Comcast, part 1

I had this bright idea; upgrade to an HDTV, get a new HD TiVo and then upgrade cable to get high definition... Which one of the three previous statements was difficult to do? You go it - Comcast.

HD TiVo uses CableCARDs(tm) which is a technology that's been around for years now, but seldom adopted. Comcast techs know very little about them and (after reading up on message boards) they don't work very well. Sometimes they work for a day, then poop out. Or, like my experience, they don't work at all out of the box.

I had an appointment for a visit yesterday. The tech came, inserted the card, the TiVo recognized it as a MultiStream CableCARD(tm) and began to download "something". It was taking a long time to download whatever these segments were so I told the technician that if I had any issues, I would call. He gave me his cell phone number and off he went.

The card did not successfully authorize, initialize or whatever. I called the tech, but it was 3pm by this point and he was probably out drinking some fine Russian vodka and smoking cigarettes by then. Either way, he didn't answer. So, I scheduled an appointment for today noting that my CableCARDs(tm) were not working. I called Comcast to see if they could "hit" or restart my card, but they see the card as looking good on their end of the world so they cannot help much. I remember having cable modem issues in the past and tech support could go in and touch the cable modem easily. I guess CableCARDs(tm) are not that savvy.

The tech today came thinking I had a signal issue; he was not told to bring cards with him and so I have yet another visit for 10am tomorrow. Good thing I'm home with a newborn or this would get frustrating in a hurry. I called Comcast support several times trying to find a way that I could drive to a store to exchange the card on my own. No such luck. Since I live outside of Chicago, there are no brick and mortars where that can be done. It must be a tech visit. So, I'll cross my fingers and continue to watch crappy analog cable on my 52" HD set.