# Love my tivo roamio, but comcast is a nightmare



## Alabama_Enigma (Jun 14, 2004)

After 17 years, I finally decided to pull the plug on my old cable company and switch back to Comcast for tv and internet. Almost immediately, Ive come to regret that decision.

I also decided to purchase a shiny new Tivo Roamio Plus to replace my trusty old Series3 that Ive had for the last 8 years. Based on what I read online, I was expecting to have a bit of a headache with Comcast in getting their service working with a Tivo and a cablecard. I had no idea just how much of a problem it would actually be.

My service install appointment was scheduled for 1:00PM on Thursday. The technician calls me in the morning and says hes running ahead of schedule and asks if its ok for him to come around 11:30. Kudos to him for showing up early! However, he didnt bring the cablecard that I ordered. He admitted that he hadnt really looked at my order before heading over. He also mentioned that they didnt really support cablecards anymore and offered me one of their HD boxes. I reminded him that the FCC requires them to support cablecards and I asked him to check and see if one was available. He made a few calls and said they were out of them at the warehouse and the card would have to be shipped in from another state. I called the toll-free Comcast number and explained the situation. They told me they had 6 cablecards available at the local office. She spoke to the technician, who then called his supervisor. He told his supervisor that he was too busy to deal with this today and told me that I would have to go to the local office and pick one up myself and do a self-install. He then proceeded to string an orange cable across my yard and installed a new interface box on the side of my house. I asked him about the cable in the yard, and he told me that another team would be by in a week or so to bury it. Now, I live in an older neighborhood with overhead wires, but I figured this was just their new way of doing things.

As soon as he got the internet up and running, I went to the main office and picked up a cable card. I installed it as directed by the instructions and called the cablecard hotline to have it activated. Two hours later, I was still on the phone with them and unable to get the card set up properly. The agent on the phone told me the cablecard was provisioned as a cable box instead of a cablecard on my account. According to him, the only way to get this corrected was to drive back to the local office and have them change it in their system, as there is no working number for my local comcast office. I drove across town to the office and spoke with a desk agent. They changed the provisioning in two seconds with a sorry and a smile. I drove home and called Comcast again. They still couldnt get the card activated and scheduled a truck-roll. The earliest appointment was for Saturday morning.

Saturday morning, a very nice technician shows up. I explain the situation to him and the first thing he does is examine the wiring on the outside of the house. He ripped out everything the installer put in and ran new cables (overhead) and new cables to the cable modem and living room. He apologized for the poor job the installer did and was generally very helpful. He called the Comcast back office and tried to get my cablecard activated, but ran into the same problems I did. They determined that it was a defective card and would need to be replaced, but the earliest they could bring me a new card would be Tuesday (4 days later). 

When the technician left, I returned to the local office and swapped the cablecard for a new one, thinking Id do the self-install again. I explained what had happened the first time I picked up a cable card (that it was provisioned as a cablebox) and asked him to make sure that it was provisioned in their system as a cablecard. He assured me it was correct and I was off to try again.

I called the cablecard activation hotline again and ran through the same thing again. Once again, the cablecard was entered into the system as a box and not a card and they said that it was not something they could change, only the local office could change it. After being transferred approximately 12 times over 4 hours, they finally changed it in their system but was still unable to get the card activated properly. Now they are telling me the card had already been paired with a cable box, so its impossible to pair it with my Tivo.

Since its the holiday weekend, I now get to wait until Tuesday for another truck-roll. Most likely, they will neglect to bring a cable card with them. 

Im curious WHY Comcast has such poor support for cablecard devices and why nobody (even in their cablecard hotline) seems to know anything about cablecards or tivo.

Im over it. Im DEEPLY regretting switching back to comcast.

On a side-note, the Roamio does a great job with Netflix, Amazon and Youtube. Since I can't watch TV, it's keeping me entertained.


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

Alabama_Enigma said:


> I called the cablecard activation hotline again and ran through the same thing again. Once again, the cablecard was entered into the system as a box and not a card and they said that it was not something they could change, only the local office could change it.


I don't know anything about the cablecard being entered as a box problem, so I can't help you there. I only wanted to say it doesn't have to be this bad. We switched from Comcast set top boxes to TiVo boxes about 18 months ago. I knew from reading here that many of the cablecards the local offices give out are bad, so I was prepared for that. I asked for four even though I only needed two. And guess what -- two of the four were bad. But at least I had the two working ones that I needed.

What does surprise me is your bad luck calling the cablecard hotline. While one does see the occasional post here where they got a cablecard tech that didn't do the activation right, mostly it does go right. Are you sure you're calling the cablecard hotline? I've recorded a few cablecard numbers from this forum. They are: 877-761-5015, 877-405-2298, 877-530-6950, 888-824-8988. Maybe give one of these a try?

The good news? Once the cablecard is properly activated the TiVo hardware works quite well. So don't give up yet!


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## Alabama_Enigma (Jun 14, 2004)

Thanks for the info, but I just got off the phone with yet another agent from the cablecard line. They were unable to help. The number I have used is 877-405-2298. 

I'm still unable to view anything other than internet related content. I did manage to get transferred to a very nice tech that was stateside. He did his best to help, including setting up a three-way call with Tivo. The problem is still either another defective card or someone that doesn't know how to configure the card in their system. 

He was very pleasant to work with, but unable to solve my problem. He did say he would try to make sure the technician that comes next week brings a cablecard with him. Fingers crossed.


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

File a complaint with FCC here: https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us

That should get them step'n & fetch'n...
I filed on time warner a few months ago for copy protecting local channels. Though the problem self resolved in about a week; the FCC complaint did not go unnoticed and both FCC and time warner contacted me 2 times each asking if I was happy...


