# 8 Calls to Comcast and CableCard is still broken



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

I recently moved (temporarily) from a location on one Comcast system to a location on another Comcast system that has existing Comcast service. The old system worked fine with CableCard, I figured it would be a phone call (or three), and I'd be up and running on the new system, with a few extra channels to boot (old location was a ~600mhz Sci Atlanta system from the late '70's, the new location is an 860mhz Moto system rebuilt in 2011).

I called and paired the card, or so I thought. The card was authorized, and worked OK for Digital Starter channels, but not for Preferred or HBO. So I called back. And back and back. After call 7 of not being able to handle the pairing of a CableCard to a TiVo, they told me to go get a new CableCard because there wasn't anything else they could do.

So Call 8 was to pair the CableCard. Shouldn't be a big deal, right? Now I have NOTHING. Every single channel V58's out.

What on earth is so wrong at Comcast that they can't handle the simple task of pairing a CableCard and a TiVo? I thought that this level of sheer incompetence was the sole domain of Verizon, but I guess not.

Tomorrow will be call #9.


----------



## PSU_Sudzi (Jun 4, 2015)

Your TiVo box host ID might still be linked to your old account with Comcast. I had a heck of a time getting them to pair up my old Moxi DVR when I gave it to my mom and tried to add it to her account. Swapping cable cards out too sometimes helps, I've been down that road many times with them.


----------



## Linderhof (Jun 5, 2015)

You really need to persist to make sure you get to a level of support where they know what they are doing.


----------



## SueAnn (Oct 24, 2004)

TiVo has excellent support information that Comcast doesn't know (at least the guys I dealt with setting up our TiVo didn't know) once we had the TiVo rep on a conference call with Comcast rep our cable cards authorized correctly without a truck roll.


----------



## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

Did you call the cable card hotline?

1 877 405 2298


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

I've mostly been using the CableCard line, although I've called 1-800-Comcast once or twice too. The CableCard line knows the process, at least by script, a lot better than the front line reps who seem to be like "a CableWHAT?". The problem is, the CableCard line seems to be in India, and seem to be on a script. The 1-800-Comcast ones are a lot better at customer service, although they don't know a whole lot about CableCards.

The old account was around for a day while I tried calling the first few times, but after that, it was gone, so that shouldn't be an issue any longer. And now it doesn't work at all, so that's not even an issue, as you don't need them paired to get Digital Starter channels, you just need a CableCard that's authorized, which apparently I don't have at the moment.

I'll call them again tomorrow and see what I can get. It's just amazing how incompetent they are. TiVo can't help, as it's not their issue, it's a Comcast issue, plain and simple. Comcast needs to authorize and pair the card, and as of yet, they haven't been able to get out of their own way in doing something so simple.

I'm not paying for a truck roll, so if they want to send someone out to do the same thing that they are doing over the phone, it's going to have to be on their dime. CableCards aren't exactly rocket science, this should have been done a week ago with a 5 minute phone call. Heck, they should have online activation of these things. It's not that hard.


----------



## LoadStar (Jul 24, 2001)

Just to be clear: you're not trying to use the same cablecard from your old location in your new one, are you?


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

Bigg said:


> I'm not paying for a truck roll, so if they want to send someone out to do the same thing that they are doing over the phone, it's going to have to be on their dime. CableCards aren't exactly rocket science, this should have been done a week ago with a 5 minute phone call. Heck, they should have online activation of these things. It's not that hard.


You won't pay for the roll but that's the only way I got my card paired properly when I upgraded from Premiere to Roamio a year ago. Using the same card, I also couldn't get the premiums because the national folks cannot access the local DB to fix the data ID pairing issue. Once the tech came out it was a simple 5 minute explanation of the problem (along with the mandatory outside signal level check) then he called someone at local dispatch and she fixed the problem right away.

Give it a shot, yeah it sucks but you already know they're a collection of local fiefdoms anyway.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

LoadStar said:


> Just to be clear: you're not trying to use the same cablecard from your old location in your new one, are you?


