Comcast coming 3rd time Sunday

SNJpage1 · 02-25-2012, 08:25 PM

This will be the 3rd time Comcast is coming out to try to fix why I keep losing 4 of my HD channels. They keep sending techs out who dont carry cable cards on their trucks so they cant replace them. I still think it's a programing problem. Cant see how both TivoHD tuners and both cable cards could lose the same 4 channels if they were defective.

expmag · 02-26-2012, 07:30 AM

Good luck. It took me months to get my cable cards straightened out. Been working great since. Now, I am forced to move next week. It's only 6 miles away, but Comcast wants to charge me $64 to transfer service and says a tech needs to come back out. The only equipment I have of theirs is a modem and cable card. I am hoping that the cable card works fine from the start (fingers crossed).

SNJpage1 · 02-26-2012, 11:17 AM

What gets me is they fixed the problem and it lasted about two days and we lost the same channels again. I have been working with their customer care people about this and even they dont seem to beable to get the local people to call me back. Corporate is going to be calling me again today after the tech leaves and I think they are going to get an earfull this time.

robnnorl · 02-26-2012, 12:38 PM

Hooked up Tivo Elite and second Tivo HD box ith Comcast. Had an issue that i couldnt receive and HD channels, but when they first set it up, they forgot to select in their computer HD channels. Once they corrected it, which only took 10 minutes, it works great

mr.unnatural · 02-26-2012, 01:46 PM

Just tell them DirecTV would love to have your business. Better yet, if you have another cable provider in your area I'd start looking at them. I couldn't dump Comcast fast enough when Verizon FIOS became available in my area. Of course, there's always the option of "cutting the cord" and dumping cable altogether.

SNJpage1 · 02-26-2012, 04:49 PM

The 3rd guy was here and swapped out the two single cards for a maulti card. Still have the same problem. However, while he was here the channels would come back for a minute or so and then disappear again. The tech has worked with Tivo's before because he knew where all the settings and reading were located in the menu. He said he has never seen anything like this. He thought something might be filtering those channels in the signal and said he would talk to his boss on Mon. A few hours later the person from Comcast corporate office called and asked how things went. Told her what I just typed. She said she was going to send it tothe manager in my area to decide what to do. The Comcast DVR that sits next to the Tivo does get the channels. So I told her if they cant fix the problem that maybe we can work out a price credit. She said because of how patience I have been that she would have my triple play package discount extended another year saving me $15 a month if it cant be fixed.

tiassa · 02-27-2012, 08:59 AM

I'm guessing the problem in at the head end. I'm not sure about the exact way this works, but the channel mappings for cablecards can be set to be different than the mappings for regular cable boxes. It is possible that someone "updated" the mappings for cablecards and screwed it up.

luntan4 · 02-27-2012, 06:47 PM

This is very useful for me, all call him the grandpa tree eccentricity Thank you very much

SNJpage1 · 02-27-2012, 09:13 PM

tiassa, they have reprogramed the cards each time they come out. What doesnt make sense since the Sunday visit is while the tech was here the channels appeared and then we lost them again after about a minute. They kept going in and out the whole time he was here. I still cant see it being a Tivo problem or a defective cable card since they replaced the two single streams with a M card and still have the problem. The tech said it might be something in the signal strength that is acting like a filter but since it is all digital where I live that would only be true with an analog signal.
I really dont care at this point if the channels ever work since 3 of them I never watch and the 4th I can switch over to the Comcast DVR to record. But I would like to know what could cause a problem like this.

SNJpage1 · 03-04-2012, 10:02 AM

Comcast was out for the forth time today to fix the problem. This tech seemed to know more about how Tivo's work then the others. he says the problem is in the Tivo circuits between the cable card and the tuners. He said that when it starts going bad the Tivo will start to lose channels and over time will lose more and more. I guess he might be right since I just lost two more channels this week. So I now have to decide if I want to send it in for repairs. Since I have a Comcast DVR sitting next to the TivoHD I can use their box if I want to watch the missing channels. So far out of the six there is only one that we watch twice a month. The other five we have never watched.
The tech did say that Comcast will be rolling out a new box in the last quater of the year that is being tested on the west coast. It will tie everything together into one box and the DVR part will be back at the head end. The the other cable boxes in the house, the internet and phone service will work wirelessly off of this main box as well .