another Comcast head-end goes digital

[Richard Pieri]

Comcast is doing the same thing in Natick.  I'm going through the process to try to get the Clear QAM broadcast enabled.

First problem: the front line answerdroid directed me to Tier 3 support... in California.  That's not terribly useful.  The woman I spoke with there gave me the direct line to MA which I called, and got an appointment for a tech today.

Second problem: tech is clueless about Clear QAM, but that's okay, he's trying to be helpful anyway.  He calls into dispatch to find out what to do.

Third problem: dispatch is both clueless and tries to feed me some bullshit about needing to buy digital service at $50 more than I'm paying now.  I'm not happy about that and I reiterate that no, I just want the basic channels, 1-26, unencrypted.  Dispatch has no clue, tech ends that call.

Okay.  I tell the tech that he's going to need to go to Tier 3 to get the encryption turned off at the head end, and I provide a few notes so that the engineers there know what the heck I'm asking for without going through answerdroid filters.  Earliest that the tech can speak to someone there is Monday so I'm back to my analog tuner at least for now.

I'll update when things change.

--Rich P.