CableCARD Activation Hotlines/Websites

Reception, channel detection, network issues, CableCARD setup, etc.
r50880
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu May 31, 2012 5:05 pm

Comcast activation number

Post by r50880 »

After reading this thread I opted to call the Comcast Tier 2 CableCard Support number fist (1-877-761-5015). The guy I got didn't know anything about CableCards. He said the guy who did would call me back shortly. Well, after an hour and a half I got impatient and called back. The guy I got this time was annoyed that I had called this number for a CableCard activation and wanted to know where I got the number. I just said from "a website".

So I called the normal activation number (1-877-405-2298). The guy I talked to was extremely knowledgeable and was familiar with the HDHR Prime. He had me up and running in 10 minutes.

So based on my experience, if you're a Comcast customer, call the normal activation number. They seem to be getting the hang of it.

swampfire
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Aug 10, 2012 8:38 am

Post by swampfire »

There's no dedicated number for Charter, and very few people who know how to troubleshoot a failed activation. If anyone from Charter is reading this, please give us a direct line (phone or chat) to someone who can check the CC serial #, Data ID and Host ID. There's nothing more frustrating than knowing that your card activation has failed, and having the CSR tell you "Your card has already been activated".

EDIT: The best way to get an issue resolved is to post here:

http://community.charter.com/

The "social media specialists" there are helpful and knowledgeable, but give them a day or so to respond to your post. I haven't had to open a case yet, but the next time I have problems I'll skip the phone/chat approach and go there instead.

Catbigred
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 12:54 pm

Post by Catbigred »

Charter closed the community they're a bunch of morons again. I wish I could reach someone from the old community to get my second one corrected.

tibailey
Posts: 21
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 2:28 pm

Re: CableCARD Activation Hotlines/Websites

Post by tibailey »

U.S.A. TWC Cable Card Activation Desk: 866-532-2598 (they are handling the entire U.S.)

dallas8101
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Dec 16, 2013 5:23 pm

Re: CableCARD Activation Hotlines/Websites

Post by dallas8101 »

I am on Comcast and activated relatively easily, though if every install is like this they are wasting a lot of time. I called the normal activation number (1-877-405-2298)
Before calling I had setup the HDHomeRun software.
Done the initial activation the Comcast store told me to do by using Comcast's web activation: http://www.comcast.com/activate
I then used the gui config app to scan for the channels. I only had the local, plus a few channels, approx 50. You have to call Comcast next to do what ended up being three steps, and about 35 minutes.

1) They pair the cablecard to the HDHomeRun device. To do this they need the information on the device status (CableCard menu) page from the devices internal web page. Go to the HDHomeRun Setup config app and click on the Tuners tab. The tuners are blue http links. You will find a status page that gives the Host ID and Data ID (they are numbers, I used letters for EACH DIGIT)
Host ID: abc-xyz-abc-nnn-n
Data: abc-nnn-nnn-nn

2) they pass you on to another support dept, and then program the card with the channels you have in your service plan. Not including any premium channels of course. At this point I had 338 channels

3) then an activation step, which seems more like an accounting step for them

sjwoo
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri May 02, 2008 9:29 am

Re: CableCARD Activation Hotlines/Websites

Post by sjwoo »

Thanks for all these helpful posts on this forum -- I finally got my CableCard activated today. I had to call the second tier number (after three unsuccessful attempts on the main activation line). Took 15 minutes and now I have 337 channels.

dapriett
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Dec 04, 2011 8:53 pm

Re:

Post by dapriett »

dapriett wrote:Comcast Tier 2 CableCard Support: 1-877-761-5015
This number didn't seem to work for me on my current activation - they must have caught on. I tried the normal activation number, they had issues. They gave me a new Tier 2 CableCard Support number: 1-800-934-6489 - they were able to get me up and running.

Took my 3rd CableCard from Comcast to get running - the first two were dead, wouldn't even give me the pairing information.

grimesda
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 10:46 am

Re: CableCARD Activation Hotlines/Websites

Post by grimesda »

Comcast is my cable provider, they supposedly activated the card and it appears to work, howbeit in single tuner mode.. Are you saying that I should contact them and see if it is an activation problem on their end?

canezila
Posts: 5
Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2014 4:27 pm

Re: CableCARD Activation Hotlines/Websites

Post by canezila »

Bright House is
Ph: 1-866-301-1947

Rainey
Posts: 99
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2014 1:53 am

Re: CableCARD Activation Hotlines/Websites

Post by Rainey »

For CHARTER

Call the normal number on your bill 1-888-438-2427 and when it asks for what they can help you with, Say "Cable Card Installation"

That will connect you with the people that know Cables Cards. I had no issues getting my card activated it took 5 minutes.
Last edited by Rainey on Thu Dec 11, 2014 12:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

aedv
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 5:39 pm

Re: CableCARD Activation Hotlines/Websites

Post by aedv »

I joined just to share my activation story so that it may help others. I have Comcast.

I initially called the number in the very first post. Began a conversation with some lady who barely spoke English and annoyed me. It took her thirty minutes and she came back saying there was an error and she could not pair my device with their service, and neither could any of her colleagues. She wanted to send a technician out to my place. I couldn't take her anymore and hung up on her.

