# Comcast cablecard pain



## artbatista (Feb 5, 2002)

I recently got a TiVo Premiere and got a Motorola multi-stream Cablecard from the local Comcast biz office. I called the activation number and after a few minutes I was watching tv.

Soon after, channels would stop or recordings would fail with a TiVo screen saying "your cablecard is not activated" and giving Comcast's cablecard department phone number.

Xfinity on demand refused to work at all.

I called TiVo, and they had me go to the conditional access menu on my TiVo and promptly saw the problem. The TiVo tech pointed me to this page:

https://support.tivo.com/articles/Troubleshooting/Motorola-CableCARD-Troubleshooting-Roamio-Series-and-Premiere-Series-DVRs

The problem showed with VAL value; on my Premiere it was "?", which according to the TiVo tech, meant that though my card was activated, my TiVo was not paired to my card. From TiVo:


```
VAL: If this field has a question mark (?), the card is not paired with the DVR. You will be unable to view most, if not all of the channels in your subscription. Call the cable provider to resolve this issue.
```
I then called Comcast and got a very nice lady whose English was very nice, except she kept saying "right, right" all the time. After 45 minutes with her, multiple TiVo reboots, multiple cablecard removals and inserts, she said she had to send a tech out. I have to say that this lady really appeared confused as to what a TiVo was or what a cablecard was. It was a bit annoying.

At this point I asked to speak to a supervisor. After a few minutes on hold, she came back and told me the supervisor had refused saying that he/she could do nothing for me Right/Right hadn't done. I was a bit more forceful and she did get me a supervisor after 5 minutes on hold.

The supervisor was most certainly speaking American English and immediately appeared knowledgeable of cablecards and tivos. I told her what TiVo had said about the VAL thingy and she immediately said she knew what the problem was. She changed some setting and 15 seconds later, everything is working properly, including xfinity on demand.

I have written all this both here and at the Comcast forums in hopes that:

1- Comcast will provide proper training to their foreign cablecard agents on what a cablecard is, what a TiVo is.

2- That Comcast will train their cablecard activation department on the proper way to activate and pair a cablecard to a TiVo.

It seems that who activates your cablecard initially makes all the difference. My other TiVo (a Roamio) was activated and paired correctly the first time.

A simple check by the activating tech to have the customer chech if VAL contains a value of "V" would be enough to prevent problems later.

Art


----------



## LoREvanescence (Jun 19, 2007)

I too went through Comcast CableCard Hell when I got my new Bolt almost 2 weeks ago.

I ended up cleaning out the 3 nearest cable centers of all their CableCards (Comcast CableCard Hotline suggested picking up at least 3 at a time to pair) and spending hours on the phone with the CableCard Hotline and TiVo in a conference call and they could not get a single card to pair and then Comcast said their was nothing more they could do and a service tech had to come out. They wouldn't even attempt on anymore cards.

The tech got here and he didn't do a thing other than call Advance Technical Support and they updated the programming for my account / the CableCard on their server and bingo, it's now paired and working.


Was a truck roll to send out a service technician really necessary?

Are the people at the CableCard Hotline really that incompetent? 

Do they really need to add insult to injury and charge me $50 for that truck roll (just saw that on the bill that was electronically delivered today).


----------



## artbatista (Feb 5, 2002)

LoREvanescence said:


> I too went through Comcast CableCard Hell when I got my new Bolt almost 2 weeks ago.
> 
> I ended up cleaning out the 3 nearest cable centers of all their CableCards (Comcast CableCard Hotline suggested picking up at least 3 at a time to pair) and spending hours on the phone with the CableCard Hotline and TiVo in a conference call and they could not get a single card to pair and then Comcast said their was nothing more they could do and a service tech had to come out. They wouldn't even attempt on anymore cards.
> 
> ...


I hope you will contest that charge. I refused that truck roll and demanded a supervisor precisely because I did not feel like arguing the charge later.

Art


----------



## LoREvanescence (Jun 19, 2007)

artbatista said:


> I hope you will contest that charge. I refused that truck roll and demanded a supervisor precisely because I did not feel like arguing the charge later.
> 
> Art


Going to try. Don't know how far I will get as a tech did come out

I would have prevented the truck roll if I could, but after speaking to multiple cable card hotline reps, the pairing of multiple cable cards failing they wouldn't try anymore cable card and put a note on my file. Even their super visor said a truck roll was required and even when TiVo called them they were telling TiVo that a tech had to come out.

It's funny that Advanced Technical Support was able to pair a card in 30 seconds that failed several attempts to be paired with the hotline even with TiVo in on the call.


