said by tired_runner:When you're talking The Bronx, this is not just two apartment buildings but more like five of them between a bunch of private houses.
The location really makes no difference. The number of customer premises does (be it private homes or individual units in a multi-unit structure such as an apartment in a building).
Not to mention, a good portion of the Bronx comprises of utility poles running along the back of private houses, and to get there they'd need someone home to let them in.
The "utilities" with infrastructure on those poles has a legal right-of-way to enter private property to reach those poles. Nobody needs to be home to "let them in".
In fact, the poles themselves are most likely not on private property but rather on a right-of-way owned by the owner of the poles, even if it is only three feet wide.
My point being is not getting away with it, but rather them wanting to bother. In West Bubble Fuck Long Island it probably is cake. Here someone has to be home to let the tech in and take a look.
Theft-of-service is a major deal for MSOs (such as Cablevision). They don't take it likely and
will go to extents to prevent theft, even if it is for a single individual. Unauthorized use of cable is a federal offense and the fines typically levied more than cover the MSO expenses in identifying the thieves.
MSOs could also block a "recurring" illegal modem at the node. Remember that the cable modem gets its "pool" (typically only one) of addresses for attached CPE devices (NICs) from the node. Similarly, the cable-modem itself has a unique MAC. Based on this there are multiple methods that may be used to prevent theft-of-service if it came down to it.