TIVO BOLT set up with FIOS - Questions

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when the tech showed up with the cablecard did it come with an activation code? I found a link online to do a self activation here Set Top Box Activation. previous replies here seem to indicate it's best to do this way.

 

I have 2 cable cards with Fios - one that came when I had fios installed and one I got later on from a fios store. On top of that I have had to re-activate them multiple times (new boxes, hard drive expansions, etc). My experience with them has been pretty darn good. .. The one that came with the install still required a call in, but the tech actually did the call in while he was here. I have called in myself to pair at least 10 times and have had 100% success rate - sometimes a 10 min call sometimes a 40 min call. A couple of times they have started to give up and tell me I had a bad card, but I remind them it was just working in a different box not more than 15 minutes ago and they will (sometime unhappily) continue trying - but always end up successful. The card I picked up in store was probably the easiest ever - have to order online, they try to push to ship it to you for a $25 fee...but after a little back and forth (not much . .. just a little), they agreed to let me pick up in store. When I picked up the cablecard, it came with a white instruction sheet that contained an activation number. Literally, all i had to do when I got home was insert the card into my other tivo, sign into my fios account online (I did it on my iPad) enter the activation number and in less than a minute everything was working. However, when I upgraded the hard drive and needed to re-pair that cable card, the activation code no longer worked - had to call in and have them pair over the phone, so its one time use only.
One time calling in, I spoke with a very knowledgeable person that was what I would call a "cable card expert" - we got to talking and he said 9/10 times the problem the techs encounter when pairing is that they don't unbind the cablecard (even if its a new cable card for you, it may have been used previously by someone else) and then they need to do a "manual validation" after that. Something to do with the proper order that the steps need to happen that they always screw up.
One thing I can say for sure is that its night and day when comparing Fios vs Optimum. Even before Altice, Optimum was a nightmare to deal with. I had entire days wasted on the phone with Optimum - running back and forth to their store returning cards in the past. Just did one for my parents who are still on Optimum and it was a 2 week 4 call process. Last call was 2 hours and finally it worked....and by worked I mean they can see all their channels . . but lots of freezing and pixelating . . . . optimum is a mess.