Please deconfuse me re: CableCard

[RoundTuit]

Since I have not yet felt the urge to be tortured by Comcast, I held off ordering installation of CableCards. In the mean time, I am reading this forum and cheering on those that have been brave enough to head down this path. For me, the two big unknowns are what is it going to cost on my monthly bill (it will probably depend on the phase of the moon and a spin of the roulette wheel), and what is the probability that Comcast will ever get it to work (apparently a zero probability here in Howard County)?

Tonight while I was at the Columbia Mall I thought I would stop by the Comcast kiosk and sample some of their Chinese water torture. I asked the woman for a current copy of their rate card, and was told that Comcast does not publish that information. Undaunted, I then asked her how much my monthly bill would increase if I ordered two CableCards. She said I would have to purchase HD service for each CableCard, plus A/O fee for each. I told her I don't want HD service, I just want to be able to receive the premium channels I currently subscribe to, and because I do not have an HD TV, I only need to receive the SD channels. She said they only have HD CableCards, so I would have to pay for HD service. At this stage, I was not yet ready to have my finger nails pulled out, so I didn't ask her to explain the double A/O fee.

My understanding is that there is no such thing as an HD or SD CableCard. The CableCard simply decrypts the digital channels that have been authorized, and the latter is determined by how the headend initializes the CableCard. Is my understanding bogus?

[Deacon West]

No, you are spot on. Clearly, you already have obtained too much information to work for Comcast.

[CraigHB]

The person you talked to didn't know her rear from a hole in the ground. Man, you gotta watch out for sales people.

I'll be going through this with Charter Communications. They do have a better track record than Comcast, but there's still lots of potential for problems. The sales person I talked to at Charter told me they would simply send me the cards. Another case of bad information from sales people. That would be great if they could do that, but they don't. I don't really understand why a "tech" has to activate them. All they have to do is make a phone call and read off a few numbers. I think I could handle that.

[ewilts]

Tonight while I was at the Columbia Mall I thought I would stop by the Comcast kiosk and sample some of their Chinese water torture. I asked the woman for a current copy of their rate card, and was told that Comcast does not publish that information.
They *have* to publish that information. It's on their web site and also the rates have to be approved by the local franchise authority so it's definitely public knowledge.

Undaunted, I then asked her how much my monthly bill would increase if I ordered two CableCards. She said I would have to purchase HD service for each CableCard, plus A/O fee for each. I told her I don't want HD service, I just want to be able to receive the premium channels I currently subscribe to, and because I do not have an HD TV, I only need to receive the SD channels. She said they only have HD CableCards, so I would have to pay for HD service.

There's no such thing as an HD CableCARD. A CableCARD is actually a fairly simple device - it decrypts any channel it's authorized to decrypt. It doesn't matter if it's SD or HD.

At this stage, I was not yet ready to have my finger nails pulled out, so I didn't ask her to explain the double A/O fee.
Comcast loves to charge the "additional digital outlet" fee for $5.95 per month and then tell you that CableCARDs are free. The only thing you get with the ADO is the CableCARD so how that makes them free is beyond me. The rate card says one thing and their billing system says another. I believe that this may be called fraud but I am not a lawyer.

.../Ed

[cgould]

Your rates should be published in an insert in your cable bill; I got one w/ January bill. Go to your local payment office, not a sales kiosk, sometimes they are more helpful. Calling national CSRs isn't often helpful, and the website is sometimes even more inaccurate (or at least not specific enough for these special cases, only very generic packages.)

Though some regions might be different, comcast is supposed to charge $1.50 for Tivo double cable cards, and nothing else, unless you already have a digital STB (or don't have digital classic/tier pkg), then you get $6.95 addnl digital outlet charge.
They don't charge addnl $5 HD (equip) fee for any outlets; that's for HD STBs, not the service.

Talk to customer svc, ask for cablecard guys, then ask for pricing.
If they give wrong answer, hang up and try roulette again :)

So far as noted, you know more than they do :)

[CrispyCritter]

I agree with the intent of your points, but just a couple of quibbles: They *have* to publish that information. It's on their web site and also the rates have to be approved by the local franchise authority so it's definitely public knowledge.Yes, they must publish it. But it doesn't have to be on their web site except if required by the local franchise authority (ours eventually got "required", and Comcast stuck it on a page that no one will ever find by browsing (or straightforward searching)). Rates do NOT have to be approved by the local authority, except for presence of a low cost basic package.Comcast loves to charge the "additional digital outlet" fee for $5.95 per month and then tell you that CableCARDs are free. The only thing you get with the ADO is the CableCARD so how that makes them free is beyond me. .../EdADO is a legitimate extra charge, but in various franchises they are interpreting how it should be applied improperly. It's entirely franchise dependent. In my area, my cablecards are free and I am not being charged an ADO. If I got another S3, I would expect to be charged for one ADO (and eventually I expect them to start charging $1.50 per month for half my cablecards).