CableCard Registration - why is it so hard?

[mldenison]

OK, the ETH came from Amazon today. It's to replace my Ceton USB tuner.

I transfer the CableCard over, hook up everything and it's detected on my network and with Ceton's diagnostic tool.

I call up Comcast's CableCard group.

I give her the serial number of the CableCard and the ID's she asks for. She places me on hold for '1 to 2 minutes'. 15 minutes later she's back.

She tells me it'll be 45 minutes to an hour for the channel map to download.

I tell her that the diagnostics say that the CP Auth was not been received and that they need to resend the signal.

She places me on hold again.

She comes back and tells me that the CableCard on my account is registered as a Cable Modem and that I need to exchange it at my local office (now closed for the weekend).

I tell her how can that be - I've been using that CableCard for around a year with no problems and everything would probably work if they resend the signal.

She tells me that she cannot as it would destroy my cable card, then tells me to call the regular support line and terminates the call.

So, here I sit - I had 10 tuners available an hour ago, and now I have 6 with not a clue what to do next.

[Crash2009]

Call them back again and ask for a supervisor to explain what's going on. I've got 2 numbers for Comcast 1-800-934-6489 and 1-877-405-2298. I think the 877 number is for the CableCARD dept.

Not sure what happens if the card is installed upside down, but have you confirmed that it is right side up?

[mldenison]

I just did that, with no resolution. They're getting a pairing error on their end. The rep did offer to send a tech to my home for a service charge, which I declined. I guess they don't think I'm capable of reading the information from Ceton's diagnostic screen correctly.

Ceton is handling it for me, hopefully.

I suspect it's because the CableCard in question is paired with the old USB tuner.

[Ryan]

I tell her that the diagnostics say that the CP Auth was not been received and that they need to resend the signal.

This is the same error my diagnostic says. Does your Data ID keep changing? Mine does, but I only discovered this after talking to Comcast. Ceton never noticed it even after receiving countless diagnostic captures. I am uncertain if this indicates damage to the Ceton unit, the CableCard, or something else.

She tells me that she cannot as it would destroy my cable card, then tells me to call the regular support line and terminates the call.

This is odd. Comcast sent the authorization signal to my card several times in an effort to get it to pair properly, but to no avail.

Ceton is handling it for me, hopefully.

This is what Ceton told me as well, but I never heard back from them.

[Crash2009]

The rep did offer to send a tech to my home for a service charge, which I declined.

If the problem is caused by you, you have to pay the service charge. If you can convince the tech it's their problem......they have to pay. I have only had 50/50 luck with that though.

[Crash2009]

I guess they don't think I'm capable of reading the information from Ceton's diagnostic screen correctly.

can you post a screen capture?

[adam1991]

What's all this talk I hear about CableCARD registration? I thought this was a free country. Why, they can have my cableCARD when they pry it from my cold, dead....oh, wait....

/emilylitella

[mldenison]

can you post a screen capture?

I'm not sure what good that would do. It's been furnished to Ceton.

My device ID never changes.

[Crash2009]

can you post a screen capture?

I'm not sure what good that would do. It's been furnished to Ceton.

My device ID never changes.

Couldn't care less about your device ID. There have been many times that someone here has spotted an easy fix, saving you the wait for Ceton. Suit yourself though.

[mldenison]

Couldn't care less about your device ID. There have been many times that someone here has spotted an easy fix, saving you the wait for Ceton. Suit yourself though.

The device ID statement was meant for Ryan (above).

The screen capture isn't easily possible since I'm not running any capturing tool on my HTPC. I'm posting from another PC.

[epayson85]

Print screen and paint? You don't need a capturing tool. Use print screen command and paste it into paint. Then save it on a network drive so you can access the picture from the computer you are posting from.

[mldenison]

I'm aware of how to do it. It would not add anything to my problem description - no CP Auth from Comcast plus the CableCard ID, Host ID and the CableCard serial number. All of which were given to ComCast. Twice.

[barnabas1969]

CSR roulette.

[signcarver]

You mentioned comcast so usually that is Moto card and Ryan was asking about the Data ID (moto only) not Device ID... with what you posted since, it sounds like you are in a cisco/sa market as you made no reference to data id.

