HBO On Demand Not Working - No Joy from Cable Company - Help!

May 23, 2006 1:59 PM

My cable company offers On Demand movies and shows. The free content works fine. It also claims to offer premium channels' On Demand offerings, but those are not working. What can I do?

Cable customer service knows about the problem and says it is system-wide, and claims they are working to fix it. However, it's been several months since I signed up with the company and I have seen no movement. They also claim that since this is a "free" part of the service, they are not going to adjust any bills.

I really like my cable otherwise, and don't want to play "I'm leaving" games with them. Is there a way to help the situation along? Have any Cable-Yanker MeFites dealt with this?

(This being MeFi, Countdown to first "Read a book instead" response: 10...9...8...)

posted by bovious to media & arts (12 comments total)

First, I'd ask for a new cable box, and see if that solves it. Second, I'd argue that the On-Demand material is part of the charge you are paying when you pay for the premium channels (if it wasn't for On-Demand, I'd almost never watch HBO!). If they will not give you a discount on the premium services, then I'd ask that all of those channels be canceled, retroactive to when the problem started, with any fees refunded. If they won't do that, well, you can tell them you are going to go to Satellite, but if it really is a system-wide problem, and they are not able to reduce/refund your fees, they'll probably call your bluff.
posted by Rock Steady at 2:16 PM on May 23, 2006

PS. I like books, too.
posted by Rock Steady at 2:16 PM on May 23, 2006

Perhaps a silly question here, but you do pay the extra fee to subscribe to the premium channels, don't you? I only ask because we only get the on-demand services for the premium channels to which we subscribe.

I'd second Rock Steady's suggestion of swapping cable boxes. We had a problem with virtually all on-demand content for a long time, but had pretty much written it off. Then, when we moved and the cable guy installed a new box, it worked like magic.
posted by justonegirl at 2:56 PM on May 23, 2006

The secret to getting almost anything done with any customer service:

1. Be unfailingly polite. Once you start cursing or raising your voice, it's over.

2. Be clear in your demands. "I'm not happy," won't cut it. It's not working, and they're trying to fix it. What would you like? Say something like, "I'd like $5 off of my bill for the last three months, and as long as this problem goes on. Failing that, I'd like $5 off my last three months, and to cancel my HBO subscription."

3. If at any point they say something like, "It can't be done," respond thusly: "I'm sorry, but that's not acceptable. I understand that you are not authorized to give me what I'm asking for, so I'd like to talk to your supervisor." If they say it won't help (they're lying), say you don't care, you'd like to hear it from the supervisor.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 above with the supervisor. Work your way up the chain, from supervisor to supervisor. Even if you don't get what you want, at some point someone will offer something else as a compromise. If that's acceptable, take it. If not, keep talking.

Remember, polite but firm and clear.
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 3:51 PM on May 23, 2006

Yes, J1G, thank you, I do pay for the premium services. I should have made that clear.

And Rock, I'm reading Warren's "All The King's Men." Just...wow.

I'm naturally polite, so that shouldn't be a problem.

I was actually hoping for some ideas on what the technical issue might be - I'll call and ask for the box swap.

Thanks.
posted by bovious at 3:59 PM on May 23, 2006

I had problems with my premium on demand channels as well. I called customer service (I have Time Warner) and they said the reason they weren't working was that the on demand service for premium channels was an additional subscription service ABOVE the cost of subscribing to the channels. Sounds like this is not the case for you, but you might just want to confirm this if you have only talked to one CS rep.

Technically, if you haven't tried it yet, you might try rebooting your cable box. Usually this involves holding the power button in for about five seconds. You should see some kind of boot message on the display. This has worked for me a few times. Good luck.

(I read books too........about TV!)
posted by Otis at 5:18 PM on May 23, 2006

I don't know if this is possible, but is there a telephone/broadband connection for your cable box? I couldn't access my premium channels until I hooked up a phone line to my box. Maybe that's the issue?
posted by MeetMegan at 6:07 PM on May 23, 2006

If you want a technical answer, you're going to have to give a better description than "are not working." You'll need to let us know where it fails, and how, etc.
posted by Dunwitty at 6:47 PM on May 23, 2006

Here's some information that might be useful to you, as I worked for a very large cable company as a service technician, and ran into this problem frequently.

Most of these problems are caused by either signal leakage or signal degration. Both these problems, especially with data and video-on-demand systems are caused by the handling of the upstream signal. That is, the signal that the cable box or modem sends to the "plant" (the cable distribution system).

