RCN Redux

Well after all my rants, I would think that I should share the conclusion of my epic cable saga. I went to the office to grab a DVR cable box, conceding defeat. If it weren't college basketball season, my reaction might have been different, although I must admit RCN internet is great and I only pay $40 for biz-class internet with a static IP, so it's kinda hard to give up. Anyway, now that I am done with my grudging compliments for RCN, the story.

The lady was actually pretty nice, and quick, and I drove home with my cable box, figuring it wouldn't take that long. Starting at 5:15, I should have this thing up and running by 6pm so I can tape the Syracuse-Richmond game for Jena, right?

Wrong.

I follow the instructions, then call the 'automated activation line', where I am told that an activation signal has been sent successfully! Yay. Now they say "wait an hour", like it's a laxative or something. How can this take an hour? After about 40 minutes of zero activity, I call back (now 5 min til gametime), and they tell me because it hasn't been an hour, I have to call back. Of course.

I go to pick Jena up and return to find that still nothing has happened. I call back and get a live person who now agrees to send a "manual activation signal", which of course works. But I find that the actual digital cable features won't load for 2 hours. I have no idea what happened, but it used to be that you plug in your cable box and it just worked, digital, DVR, or basic analog. Why is this so hard?

Anyway, now I have digital cable, with a slow cable box, an ugly guide, and DVR with a smaller hard drive, for $15 more a month. Whoopee. I hate you RCN.

Update On How Much RCN Sucks

Well I called RCN, and got right through to a person (who, of course, doesn't know anything).

Allow me to summarize the interaction:

ME: "My cable is out and has been since Thursday"
RCN: "Oh, that's because I see you don't have a cable box"
ME: "But I got notice saying that was happening in October and didn't say I needed a box"
RCN: "No it happened on the 13th, and you need a cable box"
ME: "OK, I just talked to someone last weekend from RCN, and they said I didn't need a cable box, which is why I didn't get one."
RCN: "How many TVs do you have?"
ME: "Two."
RCN: "OK, my calculations are that you need two cable boxes."
ME: "OK, we've established that I need cable boxes. I have a media center PC. Will this still work?"
RCN: "No, you need cable boxes"
ME: "I understand that I need a cable box. Can I just run the signal through the box to my PC, and use the PC as a DVR still?"
RCN: "You need a cable box"
ME: "I know I need a f$%^#$ng cable box. Do you have any documentation that you can send me about using a cable box with a media center PC?"
RCN: "I don't understand what you are asking me"
ME: "Of course you don't - you are just technical support. I need documentation about using a cable box with a media center PC."
RCN: "I have my notes right here. They say that you need two cable boxes."
ME: Click

Now that was infuriating enough. But then I checked the webs to see what I could do to supplement the stupidity that I experienced on the phone. Here's what I found:

The switch from analog to digital affects only over-the-air reception of TV. Unless you have a cable carrier that is taking advantage of the situation to screw its customers, and although there are a few of those Comcast is not one of them, the transition to digital in February will have absolutely zero effect on cable subscribers. Your current setup will work as fine after February as it does now, and you don't need to buy or change anything.

Wow - it just so happens that RCN is one of those carriers - they have encrypted all their stations, so you need a box - now you can't use the media center that you built, because only OEM computers are allowed to be built with cableCARD-compatible interfaces. How about that!?!? So now I am stuck with a media center PC that is unusable. Thanks RCN. You bastards. You just overtook Verizon, #1 with a bullet on the list of EVIL COMPANIES. I hate you.