It's been awhile since I published anything, yet many things have happened. The most recent events concern the changes in the analog broadcasting to digital. Of course, we are fine since we have cable, or at least I thought so....now I'm not so sure! In January we received a letter from Comcast informing us of some upcoming changes and the need for digital equipment that they would provide for us. The need for this equipment would be optional until Oct. 2010, then it would be necessary for us to receive our cable channels. So...I decided that rather than wait till it was necessary and to hopefully avoid a mad rush for equipment I would go ahead and order the equipment now. We were told we would get a digital set top box and two adapters at no charge. All other equipment would be charged at the normal monthly rate. I decided to order 2 more adapters to cover the extra TVs we had in various rooms. I tried to do my homework and I searched the Comcast site for channel line ups for various packages. We were informed that our expanded basic service would become the new Digital Starter package...so I looked up the channel line up for Digital Starter packages. It gave me all of what we have now including several HD channels that we do not currently receive. We currently can receive our local channels in HD through our current package so I figured we wouldn't lose that. Well.....much to my not so pleasant surprise we did lose that capability.
I suppose I need to back up a bit though....In order to find that out I had to first activate our new equipment! Shouldn't be too hard..or so I thought!!! I followed the instructions included in the booklet that came with the digital set top box. We hooked up all the adapters and the box and then called Comcast to begin the activation. I chose the automated method in hopes that I might get lucky and have it all work the first time. As you can imagine....my hopes were in vain. The first thing the book said would happen is that once the activation process begins the digital box would turn itself off and then back on..and that we were not to use the box until the process was finished. It would shut off once it was finished...and that the whole process would take about 45 minutes. I waited an hour and when nothing happened at all I phoned Comcast again. This service is voice activated which I absolutely hate. You can't make one sound or it will start over stating it didn't understand you....once the dog barked while I was on a voice activated prompt and it said.."I'm sorry, I did not understand your request!" and then proceeded to give me the list again. So....here I am...frustrated to no end and I begin to yell into the phone....I found that if you yell enough to a voice activated prompt...you can confuse it and it will give you a person...of course, this didn't happen until I tried to do it their way only to get transferred to another department which told me their hours of operation...8 a.m. - 11p.m. on Sat....and then told me to call back during normal hours of operation and then promptly hung up on me! It was 1p.m. To say I was not a happy camper would be an understatement.....so I immediately called back...and yelled at every prompt...till I was finally placed on hold to wait for the next available account executive. As I am waiting the digital box turns itself off and then back on....the process was just now starting....! I realized then that while the activation process may take only 45 minutes, the time it takes to begin the process is anyone's guess!! So now I wait another 45 minutes before I can even check it to see if the activation was done properly! It wasn't! So now I have waited an hour and 45 minutes only to find out that it still isn't working. Not wanting to let this go I decided to call back immediately to get help.....so I begin the voice prompts yet again...."Are you calling about your service at telephone number ending in 9895....?" "YES, I AM!" "Are you calling to troubelshoot the activation of your digital equipment?" "YES, I AM!" "Please press the corresponding number with the issue listed..." "OH SHUT UP AND GIVE ME A PERSON TO TALK TO!" "Please hold while I transfer you to an account executive!" Upon connecting with said account executive it became evident that he really didn't know much about any of this stuff either...and he resent the signal to the one adapter that wasn't working. He did tell me that I would lose the local channels in HD if I use their adapter, but if my TV was already digital I wouldn't even need the box.....but that's not entirely true...I need it if I want the new channels they are putting in our package....but if I use it..I can't the local channels in HD....a feature that I now recieve. Let's see...you are going to give me new channels that I don't want....and take away my local HD channels....and then charge me more to get them back???? Does this sound right to you??? No, it didn't sound right to me either. Then I find that we still have issues with the digital box....since the only suggestion the tech support person on the other end had was to disconnect the power to it, wait for 1 minute and then hook it back up and see if it reset! It didn't! So....he sets an appointment for a cable technician to come to our house to see if he can fix it. Sigh! He showed up between the time frame they said he would, but not before playing cat and mouse with Crystal on the phone. Once he arrives she informs him of all the issues we have...including the signal to their TV which was rather snowy and not good at all for an HD tv. Actually, it was the hook up of their TV and the need to scan the channels that we discovered that we actually do get the local channels in HD. It was also then I suggested that maybe we needed a booster for the signal. Jon decided that I didn't know what I was talking about and made it perfectly clear WE DO NOT NEED A BOOSTER! So.....now the cable guy is here at our home.....trying to address all our issues including the poor signal. And what does he put at the beginning of our cable line in the house??? Yep...A BOOSTER...A.K.A. An amplifier and he split the signals from there. Neither Crystal nor myself wanted to be the one to break it to Jon that the biggest part of the problem was the lack of a booster on a signal that had been split too many times. But she gently did once he asked about it.....his response? "I don't see how that's going to help!" I on the other hand have said nothing! I know when to keep my mouth shut....I am not saying I always exercise that knowledge.....but this time (with the exception of this blog) I did!
In the meantime I managed to confuse the Cable guy....but only because he doesn't seem to be informed of all the changes Comcast is going to make....! Welcome to our world. I still don't understand why we need any equipment for digital tvs if the signal is going digital in the fall of this year.....if the TV is digital and the signal is digital.....wouldn't that be exactly what it's designed for???? I think I will wait till next fall before I make any decisions concerning my cable company.....and calling them at this point will only serve to make me frustrated and give me Laryngitis from yelling at the voice prompts....only to get someone who is probably no more informed than myself!!!
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