# Time-Warner self install M-Cards?



## Tony Chick (Jun 20, 2002)

I'm thinking of ditching DirecTV for economic reasons and going with a Tivo Premiere and TW cable which I already have in the house. Will TWC let me just pick up an M-Card at the office and install it myself or does it still need a truck-roll?.


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## filmont (Jun 29, 2008)

Long answer (skip to short if you don't appreciate sarcasm):

You'd think that you would be able to pick up a card and install it yourself seeing how easy it appears to be. But apparently, it's a very technical and sophisticated process where there needs to be a certified technician with delicate kid gloves to gently caress the card into it's slot and sweet-talk TWC's mega-sophisticated cable system into allowing your Tivo the privilege/honor to speak with it. But alas, that is but a land of fairy tales and gumdrops since it was not to be!

Short answer:

They won't let you do it. I've lived in both the Columbus and Dayton, OH markets and they have always required a truck roll. It sucks, but oh well!


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## Johnwashere (Sep 17, 2005)

I live in Columbus, Ohio and like the other poster said- they wont let you pick it up. They told me they don't trust their customers to do it. It took 2 techs about 2-3 hours for them to pair my cable card and TA. They also charge you $20 for the truck roll.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Johnwashere said:


> I live in Columbus, Ohio and like the other poster said- they wont let you pick it up. They told me they don't trust their customers to do it. It took 2 techs about 2-3 hours for them to pair my cable card and TA. They also charge you $20 for the truck roll.


$20 for a truck roll is very reasonable. Of course free is better, but FiOS typically charges $79 for a truck roll, although not for cable cards.


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## Tony Chick (Jun 20, 2002)

Thanks guys, I guess I'll just stand back and watch in awe as the pros do it.


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## Tony Chick (Jun 20, 2002)

Well strike 1 for Time-Warner, after sitting here for 2 hours waiting for my scheduled appointment, they called to say they are out of cable cards and won't get any for at least a week. Really?, a company the size of Time-Warner SoCal cable is "out" of cards?.


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## aaronwt (Jan 31, 2002)

Tony Chick said:


> Well strike 1 for Time-Warner, after sitting here for 2 hours waiting for my scheduled appointment, they called to say they are out of cable cards and won't get any for at least a week. Really?, a company the size of Time-Warner SoCal cable is "out" of cards?.


No different than when FiOS or Comast runs out of cable cards.

Of course they can never tell you in advance, so you are stuck waiting, and then magically they will have them in the next day.


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## jwagner010 (Dec 8, 2007)

Report it to the gov franchise holder. I live in NYC and was told by twc I needed to wait three weeks because they were out of cards. I emailed the City and within 48 hours twc regulatory called me and said they would be there the next day and gave me 3 months free. They came the next day and tech forgot the card. A call to the twc regulatory contact got me a total of 6 months free service and the tech returned in the afternoon. Morale of the story, don't take their crap and call the franchise issuer.


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## Tony Chick (Jun 20, 2002)

Well I got the cable card installed today, pretty painless, it took about 15 minutes as the guy knew what he was doing. But then he decided signal strength wasn't up to spec. and decided to rewire the whole house from the pole and to all 5 outlets, called for backup and they took 5 more hours. I'm not complaining, its just that I wasn't having a problem and its all just the same now as before, oh well.


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## ltxi (Feb 14, 2010)

Tony Chick said:


> Well I got the cable card installed today, pretty painless, it took about 15 minutes as the guy knew what he was doing. But then he decided signal strength wasn't up to spec. and decided to rewire the whole house from the pole and to all 5 outlets, called for backup and they took 5 more hours. I'm not complaining, its just that I wasn't having a problem and its all just the same now as before, oh well.


Similar thing happened to me two months ago. Complete rebuild from the cable head through the entire house...7 drops. Difference with me was that I still had lingering substandard signal issues from an old lightning strike on the cable head that had never been fully resolved. Best $16.99 and three hours of my time I've spent in forever. At least here...Comcast service rocks.


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