How do you get competent support from Brighthouse?

[mbbrumm]

With the advent of Digital OTA programing I have not use a cable company for several years before moving to Ocala FL. I am now 70miles away from the transmitters and need to use Brighthouse for reception.

I have 2 Qam digital sets and a Media Center PC all hooked to the cable without a set top box. However Brighthouse has been moving all kinds of programming in and out of unencrypted QAM and do so without notice. For the last 3 mos. I go TBSHD and History HD. This last week they are gone along with WRBW 65.1.

I call and email Brighthouse and can not find anyone who knows anything about what is really on the wire. They always start out by telling me I have to have a cable box to get HD which is totally wrong and illegal if it was true. They want to send out a technician every time they get something they don't understand.

How do you get through to someone who really knows something? I am tired of having to teach their tech support people how to spell QAM. I need to know what to expect from the service and when it is going to happen.

 

[stevenl]

Well BHN does not sell you a "Unencrypted QAM service" So if they move channels to and fro, its not affecting a service you are paying for. Its not illegal for them to encrypt their channels. Hd or not, local or not.

If you would like the HD channels Id recommend subscribing to the Cable Card or a box, and paying for them. A few channels will show up now and again but its not permanent nor did they sell you that service.

 

[jcarrera]

...I call and email Brighthouse and can not find anyone who knows anything about what is really on the wire. They always start out by telling me I have to have a cable box to get HD which is totally wrong and illegal if it was true. They want to send out a technician every time they get something they don't understand.

He didn't say that their changes were illegal. He said that if he had to get a box for HD--THAT would be illegal (implying the BHN people should know that and not be telling him the untruth).

.How do you get through to someone who really knows something?

You didn't answer his only specific question.

I need to know what to expect from the service and when it is going to happen.

And this seems to summarize his gripe, along with people on the phone who don't know squat, have standard (wrong) responses, or want to send a tech for a non technical issue because they don't know squat.

 

[stevenl]

Welcome to the world of call centers... You can replace BHN with any company and have the same gripe. Its sad it really is.. But they are low paying jobs, that people with little to no tech knowledge get because they can "talk to people" well.

Cable card or Box would be the only way to get HD from BHN. They were not lieing they just forgot the Cable Card part. BHN does not have a plan for you to just "get hd" from the cable. You need some device a card or box to get it from BHN. I took him as implying it would be "illegal" for BHN to encrypt their channels. If I read you wrong sorry.

I have to agree completely on the "sending a tech for no good reason" I once was that tech who had to goto peoples house just to give "Customer Education" It really gave me a bad impression of the call center reps and even to this day their is always a "fued" if you will between field ops and call center ops. I gave up the fight along time ago though because you cant win it. I will go work the phones if they want to match my current salary but I highly doubt that will fly with them.... So until then the call centers are stuck with people whos job is to "answer your question to the best of THEIR ability, or visit the BHNU website to find the answer, if not listed or they cant figure it out send a tech to your house."

 

[jcarrera]

Or perhaps BHN could set up a call center operation that served the people...like having an "elevation" option for non-technical questions--so you could get to someone who really knew what they were talking about.

Or is BHN saying there is no one there who knows what's going on?

And I think there is an obvious observation here that the training of the call desk people is inadequate.

 

[stevenl]

They should have a tier system (They do on the HSD side) where they can send you to the more "Knowledgeable" CSRs But the question he asked is not first on the list of the "Training Manual" They are trained that if customer wants HD they need a Box or a cable card. BHN does not send them "clear qam" if you will. Some channels do get through that way, but its not because BHN wants you to just pick them up. So the CSR told him what they know. That if you want to get HD you need a Digital Box (or a card which she/he forgot to mention) Otherwise you cannot receive HD services from BHN. They do not offer support for "Clear Qam" channels.

The CSR probably assumed the customer was confused about something and she wanted to send a tech out who could show them in person what goes on. So for the CSR not to offer support or know much about the "Clear Qam" signals is ok, because BHN does not offer support for it. Ask the CSR about the box or a service BHN does support you might get a different result. I bet you will find one that knows nothing though... There just are people that refuse to learn no matter how much information is in front of their face.. Unfortunately BHN has to weigh "Calls answered in under X secs" vs "a full call center of experts" Customers dont want to wait, 10-20 mins on hold. They want the phone answerd ASAP! So have CSR's in numbers out weighs the benefit of having just a few highly trained technical gurus. Because more then half the calls to the Call center are Billing/Sales inquires. Which any idiot can solve.

 

[jcarrera]

.
Oh, I see. There's no way they can do better.

 

[stevenl]

Sure they can.. There is always room for improvement.

 

[Khandurian]

They always start out by telling me I have to have a cable box to get HD which is totally wrong and illegal if it was true.

I personally would like more clarification on that statement.

When you sign up for cable, BHN clearly shows you the fact that their are different "tiers" and to get those different tiers you have to pay extra for them.

