Buying CableCARD from eBay

[VictorTheGeek]

The long story short is that my local cable company (I like to call them Redneck Cable) has only had one customer that has asked for a CableCARD for his Tivo, so they don't "really work with those things". They told me that I could buy a CableCARD for $95 or find one somewhere else. I decided to get one from eBay for $8. If the cable co is using a Motorola system and the M-Card that I bought from eBay looks just like what they would use, would there be a reason it doesn't work? When the techs were at my house to get it going (they had to get a MTR700 Tuning Adapter going), it seemed like they just quit trying to help me when it got stuck at "Headend has not turned on service to CableCARD".

[staknhalo]

If he doesn't see/reply to this thread, get in touch with member erkotz here to see if he can help/offer advice. He works for Ceton and deals with this sort of stuff.

[VictorTheGeek]

If he doesn't see/reply to this thread, get in touch with member erkotz here to see if he can help/offer advice. He works for Ceton and deals with this sort of stuff.

I do have a help ticket in right now. Hopefully Ceton can talk some sense into them. Don't pull any punches Ceton! I've already had to file a FCC complaint about this cable company.

[foxwood]

I think they're offering you a working solution at a reasonable cost - it's not really their problem that you plan to move within a year, in which case someone will have to eat the cost of an unwanted cable-card - why should it be them rather than you?

If your $8 eBay card works, great, but I don't think the cable company have a responsibility to jump through hoops to get it working.

(I never thought I'd be sticking up for a cable-co!)

[VictorTheGeek]

I think they're offering you a working solution at a reasonable cost - it's not really their problem that you plan to move within a year, in which case someone will have to eat the cost of an unwanted cable-card - why should it be them rather than you?

If your $8 eBay card works, great, but I don't think the cable company have a responsibility to jump through hoops to get it working.

(I never thought I'd be sticking up for a cable-co!)

Reasonable cost? $95 for a CableCARD that most companies give for free or charge around $2 a month? If they charged me $2 a month for the card, It would take 4 years to match the $95 price. Buying the card for $95 and waiting 4 years to break even is not a good deal. The cable company MUST have CableCARDs on hand, so they should have already "eaten" the cost upfront. I wonder how much a CableCARD costs them? The one tech told me that they mark up the price of the cable modems they sell, so I imagine that they're marking up the price of the CableCARD.

As for your "responsibility to jump through hoops to get it working" comment, I'll retort with: It's their responsibility to follow FCC regulations. They are still not following all the regulations in regards to CableCARDs (the price is not listed on their website).

[staknhalo]

I think they're offering you a working solution at a reasonable cost - it's not really their problem that you plan to move within a year, in which case someone will have to eat the cost of an unwanted cable-card - why should it be them rather than you?

If your $8 eBay card works, great, but I don't think the cable company have a responsibility to jump through hoops to get it working.

(I never thought I'd be sticking up for a cable-co!)

Yeah, that's pretty much all wrong.

[foxwood]

Reasonable cost? $95 for a CableCARD that most companies give for free or charge around $2 a month?

Source? Verizon charge $4, and some recently said they've been notified that that's to be increased. We've also seen posts that other companies charge as much as $9 or $10. And there's no such thing as "free" with cable-cos. There may not be an explicit charge, but you're paying for it somewhere.

If they charged me $2 a month for the card, It would take 4 years to match the $95 price.

And if they charged $10 a month it'd take less than 10 months.

Buying the card for $95 and waiting 4 years to break even is not a good deal. The cable company MUST have CableCARDs on hand, so they should have already "eaten" the cost upfront.

No, they're required to make them available, which they have done (after prompting from the FCC) but there's no requirement that they have to buy a box of cable cards and keep them sitting on the shelf.

I wonder how much a CableCARD costs them? The one tech told me that they mark up the price of the cable modems they sell, so I imagine that they're marking up the price of the CableCARD.

The regulations allow them to include the cost of their administrative overhead. If they really only have a handful of cards in their system, then that $95 price is already heavily subsidised by the other customers of that company.

As for your "responsibility to jump through hoops to get it working" comment, I'll retort with: It's their responsibility to follow FCC regulations. They are still not following all the regulations in regards to CableCARDs (the price is not listed on their website).

Does anyone list the cost of a cable card on their website? I'd be surprised if I could find the price listed on Verizon's website - it seems to be designed to obscure the actual price of any service after your 6-month promo price expires.

In this case we're talking about a small business who have responded positively when tickled with the regulation stick. This user admits he wants a service that they don't normally provide, and he's complaining that they want to cover their reasonable costs to provide what is for them an unusual service. He's paid hundreds of dollars to build his own personal system, and he expects them to subsidise his use of that system.

[richard1980]

The value in a $95 CableCARD is relative. For someone that can get a CableCARD for $0-$2 per month, $95 isn't such a good deal. But when your cable company charges $4 per month, $95 is a good deal. And of course, if your cable company doesn't lease CableCARDs, you have no other choice but to purchase one. (On a side note, if the cable company doesn't lease CableCARDs, how can you expect them to publish the lease fee?)