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

Alabama_Enigma said:


> Thanks for the info, but I just got off the phone with yet another agent from the cablecard line. They were unable to help. The number I have used is 877-405-2298.
> 
> I'm still unable to view anything other than internet related content. I did manage to get transferred to a very nice tech that was stateside. He did his best to help, including setting up a three-way call with Tivo. The problem is still either another defective card or someone that doesn't know how to configure the card in their system.
> 
> He was very pleasant to work with, but unable to solve my problem. He did say he would try to make sure the technician that comes next week brings a cablecard with him. Fingers crossed.


If you get an agent you suspect is not located in the U.S.A.; ask them where they are located, then insist on speaking to a manager.


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## Alabama_Enigma (Jun 14, 2004)

Teeps said:


> If you get an agent you suspect is not located in the U.S.A.; ask them where they are located, then insist on speaking to a manager.


I did that. I was transferred to a "supervisor", but he spoke with the same accent. I have nothing against off-shore support. I just wish this particular department was able to actually help.


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## Alabama_Enigma (Jun 14, 2004)

Well, just got off the phone with a very nice guy named Jonathan. He was stateside and did everything he possibly could do to help me. Unfortunately, he gave the same answer. He said the cablecard was provisioned in their system as a cablebox and therefore it could not be activated. I would have to go back to the local office to have them fix it. Of course, the local office closed at 1PM today and won't reopen until Tuesday morning. No TV for me this weekend.


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## Teeps (Aug 16, 2001)

Well, I've felt your pain with regard to cabl co.
File a FCC complaint, it should make you feel a little better... it did me.
Keep grinding on comcast, tell them you missed Formula 1 racing because of them and you demand satisfaction!


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

Is their another local office you can go to for the cable card. I don't buy the it's provisioned for a box stuff. Make sure they know it's for a Tivo right away. Double check all your numbers from the cable card and Tivo serial#, make sure they read back what you told them. 

This seems more like an account provisioning problem than a pairing problem.

Maybe get a cable box also. Activate the cable box so your account is up and running, then in a few days call to activate and pair the cable card. Return the box after everything is working. I think your problem is it's a new account and they can't set it up right using only a cable card.


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

schatham said:


> I don't buy the it's provisioned for a box stuff.


That's apparently a real thing with Comcast (I don't know why, mind you). I know when I got my original Premiere setup the installer had to go back to the office and bring a whole handful of cards with him and keep trying them till he got one that was willing to be used in a TiVo.


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## UCLABB (May 29, 2012)

tomhorsley said:


> That's apparently a real thing with Comcast (I don't know why, mind you). I know when I got my original Premiere setup the installer had to go back to the office and bring a whole handful of cards with him and keep trying them till he got one that was willing to be used in a TiVo.


Maybe the box cable card has different software on it?


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## gwn21 (Sep 19, 2002)

I just purchased a Roamio to replace the (2) TiVoHDs that I have. I was worried about the CableCard situation and when I ordered the Roamio I call up Frontier FiOS and asked them to send out a new Cable Card. They tried to get me to use one of their DVRs, but I'm going to use my TiVo.

The only trouble that I had was that the first Customer Service rep. didn't send out the Cable Card. So I called up again and asked what was the status of the Cable Card, and they saw it requested but not sent out. Once I got it sent out and a tracking number, I did receive a Cable Card that was ready to go.

The setup was surprisingly quick. I called up Frontier FiOS Support, gave them my Serial Number, ID Number and Device number and in no more than 5 minutes. My TiVo Roamio was up and running. No setup issue or problems.

Now I'm getting ready to send the Two Cables Cards from my (2) TiVoHDs back and will hopefully notice them removed from my monthly rental fees. 

I'm going to hope that's going to be easy too. (Knock on wood).


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## krkaufman (Nov 25, 2003)

Not to dance on your grave or anything but I've had zero problems activating 3 different CableCards with Comcast this year -- 1 for a Roamio Pro and 2 others for HDHomeRun Prime tuners. I'm feeling fortunate. (And I was 3-for-3, as well; though I did have to wait an extra day, IIRC, for the local office to get a fresh shipment of CableCards.)


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## chiguy50 (Nov 9, 2009)

Alabama_Enigma said:


> Well, just got off the phone with a very nice guy named Jonathan. He was stateside and did everything he possibly could do to help me. Unfortunately, he gave the same answer. He said the cablecard was provisioned in their system as a cablebox and therefore it could not be activated. I would have to go back to the local office to have them fix it. Of course, the local office closed at 1PM today and won't reopen until Tuesday morning. No TV for me this weekend.


While your situation is certainly not unique, it does sound like your local office is particularly inept. And that first "installer" (probably a contract employee) was entirely unprofessional.

It doesn't have to be (and shouldn't be) this hard. Keep at it and, once the problem is resolved, complain to the customer retention folks about the hassles you've been put through. They should be more than willing to compensate you with some discounts and/or freebies (such as free HBO/SHO for six months).

If your problems persist, try sending an e-mail describing your saga to Tom Karinshak, Comcast Senior Vice President of Customer Experience. You can find the on-line contact form here.


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## dobbie1 (Apr 15, 2002)

chiguy50 said:


> If your problems persist, try sending an e-mail describing your saga to Tom Karinshak, Comcast Senior Vice President of Customer Experience. You can find the on-line contact form here.


I agree with this post. If you contact him you will probably then be contacted by someone from the corporate escalation team. They can help get everything up and running.

Good luck.