At this point, they tell you that a cable card and/or a cable box is required to decode these signals to legally view and watch these channels.

Now at this point, you have not been outright told, those channels are "encrypted". It is more or less perceived as a "given" or in other words, they should know they are encrypted, thats why we offer the box.

Ok, now lets go back, oh..... 20 years ago. 20 years ago, if you called the cable company and ordered lets just say their basic only package. A tech came out, ran a line from the pole/ped to the house. At the pole/ped they installed "traps" to trap out the channels that the customer did not pay for. (they still do this to some extent!).

Now, you are viewing what you paid for. Skip ahead a couple of years, and the majority of these traps went away because they found that it was cheaper to encrypt certain channels, requiring you to rent a box from them to decrypt these channels when you pay for them.

So, encrypting channels has been going on for at least 15 years (probably more!) Therefore, how is it "illegal" for the company to encrypt their HD channels? So with the above quote, it's perceived that the cable company has been illegally encrypting their channels for years.

I need more clarification.

 

[Khandurian]

As I sit back and read that statement over and over and over again, the only conclusion that I can come up with is the probability that the customer may think that he doesn't need to have their box but maybe use their own.

Ok, so now lets look at that probability. If you do not want to use their box and/or cable card, you are correct to a certain extent. You will have to give the CSR your cable box serial number, as well as the cable card serial number that came with your box from the store.

Once you have given those to the csr, agree to pay for the HD programming, within 2 mins, the hd package that you purchase will come up and be viewable.

However, if you feel that all of the HD channels should be broadcasted unencrypted, that will never happen. As then anyone would be able to go down to their local Best Buy, or even on the internet, purchase a box, bring it home or receive it in the mail, plug it in and get all the channels that is being broadcasted for free.

BHN constantly moves channels around all the time to do tests of how much bandwidth a certain channel requires. How many channels they can run uncompressed on a particular frequency without causing collision and pixilation.

So therefore, with you being able to actually capture that particular channel one day and not the next, does not make what their doing illegal.

 

[jcarrera]

He never said it was illegal.

 

[stevenl]

When he said "That would be wrong and Illegal" I guess he meant something else?

 

[Khandurian]

guess were just gonna have to wait for him to come back and offer clarification...

 

[jcarrera]

When he said "That would be wrong and Illegal" I guess he meant something else?

Sigh.

Let's get this exact:

He said, "...They always start out by telling me I have to have a cable box to get HD which is totally wrong and illegal if it was true."

Several things to observe here. The issue in this sentence is "...have to have a cable box to get HD..." Nothing else. That only. Also, read the whole thing--don't leave out the part: "...if it was true."

After people were alleging his post said it was illegal for BHN to make the changes they were making, I said, "He didn't say that their changes were illegal. He said that if he had to get a box for HD--THAT would be illegal (implying the BHN people should know that and not be telling him the untruth).

His statement about illegality had nothing in it about moving channels or anything like that. It said what it said and no more. Some are reading other things into it--and turning it into something he did not say.

 

[stevenl]

Well the way you explain it id have to agree, the rep should have said (as I mentioned earlier) cable box OR cable card. I was simply trying to make a point to the OP that its not BHNs duty to offer him clear qam service. If he wants it he needs to get a box or a card.

 

[Khandurian]

What I want to know is why your jumping to his defense.

Read my post. I did not cut his quote apart. I quoted the entire sentence. I also commented on how I interpreted that sentence. I also ended the ENTIRE post with "NEEDS MORE CLARIFICATION".

After a little bit, I then posted a second time stating that if he didn't want to use/rent BHN equipment, on how to resolve the problem so that he can get all the HD he wants.

Bottom line here, is if he wants channels in HD that are not OTA, he HAS TO PAY FOR THEM PERIOD. Simply call up BHN and give them the serial numbers for your box, and they will be more than happy to turn those channels on so that he can decrypt them legally.

Honestly, I think he used a poor choice of words when he said illegal.

He is fortunate enough to either have one of the following:

1. A tv that supports QAM scanning.
2 a box that supports QAM scanning.

So, now the next course would be, and I really despise typing the same thing over and over again. Call BHN, tell them you wish to have HD programming, and that you will be using your OWN equipment. They will then ask you a serious of questions which he will the answers to. These questions will be:

1: Serial Number of TV and/or Box
2. If it's a BOX, they will ask you for the cablecard Serial number that came with the box
3. If its a BOX they will ask you for the cablecard mac address.

Now, here's the kicker, as far as I know, I could be wrong, but the TV's that are sold in stores/internet/etc/etc., do NOT come with a cable card.

Thus, you HAVE to rent either the box or cable card to get the HD channels.

I have been told there is ONE company that is selling the set-top box with card. However, I do know, that TIVO is NOT one of them. We get calls daily since christmas to bring out 2 cable cards for their brand new tivo box so they can enjoy PIP and other features.

