card) and the TA (Motorola again -- does ANY of their equipment work?). Sam result. Checked the signal, said it all looked fine on his end but he'd bring his supervisor out the next day. They have equipment to test with that the regular techs don't, apparently.

He never showed up.

I called back, had them send another guy. He came out today. SO totally worthless I should have filmed him. He told me that the Motorola DVR I have (I kept the DVR because I was sure Tivo wouldn't work, so at least I haven't missed two weeks of programming) doesn't work with my brand of TV, nor does it work with HDMI. I told him that was ********. Besides which, the DVR isn't even hooked into the TV. Crickets.

Anyway.

He muttered on about nodes and the like, but said he couldn't do anything. I finally called Tivo. He put in a three-way call, and the VERY irritating TWC rep (she kept going "I don't want to point fingers," meaning she wanted to point them at Tivo, when it's their damned TAs that don't work) re-paired the cablecard. Still, the TA didn't work. Called back AGAIN, got the dumbest person ever, who said that they'd have to send another tech out before they could send a supervisor. When I told her I'd already been through this, she hung up on me.

Called back AGAIN, after going through Tivo setup per the Tivo rep, and a very nice TWC guy tried desperately to help. Rebooted everything. Nothing. I do have a supervisor supposedly coming out on Wednesday. I've been dealing with this crap from them for two weeks. While I'm pretty resigned to canceling the Tivo service within the 30 days and returning the Tivo to Best Buy, I will do ANYTHING to avoid having to use the crappy Motorola DVR, which is constantly losing signal, locking up with EAS signals, and is just horrible to use. Seriously. I would eat a baby if it would give me SDV channels.

I want to use my Tivo.

Anyone who's had these issues, is there ANYTHING I can do to prepare for this appointment? I've checked everything I can check to ensure that the cablecard is correctly paired and working right. But NOBODY seems to know a damned thing about these tuning adapters, and all I get from TWC is conflicting information.

I am DESPERATE here. I already had to give up my satellite because this stupid building I moved to won't let me put the dish up. I'm forced to use this horrible cable that only works about half the time. ANY input would be incredibly welcome!!

Have you confirmed that the TA is set up on your account?

Are you getting a solid green light on the TA?

Does the TA diagnostic screen tell you anything useful?

Have you gone thru the reboots in this order:

- unplug the TA and TiVo. Disconnect them from each other, too.

- plug in the TA. Wait for it to get to a solid green light. It may take up to 10 minutes

- reconnect the TV and TiVo.

- plug the TiVo in and wait for it to reboot.

- press "Live TV" and wait for TiVo to "Acquire Channel Information".

- Try to tune to a SDV channel. (have you asked for a list from TW in your area? If not, get one)

[Fofer]

When I got really frustrated I emailed twcable.help@twcable.com with some aggressive, specific complaints, and soon thereafter got some proper attention.

I was without cable for two weeks though. So many bonehead techs wasting so much time, running around in circles...

I won't be changing my cable package again (except maybe to cancel TV entirely.) The TiVo/M-Card/TWC trio is apparently a delicate magic trick...

[Ruefrex]

Chris:

Thanks. I have rebooted several times that way, although when I try to reboot and turn the TA on first, the Tivo won't reboot. It just keeps resetting back to the "please wait" screen. The TA that I have doesn't have a green light. It's got an amber light that flashes and then goes solid (it's a Motorola MTR700. The last rep I talked to sent several hits to the TA and checked everything over on the account, so as far as I can tell the TA is set up. I've looked at the diagnostic screens and can't tell what they're supposed to say, but I don't get any obvious errors on them. I tried talking to all three reps about the diagnostic screens and, stupendously, they all said that they would not be helpful. Which seems rather nonsensical to me.

I don't have an official SDV list but I made one of my own, scrolling through all of the channels that didn't come in. Normally, the Tivo message I get on an SDV channel is that the channel isn't authorized. Once I rebooted and got the message that the channel was not authorized on the TA. The rep, however, said he'd never heard of that message. It's like a huge sack of TAs were left on TWC's doorstep and they don't know a thing about them. Seriously, shouldn't someone know how the things work???

[camera2000]

I didn't have the list of SDV channels posted earlier in this forum, so I can't confirm any of that at the moment, but I'll take a look when I get home tonight. I was getting all the channels I normally watch, though, including premiums. I recorded "Wedding Crashers" in HD last night and it looked great. I'm using component out, and haven't had any copy-protection type issues come up yet, so fingers crossed. I did have a few audio dropouts last night, but it was storming pretty hard so I'll wait and see if it's a recurring problem.

[dlfl]

Hoping someone can give me some guidance before I rip the head off a TWC person on Wednesday.

I finally bought the Tivo two weeks ago, got the cablecard and TA, and set it up. Cablecard worked. TA, clearly, did not. The majority of my channels are the damnable SDV (I'm on East San Fernando Valley cable). Called back, they couldn't get it to work. Guy came out Thursday. Stumped, also knew nothing about Tivo or TAs. Replaced both the cablecard (Motorola M card) and the TA (Motorola again -- does ANY of their equipment work?). Sam result. Checked the signal, said it all looked fine on his end but he'd bring his supervisor out the next day. They have equipment to test with that the regular techs don't, apparently.

He never showed up.

I called back, had them send another guy. He came out today. SO totally worthless I should have filmed him. He told me that the Motorola DVR I have (I kept the DVR because I was sure Tivo wouldn't work, so at least I haven't missed two weeks of programming) doesn't work with my brand of TV, nor does it work with HDMI. I told him that was ********. Besides which, the DVR isn't even hooked into the TV. Crickets.

Anyway.

He muttered on about nodes and the like, but said he couldn't do anything. I finally called Tivo. He put in a three-way call, and the VERY irritating TWC rep (she kept going "I don't want to point fingers," meaning she wanted to point them at Tivo, when it's their damned TAs that don't work) re-paired the cablecard. Still, the TA didn't work. Called back AGAIN, got the dumbest person ever, who said that they'd have to send another tech out before they could send a supervisor. When I told her I'd already been through this, she hung up on me.

Called back AGAIN, after going through Tivo setup per the Tivo rep, and a very nice TWC guy tried desperately to help. Rebooted everything. Nothing. I do have a supervisor supposedly coming out on Wednesday. I've been dealing with this crap from them for two weeks. While I'm pretty resigned to canceling the Tivo service within the 30 days and returning the Tivo to Best Buy, I will do ANYTHING to avoid having to use the crappy Motorola DVR, which is constantly losing signal, locking up with EAS signals, and is just horrible to use. Seriously. I would eat a baby if it would give me SDV channels.

I want to use my Tivo.

Anyone who's had these issues, is there ANYTHING I can do to prepare for this appointment? I've checked everything I can check to ensure that the cablecard is correctly paired and working right. But NOBODY seems to know a damned thing about these tuning adapters, and all I get from TWC is conflicting information.

I am DESPERATE here. I already had to give up my satellite because this stupid building I moved to won't let me put the dish up. I'm forced to use this horrible cable that only works about half the time. ANY input would be incredibly welcome!!

Have you confirmed that the TA is set up on your account?

Are you getting a solid green light on the TA?

Does the TA diagnostic screen tell you anything useful?

Have you gone thru the reboots in this order:

- unplug the TA and TiVo. Disconnect them from each other, too.

- plug in the TA. Wait for it to get to a solid green light. It may take up to 10 minutes

- reconnect the TV and TiVo.

- plug the TiVo in and wait for it to reboot.

- press "Live TV" and wait for TiVo to "Acquire Channel Information".

- Try to tune to a SDV channel. (have you asked for a list from TW in your area? If not, get one)
I believe if it's a Motorola TA, the light is yellow rather than green. I'm only familiar with the Cisco TA but with it, there is a way in TA Diagnostics to tell if a channel you've successfully tuned is SDV or not:
1. Go to SDV SESSION A
2. Look at SESSION-1 and SESSION-2 info. Choose the one that has "SDV Freq:" matching the frequency of the desired channel. You get this frequency from the DVR Diagnostics pages. Note it is given in MHz in one place and kHz in the other.
3. For the selected SESSION examine the "SamSvcld/Type:" value. It will have "Switched" in it for an SDV channel, "Broadcast" for a non-SDV channel.

Regarding getting a list of SDV channels from the Cable Co ---- good luck with that!

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Have you confirmed that the TA is set up on your account?

Are you getting a solid green light on the TA?

Does the TA diagnostic screen tell you anything useful?

Have you gone thru the reboots in this order:

- unplug the TA and TiVo. Disconnect them from each other, too.

- plug in the TA. Wait for it to get to a solid green light. It may take up to 10 minutes

- reconnect the TV and TiVo.

- plug the TiVo in and wait for it to reboot.

- press "Live TV" and wait for TiVo to "Acquire Channel Information".

- Try to tune to a SDV channel. (have you asked for a list from TW in your area? If not, get one)

Short of calling TWC, is there a way to tell if the TA has been set up on my acct? I guess I just assumed that when I picked it up at the local TWC office and provided all my acct. info, they would do whatever was necessary on their end to make sure the thing would work. But, after installing it, I am still getting a blinking amber light and no readings on the TA diagnostic screen.

[dlfl]

Short of calling TWC, is there a way to tell if the TA has been set up on my acct? I guess I just assumed that when I picked it up at the local TWC office and provided all my acct. info, they would do whatever was necessary on their end to make sure the thing would work. But, after installing it, I am still getting a blinking amber light and no readings on the TA diagnostic screen.
If you've followed all the official and unofficial (i.e., forum posts) instructions for installation and troubleshooting, and it's still blinking, you are at the cable cos mercy.

[m3000]

Try the TW National Cable Card hotline: 1-866-532-2598

They got my TA going in 30 seconds after 2 different CS guys had no freaking idea what they were doing. Just tell them you were transferred from another CS agent since you're not supposed to just call them directly. But then most CS agents have no idea about the number so it's like a Catch 22 then.

Also file a complaint against the FCC for not training their employees on something they're legally required to support. I did after my ridiculous blotched CC install, and got a phone call today apologizing for 10 minutes and got some free cable/internet out of it.

[Teeps]

For all new to the forum:
Please include your location in the sig line.

[dlfl]

For all new to the forum:
Please include your location in the sig line.
Or perhaps preferable: Put it in your profile and it will show up under your handle, e.g., like mine.

[Fofer]

Many of us have sigs turned off.

So I think the better idea is to put it in your profile as dlfl explains above, or simply include it in your post as a data point when talking about TWC, since much of this info is location-specific.

[Ruefrex]

The supervisor just left, and now I have a working Tivo! Although I'm still gunshy that the whole thing will die on me. But here's what he did: Found that I had a splitter in another room (I live in an apartment), closed that off so I would get more of a signal, and then he did the splitter trick from the cable to the TA to the Tivo. Called in to reauthorize, and there was my SDV. He said that using the splitter on the TA doesn't diminish the signal as much as going straight from the wall to the TA to the Tivo.

Just in case others are having signal issues!

[Teeps]

Many of us have sigs turned off.

this info is location-specific.

Which is exactly my point.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Try the TW National Cable Card hotline: 1-866-532-2598

They got my TA going in 30 seconds after 2 different CS guys had no freaking idea what they were doing. Just tell them you were transferred from another CS agent since you're not supposed to just call them directly. But then most CS agents have no idea about the number so it's like a Catch 22 then.

Also file a complaint against the FCC for not training their employees on something they're legally required to support. I did after my ridiculous blotched CC install, and got a phone call today apologizing for 10 minutes and got some free cable/internet out of it.