I then called the second "tier 2 cablecard support" number contained in this thread. Unfortunately, that number does not seem to work anymore. It requires you to choose from four different options: telephone, internet, "video problems," and Xfinity Home. I had no idea what the hell to choose, so I chose Xfinity Home (not knowing what the even was). I then realized that I was speaking to their security service support. I told the guy I pushed the wrong button and I was trying to activate a cable card. He transferred me to another representative.

This final representative spoke English and was nice. I told him I wanted to activate my cable card. He asked me if I had already called the activation line. I told him I thought that's what I was calling now for. He said his department is for cable card issues after activation. I told him I already called activation and they were useless. He decided to help me. He succeeded. I'm up and running.

The moral of the story is, don't give up. It may take a few tries to get someone knowledgeable.

blushrts717
Posts: 23
Joined: Mon Dec 22, 2014 12:45 pm

Re: CableCARD Activation Hotlines/Websites

Post by blushrts717 »

The verizon direct forum at broadbandreports is also a great place to go for cable card issues. I've had better luck with them than calling on the phone.

nateinPgh
Posts: 2
Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2015 5:15 am

Re: Comcast Tier 2 Support

Post by nateinPgh »

dapriett wrote:Comcast Tier 2 CableCard Support: 1-877-761-5015
Just wanted to leave feedback that this number still works and was the only way I was able to get all the channels to come through on my unit.

I initially tried the regular customer support number (which is what I was instructed to use at the time of activation of my cable card) and was transferred 3 times. The last person finally admitted that the reason I was being transferred so many times was because no one knew how to deal with cable cards.

I then tried calling the cable card activation number again, since they at least seemed to know something when I initially activated it. They tried to resend everything to the card a few different ways, then suggested I either return the card to the service center for a different one or schedule a tech appointment, both of which sounded like dumb ideas since it was obvious the problem was on their end given that I was getting some channels.

Finally, I gave the 2nd tier number a try, and quickly reached someone who was able to troubleshoot the problem right away, identified that the card had been set up in the Comcast system as a 2-way device. Switched it to a 1-way device, resent the signal, and BAM!, all was good in the world!

Thanks for the number and good luck to everyone!

mfarley
Posts: 117
Joined: Tue May 24, 2011 3:47 pm

Re: CableCARD Activation Hotlines/Websites

Post by mfarley »

Update: My experience with CableCARD "re"-activation after it had stopped working.

10 minutes:

1. Went to: http://www.comcastsupport.com/chat

2. Selected from the dropdown option a problem with "TROUBLE >> CABLE TV >> OTHER" (didn't work in Chrome, had to use Firefox)

3. Chat transcript is as follows: (couldn't believe it actually worked)

chat id: 86dae4ac-81eb-4fce-9444-3f8e4822d11a
Problem: I need to (re)activate my CableCard. I think it needs a cold hit / reset.

Janamir > Hello Matthew_, Thank you for contacting Comcast Live Chat Support. My name is Janamir. Please give me one moment to review your information.
Janamir > Hi there! Good morning to you!

Matthew_ > My Issue: I need to (re)activate my CableCard. I think it needs a cold hit / reset.
Matthew_ > hello sir
Matthew_ > CableCARD ID: 0-011-401-###-### (removed)
Matthew_ > Host ID: 0-643-207-###-### (removed)
Matthew_ > CableCARD Serial: PKCQWAAAA (changed)
Matthew_ > please give it a cold hit / reset

Janamir > I undertand that you need a signal to be sent to your cable card since it is not working.
Janamir > I am here to help!

Matthew_ > thx

Janamir > Please give me one moment to pull up your account. Thank you.
Janamir > Also, you are very valuable Xfinity customer, and certainly, I don't want you to miss on what other customer have started to enjoy. I am sure you will be excited to hear more! For now, let us focus on resolving your issue first with the cable card.

Matthew_ > ok

Janamir > I have your account now. I am going to send a signal to cable card, and we will see if it will work.

Matthew_ > thnx
Matthew_ > thx
Matthew_ > Please note that I have *2* cable cards, only one isn't working. Please make sure you send the signal to the correct card

Janamir > Sure! Please bear with for a moment.
Janamir > I sent the signal.
Janamir > Do you see any changes?

Matthew_ > let me check
Matthew_ > it appears to be working!

Janamir > That just made my day. Awesome.

Matthew_ > It's working now. Can you tell me why it stopped working?

Janamir > I noticed that there was incorrect setting of equipments on your account so that I fixed it and sent signal to the cable card. As of now, your cable card is receiving enough signals to make it working properly.

Matthew_ > Ok, thanks

Janamir > My pleasure! To confirm, did I resolve your issue today?

Matthew_ > Yes

Then after the CC issue was resolved he (she?) told me there's a promotion I can take advantage of to reduce my bill by $18 / mo, with no lock-in contract, no loss of channels or internet speed. So I took them up on it.

I can't believe they solved my issue so quickly... I guess the HDHomeRun CC is finally a "normal" type of request and they're used to dealing with us (took long enough).

DSBreisch
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:12 pm

Mediacom cable support forum

Post by DSBreisch »

Link for Mediacom cable support forum: https://forums.mediacomcable.com/index.php?board=2.0
(helpfully provided to me by user gtb).

The Mediacom reps patrolling the forum respond promptly and successfully re-paired my CableCARD when multiple phone CSRs could not. They are also very knowledgeable about the Prime, Windows Media Center setups, EPG guide data and CCI copy protection flags.

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