US Cable Support > W.O.W. > No m-card in columbus ohio

No m-card in columbus ohio

I've rescheduled an appointment for tomorrow. Bleh. Called in and talked with a rep. He informed me that they do indeed have m cards. They carry the scientific atlanta cards, and have both the s and m cards. However (and here's another confusing twist) he said that their m-cards are only capable of carrying 2 streams. Huh? I had the sci.atl. card when I was with time warner and had no problems getting 4 streams. AFAIK there is only the 600(single) and 800(multiple). And they assured me they do offer m-cards.

I think the reason the installer freaked when he seen my setup, and didn't even try to do the install, was because i currently have the Motorola m-card installed with Insight. When he seen the card, he thought he needed the same card. But he called his supervisor and they said that the card they use would only support 2 streams. blah blah, it's not available in our area yet, blah blah blah.

Do they only say this because they are only familiar with tivo's? It really gets frustrating when everytime I switch providers I have to hold the techs hand and walk them through the install and teach them things that they would easily know if their supervisor would do his job and keep them up to date on the current technology.

I have WOW in Columbus. I picked up an Mcard at WOW's office off of Westerville Rd a few months ago. My self-install was fairly painless!

They did not mention anything about the card being capable of only 2 streams. I have the Ceton USB tuner, and I can use all 4 tuners at the same time.

The installer/supervisor just does not have experience/training on cable card tuners yet.

Gary

reply to highfigh
We carry M-cards in all markets, and they can do at least 4 streams, as I have one at home and I've got it in a Ceton InfiniTV 4, and it works great on all tuners. I haven't ever tested anything above 4 tuners, but I know the M-cards can do that. We do offer self installs on cable cards, but they can sometimes be a little tricky to get them going. If you prefer to do it that way, I can assist if there's a problem, and you can just go pick one up and install it yourself, then call customer service to get it activated. If you prefer to have the tech install it, regardless of what they might think of the card, it can do 4 tuners, just have them install one and you'll be fine.
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Dan Della Terza
WOW! Internet, Cable & Phone
Network Operations Center

Ok, thanks for the support guys! I'll let you know how the visit goes tomorrow. I can't do a self install, unfortunately, because wow just put new lines in my neighborhood so i guess they have to hook me up first. Otherwise i would not have bothered setting it up over the phone, but would have went straight to the office and got the card. I have my own cable modem so, and i've done the install a couple times on different moves.

Yeah, they fed you a line. Any M-card will deliver up to six streams at once, so him saying it was only good for two is probably because he doesn't know any better, or that's what the Tivos do. The tech that installed mine (before the days of self-install, unfortunately) mentioned that my area doesn't even stock S-cards (single stream), since most devices have more than one stream.

With the Ceton, if stuff gets weird just de-authorize the card and start over. It will actually work with an S card, but naturally you'll only get one station at a time. Generally they tend to get a little spooked by anything besides a TIVO because it's not a particularly common device. When switching to another package I mentioned the cablecard tuner to a WOW sales rep (the ones that actually come to your house to write it) didn't think they allowed that sort of use. Been on a Ceton for about a year though, and it's been smoooooth sailing!

reply to highfigh
Ok, (insert long sad story).... yea, not going well.

Tech was here for 3 hrs yesterday, and could not get anything working. Cable modem would not even sync. Turned out they were doing some work in the neighborhood last night and other folks were without service. He left a cablecard for me. And also left me with no tv service at all, as now I can't get my cablecard working with insight anymore.

So this morning I hooked back up to the WOW drop. Cable modem synced fast, so i called in. They were able to activate my modem,however this was after I had to convince the tech that my sb6120 was capable of 50/5. He insisted that it wouldn't work with those speeds . Anyways, i'm online now through wow, but not exactly getting 50/5. Don't see more than 3/1.5.

So on to the cablecard. I got disconnected on the phone again and had to talk to the third tech this morning, and she seemed more interested in getting me scheduled for a truck roll instead of doing any troubleshooting. She said she sent the hit a few times but I still have see

said by ceton :

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Not Validated, Binding Authentication Complete, Validation Message not received yet

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reply to highfigh
I will be in the office tomorrow morning. I will take a look at it when I get your email. I'm very familiar with all of these devices, so I should be able to get everything going for you.

Thanks, Dan. Like I said, tv is working now, so wife is happy. I'm pretty sure that my signal levels will have to be corrected by a truck roll. They will be here after 2 tomorrow. If there is nothing you can do about this because of levels on my end, i understand. But feel free to take a stab at it.

I know when I was on Time Warner, the hit would not go through until the we improved the signal. After reconfiguring some splitters the hit came right through. Probably same thing that is keeping the .bin file from reaching me.

Just a question/observation. Is it possible that I can't get the bin file from WOW for my 50/5 speeds because they have routed traffic in this area somewhere else? The tier3 tech that I talked to mentioned something about the bin file getting lost along the way to my modem, or something to that effect. When I do any speed tests or ping tests, it determines my closest location to be somewhere up in chicago area. And my pings are always better testing on Chicago servers than those right here in columbus.

Example:

That's because WOW's home-base is out of Chicago, so if you hit something there you're probably on the same network.

reply to highfigh
I'm not sure what they meant by the bin file getting lost, that doesn't make any sense. We just turned up service in Pickerington a week or two ago, so there might still be a couple kinks to work out. If there's something wrong, I will figure it out.

I'm not sure either. She said she sent the bin, but it wasn't making it to my modem. Thanks for your help Dan! If it wasn't for knowing you were on these forums helping out I would be way more frustrated with WOW. But you give me hope

reply to highfigh

reply to highfigh
Another tech visit later, and here's the update... for those who care :P

Tech could not totally isolate the issue with why I am not getting the speeds I should. He was able to get better speeds using the Arris modem. Now:



Which is basically maxing out the one channel. Not able to get channel bonding working, so he figures there are issues with the tap outside, or the NOC. His supervisor is supposed to come look at it tomorrow, outside, so thankfully I won't have to reschedule any work to be here again.

On another note, Dan was able to get the ceton fully synced and activated and so tv is working like a champ! He did this in no time whatsoever this morning. Dan is the master with these ceton tuners. Dan, they should just pass all ceton cc installs off to you. Cause once again, the tech that was here today had not heard of one, and said he's only installed one cablecard before some years ago.

reply to highfigh
I may have something on the modem issue. I will report back if/when I'm able to confirm it.

reply to highfigh
Check the modem again, you should be bonding 5x2.

Dan..... i don't even know what to say. You are the man! Green lights all across and up/down bonded. WOW speedtest gives me 50/5. I am honored, sir, to have one of your caliber working with me on this. I already spoke to the supervisor (he actually called because the tech can't find one of the routers he brought here.) anyways I gave you mad props, brother. Anytime I talk to a wow rep in the future I will always reminisce on our moments together Thank you so much!

reply to highfigh
Glad we got that all sorted out. If you need anything else, you know where to find me!

reply to highfigh
Just a question to those who are on the 50/5 plan. Do you see the advertised speeds most of the time? So far, the only place I have seen the speed is in wow's speedtest. Any other website I am only seeing