Just called the number listed (it's 1830 here). Received a msg saying my wait time would be a minimum of 30 minutes and I was prompted to leave a msg if I didn't want to stay on the line. After pressing 1, I got another msg saying it could be up to 24 hours before my call was returned. I don't know about the rest of you but if your company was in the customer service industry, would this type of "service" be acceptable??? I left a detailed msg. I will let the group know when (if?) I get my call back.

[colin1497]

Just called the number listed (it's 1830 here). Received a msg saying my wait time would be a minimum of 30 minutes and I was prompted to leave a msg if I didn't want to stay on the line. After pressing 1, I got another msg saying it could be up to 24 hours before my call was returned. I don't know about the rest of you but if your company was in the customer service industry, would this type of "service" be acceptable??? I left a detailed msg. I will let the group know when (if?) I get my call back.

I had a failed CC install with contract technicians here in Dallas and called the hotline. After waiting 45 minutes and NOT leaving a message, I got to a really cool guy who told me they had screwed up the cable card provisioning when they paired it (he said they had typed one of the numbers in the wrong field in their computer before they hit the card and, once the new number was loaded, the card couldn't be used on the network). I took the cards into the office and exchanged them the next day. Came home that night expecting a 45 minute wait and got through immediately. Guy paired the cards and verified everything was working within 5 minutes, barely talked to me -- wasn't rude but was obviously just wanting to get it done and move onto the next guy.

Hold times vary but it's the place to call. Also, you don't have to be referred, the number is on their website.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Just called the number listed (it's 1830 here). Received a msg saying my wait time would be a minimum of 30 minutes and I was prompted to leave a msg if I didn't want to stay on the line. After pressing 1, I got another msg saying it could be up to 24 hours before my call was returned. I don't know about the rest of you but if your company was in the customer service industry, would this type of "service" be acceptable??? I left a detailed msg. I will let the group know when (if?) I get my call back.

OK, so no call back. Called the main # for TWC this morning and, after explaining my problem, I got transferred to, I believe the same number I had left a msg at Thursday night. The wait time was only a couple of minutes and, after explaining why I was calling and where I was calling from, the tech (I don't recall his name now) said I had reached a number that was only for service techs. I said that was odd because I had been transferred to him. He then said, "You're on TiVo forum, right?" and when I answered in the affirmative, he said he had seen my posts. Now, to be honest, knowing some of my posts haven't been in a very positive tone when talking about TWC, I half expected to get a not so nice response from the Tech. However, to the contrary, he was quite pleasant and even offered to take a look at my acct. He did that and saw that nothing had been paired. He said he'd place me on hold and, after talking to someone at CA TWC and explaining what my situation was, he'd transfer me back to them. He put me on hold and within a couple of minutes, I was talking with, I assume someone in CA TWC office. So, Mr. Tech, thanks for having thick skin. Oh, he also said the number should not have been posted for public display (or, words to that effect at least). That being said, it's nice to know that TWC techs are(A) monitoring these posts and (B) don't take our disparaging remarks personally. But maybe we shouldn't be posting back door numbers. I am guessing those guy's workload is crazy enough in just responding to calls from service techs without having to answer and then transfer calls from the lay public.

When I was transferred back to TWC, "Grace" was extremely helpful and had my non-working TA up and running within about 90 seconds. So, all in all, a positive experience with TWC this morning. I am heading out shortly to purchase an HDTV and will be doing another self install of an M-Card and another TA. I shared that information with "Grace" and she said she made notes on my acct. explaining exactly what needs to be done so that when I call later on today to get the second M-Card and TA activated, it should be a no-brainer for which ever Tech I happen to get. I'll letcha all know...

[cwoody222]

It's not a "back door" number. And even if it was, it wouldn't need to be posted if they could do their f'in' job right the first time.

Most of their techs (in the field and on the phone) are completely worthless when it comes to CC installs in TiVos.

I have no regrets saying anything about them in a public forum. If they want comments to stop, there's a simple solution - stop messing up so damn much.

[colin1497]

The number I called was on their website:

http://www.timewarnercable.com/texas/support/topic.ashx/cablecard

And yes, their contract field guys had failed miserably. The only defense I have for those guys is that they aren't allowed to call into TWC to pair the cards -- they actually have to call their office and relay the info to TWC. That said, it's pretty tough to screw up writing down a couple numbers and repeating them. The fact that they cratered the first 2 cards is kinda funny, but it cost me about a week getting up and running...

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Well, just when I was getting ready to defend the tech support folks at TWC, I met "Mike" when I called to have my second M-Card and TA activated earlier today. After calling the number on the TA pamphlet and waiting 11 minutes, Mike picked up. It was immediately apparent that Mike wasn't the class valedictorian at TWC tech support college. He was extremely slow in asking for the information and when I read off the Host information, I neglected to verbalize the dashes in between the numbers. After reading off the entire 15 or 16 digit number, there was a pause and he said he would need me to repeat the number sequence and say the word dash. Hmmmm, OK. Not that big of a deal. So, I repeated those numbers then provided the Data number sequence (being sure to say "dash" when appropriate) and after providing some other necessary information, he said he'd be placing me on hold and be right back. Mike's definition of "be right back" is different than mine. 15 minutes later, he was back and asked me to repeat the Host ID #. I did that and it turned out he had misunderstood an "8" as a zero when I was reading off the numbers. 8....Zero, yeah, I can see how they can sound alike (perhaps I should have spelled out the numerics?). OK, so another 8-10 minute wait and he came back and asked what the status of the TA was. Ummm, I hadn't given him any TA info yet and the amber light was blinking. I shared that information with him and said, "Don't you need the serial number off the tuning adapter?" and he said, "you already gave it to me". I explained that the only information I had provided was for the M-Card and I then gave him the SN for the TA. Back on hold I went. Long story short, after an hour or so on the phone with Mike, he couldn't get the TA going. What was most troublesome was he kept referring to a GREEN light even though I told him the only lights on this particular model TA are red and amber and that I thought he had the wrong model TA in mind. He blew that off and said he'd have to schedule a truck roll. Fine. So I made an appt. for Sunday, hung up, waited 3 minutes and called the main TWC #. I couldn't understand the name of the girl who answered but when I told her about the notes on my acct., she looked them up and, sure enough, Grace had left very thorough notes. She said, "yes, it says here you'd be calling to activate a tuning adapter ending in 004. Give me just a minute". Within a couple of minutes, the TA was up and running. I thanked her, hung up, called back and heard the recording I had previously heard about having a service call scheduled for 9/18 and I promptly pressed #3 and canceled it. Arrrrrrrrrrrgh!

[dlfl]

The first few times I called NCCS (the 2598 number) I always got the same guy, named "Mike", who was very competent and friendly. That was up til about 1.5 years ago. Then I started getting other people, including another "Mike", who matched the description of your Mike pretty well. None of the others have actually helped me IIRC.

For the last year or so I haven't needed to call NCCS. Occasionally I call local support and tell them to go to Screen 07, "Customer Balancing", and hit the Enter key ... and that re-authorizes my TA. I've never had CableCARD problems AFAIK.

[avediswolf]

New TiVo user.

Was able to get me CableCard and Tuning Adapter at the local office.
Other than being on hold for 45 minutes, the cablecard activation was smooth.

The TA, though is not working...

It's the Cisco. The light blinked, then went solid, so I thn plugged in the USB as instructed... Nothing happens.

I've rebooted the Tivo and the TA numerous times... Nothing... The TA screen on the tivo continues to say "No Tuning Adapter"

I plugged in a usb thinb drive in the tivo to be sure the USB port was working, and it saw it and spit an error as expected.

Then I decided to plug in the TA into a USB on the computer thinking it would at least say "Unreconized Hardware" - but nothing... I'm leaning to a problem with either the supplied USB cable or the TA itself.

Will the TA not properly authorized cause this?

Thinking of driving over to the office and do a swap, but wanted to see if anyone else had this issue, and maybe can be resolved with a simple phone call.

Thanks.

[MC Hammer]

One question I have for anyone familiar with the Linksys WRT54G router: I am trying to use a TiVo Remote app on my Android phone (it allows you to use the phone as a remote control for the Premier) and I am getting an error msg that says there is no communication with the Premier probably because my router has blocked port 31339. I've scoured the net but cannot find out how to unblock (or open?) port 31339. Can anyone assist with that? I have gotten into the router settings and I think I need to change something in the "games/applications" settings but, what that is, I have no clue. Anyone?

Whats your router's IP address?

[Grumock]

Just called the number listed (it's 1830 here). Received a msg saying my wait time would be a minimum of 30 minutes and I was prompted to leave a msg if I didn't want to stay on the line. After pressing 1, I got another msg saying it could be up to 24 hours before my call was returned. I don't know about the rest of you but if your company was in the customer service industry, would this type of "service" be acceptable??? I left a detailed msg. I will let the group know when (if?) I get my call back.

This hold time is because we all are calling directly now. LOL They still have only 3 people staffing that desk max, covering the entire nation. Hold times did not used to be so bad, but it seems that is the norm now.

[JJK1954]

I happen to be one of the lucky ones here in NYC. It is going on two weeks now, and so far so good with TWC cablecard and TA. (Works like a charm) One thing I have to say is that I originally had the TWC DVR. Let me just say that it is the most antiquated piece of hardare I have ever seen. The label on the bottom read built in 2008. It is extremly slow when changing channels. It is a mystery to me as to why TWC has not updated their hardware, and at least try to compete with the the likes of Tivo.

JJK

[avediswolf]

Just an update to my above post.

I swapped the TA, hooked it up, waited until the light was solid, plugged in the usb, and it worked fine! Tested a bunch of channels that were not available without it, and it's all good. :up:

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Whats your router's IP address?

Keep in mind I am an IT novice but I believe the router IP is 192.168.1.1

[dponeill]

Does anyone know how to order a cable card and tuning adapter in the NEO region?

I initailly called support, who transfered me to sales, who told me I had to pick them up at a local office, who told me that the have never had them and that I needed to fill out an online form, which looked like the old form for pre-ordering the tuning adaptor before they were available.

That was 2 weeks ago and I have not received anything or been contacted by anyone.

[avediswolf]

Does anyone know how to order a cable card and tuning adapter in the NEO region?

I initailly called support, who transfered me to sales, who told me I had to pick them up at a local office, who told me that the have never had them and that I needed to fill out an online form, which looked like the old form for pre-ordering the tuning adaptor before they were available.

That was 2 weeks ago and I have not received anything or been contacted by anyone.

I'm up in Columbus, I just walked into the local office, said I needed a cablecard and tuning adapter. 5 minutes later, I was walking out with them.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

This hold time is because we all are calling directly now. LOL They still have only 3 people staffing that desk max, covering the entire nation. Hold times did not used to be so bad, but it seems that is the norm now.

Yes, I was advised of this when I spoke with someone at the number 2 days later. After being kind enough to take the time to look at my acct. he saw what the problem was and transferred me back to TWC, told them what needed to be done, and I was up and running within a minute or 2. If the number listed is truly for field techs only (and apparently it is), then in fairness to those who are staffing that desk, us non-tech types shouldn't be using it. I know there are posters here who are of the opinion that, if TWC CS was doing their job, we wouldn't have to find other alternatives but, again, TWC CS' shortcomings aren't the fault of the people manning the tech help desk.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

I'm up in Columbus, I just walked into the local office, said I needed a cablecard and tuning adapter. 5 minutes later, I was walking out with them.

That's only half the battle. After installing the cc and TA, you will have to call TWC to have them activated and that is where most of the problems have been. Hopefully, your experience will be the exception rather than the rule.

