Time Warner Cable: Cincinnati's Own Nightmare (Dayton, Mason: sales, house, neighborhoods)

[Sarah Perry]

Just curious, is anyone else having a lot of malfuctions of TWC's DVR system ever since they did that software "upgrade" a month or two ago? On top of about half my shows not recording (some error message about something called the set top), we also have frequent pixellation--which they're supposed to be sending someone to fix.

Even if you don't have these specific problems, welcome to an opportunity to vent about what has to be the country's worst cable system. I'm not sure I even have the words to express my hate.

[kjbrill]

I believe the set top is their virnacular for the cable convertor box itself.

[LaStar00]

We stopped using Time warner. Well its cut off actually. But we had problems once a week the box would reset itself. Horrible cable. I think when we get more money we're going to Direct TV its cheaper

[Chemistry_Guy]

I have been having a problem where there is an excessive delay between when I press the button on the remote and when the response occurs on the set. For example, I switch the station and nothing happens. I then press channel up a number of times and still nothing happens. I figure the batteries are dead, then thirty seconds later the channel changes and all my repeated channel ups are executed simultaneously.

I would like to get a new box, but my wife has too much stuff DVR'd that she doesn't want to lose.

[Wilson513]

TW is a nightmare alright. I hate them because of the aerial mess they made when they installed cable in the first place back in the 80's. Thank our genius council that was too stupid to negotiate any terms as they were giving away a private monopoly to a politically well connected company. Now we are stuck with them. And they continue to abuse their customers with no consequence to them. Just like the Bengals. Just like the soon to be streetcar.

[Ohiogirl81]

You guys are making me hate Comcast just a little bit less ...

My mom has Time Warner, too, and she has nothing but problems with pixellation, freezing, and slow response. I'll have to tell her she's not the only one ...

[insightofitall]

I have sporadic issues with slow response time when I use my remote, and some freezing and pixelation. But it hasn't become so bothersome that it makes me want to ditch TW. I just go by the belief that technology does NOT always make life better or easier, and deal with it.

[Ohioan58]

We used to have Dish TV. Their DVR technology is far and away superior to TW: their software is much better, faster, more stable, and has more options. We had to get rid of it because trees in our neighborhood block 2 of the three satellite points in the sky at certain times of the year.

A few months ago our TW box rebooted about three times one evening, and each reboot is a 15 minute wait for it to stop farting around with internal counts and countdowns. That kind of thing tells me it's sheer amateur hour in their software development/IT department. I also see the big delays between pressing a button and a response on screen, and often I can hang the remote for several minutes simply by pressing a button faster than it likes.

And, lately, the recording scheduling has been making a *LOT* of errors: scheduled series that won't record, and series that are set to record at a certain time (Say "Mad Money" at 6PM) insisting on recording at the 11:00 showing also. Their "priority list" feature for recording series is crap. It doesn't work. The lowest priority show will be scheduled in and will clobber a higher priority one on a network that does not replay shows.

Overall their DVR software is pure amateurish garbage.

[kjbrill]

I don't know what they are doing in Cincinnati, but Cincinnati Bell installed their FIOPTICS service here in Mason a few months back. As they finished individual neighborhoods their sales staff was Johnny on the spot pitching to sign people up. I decided to go with them and their version of VOIP phone when I found out the phone portion has a battery backup so it still functions during a power outage. Dropped my combined bill considerably for TV (2 HD convertor boxes), high-speed internet and home phone unlimited US long distance. So far it has performed with no problem. Of course Time Warner came back with a reduced offering of their own but by then I had made up my mind to switch. I saw the Cincinnati Bell installation crews all over the neighborhood and I estimate TW lost 50% of their business immediately. Of course out here in Mason TW had been robbing us for years since they first installed. Cable TV alone with nothing fancy was over $100/month. Of course prior to them a high-gain antenna with a rotary alignment motor and you were still watching snow most of the time.

The FIOPTICS service is true fiber optics all the way into the house where it is connected to a control panel Bell provides. The internet is converted to Ethernet, the TV to the standard coaxial connection to the set top convertor boxes and the phone to the standard low voltage phone connected to the existing house wiring. The TV used the existing coaxial cable in the house but apparently with a stronger signal since they stripped out the power boosters TW had installed. They ran a new Ethernet cable from the basement to the 2nd floor room where we have our computers. I had the option to go wireless but decided against it since I wanted to use my existing router which connects our His and Her computers, printer, etc. together. Bell provided a router which I immediately replaced with my own as I know it is higher quality and has software to manage it from the PC. My router has wireless capability but it is only used when the kids come to visit and want to surf the internet and email from the downstairs family room.

Shortly after I installed Bell's service our one TV began to act up. It would suddenly just lose connection. When I rebooted the convertor box it took forever. Then it was erratic, would not respond to channel changes, and such. The wife immediately wanted me to scream to Cincinnati Bell for service. Being the engineer I am, I first wanted to confirm it was their problem. Since I had two identical convertor boxes I decided to switch them. The problem stayed with the one TV. I had both of them connected with HDMI interface cables. I switched the HDMI cables, the problem stayed with the one TV. So I decided to switch to an alternate interface type supported by the cable box. Problem solved, convertor booted immediately and responded to all of the remote controls. Apparently the HDMI interface on my TV decided to go kaput. I know better than to try and get it repaired as there is practically no TV service places in existence and the so-called home outfits charge a fortune. The TV has at least 6 more alternate interfaces and I figure one of them will work as long as I have the TV or something else goes wrong.

I mention this just to state the problem may be with your TV which is interfering with the cable box. During the years I had TW we would run into problems with the performance. Since I always had two or more TVs connected I could use the same swap and check technique. The wife always wanted it fixed now. If I suspected or confirmed the cable convertor box I would drive down to their store in Tri-County and swap it. Same thing for the internet modem, I would replace it more frequently than the TV boxes. They were always quite cordial when I said I wanted a new TV convertor or internet modem. They should have been, I was doing it at my trouble and expense.

It will be interesting to see what happens here in Mason. Our local telephone co. is actually operated by Sprint which acquired United Telephone of Ohio years ago. You want to talk about getting raped for home phone service, they are the pros. Several years ago Cincinnati Bell obtained the right to offer home phone service in Mason. Of course nothing really changed, the poles and wires were still the same. I switched to Cincinnati Bell at that time because they cut my phone bill in half. But what a hassle, if I actually needed service for something like the feed to the house went dead, I had to contact their service in Dayton. I would tell them, look I am smart enough to connect an analog phone to the incoming box connection on the outside of the house. There is no signal. Please come and determine why.

So TW is not the only one to be upset with. If I do have a problem with Cincinnati Bell's FIOPTICS and they direct me to contact Dayton I will blow a gasket.

[Sarah Perry]

Originally Posted by Chemistry_Guy

I have been having a problem where there is an excessive delay between when I press the button on the remote and when the response occurs on the set. For example, I switch the station and nothing happens. I then press channel up a number of times and still nothing happens. I figure the batteries are dead, then thirty seconds later the channel changes and all my repeated channel ups are executed simultaneously.

I would like to get a new box, but my wife has too much stuff DVR'd that she doesn't want to lose.

Oh, yeah. We get that, too. I didn't even think about it, it's so minor compared to the other problems.