02.21.09
Newsflash: Comcast helpful
In January, we ordered and installed Digital Cable, in order to get Fox Soccer Channel. The installer guy just used whatever cable box was in his van. Turns out it was one of the oldest models of converter boxes out there (General Instruments DCT-2244). It never worked well with our TiVo.
Today I walked into a service center to talk to Comcast about the flakey channel changing that I was experiencing with my TiVo trying to control this ancient digital box. (They misunderstood my original complaint and thought I was saying that the DCT2244 was not getting the right channel from Comcast, when in fact it was that the TiVo wasn’t able to exactly replicate the Remote Control signals the DCT2244 was expecting.) I thought they were going to say “Well tough luck. We have a TiVo-like box that you should use pay for instead.” But actually the customer service person was actively trying to figure out what Comcast could do to fix things. Actual customer service… can you believe it?
Right then and there she offered me a much newer digital cable box (Motorola DCT-2524) which is an updated box in the same series. I took it home and plugged it in, reconnecting each of the wires and connectors from the old box to the very similar new box, and voila, the TiVo is once again changing channels like a champ. Yay.
(They said to bring back the old one when I get the chance. “In the next week would be great”. Wow, that’s… laid back. That’s also not normally the phrase I would use with monopolies.)
Bottom line: our Series 2 TiVo was not working well with the old DCT2244 box, mostly because the Tivo was using “IR Blasters” to pretend it was a remote control but was failing. However, with the new DCT2524 there is a direct serial port connection which works perfectly. Comcast had the serial port enabled (it seems that the cable company can turn it off or on at will and some cable companies refuse to turn it on) and didn’t charge me for exchanging the box, or even ask for a deposit while I’m in possession of both boxes. Again, yay.
So Portland Comcast gets points for 1) being laid back, 2) being helpful, and 3) giving me a full-featured, upgraded box with no hassle.
However, on the way out of the service center I saw a flyer about Comcast’s own Digital TV Cutover. Oh boy, that’s a whole ‘nother entry.