There have been some reports that cisco markets for comcast are on a version of firmware that doesn't work well with 6 tuners... they tried upgrading the firmware but then that presented more problems for cablecard tuners and protections so many areas rolled back but haven't heard anything about this in the past month or so.

As for your CP Auth error, on most of my ceton installs in cisco areas, usually when I can tell it has received emms, and the CP Auth is the only thing left, I have to reboot (power cycle) the tuner and usually do the same for the pc then I check it again and it comes through fine.

Often it is easier to pick up a new card rather than move it to a new device as some of their systems may have it on the old device and not everyone can clear it out correctly and the audit system eventually kicks out the new pairing.

[mldenison]

Often it is easier to pick up a new card rather than move it to a new device as some of their systems may have it on the old device and not everyone can clear it out correctly and the audit system eventually kicks out the new pairing.

I'm leaving to pick up a new card. That is exactly the problem. They are unable to un-pair it from my USB tuner and told me to swap it out. I should be good in a couple of hours.

[mldenison]

Everything is good. A tip of the hat to Ceton for getting Comcast national support involved.

[bob_p]

Two weeks ago, the CableCard in my PCIe tuner lost pairing with Comcast - it had been working for a year. I have 3 other CableCard devices - and they continue to work - the problem was just with this one CableCard.

Called Comcast - and they said that card was no longer listed on my account. When multiple tech support staff tried to register the card, their software would not allow the card to be reactivated - appears to be a database problem at Comcast.

I had 3 one hour calls with Comcast technical support - was put on extended hold while they "checked with another group for help" - and each of those times was disconnected without any resolution of the problem - and they never called back.

The 4th support person said he would forward a request to their "database group" to resolve the issue - and as of yesterday - nothing has happened - and no one has called back on the issue.

I then made 5 visits to 3 different Comcast stores over the last 3 days to look for CableCards. Comcast doesn't provide a local phone number for the stores - there's no way to call them. And I found that if you call the 800 number, they also don't have any way to actually verify what each store has in stock. And when I visited the last store yesterday, they said they had no way to request a CableCard to be delivered to the store - they get whatever the warehouse sends them.

I was told on multiple calls that my only options were to get a replacement card at the local store (which clearly won't work) or schedule a service call (pretty silly for just dropping off a cablecard!). Since the stores don't have any cablecards - I scheduled a service call - but because this wasn't a "service outage" - the soonest scheduled call that would work was 10 days later.

Finally, after talking with the 13th Comcast person over a 5 day period - hours on the phone - hours driving between stores - I was able to get a Comcast person on the phone that said he would be able to get a new Cablecard in the mail - and I should get it within 2-3 days. This was after the previous 12 people said that this could not be done!

Hopefully this time, Comcast will actually come through - and the card will show up in a few days - and I'll be able to register it and get my PCIe tuner running again.

Though based on Comcast's results so far on resolving the problem, I wouldn't be surprised if no Cablecard shows up - and I'm back to scheduling another service call for a 60-second visit just to drop off a new card...

[mldenison]

Bob,

You may want to open a support ticket with Ceton. They actually got someone at, I think it was called, national technical support to call me within a couple of days. He put me in touch with a elevated billing group who figured out the CableCard problem was with the registration of the card in the database. You've already nailed that down. Perhaps they can expedite a card to you. When I got my new card at the local office (they always seem to have them), I called the registration department who paired the card. For some reason, the call got dropped before I got to check the card status in Ceton Diagnostics. When I did, the 'CP Auth' showed an error.

Since it was late in the day, I was going to call the next day but someone at Comcast called me back the next day to see if the problem was resolved. When I told her of the problem, she asked for the information again and resent the activation signal. The error then cleared in about 5 minutes and it has been fine since.

It seems that Ceton has some pull with Comcast!

[barnabas1969]

Try https://secure.dslreports.com/forum/comcastdirect or http://www.dslreports.com/forum/tvcomcast. That site works very well for getting the attention of people who are "in the know" at Brighthouse.

[RyC]

Yeah those forums at dslreports are great. When Charter had one over there, they were super helpful and knew exactly what to do. Then the Charter CEO saw dollar signs in his eyes and got rid of the people who ran it.