Transfer Charter cable card to new device

brewman · 06-21-2011, 02:36 PM

My 2 month old Premiere quit working and I had to get it replaced. I've sent it back to TiVo under RMA and they have shipped the replacement today. Does anybody know if Charter (Gwinnett County, GA) will require a truck roll to swap the cable card to the new unit, or if I'll just be able to read the host id, etc to Charter's support folks?

Philmatic · 06-21-2011, 03:15 PM

It honestly depends on not only the company, but also the region. For instance, Comcast does not have a policy company-wide that allows customer installed CableCards, but the region I live in (Sacramento) does. So I'm able to pick one up from a retail location, go home, call them up and pair it over the phone.

You should just call the local number and see if they allow it.

shrike4242 · 06-21-2011, 05:00 PM

If it's Charter, they require truck roll and the associated fee ($36 fee, at least for St. Louis customers) to do it. They won't do it over the phone.

dwit · 06-21-2011, 05:12 PM

I don't have an answer or opinion here. Just a question of my own to ask the OP here, although I'm pretty sure what part of the answer will be.

Who pays for shipping charges for your Tivo to get returned to the company?

How much were the shipping charges and what agency did you use(ups, usps, etc)?

I think I am in a similar situation with my Premiere that is acting up.

Thanks.

Stuxnet · 06-21-2011, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewman

My 2 month old Premiere quit working and I had to get it replaced. I've sent it back to TiVo under RMA and they have shipped the replacement today. Does anybody know if Charter (Gwinnett County, GA) will require a truck roll to swap the cable card to the new unit, or if I'll just be able to read the host id, etc to Charter's support folks?

You could hope to dodge the truck roll fee, but you're getting a truck roll. The best you could hope for is a regular service call (no charge) if you called in and straight up said that you got a replacement tivo and the cable cards don't seem to be working in the new unit... then describe the fact that you're missing many of the channels you're subscribed to. Just be an "average customer" (think of how Mom would call it in).

If instead, you call them and tell them the cards need to be paired to a new unit, you're likely to pay.

rainwater · 06-21-2011, 06:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shrike4242

If it's Charter, they require truck roll and the associated fee ($36 fee, at least for St. Louis customers) to do it. They won't do it over the phone.

You can contact Charter on DSLReports.com using the Charter Direct forum to transfer a cablecard. In my area, they don't tie cards to devices, so i can move my cards freely without contacting them.

brewman · 06-22-2011, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwit

I don't have an answer or opinion here. Just a question of my own to ask the OP here, although I'm pretty sure what part of the answer will be.

Who pays for shipping charges for your Tivo to get returned to the company?

How much were the shipping charges and what agency did you use(ups, usps, etc)?

I think I am in a similar situation with my Premiere that is acting up.

Thanks.

I was still within the 90 day warranty period so TiVo paid shipping both ways. They emailed me a UPS shipping label and I shipped it via a local UPS store.

iceturkee · 06-22-2011, 09:39 AM

i don't know about charter but when i switched the cable card plus tuning adapter to my premiere, i called bright house to do the swap.

dwit · 06-22-2011, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewman

I was still within the 90 day warranty period so TiVo paid shipping both ways. They emailed me a UPS shipping label and I shipped it via a local UPS store.

Thanks for the info.

brewman · 06-22-2011, 02:24 PM

Made a call and Charter in Gwinnett County,GA requires a technician do the "install". I was able to get them to waive the fee - thanks Charter.

brewman · 06-24-2011, 07:58 AM

Apparently, Charter in Gwinnett County, GA doesn't pair their cable cards to a particular host. Plugged the old cable card into the new premiere and it works.

rainwater · 06-24-2011, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewman

Apparently, Charter in Gwinnett County, GA doesn't pair their cable cards to a particular host. Plugged the old cable card into the new premiere and it works.

Most Charter systems are like this afaik.

brewman · 06-24-2011, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rainwater

Most Charter systems are like this afaik.

I know the technician gives the host id over the phone to the person provisioning the head-end, but apparently the head-end is not setup to check for valid pairing. I never had a reason to swap cable cards to test this previously.

rainwater · 06-24-2011, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewman

I know the technician gives the host id over the phone to the person provisioning the head-end, but apparently the head-end is not setup to check for valid pairing. I never had a reason to swap cable cards to test this previously.

Yes, they are trained to send the data to the head end, but I've swapped cards plenty of times with no issues over the last few years.

mearlus · 06-28-2011, 03:19 PM

I actually did this this past Thursday w/ one of the folks on Charter's support folks that use twitter. Replaced a premiere and moved the Charter cable card + Tuning Adapter to the new Premiere. I gave him the asked for data and stuff appears to be working. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to do it but he at least tried and it looks like it is working