<div><div>A note, your mileage may vary depending on your cable provider:</div><div>If you get or upgrade to bundled service (Internet + Phone) your regular cable modem will be replaced with an eMTA. </div><div>Comcast states they allow customer owned eMTA in SOME areas, but you will need to check before purchasing one:</div>
<div><a href="http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/phone/requirements-for-digital-voice-modems/">http://customer.comcast.com/help-and-support/phone/requirements-for-digital-voice-modems/</a></div><div><br></div><div>
Another option some providers will allow but have to be asked for is having a separate eMTA and cable modem. You will not be able to 'split' one internet service out via both modem and eMTA without paying additional services. Most (not all) cable providers are able to provision an eMTA to provide only phone service (no data service) and provision a modem with internet-only codes. This does mean two cable outlets capable of outputting good signal levels are required. Adequate for TV does not mean adequate for voice/internet, and splitters (especially cheap ones) are the bane of quality RF. Failing that pre-existing an install fee may be added for wiring a new cable outlet to support the 2nd device. </div>
</div><div><br></div><div>Another useful point in the archive, since someone mentioned upstream about the eMTA modems and their battery backup: Always take the battery out when powercycling the modem to force a full reset.</div>
<div><br></div><div>On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 11:28 AM, Brian Mathis <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:brian.mathis%2Bale@betteradmin.com">brian.mathis+ale@betteradmin.com</a>></span> wrote:</div><div><div class="gmail_quote">
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="im">On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 5:25 PM, <a href="mailto:mike@trausch.us">mike@trausch.us</a> <<a href="mailto:mike@trausch.us">mike@trausch.us</a>> wrote:<br>
> On 04/02/2012 03:44 PM, Brian Mathis wrote:<br>
>> The next problem coming down the line is switched video, where the<br>
>> receiver needs to send a signal upstream to get the TV channel sent to<br>
>> the box. CableCard doesn't support this, but Tru2Way does, though<br>
>> we'll probably see Internet streaming takeover before tru2way gets any<br>
>> traction.<br>
><br>
> There are already some cable networks that are using switched video,<br>
> though I don't know how extensive it is. I'm not aware of what Comcast<br>
> is doing, though I know that they have at the very least made<br>
> preparations for it. There is one provider in northwest Ohio that has<br>
> already rolled out SDV for most of their coverage area.<br>
<br></div></blockquote><div>Switched Digital Video is definitely rolling out for most of the biggest cable companies. I'm not certain where Comcast is on the SDV rollout - maybe their efforts have been in deploying DOCSIS 3 and on tightening their spectrum usage within existing technology. </div>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="im">
<br>
</div>I was talking about tru2way, which is the cablecard equivalent for SDV<br>
and ondemand technology. Yes, SDV has been rolled out in many<br>
markets, but tru2way would allow any arbitrary device like TiVo to<br>
also support those services. In lieu of tru2way, you can get USB<br>
addons to add SDV support to devices that only have cablecard.<br>
<div class="im"><br></div></blockquote><div>tru2way is available currently as a built-in for devices (Cisco in the case I touch on) but I haven't seen any off the shelf consumer equipment carrying it. It is SDV/On Demand capable. </div>
<div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div class="im">
> Also, I don't know why this is, but they aren't required to provide<br>
> CC-equipped devices. For devices that use CCs, they can give additional<br>
> equipment in order to provide compatibility with SDV. However, they<br>
> state (on their public page, anyway) that less than 1% of their users<br>
> are using cable card equipped devices.[0] They also have a list of the<br>
> channels that they currently switch.[1]<br>
<br>
<br>
</div>Cable companies love to publicize how few people are using cablecards<br>
because they hate them and want them to die. It would be so much<br>
better for them to force you to rent a $40 cable box for $10 a month<br>
that they control and can force you to watch their own ads whenever<br>
you press the channel guide button or browse the ondemand catalog.<br>
Every time you call to order one, they spend 5 minutes telling you how<br>
much it's going to suck and you can't get all these other wonderful<br>
services. The law says they need to supply them, but they don't have<br>
to like it and they don't have to make it easy. They want the world<br>
to know that no one is using them, so they can go to the FCC and make<br>
them remove the restriction (this is the same reason we are hearing so<br>
much about how badly AT&T is running out of wireless bandwidth right<br>
now). Competition is such a pain.<br>
<br>
That said, once I've finally got the installer in the house, so far<br>
things have gone pretty smoothly.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
<br>
> I *think* the idea is that they are only required to make a cable card<br>
> available to you upon request; I don't think that they're actually<br>
> required to make their own STBs use one. Such a requirement wouldn't<br>
> make much sense at all, since CC registration requires that you provide<br>
> information about the device that you are inserting the CC into, in<br>
> order for their authorization setups to work. At least, as I understand it.<br>
<br>
<br>
</div>The requirement was put in place to force the cable companies to eat<br>
their own dogfood and make sure cablecard was working on their system.<br>
It's not a big deal at all since they would deliver the cable box<br>
with the card already installed, so most users would never see it<br>
anyway. Though I just checked my cable box, and it doesn't seem to<br>
have one, so maybe this requirement was removed.<br>
<br>
><br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Brian is right, though the definition of 'separable security' seems to vary depending who you talk to about the cable cards. Almost every modern cable box has a cable card 'inside but not built in' to meet the FCC requirements. A lot of set tops have multiple MAC addresses listed on them, and the "CC MAC" is typically the cable card. </div>
<div><br></div><div>A useful link on the consumer rights side of the CableCARD situation as of last August is on the FCC site: <a href="http://www.fcc.gov/guides/cablecard-know-your-rights">http://www.fcc.gov/guides/cablecard-know-your-rights</a></div>
<div>From a cable employee perspective cable card calls were either as easy as normal set top provisioning, or extremely difficult problems where specialist support from third party groups was required to get the authorizations to flow as needed.</div>
<div> </div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
>[...]<br>
> --- Mike<br>
<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
❧ Brian Mathis<br>
<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br><div>Matt R</div></div><div><br></div>