No, I am not. The old one was Sci Atlanta, the new one is Moto. Not even sure if they could cross from one system to another even if they were both Sci Atlanta or both Moto. The only time I have kept the CC was when I moved from one side of town on my old system to the other side of town on the old system, and that worked fine.



slowbiscuit said:


> You won't pay for the roll but that's the only way I got my card paired properly when I upgraded from Premiere to Roamio a year ago. Using the same card, I also couldn't get the premiums because the national folks cannot access the local DB to fix the data ID pairing issue. Once the tech came out it was a simple 5 minute explanation of the problem (along with the mandatory outside signal level check) then he called someone at local dispatch and she fixed the problem right away.
> 
> Give it a shot, yeah it sucks but you already know they're a collection of local fiefdoms anyway.


That's interesting. And there's probably no way to get a local support person on the phone, so they have to roll a truck to do that? At the moment, they can't even get the CableCard activated in the first place. I should have just given up before when I had Digital Starter, since I'll hopefully only be here for a few months, and there is another Comcast DVR here that has HBO (soon to be replaced with an X1 box).


----------



## babina (May 2, 2002)

We had the V58 issue on Cablevision -- after two calls I got it resolved -- our account did not have the proper "Host ID" recorded.

It won't let me link to my post -- search on "v58 cablevision" and possibly "host id" to find my post (just made it a few minutes ago)


----------



## reneg (Jun 19, 2002)

I'd send an email to [email protected]. I've gotten good responses from this team as it is a Comcast corporate support team and not the local people.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Just swapped out for a 3rd card, and called in for call #10. The CableCard line is useless, as their script doesn't work. Going to try call #11 to 1-800-Comcast, and try to escalate. This is utterly ridiculous that they can't get their act together.

This CableCard, weirdly enough, provides Limited Basic, and nothing more. The account is an X1 Triple Play bundle, and it has at least Preferred and HBO, I think it might have Premiere, not sure.

I'll try comcastcares if this doesn't work.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Call #11, the guy definitely knew what he was talking about, but he said that a lot of the cards just don't work right, and that a truck roll would just bring a tech with a box of cards to swap them out one after the next after the next. Because they couldn't schedule a tech soon enough, he said to just go to the service center, add like 10 CableCards to the account, and try them until I find one that works.

Great. This is how Comcast is dealing with CableCards? Swap them until you find one that works? This is ridiculous. Don't they have a way of testing them or something?


----------



## dlfl (Jul 6, 2006)

Bigg said:


> ......
> Great. This is how Comcast is dealing with CableCards? Swap them until you find one that works? This is ridiculous. Don't they have a way of testing them or something?


Sure they do. They apply that testing to the cards incorporated in their STB's and DVR's. As the boss in "Joe and The Volcano" said: "I know they *can* do it, but *will* they do it?".  Didn't you notice the hundreds of posts on this forum detailing the evils of Cable cos support of CableCARD (and not to mention, Tuning Adapters)?

I've had my share of headaches -- good luck with yours. The Cable cos have absolutely no incentive to improve this.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Bigg said:


> Call #11, the guy definitely knew what he was talking about, but he said that a lot of the cards just don't work right, and that a truck roll would just bring a tech with a box of cards to swap them out one after the next after the next. Because they couldn't schedule a tech soon enough, he said to just go to the service center, add like 10 CableCards to the account, and try them until I find one that works. Great. This is how Comcast is dealing with CableCards? Swap them until you find one that works? This is ridiculous. Don't they have a way of testing them or something?


It's total BS. It's NOT the cards that are at fault. It is a provisioning, activation, billing and/or pairing issue.....guaranteed.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

dlfl said:


> Sure they do. They apply that testing to the cards incorporated in their STB's and DVR's. As the boss in "Joe and The Volcano" said: "I know they *can* do it, but *will* they do it?".  Didn't you notice the hundreds of posts on this forum detailing the evils of Cable cos support of CableCARD (and not to mention, Tuning Adapters)?
> 
> I've had my share of headaches -- good luck with yours. The Cable cos have absolutely no incentive to improve this.


Yeah, true. I just thought Comcast would be better since they don't use SDV, support TiVo more than they are required by federal law (i.e. XoD), and aren't overly onerous with copy flagging.



