Cable TV Signal Problem

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Darrell
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Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by Darrell »

I have Comcast/Xfinity for cable TV. A month or so ago three channels quit working, when called up the screen says One moment please, ref. code S0a00. Having a reset signal sent does no good. Camcast sent a new box, no change in the problem. This is three channels up in the 770s--771, 774, and 776. All other channels work perfectly. It's an HD digital package. Your thoughts?

Again, it's a new cable box, which made no difference. I wouldn't think a damaged cable inside the house would be the problem, or I'd be having much worse symptoms. Again, all channels, video and audio, are perfect, just no joy on the three channels in question. I suspect something upstream with the provider. Any suggestions?

Let's save cutting cable for another day, shall we?
Eppur si muove--Galileo
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kapikui
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Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by kapikui »

Call them again. It could be a cabling issue. When were the cables in the housr installed, and the cable to the house from the street. Bad cabling often gives noise on just a few frequencies. (channels if there were still analog) that could be hitting those. HD tends io be more sensitive as well.
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randy
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Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by randy »

It could be something generating RF Interference on those frequencies, especially if there is any shield damage on the cable.

Testing this would require knowing what frequencies those channels come in on, and having a frequency counter that covers that frequency range (not cheap) to sniff for other sources.

Something that apparently works for the Father in Law is to call the cable company and insist they send out a technician that specializes in commercial installations rather than residential. Supposedly they have more experience with RFI and similar issues.
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Darrell
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Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by Darrell »

An update: the cable company sent out a tech this morning. I felt bad for ruining his Sunday, but he was very nice and professional, plus he told me he was making time and a half, so there's that. ;) Anyway, I described the problem to him, he then told me that he didn't even need to look at it. Turns out that the cable company had bumped the channels up a tier, so I no longer receive them. Too bad nobody bothered telling me, or anyone else, evidently. He checked things out, and reported that everything is indeed working normally. He said that when the networks and cable company negotiate pricing, if costs go up, the channels get bumped up a tier. There we go.

I am royally pissed. This has been a huge waste of my time and effort. I intend to let them know it, too.

:evil:
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randy
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Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by randy »

Too bad you didn't call tech support, describe the situation to them and .... wait a second!

Nice when the sales and tech departments coordinate, isn't it? :evil:
...even before I read MHI, my response to seeing a poster for the stars of the latest Twilight movies was "I see 2 targets and a collaborator".
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McClarkus
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Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by McClarkus »

Ok, Legally this is another day. I finally dumped Direct last week. Still suffering withdrawals. They jacked my bill by $20/month to over $100 and I finally said no. Cried and whined to get them to turn me off and they responded with an offer to get me down one tier and set it at about $65/mo. I was still pissed so I said no - I am just getting tired of the constant fight for every last nickle. I stream local news and more radio now. Will experiment with Sing TV and some of the others soon.....
One secret to life. Step #1 - Find something you enjoy doing. Step #2 - Find someone foolish enough to pay you to do it.
Precision
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Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by Precision »

McClarkus wrote:Ok, Legally this is another day. I finally dumped Direct last week. Still suffering withdrawals. They jacked my bill by $20/month to over $100 and I finally said no. Cried and whined to get them to turn me off and they responded with an offer to get me down one tier and set it at about $65/mo. I was still pissed so I said no - I am just getting tired of the constant fight for every last nickle. I stream local news and more radio now. Will experiment with Sing TV and some of the others soon.....

Roku with sling and custom content like CRTV is nice. But I have even given all that up and quite frankly I don't miss it. Having a few options like CRTV might be nice but not worth the wasting of time in front of the tube. I also find my anger level to be lower not watching any MSM News.
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Darrell
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Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by Darrell »

Well, it's still not resolved! I called customer service this morning to see about getting my bill resolved, additional charges they hit me with, etc. Turns out that no, the channels in question were not raised a tier! The technician was evidently blowing smoke yesterday. I must have been on the phone with them for two hours or more, got the shuffle, wound up talking with a nice lady tech stateside, instead of the usual India call center. She tried a lot of things, nothing worked. She wound up lowering my bill quite a bit. I can live without the few channels I'm missing. Ahem. :roll:
Eppur si muove--Galileo
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McClarkus
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Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by McClarkus »

I must have been on the phone with them for two hours or more, got the shuffle, wound up talking with a nice lady tech stateside, instead of the usual India call center. She tried a lot of things, nothing worked. She wound up lowering my bill quite a bit. I can live without the few channels I'm missing. Ahem.

Key words here - "lowered my bill by quite a bit". Me too. When I originally called them I would have stayed if they would have just reduced me the $20 they jacked me up, but no. So I finally quit them. Then they send me an empty box to return the 2 receivers I had. I opened it up and I swear to God it looked like a box of tits. Blue ones, with finger grooves and no nipples. Very firm. Inside were about 14 size "A" blue foam boobs to cushion the expected contents, glued to the inside of the box. I put the stuff in and mailed it off. A day later I get the following offer. Come back and we'll give you the basic package for $20/month for the first year and in addition we'll knock off $10/mo for the second year. Plus we'll give you the biggest, bestest DVD recorder/receiver known to man for free plus three more for additional rooms, with pro installation to put wherever you want. And just to sweeten the deal we'll throw in a prepaid VISA card in the amount of $200 bucks. I did the math and we went from roughly $1800 for two years on the full price plan to $1050 for two years on the "please come back plan". I'm thinkin about it. I think I may do this every two years..... I would be happy to share the dedicated 1-800 number and coupon code if anybody wants it.... You're going to have to be out of contract with Direct TV and actually quit for it to work.
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HTRN
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Re: Cable TV Signal Problem

Post by HTRN »

Netflix, amazon and Hulu combined will run you less than 30 bucks a month.
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