[dponeill]

I'm up in Columbus, I just walked into the local office, said I needed a cablecard and tuning adapter. 5 minutes later, I was walking out with them.

It seems that TWC doesn't have anyone in the Cleveland area who knows anything about cable cards. I was thinking i would try calling the cable card activation number next.

[dlfl]

Yes, I was advised of this when I spoke with someone at the number 2 days later. After being kind enough to take the time to look at my acct. he saw what the problem was and transferred me back to TWC, told them what needed to be done, and I was up and running within a minute or 2. If the number listed is truly for field techs only (and apparently it is), then in fairness to those who are staffing that desk, us non-tech types shouldn't be using it. I know there are posters here who are of the opinion that, if TWC CS was doing their job, we wouldn't have to find other alternatives but, again, TWC CS' shortcomings aren't the fault of the people manning the tech help desk.
TWC as an entity is the deficient party here, not us consumers. If the choice is between inconveniencing some part of TWC versus a consumer, I believe the moral choice is to inconvenience the guilty entity. If this creates a problem for them, their management should make the appropriate adjustments. They continually brag to the FCC about their efforts, good performance and consumer satisfaction regarding CableCARD's and Tuning Adapters, so they should live up to the image they present.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

It seems that TWC doesn't have anyone in the Cleveland area who knows anything about cable cards. I was thinking i would try calling the cable card activation number next.

Try calling 877-893-2205.

[Grumock]

TWC as an entity is the deficient party here, not us consumers. If the choice is between inconveniencing some part of TWC versus a consumer, I believe the moral choice is to inconvenience the guilty entity. If this creates a problem for them, their management should make the appropriate adjustments.

Well said, but if we have to hold for extended periods of time because we are using a line that was never setup for customers, who's problem is it really? Personally I dont like holding for anything more then 5-10 minutes.
Still think it's hard to keep their CS up to date with CCs because each rep only sees one maybe a few times a year is my guess. I figure the CS dept has a high turn over rate too.

[dlfl]

TWC as an entity is the deficient party here, not us consumers. If the choice is between inconveniencing some part of TWC versus a consumer, I believe the moral choice is to inconvenience the guilty entity. If this creates a problem for them, their management should make the appropriate adjustments. They continually brag to the FCC about their efforts, good performance and consumer satisfaction regarding CableCARD's and Tuning Adapters, so they should live up to the image they present.

Well said, but if we have to hold for extended periods of time because we are using a line that was never setup for customers, who's problem is it really? Personally I dont like holding for anything more then 5-10 minutes.
Still think it's hard to keep their CS up to date with CCs because each rep only sees one maybe a few times a year is my guess. I figure the CS dept has a high turn over rate too.
Good points ... no real argument here. Let's face it: TWC will never be what TiVo users want it to be. We are a tiny blip on their business radar screen and a PITA to boot. And the FCC can't make it really good as long as we're still stuck with CableCARD and Tuning Adapter. Three years out and we finally have self-install, well if you're lucky or can hold long enough.

[avediswolf]

That's only half the battle. After installing the cc and TA, you will have to call TWC to have them activated and that is where most of the problems have been. Hopefully, your experience will be the exception rather than the rule.

I guess I was lucky, The paper they gave me gave a number to call, Stayed on hold for almost 40 minutes, but when when the guy came one, I read him the numbers on the screen, he had me check the emms, then said it should be good in about 15 minutes, then I can hook up the TA.

Of course, the TA was faulty, but a quick visit to the office swapped to a good one. It was actucally quite painless. I expected so much worse.

[dlfl]

I guess I was lucky, The paper they gave me gave a number to call, Stayed on hold for almost 40 minutes, but when when the guy came one, I read him the numbers on the screen, he had me check the emms, then said it should be good in about 15 minutes, then I can hook up the TA.

Of course, the TA was faulty, but a quick visit to the office swapped to a good one. It was actucally quite painless. I expected so much worse.
"... actually quite painless ..." :eek: Your threshold of pain must be quite high!

BTW how did you determine the TA was faulty?

Actually your experience was relatively painless compared to many of the horror stories posted on these forums.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

I guess I was lucky, The paper they gave me gave a number to call, Stayed on hold for almost 40 minutes, but when when the guy came one, I read him the numbers on the screen, he had me check the emms, then said it should be good in about 15 minutes, then I can hook up the TA.

Of course, the TA was faulty, but a quick visit to the office swapped to a good one. It was actucally quite painless. I expected so much worse.

Well, I commend your patience and reference to having to make another trip to TWC to replace a faulty TA as "quite painless". :up: One question: being that I'm apparently a glutton for punishment, I have purchased another Premieat which means I'll have to go through the whole activation thing again...When you called to get the replacement TA activated, what # did you call?

[KeithB]

So, what's it going to take to get TWC to drop the damned "no copy" bit in every single program? Do their own DVRs honor that bit, or are they just sticking it to TiVo users, because they know TiVo does honor the bit?

[Fofer]

I don't get the "no copy" bit in programs recorded off broadcast channels. I also noticed that 95% of my recordings are off broadcast channels. I'm seriously contemplating dropping digital cable entirely and just keeping broadcast... it's only $10.61 a month. Or maybe just drop that too and record everything OTA.

[dlfl]

So, what's it going to take to get TWC to drop the damned "no copy" bit in every single program? Do their own DVRs honor that bit, or are they just sticking it to TiVo users, because they know TiVo does honor the bit?
An act of God, or Congress ;) This is a dead horse ... please don't beat it in this thread. There has been much posting and letter writing over several years with not a tiny bit of hope revealed. Search the forum if you want to see the gory details, or start yet another thread on TWC copy protection.

If TiVo's streamed (instead of transferring an additional copy) to achieve TTG or MRV, they would not be limited by this copy-once protection. Actually there was a covert (but discovered and used by a few users) test of experimental streaming-type MRV on some Premiere's recently, but is it leading anywhere?

[avediswolf]

"... actually quite painless ..." :eek: Your threshold of pain must be quite high!

BTW how did you determine the TA was faulty?

Actually your experience was relatively painless compared to many of the horror stories posted on these forums.

The USB wouldn't connect. Noticed the USB cable wasn't seating in the unit tightly. Since the office is very close, I didn't mind running back, so yes, relatively painless.

Now, Lets see how they handle me stopping by, and dropping 3 STBs from the "whole house DVR" crap. I should be done watching what I had recorded on those by this evening.

[avediswolf]

Well, I commend your patience and reference to having to make another trip to TWC to replace a faulty TA as "quite painless". :up: One question: being that I'm apparently a glutton for punishment, I have purchased another Premieat which means I'll have to go through the whole activation thing again...When you called to get the replacement TA activated, what # did you call?

They gave me an instruction paper which has this number:
1.866.606.5889 which I called to activate the cable card.

The TA did not require activation, she said they were already pre-activated when I asked, At first I thought that was BS after reading how it goes, but when I got it home, the new one got plugged in, lights blinked for about 3-5 min, plugged it in the tivo, and it worked.

I'm sure since it wasn't too bad, I'll some how have a tremendous billing error next month. :)

[Joey Bagadonuts]

They gave me an instruction paper which has this number:
1.866.606.5889 which I called to activate the cable card.

The TA did not require activation, she said they were already pre-activated when I asked, At first I thought that was BS after reading how it goes, but when I got it home, the new one got plugged in, lights blinked for about 3-5 min, plugged it in the tivo, and it worked.

I'm sure since it wasn't too bad, I'll some how have a tremendous billing error next month. :)

Pre-activated? Nice! Didn't know they could do such a thing. Is it the Motorola model (something 700 I think) with the amber light or the other one (Cisco?) with the green light?

[dlfl]

Pre-activated? Nice! Didn't know they could do such a thing. Is it the Motorola model (something 700 I think) with the amber light or the other one (Cisco?) with the green light?
I wonder if there really is "pre-activation". My picture is the TA gets what it needs when it boots up. If it's not "authorized" on your account, then it won't be authorized at boot up and won't work (8-blinks-pause on the Cisco units). Authorization isn't permanent and a new authorization signal has to be sent out to the TA every 20 days or so. Hopefully this is done automatically or you will see 8-blinks when it expires. For the first year I had a TA, TWC SW Ohio was not sending these signals out and many of us had to call in every month to get re-authorized. Of course no one knew what was happening so some of those calls were very long and painful.

Pre-activation might just mean they make sure it's authorized on your account before it gets installed. (?)

[avediswolf]

Pre-activated? Nice! Didn't know they could do such a thing. Is it the Motorola model (something 700 I think) with the amber light or the other one (Cisco?) with the green light?

It's a Cisco.
After plugging it in the first time, the light would blink for about 10 minutes, then go solid. Plugged in the USB, and in business.
Only had to call for the CableCard earlier.

[shaggy314]

I waited over 80 minutes on hold at 866-606-5889 (the self install only please line), before I spoke to anyone.

Guy obviously knew what he was doing, admitted that he's the only one after 9 PM my time. He efficiently and methodically got both CableCards up and running. His procedures had him let me go when the second card was waiting for CP auth. It eventually did, but no joy on the Tuning Adapter. Local TW tech support report it is not in 2 way mode and through two power cycles he couldn't get it working. I'm trying the 5889 guy again, I hope I have enough battery life to wait for him.

UPDATE: Reset the tuning adapter (with Bob again, man's got a thick skin and a lot of patience), I have most of my channels working. His concern for the RDC signal being bad has me keeping the Saturday truck roll. His knowledge is keeping me a Time Warner customer.

[happysalesguy]

Can someone tell me why you would need two cablecards?

[TWCableHelp]

Hello-- I just wanted to let everyone know that we're aware of the complaints posted here regarding the wait times to get through on our self-install line. We'd like to offer our apologies, as we do not want our customers to have to wait for assistance. We have seen an increase in customer interest in Cable Cards since we began offering a self install option, and we are working to resolve the situation by adding additional staff during peak calling periods in the near future. Thank you for your patience, and again, please accept our apologies for any inconvenience you have experienced.

Phil B.
Customer Service Manager
Time Warner Cable

[cwoody222]

Hello-- I just wanted to let everyone know that we're aware of the complaints posted here regarding the wait times to get through on our self-install line. We'd like to offer our apologies, as we do not want our customers to have to wait for assistance. We have seen an increase in customer interest in Cable Cards since we began offering a self install option, and we are working to resolve the situation by adding additional staff during peak calling periods in the near future. Thank you for your patience, and again, please accept our apologies for any inconvenience you have experienced.

Phil B.
Customer Service Manager
Time Warner Cable

Yea, Phil. You guys must just be so swamped.

MSOs Deployed Only 3,000 Net New Standalone CableCards In Last Three Months
http://www.multichannel.com/article/474704-MSOs_Deployed_Only_3_000_Net_New_Standalone_CableCards_In_La st_Three_Months.php

Especially since the call is so complicated. Your CSRs have to listen to a number and type it in.

Your techs had to call in numbers also when they did installs. So whether it's your tech calling from a customer's home or a customer calling you themselves, it's still the same volume of people calling. So where did this increased volume come from?

Bottom line: your customer service for CableCard sucks. Always has. Always will.

[cwoody222]

Can someone tell me why you would need two cablecards?

Back in the day there were single-stream cards and multi-stream cards. Single-stream cards can only decode 1 channel at a time. Multi-stream cards can do 2.

The original Series 3 units can use both cards but it sees an M-card as a S-card. So the original Series 3 units MUST have 2 cards installed (even if they're M-cards).

The later Series 3 can either use 2 S-cards or 1 M-card.

