It’s sometimes nice to have a soap box. Suddenlink’s head of technology for the western region got wind of my blog post about the problems I had with Tivo and Suddenlink (probably through Google’s News Alerts service). He followed a link to our web site and called my office yesterday. I went over what happened and he promised to look in to it. Sure enough, that afternoon I got a call from Suddenlink local and had an appointment for a service call.
It turns out, there was nothing really wrong with the cable service. Something on the Tivo box had gotten reset (must have been user error on our part). But Tivo support couldn’t help me. The “cable guy” fixed it, explained the issue and all is well. So, I apologize for dumping so heavily on Suddenlink.
However, the real problem came when I went in to the Suddenlink office to try and get clarification and no one seemed to have a clue, provided wrong information and confirmed that wrong information with others elsewhere in the organization. So, there was really a training and communication breakdown there.
It turns out I don’t need the cable cards that Suddenlink still actually does not have in stock unless I upgrade to their digital TV service. Until then, I got my Tivo back!
Thanks, cable guys….
Is there any way that I can contact a decision maker at Suddenlink about the options they are giving us here in Texas? The new cablebox/dvr combo that replaces the prior one may have “on demand” but it’s HD signal is measurably inferior to the old one. I don’t like the software that comes with it as it limits how you can search for future events.
I have never seen anything that works as well as the TiVO system which lets you look at a 2 week schedule and set up search parameters for titles that might some day be broadcast but are not currently scheduled.
My problem is that I don’t have a wired telephone line. We went strictly cellular so would need the mythical device that allows wireless cable connection. It is also reportedly difficult to get a dual function cable card from Suddenlink. If you want to record 2 channels at once they want you to pay for 2 cards!
Who can I complain to about all this dreck that Suddenlink heaps on it’s customers?
Yes. That’s my understanding. Suddenlink is required by law to provide those cards.
The cable guy that showed up at my house and promised to contact me about the HD cards has never done so.
The guy from Texas who said he would call back to follow up on the whole issue never did.
Feh!
My Suddenlink TiVo experience has pretty much sucked.
First, before even ordering service (I moved to the area recently), I called Suddenlink to confirm that they supported HD with Cablecards. They said they did, so I went to buy a new TiVo HD (coming from Comcast I had no desire to use another crappy cable company provided DVR). So far, so good.
Then the install guy came out. According to him, there are only two physical cards that actually work in the whole area. Fortunately he brought them with him. Unfortunately, he said, they won’t let me get HD.
So I call Suddenlink to ask, “What gives?” After talking to a few different people, I found out (only after a small yelling match with one of their tech support guys) that there’s not enough money in it for them to provide Cablecard based HD access in the area.
Bummer for me.
But doesn’t the FCC mandate this stuff? My understanding of the integration ban is that they have to provide new customers with DVRs that use Cablecards anyway, so why can’t my TiVo work?
I guess I’ll have to report them to the local franchise authority and the FCC, maybe they’ll clarify the actual regulations for me…
Interesting, Mike. I thought about going the EyeTV route, but got Tivo for Christmas. It’s so easy to use, I’m pretty happy. It seems I have less and less time to watch TV anyway.
I have EyeTV. Small box with USB and Coax inputs. Bought a nice OTA digital antenna (I guess any UHF antenna works) and put it in my attic. Get all local broadcasts including KEETworld. The locals still do analog to digital OTA. Though that will change by 2009.
The EyeTV is awesome. Just ordered a 750GB HD and an Elgato Turbo to do the encoding. Waiting for the next rev of AppleTV… MacWorld?
He Said: “So this costs you nothing currently?”
Yes. There are no extra charges from Suddenlink currently.
JMorton: I used to have a page with screen shots on how set up Mail with Suddenlink. But I lost the images so I took it down. But if you go to http://simplymacintosh.com there is a link on the home page to download a PDF that explains how it should work.
Bob,
I just got a new iMac for Christmas. I have always used Windows and want to leave the Microsoft world…it is a challenge!
I had no trouble connecting mail to yahoo; however, I cannot get mail to connect with Suddenlink.net. I have put the same information in the fields as shown on the suddenlink web site; however, OS X Mail keeps asking for the password and is never able to connect. I have reset the password twice and nothing changes.
Any suggestions…hints or websites that might help.
Thanks
So this costs you nothing currently? They also gave me some story of cards and fees when I inquired a couple of months ago.
I didn’t get a deal. They just properly explained how it worked. My cable wire is plugged in to my Tivo. I did have to order a Wireless network adapter from Tivo.com to tap in to my wireless network (or else continue to use our phone line).
Other than that, it just works with the standard cable package. If I upgraded to digital cable, I would need the cable cards installed to get that to work. That’s where the $60 install fee and $2/mo service charge comes in. But they don’t have any of the cable cards in stock. They said they expect to get them in a week or so.
So, I have Suddenlink and I have a Tivo in the box. It was a given to me by someone who just got a new one. What, may I ask, is the “deal” that you got? What direction should I go with my Tivo? Thanks in advance.