HarperVision said:


> It's total BS. It's NOT the cards that are at fault. It is a provisioning, activation, billing and/or pairing issue.....guaranteed.


That's what I thought too. But then why is a tech's solution to have a "box of CableCards" and keep trying them until one works? That kind of made sense when I had Digital Starter. But then I get nothing and then Limited Basic? It's just bizarre.


----------



## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

I see you saying that you're calling the CableCARD line at Comcast, but I'm not seeing that you called the Tier 2 line that actually has intelligent people on it 
"Comcast Tier 2 CableCard Support: 1-877-761-5015"

My Dad just swapped a CableCARD yesterday and talked to the -2298 folks and he says they were totally and completely useless during a 30 minute call, he called the tier 2 line and was up and running in under 5 minutes.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Bigg said:


> Yeah, true. I just thought Comcast would be better since they don't use SDV, support TiVo more than they are required by federal law (i.e. XoD), and aren't overly onerous with copy flagging. That's what I thought too. But then why is a tech's solution to have a "box of CableCards" and keep trying them until one works? That kind of made sense when I had Digital Starter. But then I get nothing and then Limited Basic? It's just bizarre.


Because if the cards aren't provisioned correctly in their system this can happen, so they haphazardly swap cards in and out until they accidentally find one that's properly provisioned.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

HarperVision said:


> Because if the cards aren't provisioned correctly in their system this can happen, so they haphazardly swap cards in and out until they accidentally find one that's properly provisioned.


A good tech has a secret Comcast number he can call that connects him with someone that can re-provision the cable card, I had to have a truck roll once because I though the cable card was NG, this tech called that number and then my Roamio said the card was removed from the unit (it was still in the Roamio) than the card was built up from that point and all worked great.


----------



## just4fn44 (Dec 28, 2006)

I went thru the same thing. I had to have a comcast tech come out and he made his secret phone call and he had it working in about 5 minutes. He said they were trying to pair it to the wrong type of TIVO box. It did take a tech to come out and fix it.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

just4fn44 said:


> I went thru the same thing. I had to have a comcast tech come out and he made his secret phone call and he had it working in about 5 minutes. He said they were trying to pair it to the wrong type of TIVO box. It did take a tech to come out and fix it.


Not if you pester them enough or are lucky enough to get the properly trained person on the phone yourself first, before their incompetence makes them schedule a tech visit.


----------



## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

HarperVision said:


> Not if you pester them enough or are lucky enough to get the properly trained person on the phone yourself first, before their incompetence makes them schedule a tech visit.


Sometimes that is just not true because the person at 877-405-2298 can't zero out the cable card (that what the tech told me) only the person from the secret number can do that, and for some reason some cards have to have that done, as to the type of TiVo the card is in, that bull as I have changed many TiVo cable cards (successfully) without ever being asked what TiVo it is/was in. Sometimes the card gets screwed up, then you need the secret number person, that only a tech can call.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

lessd said:


> Sometimes that is just not true because the person at 877-405-2298 can't zero out the cable card (that what the tech told me) only the person from the secret number can do that, and for some reason some cards have to have that done, as to the type of TiVo the card is in, that bull as I have changed many TiVo cable cards (successfully) without ever being asked what TiVo it is/was in. Sometimes the card gets screwed up, then you need the secret number person, that only a tech can call.


I've gotten that "secret person" on the phone myself many times. It just takes persistence and knowledge.


----------



## reneg (Jun 19, 2002)

Bigg said:


> ....
> 
> I'll try comcastcares if this doesn't work.


If it's still not working, try the comcastcares route. Even if it is working, I'd let comcastcares know what a terrible experience you had and you might get some sort of compensation for your troubles.


----------



## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

HarperVision said:


> I've gotten that "secret person" on the phone myself many times. It just takes persistence and knowledge.


or the phone number I posted up a few posts


----------



## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

Please tell me you are also filing FCC complaints with your experiences. Anyone who has problems with CableCARDs or tuning adapters needs to be doing this.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

dianebrat said:


> I see you saying that you're calling the CableCARD line at Comcast, but I'm not seeing that you called the Tier 2 line that actually has intelligent people on it
> "Comcast Tier 2 CableCard Support: 1-877-761-5015"
> 
> My Dad just swapped a CableCARD yesterday and talked to the -2298 folks and he says they were totally and completely useless during a 30 minute call, he called the tier 2 line and was up and running in under 5 minutes.