The Premiere units can only use 1 M-card.

[MC Hammer]

Yea, Phil. You guys must just be so swamped.

MSOs Deployed Only 3,000 Net New Standalone CableCards In Last Three Months
http://www.multichannel.com/article/474704-MSOs_Deployed_Only_3_000_Net_New_Standalone_CableCards_In_La st_Three_Months.php

Especially since the call is so complicated. Your CSRs have to listen to a number and type it in.

Your techs had to call in numbers also when they did installs. So whether it's your tech calling from a customer's home or a customer calling you themselves, it's still the same volume of people calling. So where did this increased volume come from?

Bottom line: your customer service for CableCard sucks. Always has. Always will.

When truckrolls were required, the tech was calling dispatch. With self installs, you are calling a external support number. Huge difference there, bud.

[Fofer]

Yeah, with self installs, it should be even MORE straightforward.

Insert card. Navigate TiVo menus. Call a phone number. Read a number off a screen. Done.

This isn't rocket science...

[dlfl]

Hello-- I just wanted to let everyone know that we're aware of the complaints posted here regarding the wait times to get through on our self-install line. We'd like to offer our apologies, as we do not want our customers to have to wait for assistance. We have seen an increase in customer interest in Cable Cards since we began offering a self install option, and we are working to resolve the situation by adding additional staff during peak calling periods in the near future. Thank you for your patience, and again, please accept our apologies for any inconvenience you have experienced.

Phil B.
Customer Service Manager
Time Warner Cable
Glad you're reading the forum, Phil. I have a question for you:
Various different CableCARD self-install phone numbers have popped up in different TWC regions. Do these all actually go to the NCCS support desk (North Carolina, I think), the one with the phone # ending in 2598 ?

[cwoody222]

When truckrolls were required, the tech was calling dispatch. With self installs, you are calling a external support number. Huge difference there, bud.

Well then, the dispatch should be receiving less calls now. Shift resources.

Easy.

As Fof says, this isn't rocket science.

[TWCableHelp]

Various different CableCARD self-install phone numbers have popped up in different TWC regions.

Which numbers are you referring to?

-Phil

[SCSIRAID]

Can someone tell me why you would need two cablecards?

You need two cablecards:

a) if you are using the original Tivo Series 3 (OLED Display). The design does not support the M-Card with multistream capability

b) if your cableco is only giving you S-Cards (single stream versions).

[MC Hammer]

Well then, the dispatch should be receiving less calls now. Shift resources.

Easy.

As Fof says, this isn't rocket science.

The decrease in calls to dispatch regarding CableCARD installations is negligible as they make up less than 1% of the total call volume day to day. Certainly, not impacting it enough that would cost justify a shift of resources.

[dlfl]

Which numbers are you referring to?

-Phil
OK, following are a few I picked up from the last three pages of this thread: By clicking on the little > sign at the end of each quoted poster's name, you can go that post and see more details.

So I'm still wondering: Are these numbers actually going to different places, or all being redirected to one site?

The numbers provided on the install pamphlet provided by the TWC office are 877-309-5859 for in CA and 877-893-2205 for out of CA. You will be asked for the SN, the Host Number (xxx-xxx-xxx-xxx-x), and the Data Number (xxx-xxx-xxx-xx).

Try the TW National Cable Card hotline: 1-866-532-2598

They got my TA going in 30 seconds after 2 different CS guys had no freaking idea what they were doing. Just tell them you were transferred from another CS agent since you're not supposed to just call them directly. But then most CS agents have no idea about the number so it's like a Catch 22 then.

Also file a complaint against the FCC for not training their employees on something they're legally required to support. I did after my ridiculous blotched CC install, and got a phone call today apologizing for 10 minutes and got some free cable/internet out of it.

This is the "2598" number I referred to -- been around for years.

The number I called was on their website:

http://www.timewarnercable.com/texas/support/topic.ashx/cablecard

And yes, their contract field guys had failed miserably. The only defense I have for those guys is that they aren't allowed to call into TWC to pair the cards -- they actually have to call their office and relay the info to TWC. That said, it's pretty tough to screw up writing down a couple numbers and repeating them. The fact that they cratered the first 2 cards is kinda funny, but it cost me about a week getting up and running...

[dlfl]

The decrease in calls to dispatch regarding CableCARD installations is negligible as they make up less than 1% of the total call volume day to day. .......
Can't help wondering if that's still true, given the self-install calls that started recently. (??)

[TWCableHelp]

OK, following are a few I picked up from the last three pages of this thread: By clicking on the little > sign at the end of each quoted poster's name, you can go that post and see more details.

So I'm still wondering: Are these numbers actually going to different places, or all being redirected to one site?



Thanks. To answer your question, no, all traffic is not routed to one site. Most of the West Region markets (IE San Diego, LA, Hawaii, etc) are handled separately from markets in the NE, Ohio, Carolinas, etc. We recognize that there are wait times, particularly in the evening, and we will be addressing this soon.

Phil

[shaggy314]

Thanks. To answer your question, no, all traffic is not routed to one site. Most of the West Region markets (IE San Diego, LA, Hawaii, etc) are handled separately from markets in the NE, Ohio, Carolinas, etc. We recognize that there are wait times, particularly in the evening, and we will be addressing this soon.

Phil

And see, i called yet another number: 866-606-5889 (the self installs only line)... and that was a number I had to find here.

-JB
P.S. Please give Bob a raise and have him teach the poor T1 agents who seem to have conflicting or confusing instructions for CC & TA activations. I base this not just on the fact he got it working, but that Late Night Bob had plan and didn't seem to be winging it with multiple holds to check with their resources.

[Grumock]

Yeah, with self installs, it should be even MORE straightforward.

Insert card. Navigate TiVo menus. Call a phone number. Read a number off a screen. Done.

This isn't rocket science...

You're right it is straight forward when it goes smooth like that. What happens if your card is not staged, or the card does not get a channel map? That is not as straight forward as just typing in numbers.

[Grumock]

And see, i called yet another number: 866-606-5889 (the self installs only line)... and that was a number I had to find here.

-JB
P.S. Please give Bob a raise and have him teach the poor T1 agents who seem to have conflicting or confusing instructions for CC & TA activations. I base this not just on the fact he got it working, but that Late Night Bob had plan and didn't seem to be winging it with multiple holds to check with their resources.

That number is also directed to the NCCSD so there is still just 2-3 people nationwide taking all these calls.

[wtherrell]

Picked up cable card and TA at local office today. No problem. I did not call ahead or anything. Just walked in and asked for them. Now when my Elite gets here I will try some of the numbers in this thread. Although the Rep. at the office said just to call CS. Based on past experience they will just transfer me to Cable Card / TA office.

[tlwizard]

We're looking at getting TWC here in the LA-area (Venice) and wanted to see if anyone had good experiences with them here. They appear to be running a bundle that is 89.99/mo after recurring discounts that includes TV service (200 channels) with the variety tier, 10Mbps internet and phone. What's the HD quality like?

Unfortunately, we just moved here and thought that we could bring our FiOS with us, but alas. So now it's either DirecTV or TWC, and I can't keep our Tivos with DTV.

What's the deal with the tuning adapter? Does TWC and Premiere XL not play nice together without it? Is is something else that I will need to plug in or does it run off power from the coax cable?

I feel like I've heard nothing but horror stories about TWC, but I can't imagine having a worse experience than the one I had with DirecTV many years ago (not that I want anything less than an amazing experience with TWC - which was what I had with FiOS.)

[dlfl]

If you had Verizon FIOS, nothing else will be quite as good. Frontier FIOS has had more mixed reviews here.

Whether you need a Tuning Adapter depends solely on whether your cable system uses SDV, see the sticky thread on SDV at the top of this forum. If you need a TA but don't have one you will be missing a lot of channels you're paying for. My impression from posts here is that a number of systems in the LA area are going to SDV recently. TA's are furnished free by the cable co, unless you value the time you may waste trying to get (and keep) it working properly -- many horror stories have been posted here.

Good luck with TWC -- experiences vary and some of them are very bad. I would still choose TWC cable over DirecTV overall though, primarily due to DirecTV's less attractive policies on commitments and equipment ownership.

[Eccles]

I'd add that although TW may not be using SDV right now, the writing is on the wall and eventually they'll use them everywhere as they cram ever more channels into their available bandwidth.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

We're looking at getting TWC here in the LA-area (Venice) and wanted to see if anyone had good experiences with them here. They appear to be running a bundle that is 89.99/mo after recurring discounts that includes TV service (200 channels) with the variety tier, 10Mbps internet and phone. What's the HD quality like?

Unfortunately, we just moved here and thought that we could bring our FiOS with us, but alas. So now it's either DirecTV or TWC, and I can't keep our Tivos with DTV.

What's the deal with the tuning adapter? Does TWC and Premiere XL not play nice together without it? Is is something else that I will need to plug in or does it run off power from the coax cable?

I feel like I've heard nothing but horror stories about TWC, but I can't imagine having a worse experience than the one I had with DirecTV many years ago (not that I want anything less than an amazing experience with TWC - which was what I had with FiOS.)

Welcome to L.A.. I'm in Anaheim which, if you don't know the area is about 1-14 hours (depending on the L.A. traffic) SE of you. Unfortunately, I have been one of the many TWC horror stories here. For some reason, in the L.A. area at least, TWC folks want to make it as difficult as they can for us TiVo folks. At first I thought they were just pissed off about the DVR and set top box revenue they was losing to TiVo users but there has to be more to it. Even after the Feds stepped in and instituted some regulations, TWC still isn't playing by the rules. The bad news is, they're pretty much the only game in town for TiVo users. As far as HD quality, I haven't had any problems. And their internet service ("Road Runner") has been excellent. Unfortunately, when it comes to TWC and TiVo and tuning adapters and CableCards, you might be in for a bumpy ride. The tuning adapter is about the size of a cable modem and is AC powered. The cable line coming in from the outside goes into the tuning adapter and a second coax cable comes out of the tuning adapter and goes into the DVR (there is also a USB cable that goes from the tuning adapter to the DVR but all necessary cables are provided with the tuning adapter which is free from TWC). Your TV connects to TiVo via an HDMI cable which comes with the TiVo DVR. My advice is to talk with your local TWC office and find out if they're playing by FCC rules or not (meaning, do they provide self installation CableCards). If they're not playing by the rules then you'll have to call TWC tech support, speak with a supervisor and arrange for a truck roll. Insist that the $29.99 they normally charge for that is waived, being that you tried to get the CableCard(s) yourself. Assuming the truck roll is necessary and you were told the charge would be waived, make sure to check your next bill because, as hard as this may be to believe, sometimes the tech people and the billing people at TWC aren't on the same page and you may see the $29.99 charge. I am speaking from experience as, that is what I am dealing with right now. The local TWC office refused to provide a self install CableCard (the M Card) and I had to call and complain to tech support. They sent a truck and even though I was assured there'd be no charge, low and behold when I got the next bill, there was a $29.99 charge. Sometimes I miss the days of the rabbit ears and only having 3 or 4 channels to worry about. OK, I don't miss 'em that much.

[Fofer]

Same area here, so let me repost my recent experience:
I called to try and add the Choice Tier. That didn't work out so well, no new channels were appearing, so I called again. What followed was nightmare of epic proportions as TWC had to send technicians out to my house, about 5 times over the course of three weeks... as they ran new cabling to my house, swapped my CableCard (three times,) ran new cabling again. Of course along the way... I lost authorization to all my non-local cable channels. Basically had no TV for the better part of a month. So they came back again and this time had me uninstall my TiVo (!) so they could take it to another neighborhood "node," hook it up to a pole there and try to get my channels authorized again. Every tech giving a different excuse from the next, all of them clueless and nobody knowing how to get my *&^%%$ channels back.