In the case of signal leakage, most of the problems are with the connectors that are crimped on the ends of the cable runs. If the installing technician improperly crimped the connectors, and didn't allow the shielding to come into full contact with the connector, it will allow RF signals to leak into the cable, and usually causes upstream problems. It also often is the connector to the grounding block where the cable run from the pole or box feeds into the home. It can get degraded due to weather and time, and usually needs replaced after a few years. Additionally, the grounding block can be to blame. If the shielding is not properly grounded, there can be a bias on the cable signal, and can cause a bunch of weird intermittent behavior to be seen.

The other problem is by upstream degration, or better known as attenuation. If you have multiple splitters between the plant and your box, or the splitters are not in spec with the signal range of the system (avoid any retail splitters, most cable companies offer them free or cheaper than what you can purchase), the signal from the box will most likely be so low that any sort of information that is transmitted is lost. BTW, it is never a good idea to mess with the cable inside your home, since most cable companies will not guarantee a good picture/service unless they did the tinkering. If you have splitters you might have added yourself somewhere in the line, it might be best to pony up the cash to have an extra splitter and line installed, and have the quality guaranteed.

Another factor is the type of cabling that might be installed in your home. If it is the RG-6 designation, which is smaller diameter than the "newer" RG-9, you can have a lot of problems too, as the resistance in the cable is about 20 ohms more. RG-9 isn't used anymore by cable companies, and if your home or apartment is outfitted with it, it might be a good idea to have your cable company replace it (which they SHOULD have done the first time they installed your service). Attenuation can also be caused by long cable runs from the plant to your box, anything more than 200ft per 20db and you run into a lot of problems. This is a rare occurrence, since the cable company will usually add another amplifier or run a larger diameter cable to the home (but you will pay for it).

One more thing that may be the cause, and that is backfeeding of voltage from a bad TV. It's a very rare occurrence, but it can do the same kinda crap a badly grounded cable can cause. Plus, if your cable company finds out that you are feeding voltage to their system, they will politely ask you to disconnect the TV, or they will disconnect you.

Now you may wonder why digital cable comes in fine, but your video-on-demand doesn't. The real answer is that the upstream signal is usually transmitted in the 200-400Mhz range (channel 1 or 2), whereas the downstream signal can be between 400-1200Mhz (everything else). The upstream signal is prone to a lot of interference, since many older communications systems that might be in your area spew out a lot of wattage. Plus, the downstream signal is of a much higher (usually) power than what your cable box can push out. This is also why cable modems have a lower speed uploading than downloading: its the signal bandwidth.

Now here is what I would do to get the problem solved:

Call the cable company and tell them you suspect that you are having upstream connectivity problems with your cable box, and that it is causing problems with the video on demand. They may have you check using a hidden diagnostic screen on the cable box, or better yet, send a technician out.

If they send a technician out, be sure to be home. Ask him to check that your inside cabling is ok, and that the connectors are clean and in good order (mention "suck-out", it usually gives techs the willys). Also ask if he has experience with this sort of problem. Chances are that he is a relatively newer employee and doesn't know much of the digital side of things. Ask him again and give him a good look in the eyes to make sure that he understands that you want this fixed. He may have to ask for some help from a co-worker if he isn't real sure about things.

Make damn sure he has a signal meter. Sometimes cable companies are really cheap and distrustful and don't want to give newer hires a decent $2000 signal meter to use. If he doesn't have one, send him packing and bitch to your cable company that you want a REAL technician who can do some diagnostics without stupid guesswork. Also ask if he has other service calls and could offload a few of them to less busy technicians if he runs into problems, since you really DEMAND this problem to be solved, NOW.

Really, to deal with a cable company you need to know how the system works, otherwise you WILL get shafted. I know, I used to install and repair cable, and it is a real bitch to get anything done. Service techs are usually a bunch of stressed out handymen/geeks, since they are usually given a lot of jobs to solve in a very small amount of time, and they are pressured to cut corners to get up and out so that they can fill their daily quota of jobs. If you find a friendly technician, who seems to know what they are doing, be sure to thank them kindly, especially if they need to stay extra-long to solve the problem.

Hope that helps..
posted by Vicarious at 7:24 PM on May 23, 2006

Whoops... I swapped RG-6 with RG-9 and vice-versa when talking about the cabling. You should have RG-6, not RG-9. Sorry 'bout that :)
posted by Vicarious at 7:50 PM on May 23, 2006

Much, much later: I never had the time to take any of this advice. However, during a productive phase I decided I would start calling the cable company weekly until they fixed it. Superior customer service won out after the first call! It turns out that the CSR who told me that it was a known system-wide problem was full of it. The CSR I got this time was shocked and extremely helpful. We have a new cable box and all is well with On Demand.
posted by bovious at 11:18 AM on July 24, 2006

...and thanks to all who responded.
posted by bovious at 11:18 AM on July 24, 2006