Acquiring a CableCARD from Comcast

Jan 29

Ryantech, television , , 2 Comments

UPDATE: The comcast trickery continues. What they don’t tell you on the website is that if you have additional services, the pricing for a second CableCARD rapidly increases. For example, the digital preferred package (which I have) brings the price of a second CableCARD to $7.95 as opposed to $2.95. Talk about getting nickled and dimed….

Comcast customers beware. If you are want to get a CableCARD to replace your current cable box, you might notice on comcast.com that your first CableCard from them is free. CableCARDs are a necessity if you want more advanced DVR services like TiVo.

Before you start jumping for joy, nothing is free… the CableCARD is free, yes… but in order to get the CableCARD, you must schedule an installation appointment, which will cost you $24 (in my area).

Despite all this, I scheduled an installation appointment. I eventually got the appointment free of charge because there are some major issues between what the 1-888 number folks tell you compared to what the actual local office offers. Evidently there are self-installation CableCARD kits you can pick up from your local Comcast office, but the local office in my area doesn’t offer that option. After going down to my local office and complaining about the inconsistencies of the information I got from the 1-888 number and the information I got from the office, they waived the installation fee.

Once the tech arrived he informed me that they don’t use multi-stream cards because they “don’t always work as expected” with TiVo boxes. So he had to install two single-stream cards. Conspiracy to get you to pay more for not using their Digital Service? I think so… link here.

The Comcast verbage regarding the cost of CableCARDs reads:

…additional regulated fee of up to $2.05 for the second CableCARD in addition to the digital service charge…

I get my cable bill this month and I am being charged for both single-stream cards… $7.95 extra per month.

Thanks Comcast… I have really enjoyed the web of contradicting information regarding your services. I wish Insight still existed.

So be fair-warned. You can research the price difference between CableCARDs and a standard cable box, but what you find out will most likely not be what Comcast decides to charge.

Say What? is back!

Jan 16

Ryanwacky , , No Comments

After several years on hiatus, and at the numerous requests and nudges from friends, the “Say What?” project is back! Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday you will be able to play.

How to Play?

Three times a week, a new post is generated which selects a set of three random images from popular fonts commonly found in most word processors. From this random selection you can post a comment giving a description of what you think these images mean when put together. If you need a clearer idea of what to do, visit the Say What? Archive and browse the comments for any past Say What? entries. Feel free to provide more than one comment for each Say What? post! It is encouraged.

To view the latest Say What? post, click on the Current “Say What?” widget on the sidebar. This will take you to the latest post. You can also view and post comments to any previous Say What? post by browsing the Say What? Archive.

To keep up to date on the latest Say What? entries you can subscribe to the Say What? RSS feed. You will be able to read all the Say What? entries in the comfort of your favorite RSS Reader.

In the future, I plan on implementing a “digg-like” comment rating system. As soon as I find a viable plugin.

Note on Comments

If you are a new commenter to this blog, your first comment will be marked “awaiting approval”. Your comment will not show up immediately. If I deem it is not spam and indeed a valid comment, I will approve the comment. After your first comment is approved you will then be able to post comments anytime and it will show up immediately (assuming you used the same email address as your last comment).

Note on Gravatars

My blog takes advantage of Gravatar (Globally Recognized Avatar) for the comment system. Once you setup a gravatar for yourself (it’s free!), your gravatar will show up when you make a comment on my blog (assuming you enter the email address assigned to your gravatar when commenting).

I look forward to reading all the Say What? comments! Have fun!