At one point they actually blamed the summer heat; that it must have been affecting the cabling and weakened it to the point where channel authorizations wouldn't go through. That if we tried later in the night when it cooled down, it'd probably go through. :rolleyes:

In the end, of course, as I'd insisted it would be from minute #1, it turned out to be an authorization issue with my account in their system. A kind woman named Karla, higher up in the advanced technical support group, sorted it out for me.

I will never be so bold as to try to add any channels again to my TWC lineup. They're a complete joke when it comes to TiVos and cable cards. Never again.

Thankfully, I have not had to deal with the Tuning Adapter, at least not yet. At some point in my saga, some of the clueless employees suggested that maybe I needed one and that was the problem. (Really, nobody had any clue.) In the end, it's working now, so clearly the lack of the TA wasn't the issue, either.

I have since dropped the Choice and Movie tiers and considering dropping more. The less I have to deal with TWC the happier I am. The fact of the matter is, I am watching my AppleTVs, Roku, Vudu and iPad more than any recorded television these days.

I think if a Tuning Adapter became a necessity here, that would be my final straw; I'll just cancel my cable TV subscription and start using OTA instead. Or maybe just go down to basic cable...

[tlwizard]

Thanks Fofer and Bagadonuts. So you guys are both in the LA area, but Bagadonuts uses the Tuning adapter and then Fofer you don't?

They're offering the Variety package with the bundle. They're also offering 3 free months of HBO. But will canceling HBO at the end of 3 months be a huge hassle (and make the three free months not worth it?)

I am happy that there's no annual contract. FiOS said they're actively working on getting FiOS to my building. It goes to every building around mine, they just never ran the fiber cables from the pole to our building. But they have no ETA as to when that will be done.

[Fofer]

No TA here (yet.) I hope it never comes but I know that's unrealistic. I hope that if/when it does come, it's for crappy channels I don't care about so I can just not install it. If I have to install it for the few channels I actually do watch, I hope it just works and doesn't cause me a headache. Any more TWC headaches and I may just cancel the TV subscription entirely. Go down to basic cable only… or maybe just OTA. HD reception via rabbit ears to my TiVo Premiere was pretty good, last I checked.

[tlwizard]

No TA here (yet.) I hope it never comes but I know that's unrealistic. I hope that if/when it does come, it's for crappy channels I don't care about so I can just not install it. If I have to install it for the few channels I actually do watch, I hope it just works and doesn't cause me a headache. Any more TWC headaches and I may just cancel the TV subscription entirely. Go down to basic cable only… or maybe just OTA. HD reception via rabbit ears to my TiVo Premiere was pretty good, last I checked.Gotcha. What part of town are you in?

And I didn't realize the TA was just for some channels. Thought it might be for all. Bagadonuts, what channels are your TA used for?

[cwoody222]

A friend's friend recently wanted to upgrade her whole home entertainment system. So Monday she purchased a Premiere, iPad and Airport Extreme. On Tuesday she hooked it all up - Time Warner was scheduled to come Wednesday. They did.

It's Thursday. She still doesn't have all her channels. The Time Warner tech botched the install.

TiVo hookup was fine, Internet was fine, Airport Extreme and iPad... all fine.

But when it comes to the CableCARD & TiVo YET AGAIN they show their complete ignorance and stupidity.

Good job, TW.

It took me 3 visits to get mine working over a year ago. Bets on how long it'll take my friend's friend?

[MC Hammer]

A friend's friend recently wanted to upgrade her whole home entertainment system. So Monday she purchased a Premiere, iPad and Airport Extreme. On Tuesday she hooked it all up - Time Warner was scheduled to come Wednesday. They did.

It's Thursday. She still doesn't have all her channels. The Time Warner tech botched the install.

TiVo hookup was fine, Internet was fine, Airport Extreme and iPad... all fine.

But when it comes to the CableCARD & TiVo YET AGAIN they show their complete ignorance and stupidity.

Good job, TW.

It took me 3 visits to get mine working over a year ago. Bets on how long it'll take my friend's friend?


If she calls 1-866-532-2598, 30 minutes tops.

[SASouth]

If she calls 1-866-532-2598, 30 minutes tops.

Yep, the knowledge about how to set up cable cards definitely is at that number, but keep in mind that she'll probably get a lecture from the support rep on the phone telling her that the number she called is for field techs to call NOT customers. Then they'll probably go ahead and set it up.

(I know this cause I just got my lecture today! The funny thing is that the TWC guy that handed me the cable card at the TWC store gave me the number and told me to call it. The cable card support guy was a bit of a jerk. Though he did know what he was doing. My call lasted about 5 minutes. Everything including premiums is working fine on my new Elite.)

[cwoody222]

Nope.

Turns out the moron installer told her she didn't need an SDV TA box (she does). I had told her to DEMAND one but she backed down.

So now she has to wait while they mail her own. I told her to DEMAND one NOW but she wouldn't.

I also told her to ask for a refund for the install and any missed service.

Seriously - how hard is this? EVERY SINGLE TIVO INSTALL WITH DIGITAL CABLE *NEEDS* AN SDV TA BOX IN THIS AREA. EVERY ONE. How hard is that to remember?

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Gotcha. What part of town are you in?

And I didn't realize the TA was just for some channels. Thought it might be for all. Bagadonuts, what channels are your TA used for?

Remember, I'm in Anahem which is Orange County so that's probably why I need a TA and Fofer, who I believe is in LA County doesn't (yet). As to which channels the TA affects: I haven't been able to quite figure that out. For example, when my TA went out a few weeks ago (it just needed a simple reboot), all but 2 of my HBO channels went out as well. Why I was able to still get a couple of HBO channels, I don't know. All of my Encore channels went out as did all of my Center Ice channels. But I was still able to get a majority of HD channels with the TA working.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Yep, the knowledge about how to set up cable cards definitely is at that number, but keep in mind that she'll probably get a lecture from the support rep on the phone telling her that the number she called is for field techs to call NOT customers. Then they'll probably go ahead and set it up.

(I know this cause I just got my lecture today! The funny thing is that the TWC guy that handed me the cable card at the TWC store gave me the number and told me to call it. The cable card support guy was a bit of a jerk. Though he did know what he was doing. My call lasted about 5 minutes. Everything including premiums is working fine on my new Elite.)

I received the same lecture when I called. Thing is, I was transferred to him by TWC TS. Also, after giving him some background on my TiVo history, the tech I spoke with (name escapes me now) said he had read some of my posts on this forum so, keep that in mind. He didn't take care of my issue personally but, before transferring me back to TWC, he instructed that tech on what steps to take to correct my issue. So, he did address my problem, just not personally. He wasn't at all rude with me but he was adamant that the number he was at shouldn't have been posted and was supposed to be used for field techs only. As some other posters here have said, if TWC CS/TS had their act together, we wouldn't have to use back door numbers that aren't typically for public use.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Over the past couple of weeks, I have encountered an issue with 2 of the 3 premiers I have recently purchased. When I fire up the TV, I see a black screen and a message that says something like the channel I am trying to receive isn't authorized. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! :mad: I have to reboot the TA and the DVR in order to get things back to normal. Anyone have thoughts on what's causing that?

[dlfl]

Over the past couple of weeks, I have encountered an issue with 2 of the 3 premiers I have recently purchased. When I fire up the TV, I see a black screen and a message that says something like the channel I am trying to receive isn't authorized. Arrrrrrrrrrrrrgh! :mad: I have to reboot the TA and the DVR in order to get things back to normal. Anyone have thoughts on what's causing that?
Be nice to know the exact message you get. I don't remember ever seeing one with "authorized" in it. The fact it only occurs on 2 of 3 (identical ?) units must mean something, such as signal quality differences due to cabling and splitters.

[JJK1954]

It happens to me now and then. Try pressing the "Zoom" button of the Tivo remote. It should reset it.

[tlwizard]

Remember, I'm in Anahem which is Orange County so that's probably why I need a TA and Fofer, who I believe is in LA County doesn't (yet). As to which channels the TA affects: I haven't been able to quite figure that out. For example, when my TA went out a few weeks ago (it just needed a simple reboot), all but 2 of my HBO channels went out as well. Why I was able to still get a couple of HBO channels, I don't know. All of my Encore channels went out as did all of my Center Ice channels. But I was still able to get a majority of HD channels with the TA working.Ah, ok. Thanks. My install is on Tuesday, so hopefully there's no TA and no troubles. Thanks again.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Be nice to know the exact message you get. I don't remember ever seeing one with "authorized" in it. The fact it only occurs on 2 of 3 (identical ?) units must mean something, such as signal quality differences due to cabling and splitters.

Sorry about the lack of info. I was going on memory. When the problem reoccurs, I'll type back and share the message being displayed.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

It happens to me now and then. Try pressing the "Zoom" button of the Tivo remote. It should reset it.

Thanks for the info! I'll give that a try.

[MeInDallas]

I get that same thing with TWC DVR's too. Usually I just change the channels around and then it works again.

[SASouth]

-snip
He wasn't at all rude with me but he was adamant that the number he was at shouldn't have been posted and was supposed to be used for field techs only. As some other posters here have said, if TWC CS/TS had their act together, we wouldn't have to use back door numbers that aren't typically for public use.

Two things: I was given the phone number by a CS rep at the TWC store when I picked up the cable card. I didn't pull it off of any web site. I didn't know that customers were not supposed to call that number. I simply called the number I was given to activate the card.

Second, the person I spoke to was short with me and acted like I was just a nuisance even though he did go ahead and helped me. I applaud his knowledge and his ability to set up the cable card in the minimum amount of time. I just think he needs to work on his people skills.

[SASouth]

-snip
He wasn't at all rude with me but he was adamant that the number he was at shouldn't have been posted and was supposed to be used for field techs only. As some other posters here have said, if TWC CS/TS had their act together, we wouldn't have to use back door numbers that aren't typically for public use.

Two things: I was given the phone number by a CS rep at the TWC store when I picked up the cable card. I didn't pull it off of any web site. I didn't know that customers were not supposed to call that number. I simply called the number I was given to activate the card.

Second, the person I spoke to, even though he went ahead and helped me, was short with me and acted like I was just a nuisance. I applaud his knowledge and his ability to set up the cable card in the minimum amount of time. I just think he needs to work on his people skills.

[Cspot]

I used the 5889 number this morning, on hold for 30 minutes, decided to leave a voice-mail to see if that process works. I also included the CableCard ID/Host ID information along with my other contact info in hopes they would make it happen.

5 hrs and counting....

[Joey Bagadonuts]

I used the 5889 number this morning, on hold for 30 minutes, decided to leave a voice-mail to see if that process works. I also included the CableCard ID/Host ID information along with my other contact info in hopes they would make it happen.

5 hrs and counting....

I tried that method, too (leaving voice mail). If I remember correctly,their message was that a tech would return my call within 24 hours. It's been about a month, maybe a month and a half since I left that message....still waiting....

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Two things: I was given the phone number by a CS rep at the TWC store when I picked up the cable card. I didn't pull it off of any web site. I didn't know that customers were not supposed to call that number. I simply called the number I was given to activate the card.

Second, the person I spoke to, even though he went ahead and helped me, was short with me and acted like I was just a nuisance. I applaud his knowledge and his ability to set up the cable card in the minimum amount of time. I just think he needs to work on his people skills.