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## WorldBandRadio (Dec 20, 2010)

Alabama_Enigma said:


> Well, just got off the phone with a very nice guy named Jonathan. He was stateside and did everything he possibly could do to help me. Unfortunately, he gave the same answer. He said the cablecard was provisioned in their system as a cablebox and therefore it could not be activated. I would have to go back to the local office to have them fix it. Of course, the local office closed at 1PM today and won't reopen until Tuesday morning. No TV for me this weekend.


Sorry to hear about your problems with a cable card and Comcast. I had similar problems when I tried to move from a TiVo Series3/HD to a Roamio Pro.

The cable card hotline was worse than useless for me, as they left me at the end of the call with no service and a scheduled tech visit in two days to fix the problem they caused (the TiVo was receiving all the channels most of the time before they "fixed" it and made it stop receiving anything all the time.)

There's a ComcastTeds over on the Comcast support forum. He is very helpful with cable card problems. All it took was one private message to him about my problem, and he had it resolved.


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## Alabama_Enigma (Jun 14, 2004)

Thanks for all the advice. I just sent a PM to ComcastTeds over at the Comcast forums. I'll also be sending a strongly worded email to the Comcast brass listed above. I'll let y'all know if anything comes of it.


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## grey ghost (Feb 2, 2010)

Teeps said:


> If you get an agent you suspect is not located in the U.S.A.; ask them where they are located, then insist on speaking to a manager.


The pairing hotlines are in the Philippines. I accidentally found that out when I called to get a card paired with my Tivo and something was said about a typhoon hitting close to them.

So sorry you are having the problem. I got a spare card when I self-installed and that was a blessing because one was bad, but I had no trouble getting the card paired to my machine. My only problem was the age of the Comcast software on the cards which limited the number of tuners I could use. Since that was updated, it's been no problems at all.


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## JBDragon (Jan 4, 2004)

My Comcast call was nice. I wanted Internet service ONLY. I had planned on the 50Mbps service at a set price for 12 months and then offered me 105Mbps for $5 more. So I went for it. I'm getting around 125Mbps download and a little over 12Mbps upload speeds. So I'm happy andit's far, far, far faster then U-Verse I had before that wouldn't lower their price back down to what I was paying and was still more for 12 months at 1/3 the speed then what Comcast was offering for 12 months. it make no sense to stick with them. I ran a new wire from outside to in my closet where a lot of my networked stuff is located and got a new Comcast Modem at Costco and it all hooked up, say that I had a LIVE signal and was ready to go when I called.

I did have some major speed issues at first and thought it was them, but then figured it out, it was a ASUS router and the Traffic Manager - QoS and the download and upload speed settings set way, way to low. So if you have QoS turned on, look and make sure you have yours set high enough to not be slowing you down.

As for paying for TV service, I said screw it 3+ years ago and haven't looked back. I have my Antenna which I can get quite a big of FREE content LEGALLY. I've been using Media Center, but am working on switching over to TIVO. Which Netflix service and Amazon Prime. I have a TON of stuff to watch and not enough time to watch as it is. 

A few programs I watch that I can't get, I just buy a season Pass. Like "The Walking Dead" on AMC. I get the SD version which looks just fine on my 50" plasma's from Amazon. The new episode airs on Sunday and I can watch it on Monday, commercial free and I own it and can watch it again and again. All the money I'm saving, a few season passes is a drop in the bucket.

Really the only BIG reason to hold onto paying for TV is if you're a big sports person and then ESPN and all the rest you would want. Even then, there's now SlingTV for $20 a month and you get ESPN. I could care less about ESPN and $20 a month for that service is even to much to pay. Netflix and Amazon I've had before I cut the cord, and I don't really consider them a extra cost now. HULU+ I can't stand. All the commercials drive me batty. You can't skip them, You can't channel surf. It's just not worth it.

RIP your movies and use PLEX, now you have your own private Netflix type service giving you a lot more content at your finger tips. best of all, no FBI warnings or Movie Previews you can't skip past. It's so nice. 

100+ channels of crap on the TV you're paying for and still nothing to watch. Even Yahoo has programs and it's FREE. I'm starting to watch the final season of Community from them on my Tivo Roamio right now. That costs you ZERO. There's ways to get free HULU onto your TV. It's called PlayON. There's tons of Content on Youtube that doesn't cost a dime to kill time with. The things TIVO is just recording on it's own form the Antenna is, well, a lot of crap and some interesting things to watch. As I thumb up/down that should get better. One Pass looking at a number of sources for content you're looking for is nice. 

I thought it would be hard cutting the cord back when I did it. It really wasn't. I had my Dad move into my house. He offered to pay for DirectTV or one of them Satellite company's he had at his house. I didn't want it. I was perfectly happy with my Antenna. You know what? He's perfectly happy when all the TV he has access to now. From the Antenna, to Netflix and all the rest. In fact maybe to happy. I wish he watched less TV and did a few things around the house since he doesn't have a job these days. Like clean up all his crap in the garage so I can use it. Just a little a day and it would have been done long ago. He's into sports more then I am so that's a tiny bit of a issue. It can be overcome a number of ways.

The end point being, screw ComcastTV and Cable Cards and free yourself a little from TV!!! I look around where I live and not a antenna in site but my own and I think SUCKERS!!!! So many are hooked on paying for TV service they don't know how to flee from it or think they even can. I might miss that one show on that one channel, oh no, can't have that. 

