Comcast couldn't set up cable cards

Hello, first time poster here. I got my new Tivo HD yesterday and called to have Comcast come out and install 2 cablecards, and seeing as how it was pretty simple to setup the Tivo itself, I assumed it would be just as easy to install the cards. Boy was I wrong.

The tech showed up with 2 nice brand new Motorola CC's. He had never done a Tivo install before, but had installed CC's into an HDTV set. I showed him the guide insert on how to install the cards and it seemed all pretty straight forward. He inserted the first card and after a few moments the screen popped up with the host and data numbers, and under Network info, the card started loading the OOB messages, which according to the CSR on the phone, needed to be around 3,000 before any picture would show up.

We got our 3,000 OOB messages and nothing appears on the screen, I mean the channel test was fine, but no channel signals were coming through. after about an hour of futzing around with that card, channel signals came alive and I could change channels and watch shows etc...

The same thing happened to the second card, and it took even longer to authenticate. The tech was at my house for nearly 3 hours. This tells me a few things...

1. Portions of CableCard technology isn't ready for primetime?
2. Comcast's end of CableCard technology isn't ready for primetime?
3. Comcast doesn't like TiVo and makes it difficult to get service setup in an orderly fashion?
4. Comcast just doesn't care enough to properly train tech's and CSR's in matters of Cablecards and or TiVo.

I close in saying that my TiVo is working properly with all channles coming through, and HD looking even better than what I was getting on my Motorola ComCrap HD DVR. I'm happy now, but I was getting really worried there this afternoon.

[email protected] said:

After four techs worked on the problem over two weeks, I e-mailed status to many goverment officials, tbs, Abt electronics, and tivo this morning. This problem helps in the serious push to allow competition among cable companies. I got a phone call from the Lt Govenor Quinn's office stating they forwarded my problem to Comcast.
This afternoon, a supertech came out and got it working.
The final problem was that tbs, msnbc and bet( channel 47, 39 and 61, resp) would only show a grey screen. It appeared to be some incorrect numbers in my account information. It took a long call with someone in the back office, not customer support, to get thing straightened out.
Now things are well. Comcast comp'ed me a little. I can watch the CUB's on TBS.
As the super tech was leaving another contracted, card switching, time consuming tech showed up. The supertech told him the problem was fixed.
I guess the squeaky wheels get the grease.
Good Luck.

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Which offices did you contact?

I have had a total of seven appointments and have one working CC. The first three they didn't bring any CC's. The fourth, they brought one M-card, which worked, but that was it. I gave up at that point and decided to gamble that the S# would get m-card support. I gave up on that idea several weeks ago and tried to order another card.

Three appointments later, no card. It's been pretty much the same story each time. The appointment window was from 1 to 5 on all three. On the first two, I got a call asking me if I wanted a box or a CC. I told them a CC. At a few minutes after 5 I got a call telling me that they were out of CC's and had to reschedule. The third appointment (last Friday) the guy showed up at about 3 with a dvr box and no CC's. He called his supervisor and was told that they had no cards and it would be 3 to 5 days for more. The installer left and I called comcast and got very angry. I was referred up the line and was told that I was number one on the priority list and I would be getting a call the next day from the install supervisor because they should be getting new cards in that day. Guess what? 8 days later and no call.

I've had it. I was thinking of contacting the Attorney Generals office and filing a complaint. Any other suggestions?

Sorry for the rant, but I feel better now that it's all out in the open!

Murf300 said:

The supervisor and technician showed up today and stayed about 1 1/2 hours and the first card is working on analog channels and the HD networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) but that is all. The second card is doing nothing. Doing the channel test all of the channels show in the header but there is no picture or sound coming up. The system recognizes the card and I was able to download new info for all of the digital channels but that is it. Hopefully they will come back tomorrow.

Click to expand...

