Ohio Time Warner issues.

[dave1949]

Can someone please explain what is going on with the cable tv service?

My Mom lives in Ohio and hasn't had tv for two weeks. Something about additional boxes to restore channels that were dropped. Now she has the boxes but only one of two is working. Each box has its own remote controller???

The long waits for multiple repair visits are ridiculous.

If you can tell me what is going on there, I'd appreciate the help.
Thanks.

 

[murphy1244]

When you go to talk with them in their store they have Bullet proof glass. That should tell you something.

 

[dave1949]

When you go to talk with them in their store they have Bullet proof glass. That should tell you something.

Yeah. You can't really talk to anyone useful on the phone. My Mom waited 20 minutes the other day for a "person" and he hung up on her. She claims she used nice language. Repair man finally came, left with the job half done.

Sharon put some stuff on twitter and Dish TV said they would be glad to take over the account. :laughing:

 

[murphy1244]

Yeah. You can't really talk to anyone useful on the phone. My Mom waited 20 minutes the other day for a "person" and he hung up on her. She claims she used nice language. Repair man finally came, left with the job half done.

Sharon put some stuff on twitter and Dish TV said they would be glad to take over the account. :laughing:

Dave, if I could be rid of them I would. Like a bad cold.

 

[Mendonsy]

Time Warner service ranges between terrible and non-existent everywhere. Comcast is even worse! Her best bet would be to dump Time Warner and get a DirecTV dish.

 

[dave1949]

DirecTV would be good but I'm not sure if we can put a dish on the exterior of the condo she lives in. Her view to the southern sky from inside the patio where such things are allowed is partially blocked by the other units and a tree. It's a quad layout with adjoining garages in the center. I could certainly have them check for a signal though.

I don't care for condo living and all the rules but for an elderly remote Mom, the grass gets mowed, snow plowed, somebody else worries about the building exterior, nice location, and it has its own attached two car garage--it's kind of hard to beat for the situation.

 

[Streetcar]

Time warner converted a bunch of channels to digital only. Your mom needs a digital converter to get the channels now. I had to go through the process for my mom

 

[dave1949]

Time warner converted a bunch of channels to digital only. Your mom needs a digital converter to get the channels now. I had to go through the process for my mom

Thanks very much for that info. Now I at least know what is trying to be accomplished. Mom is 88, slipping a bit, and highly technical terms like "digital" aren't very meaningful to her.

 

[Underdog57]

Charter Cable did the same to us. You have to rent a separate digital cable box for every TV in your house. I don't mind paying for a couple of boxes, but I have about 4 other TV's I can't even watch now. Can anybody recommend a good reasonably priced digital antenna or where I can buy digital boxes so I don't have to pay rent to the cable co. every month? :thumbdown:

 

[dave1949]

Time Warner's added charge is $1.50/tv box/month. Each box has its own remote control too. So Mom asks how does she set the sleep timer on her bedroom tv with the new remote? Okay, it's sort of logical but ...

Six years ago when she moved to the condo, we set her up with the voip phone, internet access and tv package. It seems like a technical kluge to put digital converter boxes on each tv when the signal is coming through a cable modem. The whole thing stinks.

 

[LD1]

Are the digital boxes just for older TV's?

I have TWC. And have 4 tv's. 2 of them are 20+ year old tube tv's. One is a DLP and one is an LED flat. Only one I have a box on is the main DLP TV in the living room. It gets the box to get all the "premium" channels.

The other tv's just get the 1-70 or so normal channels. The new LED flat tv has the decimal, so can get the locals in HD by adding a .1 to the end. But the non-hd channels still come in just fine.

So sorry I cannot help. Havent experienced anything like that here, but hope things arent going to get worse. I really dont have much other options than TWC for internet. And dropping the TV off and going to a dish would cost more after that nice first year reduced rate.

 

[Ken45101]

Thanks for reminding me how fortunate we are to live beyond cable! It's been 13 years and I had forgotten how non existent TW customer service is!

 

[Fossil Farm]

Charter Cable did the same to us. You have to rent a separate digital cable box for every TV in your house. I don't mind paying for a couple of boxes, but I have about 4 other TV's I can't even watch now. Can anybody recommend a good reasonably priced digital antenna or where I can buy digital boxes so I don't have to pay rent to the cable co. every month? :thumbdown:

Antennaweb.org or keys.com will help you find how big an antenna you will need and give you some additional info. There is no such thing as a "digital" antenna. An antenna is an antenna. Almost all channels are now UHF. So you need a good UHF antenna. Before digital we got about 30 stations with our antenna. Right after digital we got about 2. Most stations have upgraded their equipment since the initial switch, so hopefully you can get decent reception. Of course digital TV's are cheap. Might want to consider buying one or two new TV's depending on how big an antenna and setup of it (tower, if house attachment won't work) is needed. Good luck.

 

[Pixguy]

I've been seeing the ad for Clear Tv or buycleartv.com for a thin antenna. 2 for $20 plus $16 for S&H.

Don't know how good they are although I've been told that they are junk. Buyer beware.

 

[Rhinohio]

Time Warner service ranges between terrible and non-existent everywhere. Comcast is even worse!

Comcast is in the process of buying TWC and soon, will likely be the only cable TV provider option. They have the DC in their hip pocket.

Mike

 

[KubotainNH]

Charter Cable did the same to us. You have to rent a separate digital cable box for every TV in your house. I don't mind paying for a couple of boxes, but I have about 4 other TV's I can't even watch now. Can anybody recommend a good reasonably priced digital antenna or where I can buy digital boxes so I don't have to pay rent to the cable co. every month? :thumbdown:

Cable TV is such a scam. Roku w/ Netflix, DVD's and free local channels when needed is what I use. I cut the Comcast cord, ripoff.

As for an antenna, seems making one works better than buying one.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Powerful-Modern-Homemade-HDTV-Antenna/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Pie-tenna-The-simplest-HDTV-antenna-possible-pos/
Homemade TV antenna
Good Digital antenna cheap!
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

There's plenty more to choose from.

 

[Pixguy]

I currently have TWC and I'd love to cut the cord as well. I have Netflix but I have a small mountain behind me blocking the south and west and the antennas will only pull in one channel to the east in ME. Cell service and weak and only Vz works.

 

[Bird]

We have Charter cable for TV, Internet, and telephone. This thread makes it sound as if other cable companies are worse than Charter . . . . and I didn't know that was possible.:laughing:

 

[Mendonsy]

We have Charter cable for TV, Internet, and telephone. This thread makes it sound as if other cable companies are worse than Charter . . . . and I didn't know that was possible.:laughing:

OH YEAH!! It's possible!!

 

[jimpen]

Comcast is in the process of buying TWC and soon, will likely be the only cable TV provider option. They have the DC in their hip pocket.

There is a petition to try and stop it. Go here to sign it.