-2298 is India, and they are great at their script- until they run off of their script and then they're hosed. -5015 won't do CableCards. I called them and they referred me to -2298, and didn't have any answer when I told them that -2298 is on a script and is useless.



HarperVision said:


> Because if the cards aren't provisioned correctly in their system this can happen, so they haphazardly swap cards in and out until they accidentally find one that's properly provisioned.


If they can't provision them, then how would a random one be provisioned correctly?



innocentfreak said:


> Please tell me you are also filing FCC complaints with your experiences. Anyone who has problems with CableCARDs or tuning adapters needs to be doing this.


Should I do that without a truck roll? I mean technically federal law requires the option of self-installation, but I feel like that would give them an easy out.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

I'm at 15 phone calls in case anyone was wondering.


----------



## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

I would definitely report it since it shouldn't be this difficult. The worst thing that happens is the higher ups get involved. At the very least the FCC has another report that things still aren't working like they should.


----------



## break19 (May 21, 2015)

Bigg said:


> Yeah, true. I just thought Comcast would be better since they don't use SDV, support TiVo more than they are required by federal law (i.e. XoD), and aren't overly onerous with copy flagging.
> 
> That's what I thought too. But then why is a tech's solution to have a "box of CableCards" and keep trying them until one works? That kind of made sense when I had Digital Starter. But then I get nothing and then Limited Basic? It's just bizarre.


Ex cable guy here. Different company.

Same deal, when we would have the rare cablecard install or repair, we would be sure to take several of them just in case... We hated them because we had no way, in-house, of testing them.... With a box, we could put it on a testing account and plug it in and see if the channels work... We didnt have any TVs or tivos we could pair a card with....


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

I filed an FCC complaint and emailed Comcastcares. We'll see what comes out of it. Hopefully something. This is just the most ridiculous and maddening process that I've just about ever had to pursue.


----------



## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

Bigg said:


> ......... If they can't provision them, then how would a random one be provisioned correctly? .......


I'm not saying none of them are provisioned correctly, just that only some of them are due to mostly incompetent or poorly trained employees when it comes to CCs, as you're experiencing now. As the old sayings go, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile and even a busted clock is right twice a day! 

Edit to add:

Or this!:



break19 said:


> Ex cable guy here. Different company. Same deal, when we would have the rare cablecard install or repair, we would be sure to take several of them just in case... We hated them because we had no way, in-house, of testing them.... With a box, we could put it on a testing account and plug it in and see if the channels work... We didnt have any TVs or tivos we could pair a card with....


----------



## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Bigg said:


> -2298 is India, and they are great at their script- until they run off of their script and then they're hosed. -5015 won't do CableCards. I called them and they referred me to -2298, and didn't have any answer when I told them that -2298 is on a script and is useless.


I don't know what to say, Dad called them Saturday and -5015 resolved his pairing issue in 5 minutes.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

dianebrat said:


> I don't know what to say, Dad called them Saturday and -5015 resolved his pairing issue in 5 minutes.


Maybe they have it routed to somewhere else off-hours? They just flatly told me that they don't work on CableCards.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

I got a call from Comcast, they are insisting on rolling a truck, because apparently they are too inept to connect me to a higher tier support for CableCard. Unbelievable. So now it's going to be at least 3 weeks since I started until I actually have a working TiVo again.

The person at the store did email "tech ops" about it, and is going to have them take a look at it in the meantime and see if there is anything they can do to fix it.

There may well have been a bad CableCard or two in there, but after swapping a bunch of them in and out to no avail, there has to be something else going on. The problem is that their support is useless, there is no way that I can figure out to get to a higher level tech, and the CableCard line is useless.