----------



## L David Matheny (Jan 29, 2011)

LoREvanescence said:


> Going to try. Don't know how far I will get as a tech did come out
> 
> I would have prevented the truck roll if I could, but after speaking to multiple cable card hotline reps, the pairing of multiple cable cards failing they wouldn't try anymore cable card and put a note on my file. Even their super visor said a truck roll was required and even when TiVo called them they were telling TiVo that a tech had to come out.
> 
> It's funny that Advanced Technical Support was able to pair a card in 30 seconds that failed several attempts to be paired with the hotline even with TiVo in on the call.


OK, a tech did come out, but if the only tool he used was a telephone, then the truck roll was for their comfort and convenience (because they don't want customers talking to Advanced Technical Support) rather than because it was actually needed. You shouldn't have to pay for something that was just an arbitrary choice on their part.


----------



## LoREvanescence (Jun 19, 2007)

I was only able to get a $20 Customer Appreciation Credit out of Comcast and not a full credit for the $50 Service Visit.

They agreed that that it was there own problems an inability resolve the issue in a timely manner through the Hotline was the reason for the credit. But by policy, a On Site Service Visit that is not for signal related issues and problems with their own equipment is billable. 

Now how can I confuse them that it is a problem with their own equipment if its their incompetence to program / pair the cablecars correctly to work.


----------



## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

LoREvanescence said:


> I was only able to get a $20 Customer Appreciation Credit out of Comcast and not a full credit for the $50 Service Visit.
> 
> They agreed that that it was there own problems an inability resolve the issue in a timely manner through the Hotline was the reason for the credit. But by policy, a On Site Service Visit that is not for signal related issues and problems with their own equipment is billable.
> 
> Now how can I confuse them that it is a problem with their own equipment if its their incompetence to program / pair the cablecars correctly to work.


https://www.fcc.gov/media/cablecard-know-your-rights

https://www.fcc.gov/media/cable-television-where-file-complaints-regarding-cable-service

https://www.fcc.gov/general/cablecards

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

Failing to support cable cards is a violation of the fcc regulations. Part of those regulations require the ability of users to do a self install. The practice you describe would seem to be a transparent attempt to violate this rule. It is Comcast's refusal to put you in contact with someone who is able to successfully complete the cable card pairing, there was no "service" delivered and it is deceptive to send an repairman to your home, only to call someone in Comcast who knows how to do the job.
The only way to bring heat on Comcast is to file an FCC complaint and make the sleazy practice public.


----------



## chiguy50 (Nov 9, 2009)

I'll share my own Comcast misadventure from this weekend.

On Friday I noticed that my Premiere Elite was not getting any video or audio reception on a handful of channels: all HBOHD and StarzHD channels, FXHD, ESPNHD and ESPN2HD. Everything else appeared to be functioning normally. The DVR diagnostics showed good signal strength (90 - 95%) and SNR (35 - 38dB) on the missing channels.

I called the dedicated Comcast bulk-services CS (in Florida) and the CSR told me that my CableCARD was faulty and would need to be replaced. This after first insisting that the problem was that I was not being assessed the HD Technology fee (which, besides being nonsensical since the rest of my 50-odd HD channels were operational, was an inaccurate statement anyway since my account is not subject to this fee).

I allowed him to schedule a truck-roll for today and hung up. Yesterday when I had some spare time I partially disassembled my wall unit to gain access to the coaxial outlet. I disconnected the coax cable to the TiVo Premiere, waited about 30 seconds, then plugged it back in. Voilà, the missing channels were back in order! There must have occurred a one-off electronic glitch of some sort, and disconnecting the low-voltage cable allowed the anomaly to be cleared. It seems strange that only a handful of unaffiliated channels would be affected, but there it is. I would have performed this troubleshooting step earlier if it had not required a bit of hard labor or if the symptoms had been more clear-cut.

Moral of the story: Take anything a Comcast CSR tells you about CableCARD support or troubleshooting with a large grain of salt.


----------



## krodog (Sep 28, 2016)

I had the issue with Xfinity VOD not working and taking me to the initial set up screen for Cable Cards. After several months and 4 calls to Comcast 2 hang ups from Comcast, being transfered to Tivo Support then conferenced back in to Comcast Cable card I finally found out the reason was the VAL: ?. Which has to do with the Data ID being wrong in the system. Once fixed I now have VOD working.


----------



## paully65 (Feb 20, 2002)

I used to have Comcast and went through cablecard hell even when I changed my plan, they never got it right. I am so glad I switched to FIOS. Never had any issue with cable card and have had it for a couple of years now.


----------

