Comcast CableCARD Experience
This is a very old post; however, it is frequently read. There have been many updates since I posted this. The upshot is that it works!
Please take a look at the CableCARD topic of this site for all of the relevant posts.
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Let me just start out this post by stating that I am very frustrated with Comcast. The whole ordeal began with the purchase of a HDTV with a CableCARD slot. The FCC’s Plug and Play TV initiative aims to make the transition to digital television easier. They mandated (can not seem to find the mandate directly from the FCC. If anyone finds it, please post it as a comment below) that cable companies must allow for consumers to use CableCARDs instead of set top boxes if they so choose.
I called Comcast and they sent over a tech who had never been able to get a CableCARD to work. He handed me the card and said that I had to put it in. I inserted the card myself and he noted this on the work order sheet. He called dispatch to hit the card and it did not work. He then asked me if I would step outside of the house to talk to him. I thought this a little weird, but did it. He then started to tell me how the FCC requires them to have CableCARDs available to the customer, it does not require that they work. I have a feeling that he just did not know what he was talking about. The fact that he had me step outside of the house must be some kind of legal issue. He left the card and said to give it a few hours, and I asked him to give me his supervisor’s number which he did.
While the card was supposedly doing its thing, I called Toshiba, the manufacturer of the TV. They let me know that there was a problem with the firmware of the tv and sent me an upgrade. The CableCARD meanwhile never worked, and would not allow me to change the channels on the TV. I popped it out and decided I would just wait.
The upgrade arrived a week later. I installed it and with excitment inserted the card and asked that it be hit to start TV service. It did not work, and so I had them send out techs the next day and asked them to bring a few more CableCARDs for good measure.
Saturday:
I get a call from the techs. The shop is closed on the weekend and so they will not be able to bring more CalbeCARDs. I ask them to come anyhow and try to get the card working and to test signal strength. They arrive 1 1/2 hours after the end of their window of time. The signal stength is good. They cannot get the card working. At their suggestion I decided to use a bos until they could come with more CableCARDs. The first box they try does not work because it is for the wrong area. All they had was a DVR box, they assured me I would not be charged for the DVR and left.
Monday:
I called the supervisor and let him know that no one seems to be able to get the card working. He says that he’ll come tomorrow with a bunch of cards to see what he can do.
Tuesday:
The supervisor comes on-time and tries to get everything working. He eventually has to call the Comcast DAC for the area. This is a number he only knows because one of his wife’s friends works there. This is where we begin to find out about all the problems. The cards have all been coded for the wrong area. Comcast’s front-end at the 1-800 number, and at dispatch is not correctly talking to the backend. All of those hits never even reached the card despite the computers saying that they had been sent.
The DAC sends a hit and the card reboots. It then sends a command to reset the card to the correct area and the card reboots again. Despite all of this the card does not end up working. Feeling that we are ever closer to the solution, the tech says he’ll call tomorrow and we’ll fix it.
Wednesday:
He does not call, so I call and leave a polite voicemail asking him to please call me back, he does not.
Thursday:
I leave another message and ask him to please call, me. He does not.
Friday:
I’ve pretty much given up.
I write this post in the Cable Card experience thread at DSLReports.com. Below is that post:
The tech did not call the other day when he said he would, so I left a polite message asking him to please call. He did not. The next day I left another nice message asking him to call and did not. I am a bit fed up with this whole thing.
Here is my theory as to why this is happening everywhere that Comcast operates. (It seems to be much less of a problem for other cable providers.) Comcast obviously does not want subscribers using CableCARDs. They want to add many different pay services to their boxes. Since the CableCARDs are only one-way, they figure that they will be losing this potential source of revenue.
The FCC requires Comcast and other cable providers to allow their subscribers to use CableCARDs. Comcast figures that if they improperly implement the frontend computer systems, it will be hard for the FCC to prove their wrongdoing, and so frustrating for customers that they’ll give up and get the box.