That said, the FCC regulates the cost of hardware. $95 is either consistent with FCC rules, or it isn't. If it is, the monthly lease fee would be nowhere near $0-$2. It would actually be in the neighborhood of $8-$10 per month (or more). In that case, $95 is a good deal. On the other hand, if the $95 charge is not consistent with FCC rules, then $95 wouldn't be such a good deal....and an FCC complaint would be warranted.

If I had to guess, I'd say this is some small cable company that doesn't have a lot of customers, and therefore doesn't get equipment very cheap.

[VictorTheGeek]

Source? Verizon charge $4, and some recently said they've been notified that that's to be increased. We've also seen posts that other companies charge as much as $9 or $10. And there's no such thing as "free" with cable-cos. There may not be an explicit charge, but you're paying for it somewhere.

5 Miles up the road, Comcast charges $0 a month for the first card. Before someone comments, I'm just outside of the area that Comcast services. So I can't get Comcast.

Does anyone list the cost of a cable card on their website? I'd be surprised if I could find the price listed on Verizon's website - it seems to be designed to obscure the actual price of any service after your 6-month promo price expires.

I am wrong on my statement. It must be on their website OR billing insert.

This user admits he wants a service that they don't normally provide, and he's complaining that they want to cover their reasonable costs to provide what is for them an unusual service. He's paid hundreds of dollars to build his own personal system, and he expects them to subsidise his use of that system.

I want a service that they MUST provide. FCC regulations state that they MUST provide a CableCARD and Tuning Adapter (because they broadcast a SDV signal). So it doesn't matter if they don't "normally provide" the service. And no, I didn't pay hundreds of dollars to "build his own personal system, and he expects them to subsidise his use of that system". It's my home PC that I use for much more than being a HTPC.

I can definitely see the situations of cable companies charging up to $10 for a CableCARD and $95 being a deal! I guess I'm looking at the situation based on my area. Like richard1980 stated, it is relative, and I shouldn't be griping about it. I guess I'm aggravated over their service, attitude, and lack of support. There is a lot more going here than the $95 part. Can we get back to the point of THIS thread and not information that I posted in a different thread?

[erkotz]

I just found your ticket - I'd say their pricing is probably allowed under FCC guidelines, and as far as I know there is no requirement that they need to lease CableCARDs (as opposed to sell). I'll get out the clue stick and make some phone calls in a bit.

[VictorTheGeek]

I just found your ticket - I'd say their pricing is probably allowed under FCC guidelines, and as far as I know there is no requirement that they need to lease CableCARDs (as opposed to sell). I'll get out the clue stick and make some phone calls in a bit.

If my local cable company provided service like Ceton, I would be singing praise about them! Thank you for all the help! At this point, I'm not going to complain anymore about the price. It's not worth this much aggravation. If I have to suck up the $95 to get an awesome HTPC going, I guess it's worth it. I'm more pissed that in the first couple phone calls, they were telling me to go buy a card somewhere but now they don't want to give any technical support.

[TeddyR]

The cable co would find other tricks to get what they want...

They could do what the Cell phone companies do... Offer it for service at $2-$10/month with a "termination fee" of $100.00 if service terminated less than 1year.

I would be weary of any cablecard not provided by the cableco since it may not have the correct/current encryption keys and firmware needed to get service.

[pduncan1963]

The cable co would find other tricks to get what they want...

They could do what the Cell phone companies do... Offer it for service at $2-$10/month with a "termination fee" of $100.00 if service terminated less than 1year.

I would be weary of any cablecard not provided by the cableco since it may not have the correct/current encryption keys and firmware needed to get service.

It's funny how COMCAST in city "A" charges differently than Comcast in city "B". The only equipment I have from Comcast is a cablecard, and they give me a $2.50 credit each month for Customer Owned equipment. They charge me no rent on the cable card.

[erkotz]

I would be weary of any cablecard not provided by the cableco since it may not have the correct/current encryption keys and firmware needed to get service.

Motorola cards should not be a problem (from a technical aspect) to activate customer-owned equipment - I can't speak for the political side of it, but Motorola actually sold retail cable boxes (combo cable boxes/amps/DVD players) for a while. Cisco/SA need to come from your operator, as otherwise the DNCS won't have the keys for them.

[blueiedgod]

If the cable company does not rent cablecards, can;t one just rent a box, and take the cable card out of it, and have the provider re-pair it to the tuner. Pretty much all cable boxes have cable cards in them now. So their story that they don't have one sitting around is probably a lie, or CSR incompetence.

[richard1980]

Except for a small detail: When they try to re-pair it, the computer will alert them that the card is already paired with one of their boxes...and then they'll know you have tampered with their box. This is likely not allowed, and I'm sure they'd be happy to charge a fee and/or cancel service for tampering with their equipment.

[erkotz]

If the cable company does not rent cablecards, can;t one just rent a box, and take the cable card out of it, and have the provider re-pair it to the tuner. Pretty much all cable boxes have cable cards in them now. So their story that they don't have one sitting around is probably a lie, or CSR incompetence.

If the cable company rents STBs, but not CableCARDs (forcing you to buy them) that *might* be against FCC guidelines. I would need to do some digging - please open a support ticket with us at Ceton if this is the case and I will look into it.