US Cable Support > Comcast HSI > [Rant] Leaving Comcast..... if they'll let me go...

reply to BronsCon

Re: [Rant] Leaving Comcast..... if they'll let me go...

Not when there's a written agreement between Comcast and my landlord stating otherwise.

No its federal law. No contract over rides federal law. just go to the fcc site and read up on inside cabling law.

10. Section 16(d) of the Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992
(the "1992 Cable Act"), codified at Section 624(i) of the Communications Act, requires the Commission
to "prescribe rules concerning the disposition, after a subscriber terminates service, of any cable installed
by the cable operator within the premises of such subscriber." In February 1993, the Commission issued
a Report and Order implementing Section 624(i) (the "Cable Wiring Order"). The Cable Wiring Order
provided that when a subscriber voluntarily terminates cable service, the operator is required, if it proposes
to remove the wiring, to inform the subscriber: (1) that he or she may purchase the wire; and (2) what
the cost per-foot charge is. If the subscriber declined to purchase the home wiring, the operator was
required to remove it within 30 days or make no subsequent attempt to remove it or to restrict its use.
These rules were designed to advance Section 624(i)'s goals of avoiding the disruption of having the
wiring removed and permitting subscribers to use the wiring with an alternative video service provider.
-----

Is there something newer available that I'm not seeing? That seems to imply that if it's installed by the cable co, it's owned by the cable co unless the resident buys it.

EDIT:
Duh, if I read the whole document I night find what I'm looking for.

Edit 2:
Found it. The landlord CAN own it, but does not HAVE to own it. In my case, they do not.

58. In both the building-by-building and unit-by-unit approaches, the MDU owner will have
the initial option to negotiate for ownership and control of the home run wiring because the property
owner is responsible for the common areas of a building, including safety and security concerns,
compliance with building and electrical codes, maintaining the aesthetics of the building and balancing
the concerns of all of the residents. Moreover, vesting ownership of the home run wiring in the MDU
owner, as opposed to the alternative service provider, will reduce future transaction costs since the above
procedures will not need to be repeated if service is subsequently switched again. Nevertheless, we
recognize that some MDU owners may not want to own the home run wiring in their buildings; in such
cases, the MDU owner may permit the alternative service provider to purchase the wiring.

An 8 foot section of a 120 foot run was RG59. The rest was RG6.

In conduit, as I stated, with the outside end screwed to a ground plane in the locked box with the tap. The tap ports are connected to the individual lines through the ground plane with pigtails to provide service. I'm sure someone's ripped the cover off it again by now so I can probably post photos of what I'm talking about (the reason I was unable to pull the cable myself to inspect it) tonight when I get home.

Or you could just take my word.

Either way, it's Comcast's cable and pulling it to inspect it would have been illegal, as would have been unscrewing it from the ground plane (the box was wide open).

Did you read up where I said there were 3 splices in that wire within 12in of each other?

At any rate, replacing the run did fix the problem. The gripe is that I was billed for it when Comcast legally owns and is responsible for the wire. Doesn't matter at this point, it's done and paid for, I didn't feel like arguing with them about it, so it's really a moot point.

reply to medbuyer
Nope, they must have been out here working on someone's line today because the box is closed. I'll look for a picture online of something similar, it's a pretty standard enclosure, if a bit old, so I should be able to find one.

Not the exact same one, but: »www.six-ug.com/images/jobs/coax11.jpg

Lines running to each unit connect to the bottom of the ground plane that sticks out a few inches below the taps. Short pigtails connect between the tap and the top of the ground plane. This ensures that all cables are grounded at a known location and that even a non-serviced drop can't accidentally be pulled through the conduit, since only the pigtail is disconnected.

EDIT: typo... sorry about all the edits in this thread lol

Actually, the reason it was done that way is that the apartment manager wanted phone through AT&T, TV through Comcast, and internet through Astound.

Having separate phone and cable providers is trivial, as they each already have their own wiring, since the wiring is different for both. Having service from two cable providers requires that each provider have their own cables installed.

For Astound, it was a no-brainer because it meant their jacks (they use a single plate with phone+coax) would already be installed in every unit; more sales, since people realize immediately (when the manager tells them, and she does) that there is an alternate provider available.

For Comcast, it was an easy choice, as it meant they didn't have to trust the quality of Astound's installed cables.

For AT&T, with U-Verse coming to market, it meant they could sell the service in the building without worries of being kneecapped by old wiring.

I should probably, at this point, mention that there are 4 buildings, a total of 140 units, with adjacent condominiums on either side which are also owned by the same management company (though I'm not sure if such an agreement applies to them; I'm not sure how it would). Maybe not a huge amount of potential business for any one provider, but enough that AT&T installed 2 remotes on the property to service us all with higher speeds than would have been available from the CO.