 

[LonghornXP]

I think the OP post was quite clear if you don't try and read more into it than what is present. I can say that BHN has been having tons of issues in general with the current field upgrades to 1Ghz network. The cold weather streak also didn't help things either. Take all of this and add the nightmare of issues the 8300HDC boxes are having and I'm amazed that any tech didn't work overtime the last few weeks lol.

Maybe I should put in another application for the headend technician but I doubt they would hire me. The last time I tried they said I was "over" qualified if you can believe that crap. The bottom line is that they didn't want to pay what I deserved considering my past experience. Also they would still have needed to train me on their specific headend hardware as I was supporting a wide area network before that which really isn't the same ball of wax.

 

[Khandurian]

Longhorn - Paid out lots of that last week!

Don't forget about the 425HDC's and their in-ability to be able to handle the HDMI port and send the correct signals to the tv to work properly.

I decided to do a little research on this subject acting as a regular customer. Something anyone can do. I went to BHN's website and decided to see what HD channels are offered and what packages are needed to acquire these channels.

I select the area I am in, In this particular moment, I selected Ocala. I noticed that the channel line up is basically the same for everyone else. My point of interest was around the 1000's. This is where the HD channels reside. At this point, I noticed that "Oh look! They have changed their hd sections!" They offer :

DT Digital TV
HD High Definition
HDP High Definition Premium

So to research this some more, I click a selection under digital cable labled HDTV.

Direct quote from their website:

For true HD picture and sound, you must have a HD SmartBox and subscribe to HD service.

Now of course, we all know this isn't 100% true as all you need is an HDTV with a cable card and this will get you HD, but you still have to subscribe to get the hd service.

Ok, so I look around the website trying to find more information. I find the comparison Page.

As you can guess, it shows that you do not get HD channels unless you pay for it. A whole whopping 9$ a month extra.

So to answer the original question, what happened to the HD channels that were being broadcasted clear qam, and are no longer there? Simple, they encrypted them and put them into their HD package.

Can they legally do this? Yes. They clearly advertise that to receive hd channels you must pay for the hd package.

 

[mbbrumm]

Wow did I ever start something! I looked the following morning and did not see any response and have not checked back till now.

I thought I was very clear in my statement but I will try to improve.

I have two digital High Def TVs with tuners that will handle both OTA and unencrypted Digital Cable signals commonly called QAM. I also have a Silicon Dust HDHomerun Digital tuner that works with a Windows Media Center PC and will also decode unencrypted digital cable signals.

Life was good in Sacramento where I could receive ~25 digital channels over the air. I move to Ocala and must use a cable suppler to receive any viewable signal wither analog or digital.

The FCC mandates that any signal that a cable company rebroadcasts within the "local" area must not be encrypted and must not require a turner box. These are the signals that I can pull off the wire without a cable box.

Most of these stations are the basic and standard. Many of these are also rebroadcast digitally. The problem is that Brighthouse is changing the frequency location of some of these stations. They will make them available and take them away without notice. This causes me to miss recorded shows. I then have to rescan all my sets and tuners and remap the channels to record the proper programs. This takes me several hours each time they make changes.

When I call Brighthouse to find out what is going on I can not find any one who knows anything about QAM tuners and in many times become indignant when I have to teach them about their system.

In October Brighthouse was placing meta-data in the HD digital stream that was causing one of my digital turners to loose any station that had the broadcast station number placed in the data stream. I had the engineers at Vizio wanting me to get someone at Brighthouse involved to help figure out what was going on. I could not get through to anyone who knew more than I did.

My question for this group is: Does anyone know how to get through to competent technical or even support people at Brighthouse?
(No is the acceptible and expected answer.)

 

[stevenl]

BHN does not broadcast the local channels for you to get in digital. If you want to receive the digital versions of the local channels you need to pay brighthouse for that service. You subscribe to the Analog service and that is what you get. They are not required to offer you free HD (even locals) at this time. (perhaps as HD becomes the dominate source, that may change) But at this time BHN is not required to send you the digital versions of any station. They follow the FCC mandates and send the local stations analog, and do not require any kind of special device to see them.

If you wish to get the digital versions of those stations you are required to subscribe to "Digital Cable" and either get your own cable card / setop or rent the equipment from BHN.

For example: The local FOX station in orlando is on Ch 3. (on the box/and analog) But the digital channel of it (also seen on channel 3 on the box/card thats where its mapped) can be travelling on CH 108 109 110 doesnt matter, it will move there is a sophsicated system called "A Cherry Picker" in laymans term, what it does is when a station needs more bandwidth because of high activity, on that channel it will move the digital version of ch 3 from 109 to 110 to 112 whereever it finds space. So BHNs digital channels are constantly moving to free up bandwidth where it is needed. If you have a device like a cable card / set top box etc. That can read the channel mapping signals BHN sends you will always see the "signal" on the same channel and will not know that its moving.

Again BHN does not offer Clear Qam service so they are not resposnsible for moving the channels around and it causeing you problems.