Why would you pay TWC for installation, which consists of plugging in the modem to the coax outlet and the wall? TWC tried that crap with me — I bought my own modem, called them, and told them to create an account and turn the service on at the address. (CHOP-CHOP! QUICK!) No one needed to show up at the location, it was all done remotely. It took some doing to speak to the right rep, but it was doable.
I assume you bought your own DOCSIS 3.0 modem and aren’t paying them $10/mo for the dubious pleasure of renting one?
You can’t buy your own capable of having a landline phone, but they only charge for data modem rental. So if you buy your own modem but need phone through them, they’ll actually give you a second modem just for phone use for free.
spd, I like your System D personality. For my latest furnished rental, I bought a docsis 3 Netgear N combo modem/wifi router on craigslist for $25.
Antenna on the balcony tied in to the existing in-wall cable infrastructure. Works beautifully.
From what I understand, the cable companies had problems with cable theft so they are “going digital” so everybody will need a decoder box. That will save them money because they can leave everyone connected and avoid truck runs to connect cables and install filters. We will see many cable men losing their jobs (as they already have because of outsourcing to contractors).
Did you combine the antenna and cable system feeds using some sort of multiplexer? Or did you disconnect the condo’s cable system from the cable company’s feed and connect only the modem to cable co?
As far as cable theft — only the OTA channels used to be provided to everyone without a box in NYC, and I think that was somehow required by law, subscription or not. They “encrypted” the “pay” channels by putting them on random HDTV channels that changed periodically.
I heard that by going “fully encrypted”, they could get around that requirement and make more people pay.
I didn’t need to combine the feeds because the condo is wired in a hub and spokes manner at the TV. Luckily one of the bedroom cable outlet is accessible though the wall to balcony so I don’t have unsightly cable runs.
I read that the FCC is allowing cable companies to encrypt everything so that’s where we’re headed. TWC in San Diego is going digital in November and the local channels will be encrypted in early 2016.
New multi-units buildings should really have a roof mounted antenna with a separate cable run to each unit.
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