Question on getting proper spec cable installed from the pole to the house

I don't have Comcast, so I can only tell you what my cable service provider will do, based on my experience. If you call to subscribe, they will make a service(installation) call. They prefer that someone be at home. They inspect the cable and if they find the cable drop not up to par(not the current cable type they use, spliced, etc.) they will replace it with new stuff. If you are home and point out the cable problems they will replace it with new stuff. They will check the signal where it enters the house and then the reception at the tv in the house. If all is good/within specs, that's it.

Ken

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Wrong. What they are selling and you are buying is a signal/service, not a cable. If the signals meet spec, they'll leave your current cable. If not, they'll replace it. Now a decent installer will be willing to look at what's there and if he has time and it's easy and he feels it will be a problem soon, he might replace it. Or not.

Humm, sounds like offering the installer a sexual favor might be in order.. How important is this to you?

A_C

Actually I'd definitely bring out a tall glass of ice and offer water or soda. Nothing that would get them fired.

Oh, you're no fun at all...

A_C

Hey, Guys -

Don't laugh! Here in the Washington DC area (we live in Alexandria) the techs are damned hard up in 100F weather with Code Red air quality. A good cold Coke or glass of ice water or iced tea is just the right thing to do.

Also, if the tech has to go into the attic on these miserable days - - -

- well, that's a b***h of a problem for him, and you need to keep him hydrated.

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt

George (The Old Fud)

As someone who's around installers all the time, I'm polite, thank them continuously, plead ignorance when I don't understand or even think they are wrong. And so far I've had great results in getting them back if something isn't quite right. Bellsouth, TWC, etc... all will allow the same tech to go back that day or the next if an issue comes up and they haven't had to go to fire fighting mode. And not having to start over with the story is a VERY BIG PLUS.

:)

This is what you do. If you really want to get the cable changed. Go out there with a long stick with a sawtooth knife tape to the stick's end. ok?

Then place the knife's edge onto the cable and slowly slide the knife back and forth until the cable breaks.

Then go inside your house and get your 13 channel TV set from the closet and rfun a antenna from the TV up to your roof. You need to do this so you will still have channel 8 to watch until Comcast comes out and replaces the cable.

Good luck....It worked for me!

Perkowski

Is that the *best* advice you could come up with? Intentionally destroying their equipment doesn't seem like a great idea to me.

The signal levels are either good or bad. If good, then no need to replace a cable. If bad, then they will do what they feel is necessary to improve the signal. That may mean replacing the cable or it could mean doing something else. As a customer, why should we care what they do as long as we get good service in the end?

I didn't read the rest of this thread. I'm only responding to the text above.

It's not entirely unprecedented and I would hardly describe it as 'destroying their equipment'.

When I moved into my apartment 16 years ago, I was getting poor TV reception due to RF leakage. No matter how many times I had the servicemen out, nothing improved. Finally, I got fed up one day and ripped out all the cable from my apartment, down the hall, all the way to the utility closet. I snipped the cable just outside the box.

There were multiple splices in the line and the insulation was brittle and cracked easily. It was obvious where the RF leakage was coming from, but the Time Warner monkeys had apparently never bothered to check the condition of the cable closely.

I called up and insisted they come out and replace it with a single, splice free stretch of cable. They did and I've gotten *pristine* reception even since.

A_C

It's not entirely unprecedented and I would hardly describe it as 'destroying their equipment'.

When I moved into my apartment 16 years ago, I was getting poor TV reception due to RF leakage. No matter how many times I had the servicemen out, nothing improved. Finally, I got fed up one day and ripped out all the cable from my apartment, down the hall, all the way to the utility closet. I snipped the cable just outside the box.

There were multiple splices in the line and the insulation was brittle and cracked easily. It was obvious where the RF leakage was coming from, but the Time Warner monkeys had apparently never bothered to check the condition of the cable closely.

I called up and insisted they come out and replace it with a single, splice free stretch of cable. They did and I've gotten *pristine* reception ever since.

I had a similar issue with a telephone drop to my house. The telco had installed an individual drop for each line over the years. A verry messy setup with 5 lines to my home...I ran a home business at the time. I asked them to run one 6 pair drop, the wouldn't do it. The one day, a tree limb 'fell' on the drops and broke them all! When they came out to repair I suggested that it might be easier for the tech to install a single multi pair drop. He said that was a great idea and did just that!

Agent_C wrote:

I guess I'm in the minority, then. I've never had to tear anything up in order to get good service. Seems like they should have charged you guys for the service calls to repair the damage you caused.

OMG, what a Pollyanna we have here...

A_C

I guess I'd call it a respect for the property of others. Even if it is a big impersonal company.