# TWC installed today, brought CableCard but no tuner adapter!



## GameGuru (Dec 12, 2003)

When I called them back early last week when I found out I needed to make sure they are including a tuner adapter the told me they added it to the order for me. Fast forward to today and the installation guy told me it was on the order for him to install but they don't send those with the drivers, they are mailed to our home before the installation date. The rep on the phone said the install guy will have it. They shipped one out today and I should have it by the end of the week.

Question, can I just install the CableCard without the adapter and will I get any channels (at work now so can't try it) or do you need the adapter to get any channels?


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## Tico (Dec 10, 2002)

GameGuru said:


> When I called them back early last week when I found out I needed to make sure they are including a tuner adapter the told me they added it to the order for me. Fast forward to today and the installation guy told me it was on the order for him to install but they don't send those with the drivers, they are mailed to our home before the installation date. The rep on the phone said the install guy will have it. They shipped one out today and I should have it by the end of the week.
> 
> Question, can I just install the CableCard without the adapter and will I get any channels (at work now so can't try it) or do you need the adapter to get any channels?


You will get a lot of channels. Just not any that are "switched digital"


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## GameGuru (Dec 12, 2003)

Ok is there a list of channcels that are "switched digital" for TWC NEO?


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

GameGuru said:


> Ok is there a list of channcels that are "switched digital" for TWC NEO?


Not that I am aware of. With just the CableCard, you will get all of the major network local broadcast channels in HD for sure, and the more popular cable channels (i.e. ESPN, TNT, Discovery, etc) in HD as well. The less popular channels will probably only be available in SD or maybe not at all. Once you get the CableCard installed you will be able to tell.


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## BSUGrad (Jan 11, 2004)

This happened to me too. He installed it without the tuning adapter. I got a handful of channels without it. I luckily have a TW store within 15 minutes of my house, so I went and picked one up. It's annoying that they can't get it right when you tell them you have a TiVo.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Welcome to the wonderful world of TWC guys! Still providing this great service after TA's have been around for 7 years now. Supporting TiVo's is at best an afterthought in most TWC regions -- so get used to it.

If there is a TWC store that has TA's (check first) within driving distance, just go there and pick it up. You may wait forever for one to come in the mail.

In my TWC region about half the good HD channels are SDV and most of the telephone support people don't even know what SDV is, let alone which channels are SDV. (This is of no importance to the average customer.)


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## Vesper (Dec 19, 2001)

If you don't have a store within driving distance, call the Cable Card support line. They know exactly what you need and will ship one to you:

1-866-606-5889.

This is also the number to call to activate a cablecard/etc. Don't bother with regular numbers.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

The good thing about a tuning adapter on TWC is it can be activated at the TWC Store when you pick it up so there is no need for a truck roll.


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## 59er (Mar 27, 2008)

The systems that have unified HD/SD channel numbers also rely on the Tuning Adapter to auto-tune the HD version of the channels.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Vesper said:


> If you don't have a store within driving distance, call the Cable Card support line. They know exactly what you need and will ship one to you:
> 
> 1-866-606-5889.
> 
> This is also the number to call to activate a cablecard/etc. Don't bother with regular numbers.


I didn't know the national desk could ship TA's. But it's good general advice to call them regarding any CableCARD or TA issue. For many TWC regions they can look into your local account just like a local support rep could do -- the difference being the national desk actually knows something about TiVo's, CC and TA.

BTW, the most current number for the national desk is: 1-866-532-2598. The old number still rings through to the current one, last I knew, but that may not work forever. (They moved from NC to Buffalo NY a year or two ago.)


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## gkottner (Jun 5, 2010)

I had replied in one of your other posts with what I get with the standard package with a cable card only ( _Roamio arriving wednesday and I have Time Warner, do I need a tuning adapter?_ ). If you have a higher level package, this may not be the case, but basically there were just some channels that only were accessible in SD channels and not in HD. Hope that helps.


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## PCurry57 (Feb 27, 2012)

dlfl said:


> Welcome to the wonderful world of TWC guys! Still providing this great service after TA's have been around for 7 years now. Supporting TiVo's is at best an afterthought in most TWC regions -- so get used to it.
> 
> If there is a TWC store that has TA's (check first) within driving distance, just go there and pick it up. You may wait forever for one to come in the mail.
> 
> In my TWC region about half the good HD channels are SDV and most of the telephone support people don't even know what SDV is, let alone which channels are SDV. (This is of no importance to the average customer.)


TWC doesn't want using your own box, they would prefer top gouge you renting their box. So they have no motivation top make it easy our smooth for that matter.


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## GameGuru (Dec 12, 2003)

Update:

I received my tuner adapter yesterday. In the box was the tuner adapter and power cord, no instructions at all. I took the cable from the wall and connected it to the Cable In and hooked a cable from the Cable Out to the Tivo. Powered it on and after a half hour of the light blinking and no channels I decided to call Time Warner in case it needed activated (again no documentation so I had no idea).