I experienced exactly the same problem with my TivoHD and cable cards last night. I picked up two cards from my local comcast store, and went home. I called support, then put in the first card. The first card was a dud, and the Tivo kept reporting a error with the card. After a few tries, I removed the card and put in the second card I had. This card worked, or seemed to, and we were able to pair it. A few hours later I went back and checked my channels, I was only getting basic cable channels, nothing over channel 20, and the local HD channels on 104 thru 113. Since I had a few shows I wanted to record on SciFi channel (59) I pulled out the cablecard, and re did the guided setup. Now all is good again, with the analog signal. Today I'll return both cards, but I can't decide if i want to try two new cards, or just give up, and return the TivoHD to circuitcity since it is also experiencing random video blackout, which required a restart to fix. All I can say is that this sucks.

Folks,

Having someone at the House for install is NOT the issue.

Fundamentally, the Provisioning device which actually controls the programming of the CableCARDs resides in the Head-end or Data center. It is either a Scientific Atlanta or Motorola Provisioning device (Server) [Depending on your system], specifically designed to program conditional access devices in the field.

Unfortunately, except for the Cable Company's NETWORK Engineers, no other employee is EVER allowed to directly interface with these provisioning servers. (Same goes for Cable Modem DOCSIS provisioning servers).

That means that ALL employees from Dispatch to Installers MUST do all programming through the Cable Company's BILLING interface. Then, the BILLING interface is supposed to tell the ACTUAL provisioning server HOW to program your Conditional Access device.

This sometimes presents programming problems when there is a "disconnect" between the Cable Company's Billing system and the actual provisioning server.

Almost all of the time, this "disconnect" is caused by the INCORRECT billing codes being entered on the Account. In which case, the billing system is NOT correctly sending the right information to the actual provisioning server, and hence the device in the home does not work.

I have seen this NUMEROUS times with DOCSIS Cable Modem devices, as well as with my own TiVo S3 CableCARD installation.

For the CableCARD (Conditional Access) install, it appears that the folks entering info into the billing system have NOT been properly trained on the right billing codes, and this is the cause of most all the issues.

For CableCARD to work it has to have:

1.) Be paired correctly
Has to be paired with your device. So CC1 & CC2 must be paired with their appropriate slots on the TiVo

2.) Be authorized correctly
Cable Company has to authorize the cards and pairing. If this occurs right, then your channel map should be downloaded correctly to the card.

3.) Receive the correct channel authorizations.
Entitlement Management Messages (EMMs) tell the CableCARD which digital channels it is authorized to receive. For Basic digital cable, you may not need any EMMs. For expanded "tier" Cable and Premium channels, you will typically receive EMMs for channels outside of the "basic" tier. In some cases, the Cable Company could push out EMMs for every digital channel they offer, in others they may send NO EMMs (except for Premiums like HBO, MAX, etc). It is up to the Cable Operator how they want to manage their Entitlements. The point is, if you're not getting all the channels you are supposed to get, then most often it is because you're not getting all the EMMs to the CableCARD you are supposed to. A person looking at the Actual Conditional Access Provisioning Server would see why right away. But since all employees must interface through the BILLING System, the only way to fix the issue for you, is to try changing your billing codes...which are typically ALWAYS the reason you're not getting the channels you're supposed to get.

The difference between Cable Company distributed Set-Top boxes and TiVo CableCARD installs is that the Scientific Atlanta or Motorola Set-top is two way, and can talk back directly to the CA Provisioning server to "auto-correct" provisioning issues. Even so, Cable Companies can STILL have problems correctly provisioning these devices due to improper billing code entry in their BILLING system...

Which brings me to my point about a Tech being on site when they are trying to fix this. That tech is about as useful in the above situation as you are. Neither one of you can do anything except tell the person on the phone what the Auth status, EMM, PowerKEY, and ECM readings are, and if you're getting all the correct channels or not... It is then up to the person on the phone to correctly enter the right billing codes to make the CC work. Unfortunately, thus far it appears that proper "Billing code" training on CableCARDs is NOT taking place at the Cable Companies...

Barry