Hackers Nab Free 30Mbps Service > Hope Virgin Media isn't blowing smoke

reply to TraunaJ

Re: Hope Virgin Media isn't blowing smoke

you can't knock on the door and say you're going to work on the cable if you're trying to find someone stealing cable/internet services.

if you need that much up time you need to move back to POTS. OH wait! they'd disconnect you too without telling you if they needed to.

reply to hamburglar_
Don't have to tell you a single thing. MANY areas have a provision that you can most certainly take the service down before prime time (usually 5pm) with NO notice and with out an emergency requiring the down time. Further, you're not entitled to an outage credit until you reach a certain amount of time, usually 4 hours.

I really doubt that 60 seconds qualifies the end of the world and a credit for you. Also, don't you think you're being a little dramatic here? Cell phone calls drop all the time. So if you dropped a land line call, in terms of credit amount, you'd be talking about $0.20 for your time. However, that's just an example of what you'd get from a cell phone provider, if any. If your phone service is 3rd party VoIP over your cable.. your SOL..

Expectations and reality are two different things,.. there's NO way in the world you'd get a knock on the door when they're trying to find someone stealing service which would be, so you know, AFFECTING YOUR SERVICE including your telephone service.

Besides, who's to say that you could be the one they're looking for.. still think they need to knock on the door?

Little less dramatics next time.

reply to hamburglar_
R U SERIOUS

a knock on the door. excuse me sir.maam We are going to disconnect your cable for a minute or so.

Now if i was that house hold and I had something illegal connected to the cable. I would disconnect it.

reply to jester121

Look, I'm not going to sit here and argue with someone that obviously has no experience in this matter especially after being told already.

But, you're obviously someone that only sees cable lines as "internet" based on your last post. However, the "line" itself, in which *I* was talking about in my post that you responded to IS regulated by franchise authorities. And, having worked in more franchises that you've probably subscribed, and working with the FA directly in compliance, I will be more than happy to, one last time, tell you that there is in fact rules on how you can and can not take down a customer's service based on emergency or non-emergency reasons.

Further, TV is "entertainment" and it, as I stated above, IS regulated and controlled to some degree by the franchise.

I am tempted to end this with an invite to explain how you can physically down down internet with out affecting the video or other services, but really, I have no time to argue with you or invite back further nonsense.

I've stated my credentials.. you're just shooting in the wind as far as I can see. But, you're more than welcome to think what EVER you want if it makes you happy.

I don't care to argue with you either (especially since your "qualifications" consist thus far of knowing what a franchise authority is and claiming to know they work, at least in theory). Nor am I interested in an over-simplified condescending lecture on ... well really, on anything you claim to be an expert on. Which apparently is pretty much everything.

I'm also up to speed on the differences between television and cable internet service, as well as how they interoperate, thanks very much (it isn't rocket science and no, you aren't really that mysterious or even special because you know too).

On that happy note, enjoy your weekend everyone!

reply to fiberguy
I'm with fiberguy on this one. The cable/DSL/FIBER companies cover their own ass first and foremost. They don't have to tell you sh!t. If they are a decent company they will, or at least let you know what the disconnect was for after the fact.
But they don't want legal troubles just because they fealt like disconnecting (or a act of God) (or an act of dumb man)
:P

peace,
out.

reply to jester121
While you sit here and try to tell someone that has over 15 years experience.. what qualifies you? Unless you care to divulge that, you're blowing hot air and trolling. If you don't know my qualifications, by now, then you're obvious blind and don't read much here... especially when it really is no one business but people work over time to make a point of it.. get it?!

Enough said.

reply to digifalls
Exactly, I was waiting for this explanation, as it's the one that counts.

Good job digifalls, excellent story. This is always how I've envisioned it going down.

Now, if the user had hacked his modem to a tier of service that was closer to (or exactly the same speeds) as one of the provisioned tiers, it'd be significantly more difficult to notice him in the first place, wouldn't it?
--
"Some people never see the light till it shines thru bullet holes." -Bruce Cockburn

I'm testing Gmail's spam filters: Broadbandreports1@gmail.com
Spam: 12900+ messages currently using 406 MB.

reply to jester121

reply to hamburglar_

reply to Nerdtalker

reply to fiberguy
I've worked as a commissioner overseeing a cable franchise (one that was considered one of the better regulated franchises in the area). This was about 5 years ago now.

I can absolutely back up what fiberguy is saying here (and I don't normally agree with him). Emergency disconnects are fine (and this would qualify, the window was defined on when the thief would be on), and credits are not required unless the outage exceeds a certain amount of time (normally 4 hours, bare minimum would be an hour, and this still would not qualify). And that is still based on the customer calling about an outage. Automatic credits are rare and generally require a much longer outage period (like 24 hours).

If I were sitting on a commission and informed of this operation, my only suggestion back to the franchisee would be to inform the entire franchise of the possibility of intermittent outages over the weekend not lasting more than 30 minutes for maintenance purposes. Considering the purpose, I would agree with a plan like this. Cable thieves caused way more service interruption than a fairly ingenious plan like this would.
--
ISCABBS - the oldest and largest BBS on the Internet
telnet://bbs.iscabbs.com
Professional Geographer
Geographic Information Science researcher

reply to DonLibes
We had some of the strongest ordinances and franchise language in Iowa, and I used to use Montgomery County as an example of ways we could strengthen our ordinances.

reply to fiberguy
You are a tool.

Just sayin'.

reply to skuv

reply to hamburglar_