I was just passing on what the tech told me. I'm not blaming anyone for ending up at that number. Heck, I was transferred to that number by a TWC Rep. But I had seen the number posted here (or maybe it was in another TWC-related forum) and the tech I spoke with said it shouldn't have been posted because it was set up for field techs only. The guy I spoke with was polite but, if the information on this board is right, that desk is only manned by a few techs and they're undoubtedly inundated with calls - not only from field techs but now from customers as well. Everyone is entitled to having a bad day now and then.

[Cspot]

I tried that method, too (leaving voice mail). If I remember correctly,their message was that a tech would return my call within 24 hours. It's been about a month, maybe a month and a half since I left that message....still waiting....

Based on that comment, just called back, 10 mins on hold, 5 mins to pair. Waiting on TA now, 3 blinks at the moment.

Edit: all good, so looks like the folks in Dayton can expect a reasonably painless self install.

[dlfl]

Based on that comment, just called back, 10 mins on hold, 5 mins to pair. Waiting on TA now, 3 blinks at the moment.

Edit: all good, so looks like the folks in Dayton can expect a reasonably painless self install.
Kind of hard to keep track of that number you "just called back". Was it the 2598 number, the 5889 number or what?

Greetings fellow Dayton-area person. I hope your experience with your TA is better than mine has been. Our area (Englewood) had an outage early Saturday morning (10/29/2011) and (naturally) I was missing some SDV channels after that and had to reboot the TA and re-acquire the channel map. Then there are the tuning failures and missed recordings because of them. I called TWC tech support during the outage and the automated system took my phone number and said it would call when the outage was fixed. Guess what? No call.

[Cspot]

Kind of hard to keep track of that number you "just called back". Was it the 2598 number, the 5889 number or what?

Greetings fellow Dayton-area person. I hope your experience with your TA is better than mine has been. Our area (Englewood) had an outage early Saturday morning (10/29/2011) and (naturally) I was missing some SDV channels after that and had to reboot the TA and re-acquire the channel map. Then there are the tuning failures and missed recordings because of them. I called TWC tech support during the outage and the automated system took my phone number and said it would call when the outage was fixed. Guess what? No call.

The 5889 number, Jeff is who took the call. He asked if I was an installer or customer, confirmed my identity, asked for the Host ID/CableCard ID, repeated it, then without much explanation, rattled off the two pages to review -- under CableCARD Menu.

1. Cisco CableCARD CA Screen: check for EMMs which I had
2. Cisco CableCARD CP Info: Auth status: Waiting for auth

He said give it 10 minutes and everything should be good. The call was over.

After about 5 minutes all the current, non-SDV (since TA wasn't inline yet) stations I'm supposed to receive were now working.

Added TA to the loop, 3-blinks occurred for about 10 mins, then the 8-blinks started, few minutes later solid light, all the SDV channels were now in the listing and viewable.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Be nice to know the exact message you get. I don't remember ever seeing one with "authorized" in it. The fact it only occurs on 2 of 3 (identical ?) units must mean something, such as signal quality differences due to cabling and splitters.

OK, well now it has occurred on all 3 of my Premiers and the message displayed is "This channel is not authorized. Contact your cable provider for more information". Arrrrrrrrgh :mad: Tried the Zoom button the remote with no luck. Had to restart the system. Which brings to light another question: Why, when just about every other device I have is able to boot up in seconds, does it take the Premier several minutes to reboot?

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Be nice to know the exact message you get. I don't remember ever seeing one with "authorized" in it. The fact it only occurs on 2 of 3 (identical ?) units must mean something, such as signal quality differences due to cabling and splitters.

OK, well now it has occurred on all 3 of my Premiers and the message displayed is "This channel is not authorized. Contact your cable provider for more information". Arrrrrrrrgh :mad: Tried the Zoom button on the remote with no luck. Had to restart the system. Which brings to light another question: Why, when just about every other device I have is able to boot up in seconds, does it take the Premier several minutes to reboot?

[dlfl]

OK, well now it has occurred on all 3 of my Premiers and the message displayed is "This channel is not authorized. Contact your cable provider for more information". Arrrrrrrrgh :mad: Tried the Zoom button on the remote with no luck. Had to restart the system. Which brings to light another question: Why, when just about every other device I have is able to boot up in seconds, does it take the Premier several minutes to reboot?
Maybe the messages are different on Premieres. On my THD the message is something like "This channel is not provided by the Tuning Adapter. Contact your cable provider...." I suspect it means the same thing. Some combinatin of rebooting the TA, rebooting the TiVo and cycling the USB connection always gets my channels back.

However, another thing to try is call local TWC support and ask the rep to go to the "Customer Balancing" screen and hit the enter key. They may have their list of authorized channels that they send to CableCARD and TA's screwed up. In that case only fixing that list will fix the problem. I think you've already tried the National Cable Card Support desk (2598 number) but if nothing else works, call them back.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Maybe the messages are different on Premieres. On my THD the message is something like "This channel is not provided by the Tuning Adapter. Contact your cable provider...." I suspect it means the same thing. Some combinatin of rebooting the TA, rebooting the TiVo and cycling the USB connection always gets my channels back.

However, another thing to try is call local TWC support and ask the rep to go to the "Customer Balancing" screen and hit the enter key. They may have their list of authorized channels that they send to CableCARD and TA's screwed up. In that case only fixing that list will fix the problem. I think you've already tried the National Cable Card Support desk (2598 number) but if nothing else works, call them back.

Thanks for the suggestions. I already rebooted and that cleared the problem. Next time it occurs I'll call TWC and have them execute the customer balancing process.

Thanks again...

[cwoody222]

A friend's friend recently wanted to upgrade her whole home entertainment system. So Monday she purchased a Premiere, iPad and Airport Extreme. On Tuesday she hooked it all up - Time Warner was scheduled to come Wednesday. They did.

It's Thursday. She still doesn't have all her channels. The Time Warner tech botched the install.

TiVo hookup was fine, Internet was fine, Airport Extreme and iPad... all fine.

But when it comes to the CableCARD & TiVo YET AGAIN they show their complete ignorance and stupidity.

Good job, TW.

It took me 3 visits to get mine working over a year ago. Bets on how long it'll take my friend's friend?

My friend's TiVo is working now.

A week later. Multiple phone calls. And a 2nd visit from a 30 year veteran employee who had to spend 2.5 hours on the phone.

[Fofer]

I'm with you, cwoody222. This whole situation remains absurd.

[Joey Bagadonuts]

My friend's TiVo is working now.

A week later. Multiple phone calls. And a 2nd visit from a 30 year veteran employee who had to spend 2.5 hours on the phone.

OK, show of hands....are the TWC Techs truly this inept or have they been instructed to play dumb when dealing with TiVo customers to make some sort of point? I vote the latter.

[Fofer]

If so, they are great actors.

I vote the former. It's just the lowest of low priorities over there. They don't care and they don't care that they don't care...

[Joey Bagadonuts]

If so, they are great actors.

I vote the former. It's just the lowest of low priorities over there. They don't care and they don't care that they don't care...

Well, then they should get academy awards. I don't know what line of work you're in but, in my world, if an employee of mine was as inept at their job as some of the TWC CS' and field techs are, they'd be in the unemployment line. Which is why I wonder, are they truly that ignorant?

I don't know if you saw my previous posts about my M card issue with my local TWC store. I went there one Saturday and picked up 2 M cards and 2 TA's with no problem. 2 weeks later, after we purchased a 3rd Premier, I was working so my roommate went back to get a 3rd m card and TA and she was denied. She was told whoever had given out the earlier cards had "violated company policy" (she was given the TA with no issue). So I called TWC TS and raised a ruckus and they rolled a truck and assured me they'd waive the $29.99 charge. Yeah, guess what showed up on my next cable bill - $29.99 for the truck roll for the m card delivery and install. I just can't believe a company allows their employees to be that diminished. And if any TWC CS people are reading this, I'll apologize in advance for the generalization but, as you have undoubtedly read on these TWC forums, you have the deserved reputation of not being the sharpest knives in the drawer.

[cwoody222]

When my first tech came out to install TWO cards in the TWO slots that were located right next to each other in the back of my Series 3 he put one card in. Then he took the other card in his hand and started to walk down the hall. To look for "the other TV that needs the other card". That was after he tried to stick the first card into the TV (that had no card slots) even though my TiVo was clearly pulled out for his easy access.

I guess the empty, identical slot directly above the one he just stuck a card in wasn't enough of a clue to him so he had to go find a TV to stick it into.

So yea, they're REALLY that inept. Absolute. ****ing. Morons.

And remember, my friend this time requested a SDV TA. But the tech didn't bring one (ignoring the customer request) because he said "she didn't need one". Even though EVERY SINGLE TIVO WITH CABLE CARDS IN THIS AREA does.

So does he get it wrong every single time?

And how could it take TWO AND A HALF HOURS to get it set up over the phone? I thought - according to the shills in this thread - that there are like 6 people working the national CableCARD line. So can't Time Warner properly train SIX PEOPLE?

Oh, and I will not apologize for any generalization because 99% that I've talked to are completely inept, arrogant, and in no way whatsoever should be employed.

[cwoody222]

Oh, and meanwhile my recording of Workaholics last night and American Horror Story tonight both didn't record due to SDV failed channel changes.

When I complain to TW about this all they offer to do is send a tech to "check my signal levels". Really?

I ignore their requests to set up an appointment. I have no time in my life for them to come here to do nothing that will solve something that is a software issue (partly on TiVo's end, to be fair).

[Arcady]

I think they take people who are too stupid to work for the TSA and hire them at Time Warner. This entire group is too stupid to work at McDonald's.

[SCSIRAID]

OK, show of hands....are the TWC Techs truly this inept or have they been instructed to play dumb when dealing with TiVo customers to make some sort of point? I vote the latter.

I dont think it is either of those choices... I think they are simply not well trained on CC's or TA's and given the low number of TiVo's in their customer base the basic TWC techs have little to no experience with them.

[cwoody222]

The six people who answer the phones at the national help line aren't trained?

A 30-year veteran isn't trained (or motivated enough to educate himself)?

A tech is sent out without the basic knowledge of what a SDV TA does and when it should be used?


The FCC has MANDATED that cable companies allow self-installs. That should lead one to believe the FCC believes this should be an easy process.

Is a TW tech supposed to know less than a customer?

[dlfl]

..........The FCC has MANDATED that cable companies allow self-installs. That should lead one to believe the FCC believes this should be an easy process.

Is a TW tech supposed to know less than a customer?
I believe the answer is "yes" as far as the Cable Cos are concerned, although they will never take that position publicly .... because "...the FCC has MANDATED.." etc.

This is nothing new and it's not going to change. TiVo (i.e., CableCARD and Tuning Adapter) are something they don't want and are a PITA that has been forced on them. It takes a lot more FCC enforcement than we'll ever have to push that noodle. The cable techs know the things that are of core interest to the company.

[bobrt6676]

Wow, some good news from TWC. I opened my TWC bill to find the cost of my CC's went from 2.50 to 2.00. :) I dropped my TWC DVR(daughter moved out) and HBO/Showtime and cut 30+ off my bill. Now I have 2-THD's and 1-PremiereXL and NO TWC boxes. YEA!:D

[Joey Bagadonuts]

Update on my FCC complaint. 3 days ago, which is over a month after I filed the complaint, I received written correspondence from the FCC advising me they had received my emailed complaint. Gee, thanks FCC. Our tax dollars at work. :rolleyes:

[wtherrell]

Sometime last week TWC Charlotte changed Hallmark Channel from 76 to 23. I have been waiting in vain for the Tivos to receive the message about the the change. So my Hallmark channel SP's record only the message that TWC has posted on 76. I have reported this to Tivo but they say it will take 5 to 7 days to respond.
Very unusual. I wonder what is going on and whether future channel lineup changes will cause the same problems.