The problem is, there is no way that I can figure out to force them to comply with 76.1205(b)(1), which requires the allowance of self-installation of CableCards, because their systems don't seem to be set up to do more than extremely rudimentary troubleshooting or tech support for them without forcing a truck roll.


----------



## slowbiscuit (Sep 19, 2006)

I already told you that a truck roll was required (that you won't pay for) and you've heard that from others here. Being stubborn about this wasted your time more than anything else.

Yes, they suck but you have to play their game and that often includes a useless tech visit because he knows who to call and you don't. Most times card activation is not that bad but on these edge cases it's all you can do.


----------



## Mustanger (Jun 10, 2015)

Hi guy's, first post here. I got a new system about a month ago and initial paring seemed to go OK at first. Then I started getting these problems and found a number in a post, I believe it was on this forum, to a dedicated Comcast TiVo department 1-855-484-1453. They determined the local office had given me the wrong card for our TiVo's, they had given me an 802 and ours require either an 800 or 801. Once I got the correct card an Engineer still had to do a few things on their end, but I no longer have the problems.


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Finally got it resolved after 15 phone calls, and eventually, 3 weeks after I first tried to activate, a truck roll.

Comcast never did address the actual issue of my complaint, which was their *self-install *process not working properly. Basically, _as far as I can tell_, Comcast is not currently compliant with 76.1205(b)(1).


----------



## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

slowbiscuit said:


> I already told you that a truck roll was required (that you won't pay for) and you've heard that from others here. Being stubborn about this wasted your time more than anything else.


They should comply with FCC rules, but I guess they are too inept to do that, and the regulators too weak to slam them for it.


----------



## jdsnov73 (Dec 30, 2007)

Bigg said:


> Finally got it resolved after 15 phone calls, and eventually, 3 weeks after I first tried to activate, a truck roll.


Any clue on what they did to get this done over the phone vs a truck roll?

I am having the SAME issue. I went to the service center to pickup a cable card and upgrade my service. Took nearly an hour for the lady to get a cable card to be added to my account. I left, and got a call about an hour later stating the card given to me won't work, and I need to come back for a new card. Went back the following day, took nearly another hour, but left with a cable card.

My Roamio showed up that same day, Tuesday. Got it setup and called to activate the card. Only get Limited Basic channels, SD and HD versions.

The lady originally included the HD Tech Fee to my account on the first day, but I insisted I don't need or want it. She wouldn't remove it, stating if it's not on their I won't get the HD channels. The next day when I went back for the new card, I talked her into removing it (at my risk of no HD channels and I'd add it back on later if needed). Thankfully she did remove it, and I get HD channels, but only in the Limited Basic section.

So, I have spent the past 2 nights on the phone re-pairing time and time again, yet only Limited Basic channels show up, and all others get the V58 error.

Any input that I could try before my truck roll on Tuesday would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks


----------



## jlb (Dec 13, 2001)

dianebrat said:


> I see you saying that you're calling the CableCARD line at Comcast, but I'm not seeing that you called the Tier 2 line that actually has intelligent people on it
> "Comcast Tier 2 CableCard Support: 1-877-761-5015"
> 
> My Dad just swapped a CableCARD yesterday and talked to the -2298 folks and he says they were totally and completely useless during a 30 minute call, he called the tier 2 line and was up and running in under 5 minutes.


Thanks for the number. I've put it in my contacts for future use. Barring a need for a new machine, our potential need is if we "downsize" our home when my daughter goes to college next year. But the locations we would look would all be on the same Comcast system, so there should be nothing to do for Comcast except change our address in the system......


----------



## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

HarperVision said:


> It's total BS. It's NOT the cards that are at fault. It is a provisioning, activation, billing and/or pairing issue.....guaranteed.


I could not agree more, the really irritating thing is that there are people in the company who know exactly what to do to fix these issues and I would bet a substantial amount that every tip they use could be typed on a single page and easily distributed to all of their service employees, but this never ever happens. I wonder why? It almost seems like they want to discourage the use of customer owned equipment or at least it seems they have no great incentive to support it as they make more money if you rent theirs.

PS. Please file the FCC complaint, if everyone who had a cc issue did these companies might just figure out how to really support cable cards.


----------