I grew up with a Antenna for TV and one of them Antenna rotating Boxes. Turn it here to get most of these channels, but for this one, you had to turn it there. it's Analog TV, so not the best. Everyone I knew had cable. I used to go next door all the time to watch MTV, back when it was actually MusicTV and HBO was the ONLY premium service which they also had the HBO Box. When I moved out a few years later I got Comcast TV service and I had it for like 18 years. The bill kept going up faster then my pay check, I canceled Showtime. Still Up, Up, Up. Still $170 a month for HD TV service with a duel tuner cable box and a mid speed Internet service. This was over 3 years ago. It was just 1 TV and only I living there at my old place and I just couldn't justify the cost anymore. I could never watch enough TV or use the Internet enough to pay that much. When I got my house I went with U-Verse for Internet only. Not very fast, but at $35 a month for Internet only, good enough to stream Netflix in HD.

My Price for U-Verse jumped up to $62 for 18Mbps service which was really only around 12 and they wouldn't drop the price back down enough that Comcast that was 2/3's faster and cheaper for the same 12 months, and another $5 and Icould go up to 105Mbps service. I just dumped U-Verse and am back to Comcast for Internet ONLY!!!
To me, there's ZERO need to pay for TV service these days when you have access to the Internet. There was really no Internet service back then when I was a Kid. In my late teen years, there was BBS systems, and CompuServe and and some others, Not cheap, but it was a look at things to come.

Comcast and others are trying their best to not become dumb pipes!!!


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## patrickthickey (Sep 4, 2002)

Alabama_Enigma said:


> Well, just got off the phone with a very nice guy named Jonathan. He was stateside and did everything he possibly could do to help me. Unfortunately, he gave the same answer. He said the cablecard was provisioned in their system as a cablebox and therefore it could not be activated. I would have to go back to the local office to have them fix it. Of course, the local office closed at 1PM today and won't reopen until Tuesday morning. No TV for me this weekend.


Condolences.

My experience was similar, and took literally weeks to resolve. I am in Berkeley (Northern Cal).

New Roamio, would not get any channels. It paired fine, got internet fine (I do not use Comcast for Internet which in retrospect I sensed put me into a lower queue of them giving a hoot). I spent a total of twenty plus hours on the phone getting nowhere.

Ultimately, despite being told ten or fifteen times that the Tivo was the issue - I requested my service location be verified. In my case, my drop was pointed to the wrong Comcast head end. The lady with whom I spoke was very opposed to checking this out, as she had been assured it was all OK.

But, to her credit, she did. And then she called back and very sheepishly revealed the person who had ASSURED her I was pointing at Comcast Berkeley Digital (on the account paperwork) revealed I was pointing at Comcast Pinole.

As soon as they fixed this I have been solid ever since.

Over the span of decades of interacting with Comcast, my experience has been the issues are almost always rooted in personnel or human error. Their core technology generally provides what they claim, ONCE it is properly configured,

chmod


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

JBDragon said:


> I did have some major speed issues at first and thought it was them, but then figured it out, it was a ASUS router and the Traffic Manager - QoS and the download and upload speed settings set way, way to low. So if you have QoS turned on, look and make sure you have yours set high enough to not be slowing you down.


I had the same problem with my R7500 Netgear router. Cured by turning off the QoS service.


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## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

tomhorsley said:


> That's apparently a real thing with Comcast (I don't know why, mind you). I know when I got my original Premiere setup the installer had to go back to the office and bring a whole handful of cards with him and keep trying them till he got one that was willing to be used in a TiVo.


Also in Berkeley, so I'm in the same area as patrickthickey. When I set up my TiVoHD, my first card was bad and wouldn't acquire the cable map. Once I finally convinced them I had a bad card, I swapped the cards at the office, and my self-install, though time-consuming, went just like it was supposed to.

I learned along the way that the cards provisioned for the Comcast cable boxes are 2-way devices, because they talk back to the head-end. The instructions that came with my TiVoHD said to ask for a card provisioned for a 1-way device. I don't know if this is still the case with the Roamio, but maybe if you talk to the people at TiVo who help with cablecard issues, they could tell you if the newer models take a 2-way or 1-way card.

You used to be able to log into Comcast.com and see what equipment was listed on your account, but they've rearranged everything on the website again, and I can't find that feature. Since I'm in a Motorola area, my card used to show up as "Motorola Motorhost" (or something like that) with a graphic that looked like a box, but was apparently the name of the card. In an area with a Cisco head-end, that probably said Cisco <something>.

As annoying as the cablecard setup is, the worst thing they've done was to cut off our service when one of the other people in the building moved out.  Try explaining to customer service that no, no matter what their system says, you did NOT request your service being cut off. To multiple people, because you get stuck in the "I can't do that, you need to talk to someone else" loop. After that, dealing with a bum cablecard seems straightfoward.


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

murgatroyd said:


> You used to be able to log into Comcast.com and see what equipment was listed on your account, but they've rearranged everything on the website again, and I can't find that feature. Since I'm in a Motorola area, my card used to show up as "Motorola Motorhost" (or something like that) with a graphic that looked like a box, but was apparently the name of the card. In an area with a Cisco head-end, that probably said Cisco <something>.
> 
> .


Here is what you are talking about. I can still see it under services, tv, manage. This is what it states. Their was a graphic with ? mark and the card serial #'s.

"Cable Box Make & Model: MOTOROLA TIVOHOST"


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## avmike (Jun 12, 2007)

Do you happen to live in a former Adelphia market? I do, and experience the same "card was entered as a cable box" fiasco every time I have to deal with cableards. Unfortunately, you cannon resolve this with a phone call. You have to get them to send someone, and have him call the local office to pair the card. Don't schedule this on a weekend!


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## Dusty Roads (Dec 24, 2003)

Alabama_Enigma said:


> Thanks for all the advice. I just sent a PM to ComcastTeds over at the Comcast forums. I'll also be sending a strongly worded email to the Comcast brass listed above. I'll let y'all know if anything comes of it.