[Eccles]

Wow, some good news from TWC. I opened my TWC bill to find the cost of my CC's went from 2.50 to 2.00. :)
Same here in Austin, effective December 1. Of course the cost of the actual cable service went up by five bucks per month, but that $0.50 drop in the CCard fee was a welcome surprise. You have to wonder if it was in response to a mandate from the FCC or other regulatory body - I find it hard to believe that TW would reduce a charge without being forced to.

[cwoody222]

My CARDS here in Buffalo, NY also went from $2.50 to $2.00. Whoopdie do.

[wweboy]

So I just got digital cable and I've got some promo deal for 40 dollars for 12 months. Well I asked about using my Tivo and I was told that using the tivo is a different pricing structure is this legal or did I just get someone who wanted me to stay with their HDTV converter ( I chose not to use their DVR)

in TWC Charlotte.

Thanks.

[cwoody222]

Probably true.

I was excluded from most bundled deals due to TiVo also.

[ShaneF]

This reminds me that about a year ago I tried to add a movie tier to my account here near Buffalo NY. It was whatever tier contains IFC. Per an email I got from TWC I coud add the tier for an additional $4.95 per month.

When I called and explained I had CableCARDs the CSR first had to put me on hold for 10 minutes to talk to a supervisor. When she came back she told me that the pricing I saw in the email didn't apply to CC customers and that it would actually cost me an additional $20 per month or something outrageous.

As I recall, the explanation had to do with the fact that CC customers didn't truly get their bundled package and thus were subject to a la carte pricing. Of course every bill I've received from them has "Watch and Surf" as the primary line item... I thought that was a bundle. What a crock.

I should try ordering this additional tier again just to see if things have changed.

[Fofer]

I have CableCard and have added Choice/Variety/Movie tiers for $4.95 in the past. I have one tier included (required, actually) with my "Surf n View" package; the extras are $4.95/month.

They usually screw something up when I try to add/remove these tiers... so I don't make too many changes these days.

[cwoody222]

Shane - I'm in Buffalo also.

While it's true you don't officially qualify for bundles I also looked into adding the tier with IFC last year* and it was no where near $20. I think $7. That's about what I pay for some other tiers too.

Premium Movie Channels also cost the same as with a bundle or CCards.

If you really complain, there are things they can do. I complained about not being eligible for a cheaper Internet due to a bundle so instead they gave me Showtime for free (which I was already paying for) which ended up being the net effect of giving me the discounted Internet rate.

But, at the end of the day, you WILL pay more than bundled folks. It sucks.

Oh, and I do NOT have "Surf n View". I don't even know what that is.


* I only wanted IFC for Portlandia and instead I just got it from Amazon On Demand. I plan to do the same for season 2.

[dlfl]

.......I was excluded from most bundled deals due to TiVo also.

.......she told me that the pricing I saw in the email didn't apply to CC customers and that it would actually cost me an additional $20 per month or something outrageous.

As I recall, the explanation had to do with the fact that CC customers didn't truly get their bundled package ..........

.......it's true you don't officially qualify for bundles..........
I'm on a bundle in TWC SW Ohio. My bill says:
1104-1203 DIGITAL DOUBLE BUNDLE-1
BUNDLE INCLUDES BASIC SERVICE, STANDARD SERVICE, DIGITAL
VARIETY PACKAGE, MUSIC CHOICE, ON SCREEN GUIDE, FREE ON
DEMAND AND ROAD RUNNER STANDARD WITH POWERBOOST
The first year or so of my digital service (starting july 2009) I was not on a bundle and was paying about $20 more than now. I never pushed for a bundle -- they just gave it to me. Go figure!

On a partially related subject: Has anyone received a BYOB discount from TWC? I've yet to hear of this happening. My application was refused because my bundle doesn't include a STB or DVR.

[ShaneF]

It's coming back to me now. I think the issue was that I have the Watch and Surf bundle (I think this is what it's called... it's digital cable with high speed internet, no phone service). The CSR said I really SHOULDN'T be getting the bundle price, and if she added the tier with IFC she'd have to totally re-do my account, putting everything at a la carte pricing, thus losing the bundle and upping my monthly bill by approx $20.

Sometimes I really wonder if the rules are just at the whim of the CSR you talk to, or more precisely, the CSR's interpretation of the rules. I mean, when I originally signed up for TWC the CSR was able to give me a bundle AND CableCARDs.. so it's not like their system prevents it. I should really call and try to do it again.

[Fofer]

Yeah, as I said above, my bundle is called "Surf and View" and I have cable internet and TV only. I get one digital tier included, any additionals I add above that are $4.95. This is with one M Card in a TiVo Premiere.

[jmelan]

Right now, it is cheaper with Time Warner to get a DVR package and stick it in the closet - not offering bundles to cablecard customers is discriminatory and is a clear FCC violation. I really wish everyone would file an FCC complaint. That is probably the only way to get them to follow the rules.

google: FCC cablecard, know your rights

"Your operator must give you a discount on any packages that include the price of a set-top box if you choose to use your own CableCARD-enabled device. "

Note it does not say anywhere that operators can exclude you from all package pricing if you do not use their DVR

[dlfl]

.........Note it does not say anywhere that operators can exclude you from all package pricing if you do not use their DVR
Good luck with that. The thought occurs to me that TWC may have some clever lawyers who have analyzed the FCC rulings. :rolleyes:

[frankincensed]

Am thinking of going the Tivo route and dumping my TWC box. What have others experienced with installing the cable card and tuning adapter via TWC? I was told dropping their box for Tivo, would not effect my bundle price, other than not having to pay for thier DVR anymore, is that true with others experiences?

[CaptDS9E]

Quick question, as I haven't been following a long for a while. Does Time Warner in NYC still have to send someone out to install a card or can you pick one up and do it your self?

[frankincensed]

in Canton Oh. they sent the cable card along with the tuning adapter

[cwoody222]

This is my understanding, which could be wrong.

If you want a bundle that requires the rental of a STB but you don't want the STB, they can deny you the bundle since the conditions of the bundle require something you won't agree to.

(it's also sometimes limited by your local area and the ability of whichever CSR you get and their ability to enter custom orders... yes, some CSRs are dumber than others)

If you have a bundle that *includes* the cost of a STB that you are not using, as of this past August, they are required to refund you the cost of that box if you are using TiVo.

If you currently have a bundle - with a promotional time-period, and want to change any part of that agreement - such as dropping a DVR for a TiVo, they could block you since you agreed to a particular plan for a set amount of time.

Also, as of August, they are required to offer self-installs of CableCARDs.

[CaptDS9E]

Also, as of August, they are required to offer self-installs of CableCARDs.

Thanks. Gonna have to take a ride to the nearest office.

[dlfl]

Quick question, as I haven't been following a long for a while. Does Time Warner in NYC still have to send someone out to install a card or can you pick one up and do it your self?
Experiences are many and varied.... just do a quick scan going back in time of this thread and the TWC Tuning Adapter thread to get the picture.

[jmelan]

This is my understanding, which could be wrong.

If you want a bundle that requires the rental of a STB but you don't want the STB, they can deny you the bundle since the conditions of the bundle require something you won't agree to.

(it's also sometimes limited by your local area and the ability of whichever CSR you get and their ability to enter custom orders... yes, some CSRs are dumber than others)

If you have a bundle that *includes* the cost of a STB that you are not using, as of this past August, they are required to refund you the cost of that box if you are using TiVo.

If you currently have a bundle - with a promotional time-period, and want to change any part of that agreement - such as dropping a DVR for a TiVo, they could block you since you agreed to a particular plan for a set amount of time.

...

I understand what you are saying, and I think the cable company would agree with this sort of logic.

however, reading throught the full details of the FCC ruling, it is clear they went out of their way to oppose all of these scenarios, even saying that discounts must also be given for packages that include "free" DVRs.

"•Pay only for equipment you have. Your operator must give you a discount on any packages that include the price of a set-top box if you choose to use your own CableCARD-enabled device. FCC Rule 76.1205(b)(5)."

Not some packages, not only ones that do not include a DVR, does not say it excludes customers that already have a plan, not only if you also rent a STB in addition to your cablecard etc.

This is exactly why the FCC complaints link is given at the end of the info page.

What I don't understand is why Time Warner is willing to get cited by the FCC in order to make a little extra money on less than 1% of its subscribers. They will get away with it as well if enough complaints are not filed.

[jmelan]

........Note it does not say anywhere that operators can exclude you from all package pricing if you do not use their DVR

Good luck with that. The thought occurs to me that TWC may have some clever lawyers who have analyzed the FCC rulings. :rolleyes:

( 2 ) For any bundled offer combining service and an operator-supplied
navigation device into a single fee, including any bundled offer
providing a discount for the purchase of multiple services, such
provider shall make such offer available without discrimination to any
customer that owns a navigation device, and, to the extent the customer
uses such navigation device in lieu of the operator-supplied equipment
included in that bundled offer, shall further offer such customer a
discount from such offer equal to an amount not less than the monthly
rental fee reasonably allocable to the lease of the operator-supplied
navigation device included with that offer. For purposes of this
section, in determining what is "reasonably allocable," the Commission
will consider in its evaluation whether the allocation is consistent
with one or more of the following factors:

As above, the cable company cannot discriminate against a cablecard user because they do not use "operator-supplied equipment", seems rather clear to me.

[Eccles]

Interesting discussion. I'm not seeing any credit on my bill, but I'm on a "price-lock guarantee" deal that prevents any increases for two years; I expect they would argue that it also prevents any /decreases/.

[jmelan]

http://www.edwardswildman.com/files/News/e373be3a-dfe1-45a5-82a6-bde69ff9c217/Presentation/NewsAttachment/2044e72c-d334-41a0-b41d-bf0bfd9cea5b/2011-CA-FCC-RestrictsBundledCable.pdf

here is a nice analysis from a legal perspective, somewhat complex but in no way supporting what Time Warner is doing in my area.

main recommendation is that cable company should not bundle equipment into packages, however if they do, then the least amount offered to cablecard customers should be:

(normal cost of equipment)x(1-discount offered on bundle)

so for a total bundle price that includes a 10 percent discount over the individual components, with a cable box that normally costs 10, it would be ($10)x(1-0.1) = $9

they recommend against trying to claim that the DVR is given for free as part of the bundle as "Indeed, this would appear to be precisely the sort of “subsidized” offering that the FCC rule is intended to prevent."

[NCTony5905]

Am thinking of going the Tivo route and dumping my TWC box. What have others experienced with installing the cable card and tuning adapter via TWC? I was told dropping their box for Tivo, would not effect my bundle price, other than not having to pay for thier DVR anymore, is that true with others experiences?

I have two Tivo's and still got a bundle price for phone, TV and Internet, the install is painful as most installers have trouble with the cable card and switched video adapters. Also just finding cable cards and switched video adapters is a pain. But to me it was worth it to not have the TWC DVR.

