Can you help me with this cable TV question?

Ugh Comcast. patooey I’ve had the same thing with mine lately because they went through an upgrade and we turn our box off at night so it didn’t auto-update. Perhaps that’s what sent yours wonky? I would complain about being given a box that ‘doesn’t receive’ a channel I pay for. I don’t buy the guy’s explanation honestly.

I didn’t even say it was Comcast, but your right, it is.

My son works for Comcast and he says that the service personell that come out to your house do not work for Comcast, but for an installation company that is under contract. You need to call Comcast and ask for a supervisor. Get his/her name, and then tell him/her that you expect this problem to be resolved, and you want h/h to personally take charge of your customer satisfaction.

Edit: The more polite and understanding you sound, the more likely you will have your problem resolved.

@YARNLADY I did not know the service people are not actually employees of Comcast. I did call Customer Service after the guy left. Eventually after getting pretty pissed off, I asked for a supervisor, who was inclined to disagree with me and get me to buy their service package, but finally he asked me enough questions that he agreed something wasn’t right and that what the guy who came to my house said wasn’t completely adding up. Sooooo, they are sending another person to my house later today, but I hoped I would get some info from fluther to better understand what might be the trouble before he gets here.

@YARNLADY Do the service people get money if they get a customer to sign on with the monthly insurance protection?

@JLeslie , when you get pixellation or no signal on a digital channel, it’s because the signal strength is too low. On an analog set, you would see this as snow or other noise in the picture, but digital is either there or not. The pixellation you describe is an attempt by your TV’s error correction circuit to compensate for information drop-outs.

I’m not sure how your house is wired for cable TV, but if it’s more than a few years old, the cabling might not be up to the standards required for DTV. RG-6 shielded cable is required, especially if you’re branching the signal to more than one set. I’ve got a similar problem with one of the sets in my basement, but we don’t watch it much, so I’ve been too lazy to string new cable.

Sounds like the guy who came to your house was feeding you a load of crap, as he should have known about this problem. One solution is to use a distribution amplifier at the point where the cable comes into the house. You can buy a distribution amp yourself, as in here, but if you call up Comcrap again and tell them to deliver one, they should provide it free of charge. This would be a better option for you, since DTV-quality distribution amps are expensive.

If they give you BS about it, and you can’t change providers (which I would recommend to anybody who gets their service from those criminals), I would go to Home Depot and get some RG-6 cable to run to your satellite sets.

@IchtheosaurusRex Thanks for the deatailed answer. The house is only 7 years old, and that line was put in 4 years ago when we moved in. It has worked fine up until a month ago, and as I said all the other TV’s are fine. I asked about amplifying the line and they said it would probably make things worse.

I’ll let you all know what happens when they come today.

@JLeslie I was gonna say exactly what my friend @IchtheosaurusRex (Hi Ichy!) said!!

I have Time Warner…it seems like living near RR tracks is my issue…so NOW after years of my complaining, TW regularly changes the nodes in the box on my street (I saw them do this for me on monday ;).

It could be that you have an issue at their connection box. But most likely you need an amplifier. I have one in my basement. We have a splitter down there as well. I only need the amp during certain times of the year. At other times I have to go down & disconnect as it cause some computer issues when I have too much signal.

TW installed both the amp & the splitter for us. It took us about 5yrs for them to get it all correct here. Luckily I have an IT geek for a husband, so he can explain exactly what we need each time then service us.

TW put in the new outlet for the tv that is giving me problems originally, but Comcast took them over here where I live.

@JLeslie Yes, the service company gets a commission for every customer they can sell the insurance package to. The employees at the help desk have a rating system that they work under and anyone who doesn’t meet their quota will get a reprimand, or worse.

@YARNLADY Had to be….it was just too obvious Thanks again.

Well, the Comcast van pulled up and out walked the same technician who was here yesterday. WTF? So, I opened the door for him and he said, “so you are getting a DVR today?” My reply, “ummm, no?” He went on to show me his paperwork and there it was my name and address and a DVR request. I figure someone out there is supposed to be getting a DVR and some other tech (my tech) walked in saying, “so you need me to check some channels that aren’t working well.”

New appointment for Saturday. Husband is very annoyed.

@JLeslie It could be worse…It took NINE appointments before I finally had a team of 3 installers show up to properly put a cable jack in almost every room of my home (we wanted them in all rooms—oh well!). ;) Saturday apts are sooooo much fun. When the say between 7 am -11am they really mean “We’ll be there at 3pm”

I could have had an appt Friday, but I want my husband home, less chance for the run around I think. He actually left work early for the appt today. Like I said, husband is annoyed.

@JLeslie
I always want my husband at home when cable needs repair. I completely understand!

My husband is annoyed the second cable isn’t working. :) He gets on the phone and asks for a manager first, then asks for a tech. He tells them what diagnostics he wants done, then schedules the appt if necessary for when he is present.

@JLeslie , where do they get off telling you this “probably make things worse” business. It’s easy enough to test the cable at the head end to know. They can connect an instrument at the point of entry – where the cable comes in from the street – to measure the signal to noise ratio. If it’s positive, which it should be at that point, then you can amplify it. If it isn’t, then they need to get some hardhats out to your neighborhood to fix their outside plant. I just think they’re trying to fob off an unnecessary service contract on you.

I am, BTW, an electrical engineer by trade.

Is there any way the wiring is bad if all channels work except for 3? They were fine 4 weeks ago.

Hubby has wired our sets so that we can watch different channels and record different channels all at the same time. Our installation technician said it isn’t possible to do that.

Our installers chose to simply re-wire our entire system, from the street to all the wiring inside our house. That way, everything was upgraded.

I suggest you ask for a full upgrade, since your reception isn’t working correctly.

@JLeslie , yes, a problem in the wiring could cause a dropout on certain channels. Coaxial cable doesn’t have the same properties as something like telephone wiring, which is essentially DC. Something as simple as a kink in the cable, that would distort the shielding, can mess it up. It has to do with a property called impedance. which is pretty crucial at the frequencies required for DTV transmission. And even a small drop in signal strength on the affected channels could be the difference between reception and a black screen.

So the Comcast guy came, looked at the lines, said the phone should be on the dedictaed line, not that ne tv, swutched the lines and everything works perfectly. It’s been connected incorrectly for years.

@JLeslie Ahhhhh the bad install, made better! Hope it works well for you for good now!

@JLeslie * * * YAY * * *

Thanks all! You were very helpful. Scary that one guy want to put in new wires and carge me for it, and another one just switched a couple of things. I’m planning on calling customer service back and giving a positive comment about this last comcast service man wo came to my house. I figure if I can call and complain, I can also call and say thank you.

@JLeslie – so the phone line was piggybacked onto the cable TV wiring? I wonder what idiot did that!

@IchtheosaurusRex my phone is through the cable, I have no idea how that works?? I get my phone, tv, and internet through comcast.

OK, I see. You have a VOIP phone. That would use the same part of the cable spectrum as your Internet connection. The signal should be split off at only one place, where the cable physically enters your house. It sounds like it was being tapped off in each room. That would definitely attenuate the signal.

@IchtheosaurusRex Not sure. There is only one cable for the phone (although I use multiple phone jacks).

@JLeslie We have VOIP too. It is a router at one location. (Split at one location)