File a complaint with the FCC. Within 48 hours supervisors from Comcast will be calling to ask what they can do to help. Problem is they won't really know what to do so it's up to you to know what to do. Here is a list of things that need to be done.
1. Get a cable card with the latest firmware updates. Comcast probably can't tell you what the firmware is on a device. Plug it into your Tivo. If it recognizes the device you can go into the Tivo menu to see what the firmware version is. You'll need to do a little research to find out what the latest firmware is in your area.
2. Make sure the Tivo recognizes the card. Look through the various menus to see if you are getting any error messages.
Now, time to call tech support and review the following info (Don't do this until steps 1 and 2 are done otherwise you're wasting your time).
3. Make sure your account is set up as a cable card
4. Make sure Cable Card S/N is correct 
5. Make sure the Cable Card ID is correct (may not ask for this)
6. Make sure Host ID is correct
7. Make sure Data ID is correct
Have them read back all the info you gave them. Willing to bet they get at least one thing wrong.
8. Have them send out the pairing signals.

I have charter and live in St.Louis. We use Motorola with tuning adapters so I don't know how much of this applies.


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

Dusty Roads said:


> Get a cable card with the latest firmware updates.


The office won't have a clue what firmware is on the card they give out. But a note to ComcastTeds on the Xfinity forum can have the latest firmware pushed out to you -- sometimes within a few hours, at most a day.


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

DeltaOne said:


> The office won't have a clue what firmware is on the card they give out. But a note to ComcastTeds on the Xfinity forum can have the latest firmware pushed out to you -- sometimes within a few hours, at most a day.


Unless, of course, the model number of the card is one they don't have new firmware for (which happened to me), they had a tech come out with an assortment and eventually I got one working with updated firmware.


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## Alabama_Enigma (Jun 14, 2004)

Well, some progress to report. A technician showed up this morning with a box of cablecards. The first one he tried worked, but would only get the most basic non-HD channels. A nice lady from Comcast's "Tivo department" called and she was able to get almost everything up and running. I still don't have any of the premium channels, but the rest of the HD channels are now working. She worked all day and was quite nice. (I suspect it may have something to do with dropping a nastygram to the VP of "customer experience". Anyhow, she says there is still a problem and she believes it to be a line issue. She says she's unable to get the card to accept the update for the premium channels. A tech will be out on Friday to check the line (again). 

I'm not convinced it's a line issue. The signal strength is 100% and SNR is 40dB. Do TiVo's still have the issue where the signal can be too "hot"?


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## randian (Jan 15, 2014)

The "cablecard is a box" problem is epidemic in Comcast Palm Beach County. Both of the cablecards I got had that problem. I finally found a CSR that fixed it by creating a whole new entry on the account for the cablecard. Unfortunately I now have an intermittent "can't record CBS" problem. Note that viewing CBS live works fine, but recording from sleep often gets no signal errors. Naturally Comcast can't diagnose it.


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

Alabama_Enigma said:


> The signal strength is 100% and SNR is 40dB. Do TiVo's still have the issue where the signal can be too "hot"?


While I haven't experienced the too hot signal myself, there are lots of posts about it here on these forums. Some think the Roamio line may have internal amplifiers to support six tuners. I'll also wager a guess that the hot signal is not the cause of your missing premium channels, but it's something you may want to investigate further.

From what I understand, 100% signal strength might mean 110%, 120% or more. I seem to recall advice to get the SNR in the mid 30's.

There's lots of debate about using attenuators or splitters to reduce the signal, so you'll want to do some research or watch for more replies here.

Glad you're making progress!


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## schatham (Mar 17, 2007)

Alabama_Enigma said:


> Well, some progress to report. A technician showed up this morning with a box of cablecards. The first one he tried worked, but would only get the most basic non-HD channels. A nice lady from Comcast's "Tivo department" called and she was able to get almost everything up and running. I still don't have any of the premium channels, but the rest of the HD channels are now working. She worked all day and was quite nice. (I suspect it may have something to do with dropping a nastygram to the VP of "customer experience". Anyhow, she says there is still a problem and she believes it to be a line issue. She says she's unable to get the card to accept the update for the premium channels. A tech will be out on Friday to check the line (again).
> 
> I'm not convinced it's a line issue. The signal strength is 100% and SNR is 40dB. Do TiVo's still have the issue where the signal can be too "hot"?


I also initially received all channels but premium and on demand. Called back to find out they did not have the data # entered in their system. I am sure that is what's going on. Make them read you the data # back to you. Call the Comcast cable line today, it took me 2 minutes to get the data # entered and premuims working.

As soon as they had that # my premiums all worked.


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## swak (Apr 8, 2014)

My experience with Comcast has been similar. They need to better train their techs.

When on-demand became available on TiVo, I was told by several techs that it wasn't possible. It took me a couple weeks to find someone who could help.


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## Old Hickory (Jan 13, 2011)

I feel your pain... sort of. 

I went through a similar situation with cable cards being coded for cable boxes or "not in inventory". After two failures at self-install, I sent a message to this email: '[email protected]' with my prior issues and requested a higher level of technical service. I got a reply email within 24 hours with a direct line to one of Comcast's Executive Level Support people (a guy out of Nashville). He took control of the situation and we did the pairing a few days later (and he gave me a credit for my troubles). 

Also, if you haven't already, research the Comcast support forums for cable cards, Tivo, etc. It's good to have information.