The motive behind all this is just theory. The part about the front-end systems working incorrectly is absolutely true, at least in the Miami / Coral Gables area. There were multiple failings in my case:
1) Card was coded for different headend despite the techs asking for a Coral Gables CableCARD. The only way we found out was by calling the DAC. The tech only had the number to the DAC because one of his wife’s friends works there. In fact he says that he had never heard of the DAC before he met his wife’s friend.
2) Hits from dispatch and from 1-800-COMCAST were not even being sent out on the wire. The DAC checked and said the hits were not even reaching it. This means that the front-end systems were not sending out the hits, but were reporting that they had.
3) The account is likely coded incorrectly.
4) The techs have not been trained in the least about CableCARD operation. The supervisor / top-ranking tech in my area (the one who is not returning calls) said he had only gotten 1 working so far.
I don’t blame the techs for hating these things. I blame Comcast corporate. These practices need to be investigated by the FCC. Putting up these barriers is against the spirit and idea of the FCC mandate.
I will be drafting a couple of letters, and would like to know who to send them to. One will be my city franchise authority and the city council members. I am not sure who at the FCC should receive the letter. Are there any other relevant agencies to send this letter to?
It is unfair to the customer and the Comcast techs to set up your infrastructure incorrectly. Most customers probably get upset at the techs, and yell at them causing undue stress for both parties. I do not blame the techs. I would be pretty frustrated if time and time again I could not get these cards working. I would be especially upset if the problems were all caused by issues with their computer front-end systems that could easily be reprogrammed and solve a lot of grief. While making these changes they should also establish alternate procedures to get these cards working and send it out as a memo to all of the techs and dispatchers.
Comcast needs to get their act together, I would like to help nudge them in the right direction by alerting the proper authorities.
That about says it all.
May 21st, 2005 at 4:36 pm
My experience was very similar. It took Comcast five weeks to get a CableCARD working for me. I had lead techs and supervisors involved. I too suggested to Comcast the activation hits were not going through, even though their equipment said it was. Finally after trying seven different cards we tried one that had a serial number out of sequence with the others we had tried and it worked. The card worked well for about one month but as of about 10 days ago I get so many picture and sound break ups the CableCARD is not usable anymore.
July 12th, 2005 at 11:33 am
My experience in NJ echoes what has been stated above. At the moment, with the Comcast furnished Scientific Atlanta Cablecard in my Sharp Aquos set I can get analog channel 2. period. no digital, no hdtv, nada. The nightmare has been ongoing since last November. We did get things working for awhile but then software upgrades have introduced other problems. Comcast really is not interested, they will rent you there box, period. And, the FCC no longer handles cable complaints. But, i am fortunate to live in NJ where there is an “Office of Cable TV”. I have filed a complaint and the jury is out as to whether this state agency has the wherewithall to do anything about the issue.
Quite, frankly, the service reps at Comcast are neanderthal as they do not have even a basic understanding of a cable tv system. Further, the average service person is unequipped to handle cablecard issues and can splice cable and connect a cable box.
My only recourse appears to be simply not paying the bill.
In the meantime, I am investigating satellite and optical fiber offerigns through verizon. Hopefully, someday there will eb a choice. And, Comcast will not be one of them.
July 20th, 2005 at 3:15 pm
I am going throught the same thing with Comcast ATLANTA. We have tried 4 cards, numerous phone calls and numerous people in my house. I am in a brand new subdivision and everything out here is brand new.(PART OF THE PROBLEM) The techs have come out and got my broadband internet working. All of them state that the everything thing is good on the account and inside and out. The send hits and tell me that the card is getting the hits. When I was with Charter Cable. The guy was in my house for 5 minutes. He plugged the card in, called dispatch, the channels went out and came back in and everything was working fine. I told Comcast to call Charter to get some insight on how to get this this working.
November 1st, 2005 at 2:36 pm
Rest assured, Comcast has the technology implement the Cablecarfd system properly. However, they have no incentive to do so because limitations in the technolgy itself prevent them from charging for extending services like pay-per-view etc. When 2-way cablecards are release, 2 year plus, Comcast will be first in line at your door.