[dlfl]

http://www.edwardswildman.com/files/News/e373be3a-dfe1-45a5-82a6-bde69ff9c217/Presentation/NewsAttachment/2044e72c-d334-41a0-b41d-bf0bfd9cea5b/2011-CA-FCC-RestrictsBundledCable.pdf

here is a nice analysis from a legal perspective, somewhat complex but in no way supporting what Time Warner is doing in my area.

main recommendation is that cable company should not bundle equipment into packages, however if they do, then the least amount offered to cablecard customers should be:

(normal cost of equipment)x(1-discount offered on bundle)

so for a total bundle price that includes a 10 percent discount over the individual components, with a cable box that normally costs 10, it would be ($10)x(1-0.1) = $9

they recommend against trying to claim that the DVR is given for free as part of the bundle as "Indeed, this would appear to be precisely the sort of “subsidized” offering that the FCC rule is intended to prevent."
The referenced "Client Advisory" is interesting and it probably does represent the intent of the regulations. However, intent doesn't completely determine how laws are actually implemented. I can picture TWC's lawyers reading this, laughing, and saying "well they're entitled to their opinion!". I suspect the law firm that published this is trolling for clients who want to bring actions against the cable cos on this issue.

The document mentions the Cable Co's "Rate Card". Have you seen or requested said card from your TWC provider?

[frankincensed]

I wish TWC,would just offer the ability to rent a tivo from them, if one would so choose

[jmelan]

...probably does represent the intent of the regulations...The document mentions the Cable Co's "Rate Card". Have you seen or requested said card from your TWC provider?

the intention of the law is the law (as stated in the legal discussion), same as with the IRS and taxes, it is irrelevant if their lawyers are paid to argue otherwise, the FCC has defined the intention of the law and other cable companies have changed their policies to be in compliance.

The intention of the FCC is clearly stated here:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-07-08/pdf/2011-16869.pdf

normal cost of equipment (rate card costs) is easy to find if you begin to sign up as a new customer and try to add additional DVR/cable boxes to your order. Otherwise you can just call up customer service and ask - they are happy to tell you.

To be honest, I am surprised at the defense of Time Warner here? aren't we all in support of consumer rights?

Time Warner's policies at this point in time are discriminatory to the cablecard community (exclusion from packages, equipment costs, subsidizing services, etc).

If everyone would work together in support of their rights, these issues would cease to exist. Time Warner has put up a BYOB discount application (because obviously they know they are supposed to) and not given it to anyone. Why not just file a complaint and support everyone here? It might not be resolved tomorrow, but it will never happen if we just sit here and take it.

I posted here to try and raise awareness of the law and the relevant details, so that the larger community could help effect change for the benefit of all.

http://www.fcc.gov/guides/cablecard-know-your-rights
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-11-1373A1.pdf
http://www.hallikainen.com/FccRules/2012/76/1205/

http://www.fcc.gov/complaints

I am pursuing multiple paths to get my own situation resolved.

[dlfl]

the intention of the law is the law (as stated in the legal discussion), same as with the IRS and taxes, it is irrelevant if their lawyers are paid to argue otherwise, the FCC has defined the intention of the law and other cable companies have changed their policies to be in compliance.

Yeah, well TWC hasn't always done what the other cos have done, and they've gotten away with it a lot.
The intention of the FCC is clearly stated here:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-07-08/pdf/2011-16869.pdf

Ultimately the intent of the law is argued out in legal proceedings. The intent of the framers of the law is subject to interpretation and the end result may not agree with your interpretation. i.e., what you perceive as the "clearly stated" intent of your linked reference.

To be honest, I am surprised at the defense of Time Warner here? aren't we all in support of consumer rights?

What a joke. Take a casual scan of my posts in this and other threads on this forum and see if you think calling me a defender of TWC is fair. I'm in favor of realism, logic and rights for all parties, including consumers.

Time Warner's policies at this point in time are discriminatory to the cablecard community (exclusion from packages, equipment costs, subsidizing services, etc).
Their policies have always attempted to discriminate against TiVo's because they are a PITA to them and cost them profits. The question is (1) whether they are violating laws and (2) whether they can be penalized or made to change their behavior. They have a long history of getting away with it so I wouldn't bet on things changing.

If everyone would work together in support of their rights, these issues would cease to exist. Time Warner has put up a BYOB discount application (because obviously they know they are supposed to) and not given it to anyone. Why not just file a complaint and support everyone here? It might not be resolved tomorrow, but it will never happen if we just sit here and take it.

I agree in principle. In fact if you'll check out this thread you'll find I have acted on this principle in the past:
http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=450967
I will file a complaint on this and we can hope for the best .... but it's naive to expect the best. That would be underestimating the cleverness of TWC's lawyers -- and overestimating the capabilities of the FCC. Remember, TiVo owners comprise about 0.5% of digital cable subscribers so "everyone" is not a huge political factor.

I posted here to try and raise awareness of the law and the relevant details, so that the larger community could help effect change for the benefit of all.
.....
Yeah, I know .... see my previous linked thread!

[jmelan]

sorry, not trying to accuse you of anything, it just seems hard to defend Time Warner unless you really want to. I can't blame you for being pessimistic after how much of a disaster cablecard has been so far.

Since the FCC is the enforcing agency of these regulations, I would hope that their stated intention in the current regulations is likely to be backed up, but maybe not - at least we can try.

It does look like the FCC used the comments or very similar ones from the referenced thread at least in part to craft the current guidelines, which is a monumental step forward if adhered to.

Why don't we try and get a sticky with an FCC complaint form letter posted so that it is more likely that people can submit a complaint without too much trouble or confusion.

For example,

Reasons for an FCC complaint:

1. You are paying for any TWC equipment that you do not use or want to use, and you use a cablecard device.

2. You filled out the BYOB form (which is a violation in itself) and have not received a credit, or the credit is significantly less than the amount charged for a standalone box.

3. TWC has excluded you from any package or bundle due to your use of a cablecard rather than TWC equipment.

4. TWC has imposed any additional service charge on cablecard customers in your area aside from the $2.00 - $2.50 charge for the cable cards.

5. TWC did not tell you that self install was an option, or TWC refused to provide a self install kit (after August 8, 2011).

The form letter can then include sections to include each situation and each member can choose what to include for their situation.

This can then be crossposted to avsforum, ceton, silicondust, hauppaugge, etc. in order to mobilize a larger number of users.

[dlfl]

I know it pains most readers of this thread to hear anything in defense of TWC in regard to this BYOB situation, but consider this:

They have to furnish Tuning Adapters free of charge to a large proportion of their TiVo customers. These appear to be a box with production cost that would be similar to a STB but the true per-unit cost (including fixed up-front engineering costs) is probably higher than an STB because of the much lower volume of TA's. Perhaps in fairness the BYOB credit should be reduced by the cost of the TA -- which might reduce it to nothing.

But then we don't have any evidence they've ever given a BYOB credit. :rolleyes:

[dlfl]

For an example of how slippery things get when you accuse TWC of violating BYOB, see this recent FCC filing by TWC:
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7021708586
Note their response as follows:
For instance, although the customer claimed he
was told that leasing a CableCARD instead of a set-top box would result in a price increase—
which forms the basis of TiVo’s allegation of price discrimination in its letter—TWC’s records
show that the customer in fact is receiving a discount on his monthly bill of $7.75, consistent
with 47 C.F.R. § 76.1205(b).
Now I have to wonder: Does the customer's invoice explicitly list a $7.75 discount? And how would anyone other than TWC determine he was actually paying that much less than another customer with the same service using a STB?

Also, the letter is laughable in the way it insinuates that instances of wrong information being supplied by TWC reps to TiVo users are isolated.

[cwoody222]

I think what's being confused here are two distinct things.

I read the new FCC rules to read that IF a cable co is offering a bundle that includes a STB they must offer CableCARD customers a refund based on the included "price" of that STB.

But I don't read that to infer that cable companies MUST offer all bundles to all customers, regardless of their use of a CableCARD.

Just by saying "if you're doing X, you must do Y" does not prevent the cable card from saying, "we don't want to do X".

I read the FCC rules to prevent customers from paying for equipment they're not using, and to prevent customers with the same package - and paying the same rate - from getting different services.

But I don't read it to mean that the FCC is saying that every customer must be offered the same packages, regardless of their hardware requirements.

[cwoody222]

Also, just to clarify:

I am NOT receiving a BYOB discount because I do not have any bundle (I was told in July of 2010 I did not quality - I was a new customer) that includes a STB.

I pay significantly more than STB customers I know with similar channel lineups.

I have filled out FCC complaint forms on TWC... in relation to my SDV box not working 100% of the time. Of the 3 complaints I filled out, TWC called me back on one of them. I tried once to return the call and got a voice mail. I never tried to call back again and neither did they. No nothing really happened.

I've complained to CSRs about the same SDV situation but all they can recommend is sending a truck roll which we all know will not fix the problem at all.

My missed SDV tunes are very rare (1-2 month, if that) so I can live with it. But it still sucks and I would love it to work 100% of the time - like it should.

But I guess if I had their STB I'd probably miss that many recordings for other stupid reasons since their box sucks.

[jmelan]

I think that the exclusion from package deals is a major form of discrimination and specifically referenced here (http://www.hallikainen.com/FccRules/2012/76/1205/)

( 2 ) For any bundled offer combining service and an operator-supplied
navigation device into a single fee, including any bundled offer
providing a discount for the purchase of multiple services, such
provider shall make such offer available without discrimination to any
customer that owns a navigation device, and, to the extent the customer
uses such navigation device in lieu of the operator-supplied equipment
included in that bundled offer, shall further offer such customer a
discount from such offer equal to an amount not less than the monthly
rental fee reasonably allocable to the lease of the operator-supplied
navigation device included with that offer. For purposes of this
section, in determining what is "reasonably allocable," the Commission
will consider in its evaluation whether the allocation is consistent
with one or more of the following factors:

[jmelan]

For an example of how slippery things get when you accuse TWC of violating BYOB, see this recent FCC filing by TWC:
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7021708586
Note their response as follows:

Now I have to wonder: Does the customer's invoice explicitly list a $7.75 discount? And how would anyone other than TWC determine he was actually paying that much less than another customer with the same service using a STB?

Also, the letter is laughable in the way it insinuates that instances of wrong information being supplied by TWC reps to TiVo users are isolated.

Exactly what my complaint is, TWC told me that my current package would be invalidated and my rate would go up by $20 - $30 per month if I try and return my equipment.

They may get away with this once, but the FCC will not fall for it over and over again, especially if the reasons they were able to argue this one are preliminarily addressed.

In this case, I would guess that they are claiming that the normal package discount counts as the BYOB discount, which it obviously does not.

[frankincensed]

Im always glad I come to this fourm everytime I think about getting a Tivo. I read all the hoops & hassles one has to go through to get a stupid dvr & again realize, its not worth the stress. Thanks all

[L David Matheny]

Exactly what my complaint is, TWC told me that my current package would be invalidated and my rate would go up by $20 - $30 per month if I try and return my equipment.

Cable companies make a lot of money on equipment rentals, so they want to force you to to rent their equipment whether you need it or not (or whether it provides value for you or just serves their needs, like a tuning adapter). It's similar to cellular providers insisting that if you want to use a PDA-style cell phone, even one you purchase elsewhere with no subsidy, you must sign up for a data plan, whether you intend to use it or not.

[L David Matheny]

Im always glad I come to this fourm everytime I think about getting a Tivo. I read all the hoops & hassles one has to go through to get a stupid dvr & again realize, its not worth the stress. Thanks all

Interesting perspective. You do realize that "all the hoops & hassles" are put there by the cable companies, right? When I read about them, I thank my lucky stars that my TiVo is receiving free and trouble-free OTA only. Since the digital conversion, more and more viewers have been enjoying a golden age for over-the-air broadcast TV, and that should continue unless the cable lobby can pay legislators enough to cripple or kill their competition.