Here is the email again:

'[email protected]'


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## solarium_rider (Sep 4, 2007)

I appreciated reading about everyones experiences. I'm about to make the plunge into Comcast cablecard land again. I swore off Comcast about 4 years ago and I remember it being a bit of a struggle to get the m-card working in my tivo series 3. I'm dreading going through this again, but I find this solution to be better than going with their DVR. I'm currently a comcast subscriber for Internet, but it also came with TV. I have a standard SD comcast box, but it has been disconnected other than the first day to make sure it worked. I will get rid of this unit when I move to the Tivo. I shouldn't need a technician to roll by since everything is already wired. A few questions about changing service over to a cablecard:

There are two "upgrade" package options that make sense for me, one comes with an X1 receiver free for 12 months then $20/mo for the next 12 months (24 month agreement). Does anyone know if I can get this package, but exclude the X1, and still keep the promotional price? 
If not, I can go for the second package which just has slower internet and a 12 month term, and no receiver. Will they charge me an HD fee if I go this route? 
Since there is no way to sign up for cablecards online, is it best to call them, or just go to an office? I'm in West San Jose, CA. There is a xfinity store nearby, but the service center is farther away. I wouldn't want to have to go the service center.
Should I wait to contact comcast until after I have the Tivo box, or should I get the ball started early? My Roamio Plus is not expected to arrive until Monday.


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## Alabama_Enigma (Jun 14, 2004)

Well, things changed a bit today. I got a call from a tech who said he had made some "billing changes" on my cablecard. On the upside, ALL of my channels are now working and the on-demand content is now functional.

On the downside, my bill suddenly jumped by $55. Every time they do anything with my cablecard, I get an email with a "Comcast service change order" that details my service and billing. Each time, there has been a slight change, but it's always been $0 to $-2.50. This time, my base package jumped by $50 (although the description remained the same) and they added an extra $5 for HBO. Of course, the line item description for the base package says it INCLUDES HBO for the first 12 months.

Sigh.. Now that everything is functional, it looks like I'm going to have to go a few rounds with their billing department. Fingers crossed that getting the package back to the agreed upon price doesn't break my cablecard again.


Solarium_Rider - All I can say is good luck, bud. I know a few folks say they have never had problems with Comcast, but this last week has been an ordeal for me. I sincerely hope your experience goes better. If you are going to do a self-install, you should be able to go ahead and call them and get a card shipped out to you before your Tivo arrives. I had to have a full install (wiring, etc) so I scheduled my install on the day after my Tivo was scheduled to arrive.


By the way, thanks to all the community members on here. I truly appreciate the feedback. I haven't hit this forum in several years, but I think I'll be more or a regular reader from now on.


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## murgatroyd (Jan 6, 2002)

solarium_rider said:


> I appreciated reading about everyones experiences. I'm about to make the plunge into Comcast cablecard land again. I swore off Comcast about 4 years ago and I remember it being a bit of a struggle to get the m-card working in my tivo series 3.


I can answer a couple of those questions. It's probably quicker to go to the office and pick up a cablecard, rather than waiting for one to be shipped to you. Tell them you need a card provisioned for a one-way device -- if they ask you, tell them it's for a TV.

You may get a charge for the HD equipment charge no matter what you do. In my area, if you have a cablecard, you get dinged with the HD charge. In other areas of the country, apparently not.

Don't worry too much about it not working until it doesn't work. My first card was no good and I spent hours trying to figure out why not. Once I actually convinced Comcast the card was bad, the second install went without a hitch.

If you still have the instructions that came with your S3, make sure you follow ALL the steps on the sheet. Part of the reason I shot myself in the foot was that I didn't understand part of the sequence because it was my first ever install. Now that I know how the install is supposed to work, it's easier for me to recognize if a card is just plain not working.

TiVo Customer Service was very helpful at the time, but that was years ago. Don't hesitate to call their cablecard line. Also, for Comcast, make SURE you are talking to people who can do a cablecard install, and not some random person on the customer service line.


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## DeltaOne (Sep 29, 2013)

solarium_rider said:


> Since there is no way to sign up for cablecards online, is it best to call them, or just go to an office? I'm in West San Jose, CA. There is a xfinity store nearby, but the service center is farther away. I wouldn't want to have to go the service center. Should I wait to contact comcast until after I have the Tivo box, or should I get the ball started early? My Roamio Plus is not expected to arrive until Monday.


My advice is to get two or three CableCards since it's likely they'll give you a defective card. Return the others later when you return your Comcast set top boxes.

They may give you a card with old firmware. A note to ComcastTeds on the Xfinity forum will get the latest firmware pushed to your CableCard. Go here: http://forums.xfinity.com/t5/XfinityTV-and-Equipment/bd-p/CTV_Equip

Follow the startup instructions the TiVo will give you. It'll tell you when to insert the CableCard. And that's when you call the Comcast cable card activation department at 877-405-2298. Do not call the regular Comcast tech support line, they don't know how to deal with a CableCard.


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## WorldBandRadio (Dec 20, 2010)

DeltaOne said:


> My advice is to get two or three CableCards since it's likely they'll give you a defective card. Return the others later when you return your Comcast set top boxes.


When I went to my local office to swap a cable card with a new one, the person at the office suggested that I take more than one cable card "in case the one doesn't work".

So I took a second card.

On my next bill I was charged for the second cable card (even though I returned it the same day a couple of hours later), for a second "digital outlet," and for two "account changes".

In the end, the problem that I had all along was an old version of the firmware on the cable card. The Comcast cable card people at the 800 cable card number did not even know about the old firmware problem. They wanted me to just keep swapping cable cards (and racking up fees) until I happened to get one that worked.

Sometimes I think the "defective cable card" problem is not due to a bad cable card, but outdated firmware.