November 7th, 2006 at 9:10 pm
Now you guys got me worried!
My TiVo Series 3 just arrived today and I’m going to have to call Comcast and get them to install TWO CableCARDs. I hope that they have figured this stuff out by now and that I don’t go through the nightmares that you guys went through.
November 26th, 2006 at 9:03 pm
I was told by the sales guy who wants me to by the 3-Pack (phone, cable TV with Cable Internet), to just go in and get a card. They’re free… Went to the local Comcast office who said the sales guy was wrong, and it would be an install ($$). Secondly, they said they don’t like the cards, because they can’t hit (or update) the cards from the office. What’s in it for them you ask… They like the monthly 10 bucks, and they like the total control that the box gives them over the card… Just a theory…
November 27th, 2006 at 10:01 pm
I have had HD service for about 2 years and have been through 5 boxes. Tomorrow they are coming out to install #6. So wether the card or the box, Comcast really isn’t very reliable. I thought about the card when I had HD brought to the house but decided I didn’t need the headach of another item that they cannot keep working reliably. ( two week ago I was without internet for 3 days waiting for service to replace something in their box.)
I had Dish Network for 11 years with very few interruptions and was extremely satisfied with their service. Unfortunately the neighbors trees grew and closed my window.
Verizon cable isn’t in this area yet and I’m not sure that if they were they’d be the answer, but Comcast seriously needs some competition. They need to realize that WE PAY THEIR WAGES!!!
February 27th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
I am having the same problems as everyone else on this list. I have had techs here 6 times over the last four weeks and one cable card worked for two days.
Every tech comes and puts in a new card and then calls in to have the card “hit” to be programmed for my account and then a big nothing. The hit never happens and then card never works.
Does anyone have a success story and what was finally done to get the card working? How did you get Comcast off their a$$ to fix it?
June 5th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
It’s June 2007 and apparently they still haven’t worked out the kinks in NJ. Apparently, they don’t want to. I wish I had read this post before I got a cablecard… which doesn’t work. The guy installed it this morning and advised my wife to let the TV run in some weird blinking mode for up to 24 hours. Needless to say, I turned it off after about 7 hours and blasted the cable company for such insane behavior. This stinks. Looks the like cable company got us again.
July 2nd, 2007 at 2:39 pm
I had nearly the identical experience in Salt Lake City. I installed a cablecard when I purchased my Sony Grand Wega about a year ago, and it worked fine for several months. But then, at the same time Comcast was supposedly upgrading its service, the digital picture started breaking up and channels disappeared.
I called Comcast, and they told me the card was probably bad. I swapped it for another card, but that one didn’t work, either.
A technician came to the house and told me they have nothing but trouble with the cards and that I should get a settop box. I insisted on trying a couple of cards first. He had to look through a tutorial on his laptop before he could do what I had done with the first card–plug it in and wait for the channels to download. He called for help but the only person who knows anything about cablecards was not in. He never was able to get the cablecards to work.
I can understand that a cablecard might go bad, but I cannot believe Motorola is building nothing but nonfunctioning cablecards. The problem has to be in the installation and setup.
Now I have a set-top box, and a higher cable bill.
Comcast clearly has no incentive and apparently no intention to train its technicians on cablecards.
November 29th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
Has anyone had any bad experiences with Time Warner’s cablecards in the Southern California area? My theory is that they are deliberately cutting me off on a daily basis in order to drive me back to using a box, (I have to call each evening and have them send a signal)
December 20th, 2007 at 11:54 am
I live in Southwest Florida and just received a TIVO HD which needs one or two cable cards. Comcast does not have any cards in stock and no ETA on when they will get them. I am on a waiting list. Has anyone else had this problem.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Also having problems with the Cable Card. Have a Sony 42″ Rear Projection. Apparently, Comcast has 2 different cards. The OLDER one is the only one that will work with Sony. It worked perfectly for a week, then lost signal. I refreshed it, and it worked again for a week. That time frame has now gotten smaller and smaller, and now it requires a refesh once a day. I can NOT believe that they can’t get these to work reliably