# Tivo bolt and Comcast. What a nightmare



## gdog2004 (May 23, 2015)

I just got my Tivo Bolt and just got Concast. What a nightmare it has been trying to get them to pair it with the cablecard. I KNOW the cablecard works (as the one screen that gives the information as to whether its successfully paired has all the right values) and yet it hangs at 89% when trying to acquire the channels. This is on them and after 5 days they are pretty much refusing to fix it. Meanwhile they have pushed relentlessly to sign me up for X1 service. 
i feel I need to complain to the FCC or something because it cant be THAT hard to pair the card. Its ridiculous.


----------



## thyname (Dec 27, 2010)

gdog2004 said:


> I just got my Tivo Bolt and just got Concast. What a nightmare it has been trying to get them to pair it with the cablecard. I KNOW the cablecard works (as the one screen that gives the information as to whether its successfully paired has all the right values) and yet it hangs at 89% when trying to acquire the channels. This is on them and after 5 days they are pretty much refusing to fix it. Meanwhile they have pushed relentlessly to sign me up for X1 service.
> i feel I need to complain to the FCC or something because it cant be THAT hard to pair the card. Its ridiculous.


https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=33794


----------



## mnr (May 3, 2013)

We also went through a lot of cablecards trying to get Comcast up and going here. They finally discovered an old filter on the line outside the house and way far away on the incoming line that was preventing the signal from coming through. Once they removed that, we were up and running. I think we traded out 5 cablecards in both a Premiere and a Bolt before they finally sent a real person back out to the house to troubleshoot. They replaced all the incoming cable as well, but it really was the old filter that had caused all the issues.


----------



## gdog2004 (May 23, 2015)

mnr said:


> We also went through a lot of cablecards trying to get Comcast up and going here. They finally discovered an old filter on the line outside the house and way far away on the incoming line that was preventing the signal from coming through. Once they removed that, we were up and running. I think we traded out 5 cablecards in both a Premiere and a Bolt before they finally sent a real person back out to the house to troubleshoot. They replaced all the incoming cable as well, but it really was the old filter that had caused all the issues.


I'm glad it worked for you. My house is brand new though. so its not an old filter. Their overall incompetence is astounding.


----------



## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

Comcast is rumored to have an online cable card pairing web page. If you can find it, you might try that since you have a much greater incentive to transcribe the various numbers correctly than the tech at the other end of a phone trying to understand the numbers you read off to them.


----------



## worachj (Oct 14, 2006)

XFINITY CableCARDTM activation & pairing

https://activatecablecard.xfinity.com/cablecardactivate/


----------



## gdog2004 (May 23, 2015)

Thanks for the replies guys. I FINALLY called in and got someone competent who was able to tell I was on the wrong head end. He also sent a re initialization signal to my box and that made it work. 
On a side note, man what a garbage cable service comcast is. Supposedly I have "showtime" and they give you ONE showtime channel in HD. ONE. What a rip. I was with RCN prior to this and you got every showtime channel there is in HD.


----------



## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Glad you got it going. Should be able to get all SHO in HD(-ish) via Showtime Anytime app, assuming Comcast lets you login.


----------



## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

gdog2004 said:


> On a side note, man what a garbage cable service comcast is. Supposedly I have "showtime" and *they give you ONE showtime channel in HD. ONE.* What a rip. I was with RCN prior to this and you got every showtime channel there is in HD.


Yeah, that's been a gripe of mine, as well, but the fact that anything on the premium channels is likely always available through Xfinity On Demand for TiVo app eases my pain. I've ended-up setting recording OnePasses only for the high priority premium shows that I want to watch fairly close to their original air date, and setup secondary premium shows as Streaming-only OnePasses.

The XOD4TiVo app plays the premium on demand content commercial free and allows navigation, unlike the on demand content for non-premium cable channels.


----------



## wish_bgr (Jul 19, 2014)

mdavej said:


> Glad you got it going. Should be able to get all SHO in HD(-ish) via Showtime Anytime app, assuming Comcast lets you login.


SHO Anytime app allows for SHO HD East and SHO HD West feeds, live. I haven't seen the sub-channels in HD unless you're on another MSO provider other than Comcast


----------



## mdavej (Aug 13, 2015)

Cool. I didn't know Live was even an option. But can you not access the full catalog in HD at any time, hence the name?


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

gdog2004 said:


> .......
> 
> On a side note, man what a garbage cable service comcast is. Supposedly I have "showtime" and they give you ONE showtime channel in HD. ONE. What a rip. I was with RCN prior to this and you got every showtime channel there is in HD.


It's worse! Have you gotten a gander at this:

https://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=10950114#post10950114


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

worachj said:


> XFINITY CableCARDTM activation & pairing
> 
> Welcome Page


This sight will not let you change from one cable card host to another, if you get a new TiVo and want to move your cable card to the new TiVo from the old TiVo this sight will not work.


----------



## notrhj (Oct 25, 2016)

lessd said:


> This sight will not let you change from one cable card host to another, if you get a new TiVo and want to move your cable card to the new TiVo from the old TiVo this sight will not work.


Im in the same boat with a Premier 4 going to a Bolt.
The site had everything correct But received:
We're Sorry!
This tool does not currently support changing host information
Please Call 1-877-405-2298 for further assistance


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

I would just get a new cablecard from them, pair it online, then return the old one after everything is good to go.


----------



## notrhj (Oct 25, 2016)

HarperVision said:


> I would just get a new cablecard from them, pair it online, then return the old one after everything is good to go.


They wear you down
Local office won't hand over a card - the tech will bring it on a truck roll, week wait and charge.
Self install kit - none in stock will ship from Philadelphia - we'll let you know. 
So call card experts - explain - unpair from Premier Host - remove
Install in Bolt - Pass along new Numbers - Pair - Paired 
Or at least that's the plan next week.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

HarperVision said:


> I would just get a new cablecard from them, pair it online, then return the old one after everything is good to go.


Why not just the phone for Comcast cable card move ?? 877-405-2298


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

notrhj said:


> They wear you down
> Local office won't hand over a card - the tech will bring it on a truck roll, week wait and charge.
> .......


That's against FCC regulations. They have to allow self installs. Threaten to file a complaint if they don't give you one.

Agree that calling their national cablecard hotline is best for now, to move the card over.


----------