Fortunately, ComcastTeds was able to push new firmware to my cable card and he even cleaned up my bill, removing all those extraneous charges that the local office had added.

Now, I'm trying to summon the courage to call Comcast again to activate the Video on Demand for my TiVo...


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## solarium_rider (Sep 4, 2007)

murgatroyd said:


> I can answer a couple of those questions. It's probably quicker to go to the office and pick up a cablecard, rather than waiting for one to be shipped to you. Tell them you need a card provisioned for a one-way device -- if they ask you, tell them it's for a TV.


I don't actually have the S3 anymore, I sold it to a friend and will be using a Roamio Plus (also have 3TB drive coming in for upgrade beforehand.) As I understand it, the Roamio can do two-way communication for on demand type stuff right? Therefore, I would not want a one-way device?


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## skid71 (Mar 20, 2013)

WorldBandRadio said:


> snip/...
> Now, I'm trying to summon the courage to call Comcast again to activate the Video on Demand for my TiVo...


You've readied yourself for a bumpy ride?
Good plan.

It took close to a month to get Comcast VOD working on our Pro/Mini's.
Once it was done right (by a person who actually knew exactly what they were doing....good luck getting THAT person) it has been rock solid since.

I wish I could tell you who to talk to, what exactly to say to them, etc. It's simply the luck of the draw and I wish you the best of luck!


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## WorldBandRadio (Dec 20, 2010)

skid71 said:


> ...I wish I could tell you who to talk to, what exactly to say to them, etc. It's simply the luck of the draw and I wish you the best of luck!


Thanks, I'll need it.

I agree with two things you said:

getting the right person who knows what she/he is doing is the luck of the draw
once things are set up and they work, they tend to keep working

Maybe next week I'll try. It's too close to a weekend, and I don't want the cable activation line to kill my service right before the weekend again......


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

solarium_rider said:


> I don't actually have the S3 anymore, I sold it to a friend and will be using a Roamio Plus (also have 3TB drive coming in for upgrade beforehand.) As I understand it, the Roamio can do two-way communication for on demand type stuff right? Therefore, I would not want a one-way device?


Nope, it is still one way, the VOD auth goes through the internet connection.


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## Alabama_Enigma (Jun 14, 2004)

The absolute best advice I can give is from WorldBandRadio. If you encounter any problems with anything, contact ComcastTeds over at forums.xfinity.com

I sent him a PM with everything that I had encountered and the very next business day I started getting calls from folks at Comcast that could actually help. I sent him a PM last night letting him know that the technical issues were resolved but now my bill is messed up. I got a call around noon today from executive support and they fixed my bill. Apparently, ComcastTeds will email the right folks to get you help quickly. This one guy is Comcast's best asset at the moment.


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## break19 (May 21, 2015)

Alabama_Enigma said:


> <snip>
> 
> Im curious WHY Comcast has such poor support for cablecard devices and why nobody (even in their cablecard hotline) seems to know anything about cablecards or tivo.
> <snip>


Ex-CATV tech here...

CableCARDs are a pain in the rear. a SERIOUS pain in the rear. It isn't JUST ComCast that has issues with them.

I did quite a few CableCARD-to-TiVo and -to-TV (Yes, there were a few TVs with CableCARD slots for a while.. they aren't popular these days.) installs when I worked for another fairly large cable company.

Towards the end of my time there, we'd gotten fairly good at it, but self-install was NOT an option, even though the telephone reps would CONSTANTLY tell people "Oh, you just need to swing by the local office and pick one up!" Uhh no. The "local office" was a payment center, and they could swap out some equipment, but not CableCARDs.

Thing is, even though our newer equipment had the cards pre-installed, they were ALSO pre-paired and verified working at the warehouse before being shipped out to the tech garages.

The standalone cards were a different matter entirely. We had no way, in-shop, of testing them, at all. A good 20%-30% of them simply would NOT pair, and we would send them in for replacement and the warehouse would simply send them back out.

We -ALL- hated doing them.


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## HarperVision (May 14, 2007)

break19 said:


> Ex-CATV tech here... CableCARDs are a pain in the rear. a SERIOUS pain in the rear. It isn't JUST ComCast that has issues with them. I did quite a few CableCARD-to-TiVo and -to-TV (Yes, there were a few TVs with CableCARD slots for a while.. they aren't popular these days.) installs when I worked for another fairly large cable company. Towards the end of my time there, we'd gotten fairly good at it, but self-install was NOT an option, even though the telephone reps would CONSTANTLY tell people "Oh, you just need to swing by the local office and pick one up!" Uhh no. The "local office" was a payment center, and they could swap out some equipment, but not CableCARDs. Thing is, even though our newer equipment had the cards pre-installed, they were ALSO pre-paired and verified working at the warehouse before being shipped out to the tech garages. The standalone cards were a different matter entirely. We had no way, in-shop, of testing them, at all. A good 20%-30% of them simply would NOT pair, and we would send them in for replacement and the warehouse would simply send them back out. We -ALL- hated doing them.


On the flip side, it's kind of amazing that I was doing cablecards since their inception and not ONCE did I have to take a card back and swap it because it was "bad". Every single solitary time it was a billing code, provisioning and/or pairing issue. That's not to say I don't agree that a card or two can be bad here or there, it's electronics after all, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts the failure rate is NOWHERE NEAR the 20-30% you stated. I'm sure the reason they sent them back to you was because of what I just stated.......they weren't "bad" (but maybe the human involved was?).


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## tomhorsley (Jul 22, 2010)

My original cable card worked fine for years through a Premiere then a Roamio and a couple of firmware upgrades, but one day I can home to an error code which, when I looked on the internet said that the cable card had died (and a new card did fix things after a couple of tries to get a model number that they had new microcode for), so they can indeed go bad, but it took several years. (And I wonder how many people they've since given that card to .