Rep #1. Spoke with a woman who took me through all the trouble shooting (connecting, disconnecting cables, power cycling, sending reboot signals to the CableCard and tuner adapter. She determined I needed the CableCard specialists (why I wasn't sent there right away I don't know) and she transferred me to a gentleman (Rep #2) who for some reason couldn't hear me and said he was disconnecting because no one was there. Argh.

Rep #3. Another female. I explained the first call and that I was transferred to a CableCard specialist and asked if she could reconnect me. Nope, she needed to go through it all. After a half hour of troubleshooting and he asking me what channels I am not getting she concluded by saying that a tuner adapter will not get those HD channels, they are only available with a cable box. I said that isn't right, I was told I could get the channels with a tuner adapter but she was adamant about it and said I could only get those channels with a cable box (those channels by the way were SYFYHD, MTVHD, VH1HD, AMCHD, FUSEHD etc). Yeah I should get them. Ended call and called back.

Rep #4. I started off explaining the first two calls and the rep agreed and transferred me to the the CableCard specialist.

Rep #5. Was cold transferred (argh) so I re-iterated my previous four calls. He started troubleshooting and got to the point of checking the USB cable between the tuner adapter and the Tivo. USB cable? He said yes, it won't work without it. I said the only thing in the box was the adapter and power cable, no USB. He said it is a printer USB cable and asked if I had a spare. I had several so when and got one, plugged it in and VOILA CHANNELS.

The first four reps mentioned nothing about a USB cable and one wasn't included. ARGH.


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## Huzordaddy (Jan 10, 2012)

GameGuru said:


> Update:
> 
> I received my tuner adapter yesterday. In the box was the tuner adapter and power cord, no instructions at all. I took the cable from the wall and connected it to the Cable In and hooked a cable from the Cable Out to the Tivo. Powered it on and after a half hour of the light blinking and no channels I decided to call Time Warner in case it needed activated (again no documentation so I had no idea).
> 
> ...


It might have been faster to just post the problem on this forum. I'm in TWC NEO territory and getting the tuning adapter delivered was also a pain for me. The good news is that after it arrived I got all my channels, and I only have to reboot the tuning adapter every few weeks. I actually live around the corner from a TWC office but they wouldn't let me pick up the tuning adapter, it had to be mailed from Akron or something.


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## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

GameGuru,

Why in the world did you punish yourself by trying to deal with local support after being clued in to the national help desk in posts #7 and 10 here?


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

dlfl said:


> Why in the world did you punish yourself by trying to deal with local support after being clued in to the national help desk in posts #7 and 10 here?


masochist?


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

dlfl said:


> GameGuru, Why in the world did you punish yourself by trying to deal with local support after being clued in to the national help desk in posts #7 and 10 here?


Or better yet, why not search these very forums for TA installation procedures?


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## meoge (Oct 8, 2008)

Give the guy a break. He posted a question about TA's as soon as he realized he needed them. He even posted an updated to let us know what happened when it arrived. If you've never used a TA before it would be easy to not realize you needed the USB cable.


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## jbenda (Nov 16, 2007)

I had twc installed at a new house I moved into about a month ago. The house was brand new so cable needed to be ran to the house. I let tw know this so they would be sure to have cable for the install. Surprise, they showed up without enough cable to run from the box in the corner of my lot to the house, a distance of about 60ft. The installer comes to me wanting to reschedule the install. I said no and they went back and got the cable. You'd think the cable company would always have cable on their truck?


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

jbenda said:


> I had twc installed at a new house I moved into about a month ago. The house was brand new so cable needed to be ran to the house. I let tw know this so they would be sure to have cable for the install. Surprise, they showed up without enough cable to run from the box in the corner of my lot to the house, a distance of about 60ft. The installer comes to me wanting to reschedule the install. I said no and they went back and got the cable. You'd think the cable company would always have cable on their truck?


I think the underground coax cable is different from the cable that they use everywhere else. It would make sense that they didn't always have the underground cable on the truck.


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## ncted (May 13, 2007)

tarheelblue32 said:


> I think the underground coax cable is different from the cable that they use everywhere else. It would make sense that they didn't always have the underground cable on the truck.


When I had TWC installed at my new house in 2012, the installer ran a temporary cable (standard RG6 from what I could tell) from the box on the street. The guy who came later to bury the cable replaced the temp cable with something different. I agree that the installer should have had what he needed on the truck.

-Ted


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

jbenda said:


> I had twc installed at a new house I moved into about a month ago. The house was brand new so cable needed to be ran to the house. I let tw know this so they would be sure to have cable for the install. Surprise, they showed up without enough cable to run from the box in the corner of my lot to the house, a distance of about 60ft. The installer comes to me wanting to reschedule the install. I said no and they went back and got the cable. You'd think the cable company would always have cable on their truck?


The installers that do home installations are not the same ones that run cable to the house in most cases. Like was said earlier, a sometimes they can run temporary cable until it can be run underground but not always.


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## jbenda (Nov 16, 2007)

I knew they needed different cable which is why I was sure to let them know that the house would need cable ran to it when I setup the appointment. The cable they ran was left unburied for about a week.


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