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## tim1724 (Jul 3, 2007)

I once had an old Scientific Atlanta S-card die. It happens. But it's pretty rare.


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## WorldBandRadio (Dec 20, 2010)

Alabama_Enigma said:


> ... Apparently, ComcastTeds will email the right folks to get you help quickly. This one guy is Comcast's best asset at the moment.


*Understatement*.


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## WorldBandRadio (Dec 20, 2010)

break19 said:


> Ex-CATV tech here...
> 
> CableCARDs are a pain in the rear. a SERIOUS pain in the rear. It isn't JUST ComCast that has issues with them.
> 
> ....


The cable industry wanted cable cards to fail because they allowed customers to avoid renting set top boxes. So the incentive for the cable companies was to make the cable cards _not work_.

imo, you saw the results of that effort.

Once the FCC got involved, the cable companies started to handle the cable cards a bit better, but there's still a long way to go.

For example, why does one part of Comcast know that the firmware in my cable card is out of date, while Comcast's cable card support line does not?

That problem cannot be placed on the cable cards, but the cable company's internal lack of communicaiton.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

HarperVision said:


> On the flip side, it's kind of amazing that I was doing cablecards since their inception and not ONCE did I have to take a card back and swap it because it was "bad". Every single solitary time it was a billing code, provisioning and/or pairing issue. That's not to say I don't agree that a card or two can be bad here or there, it's electronics after all, but I'd bet dollars to doughnuts the failure rate is NOWHERE NEAR the 20-30% you stated. I'm sure the reason they sent them back to you was because of what I just stated.......they weren't "bad" (but maybe the human involved was?).


Over the years I had the same thing with Cable cards, if pairing could not be done on the phone, I made the tech come to my home, I never took Comcast advice to exchange the cable card. I never had a tech fail as they have someone they call that we can't get to, that person can do anything with cable cards.


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## chrishicks (Dec 31, 2003)

So I got my shiny new Roamio Pro today and decided to jump right in and get everything up and running asap. I pull the cable card from my dead S3(which luckily had 2 M-cards installed) and pop it in the Pro right away. I power it up and run through the entire setup. After that's done I see I have the basic channels so I check a premium one and immediately I get the "please activate.." screen. I call up the Tivo provided Comcast CC number and get an answer on the second ring.

The woman I speak with asks me a few account verification questions before we get started and then she asks "so how can I help you today?". I tell her I just purchased a new Tivo to replace a dead one already on my account and that I'm moving a cable card from it over to the new one. She asks for a few seconds so she can pull up the correct screen for that and maybe 20 seconds later she asks for the S/N of the card. I give it to her and she says "one moment while I unpair it from the old equipment". A few seconds later I'm giving her the other numbers on the screen(data, etc) and maybe a minute later everything is up and running. All channels are working as I move through them. She then tells me if I encounter any missing channels to give it 30 minutes at most and if they don't come in to call back. She asks if I need any further assistance to which I didn't so we ended the call. It took a whopping 5 minutes or so to get everything up and running to which I almost had a stroke about because all the S3's were a total nightmare to get working and one of them still doesn't fully work after 5+ years. 

I decide to see if On Demand is working once I remembered I now had the option but it wasn't. I remember that the lady says to give it 30 minutes so I continue to explore the new setup. Maybe 5 minutes later I go back and try On Demand again and it pops right up. I again am shocked because I really figured I'd have to call back because of it but nope. I really wish I could have picked up her name when she said it(she had a pretty thick accent) because I would request her assistance every time I called because she knew what she was doing completely.

This was my first ever easy call made to Comcast. I highly doubt I'll ever encounter one like it again but I can hope right?


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## southerndoc (Apr 5, 2003)

OnDemand may take up to 24 hours. I think your Roamio will need to fetch the app from TiVo's servers and may possibly need to reboot, but don't quote me on that one.


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## solarium_rider (Sep 4, 2007)

Well good news. Got the tivo powered up two nights ago and went through guided setup to update it. Picked up a cable card yesterday and got it activated today during lunch. I didn't have any issues with the pairing and it took about 5 minutes or so. I first called the number listed on the cablecard screen and realized it was not a direct cablecard line, so googled that and called the 1-877-405-2298 number. 

Once that was all setup, I called comcast again because I wanted to upgrade my service for more channels. That has been done, however the guide now lists most the channels as 'unsubscribed' even though I can navigate to them and they work. How do I get tivo to update the guide with the new channel information? Also, for the cable channel list i had to two options 'basic' or 'extended', what is the difference? If I run through guided setup again, do I need to re-pair the cablecard or should that be good?


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## fcfc2 (Feb 19, 2015)

solarium_rider said:


> Well good news. Got the tivo powered up two nights ago and went through guided setup to update it. Picked up a cable card yesterday and got it activated today during lunch. I didn't have any issues with the pairing and it took about 5 minutes or so. I first called the number listed on the cablecard screen and realized it was not a direct cablecard line, so googled that and called the 1-877-405-2298 number.
> 
> Once that was all setup, I called comcast again because I wanted to upgrade my service for more channels. That has been done, however the guide now lists most the channels as 'unsubscribed' even though I can navigate to them and they work. How do I get tivo to update the guide with the new channel information? Also, for the cable channel list i had to two options 'basic' or 'extended', what is the difference? If I run through guided setup again, do I need to re-pair the cablecard or should that be good?


The cc pairing should be fine. Run through the Tivo setup again, but this time try selecting the "extended" channels.


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