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steevo Member 2024-Aug-26 3:26 pm CableCard Octoboer 2024 EOLI received a letter today that PowerKey Cable cards will stop working in October. Called and they are sending me a "free" gateway so I can enable the OptimumTV app on AppleTV. I suspect this is not going to go well. Currently running Tivo devices and my own Arris 3402a. I guess I will have to bridge the Gateway to use my current network equipment. Pretty sure there is no Fiber here and I thought that was a prerequisite for the OptimumTV equipment but the phone rep insists it will all work.... Any insights? |
· actions · 2024-Aug-26 3:26 pm · | |
| reds91185 | reds91185 Member 2024-Aug-26 3:54 pm Optimum TV doesn't require fiber service. |
· actions · 2024-Aug-26 3:54 pm · | |
| the_wolf | the_wolf to steevo Member 2024-Aug-26 4:14 pm If they do that to me I'm dropping TV as I will never use their sh*t hardware. |
· actions · 2024-Aug-26 4:14 pm · | |
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Bobcat00 Member 2024-Aug-26 4:43 pm I use their sh*t hardware and it works fine. |
· actions · 2024-Aug-26 4:43 pm · | |
| Blockheads88 | Blockheads88 to steevo Member 2024-Aug-26 5:38 pm Also got letter |
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Bobcat00 Member 2024-Aug-26 5:43 pm Also got letter I worked with someone who ignored all the letters Verizon sent him saying that his POTS phone service would stop working unless he got Fios. He was surprised when he picked up the phone one day and there wasn't any dial tone! You think Optimum is sending out the letters for fun? Or do you think it's part of a prank? EDIT: Reddit discussion and copy of the letter here - »www.reddit.com/r/OPTIMUM ··· er_2024/ |
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steevo Member 2024-Aug-26 5:56 pm We will find out soon. I was hoping that maybe only the SA-branded cards would stop working. The picture on the letter is a Scientific Atlanta Power Key. I think most of us have Cisco cards, but they are probably the same. The problem is, I am fairly certain that if they have to provision the account to use OptimumTV, it will lose the cablecards immediately. The phone rep thinks they can "add" it and they will both work until October. |
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| Anon2fd68 to Bobcat00 Anon 2024-Aug-26 6:02 pm I also got the letter. We use Tivo with the cablecard. I do not use an adapter so I can only get HD channels. What do you think they will offer tivo customers as an option to the cablecard? Ive used tivo for over 25 years. I really do not want to be forced to get a DVR and I dont think the optimum app will work with it. Any ideas? |
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| Anon46f36 Anon 2024-Aug-26 7:48 pm I also got the letter. We use Tivo with the cablecard. I do not use an adapter so I can only get HD channels. What do you think they will offer tivo customers as an option to the cablecard? Ive used tivo for over 25 years. I really do not want to be forced to get a DVR and I dont think the optimum app will work with it. Any ideas? "He's dead, Jim". »Re: Scientific Atlanta boxes |
· actions · 2024-Aug-26 7:48 pm · | |
| | Anon46f36 to steevo Anon 2024-Aug-26 8:11 pm Re: CableCard October 2024 EOLI received a letter today that PowerKey Cable cards will stop working in October. Called and they are sending me a "free" gateway so I can enable the OptimumTV app on AppleTV. I suspect this is not going to go well. Currently running Tivo devices and my own Arris 1602. I guess I will have to bridge the Gateway to use my current network equipment. Pretty sure there is no Fiber here and I thought that was a prerequisite for the OptimumTV equipment but the phone rep insists it will all work.... Any insights? Go to optimum.com and look up your address - chose "new service", and it'll offer you either "Optimum Internet" or "Optimum Fiber", if available. The letter gives 3 alternate viewing options: 1) Optimum App (see optimum.net/optimumapp) - does this work (to watch Live TV) for you now (if you don't have any SA or Samsung boxes on the account, it should)? if yes, you don't have to swap to the Altice Gateway (Ubee) - but hey: they are DOCSIS3.1 , inherently faster than your TM1602 and depending on model, have a very nice working WIFI router (Ubee Model 1326 or 1338 is WIFI6 , the 1340 is 6E). Wonder how long they are waving the $12/mo gateway rental fee for... 2) Use AppleTV . Same question as in 1) , if it works now, no need to swap to the gateway, but: nice-to-have. My AppleTV only worked once I had swapped in my Samsung box for a Stream, did not require the Ubee Gateway, but ultimately it's on FTTH now, and 3) Rent Optimum Stream - hey, they are giving you the first one for free... What it doesn't say explicitly is whether there's a like-for-like CableCard replacement - however, that's a definite "no" - the SA Cable Cards with Cisco branding are still... SA cards, whether M-type or S-type, there are no new cards. I unfortunately don't know if you'll lose CableCard access immediately *if* they have to reconfigure your account (your follow-up question)... |
· actions · 2024-Aug-26 8:11 pm · | |
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mbernste to steevo MVM 2024-Aug-27 3:55 am Re: CableCard Octoboer 2024 EOLPowerKey Cable cards will stop working in October. Aren't those only used in the SA boxes? If I recall correctly, Optimum uses Motorola M cards for the TiVos. |
· actions · 2024-Aug-27 3:55 am · | |
| JDCMAN | JDCMAN Member 2024-Aug-27 8:03 am Well, this sucks. This is probably the impetus to get off my rear and seriously consider dropping Optimum TV entirely. I like local news, but the bill has gotten ridiculous. There's a lot lost in the overall experience when I have to use an app and not have a rewind buffer on the current channel. Along with it I'm going to seriously considering dropping Optimum Voice too and porting the number out to a cheaper monthly service, because at the point where it's $35/mo + taxes and fees instead of $20/mo, I should just port the number to something else like Ooma and pay less than $10/mo for home phone service. The way that the letter (envelope scan is in my USPS Informed Delivery digest this morning, I'm sure it's the same letter as posted on reddit) doesn't mention traditional cable boxes at all is probably a sign that Optimum considers doing everything over IP the future and doesn't want to be issuing additional cable boxes. I went to price out what it would cost to get traditional cable boxes on coax (no fiber here) and while they list the monthly fee for boxes, they no longer list the monthly fee for the rewind buffer USBs. Which means even if I wanted to price out old cable boxes for them being able to pause/rewind live TV, it's sounding like Optimum is probably no longer giving them out. And the Optimum Stream, reddit says there's no ability to rewind on the Optimum Stream or the Altice Mini. I'm really baffled that rewinding live TV without actively recording it is not a more common feature on cable replacements. Apparently Youtube TV doesn't do it. Hulu and Sling apparently allow it but force commercials when you pause live TV and catch up, which defeats a huge perk of having a buffer to begin with... Aren't those only used in the SA boxes? If I recall correctly, Optimum uses Motorola M cards for the TiVos. They are used in my Tivo Roamio Pro, at least in this region. |
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batterup to steevo Premium Member 2024-Aug-27 8:54 am This will give me the push to drop Altice. I was wondering what the letter USPS sent me a picture of said. With no Altice I won't have a reason to visit this supposed forum. |
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Bobcat00 to JDCMAN Member 2024-Aug-27 9:03 am With the stream boxes, there are some programs where you can restart from the beginning. After you restart, you can pause and jump backwards, but you can't skip ahead. It seems to be mostly the basic cable channels like WE, Lifetime, etc., but not the premium channels. |
· actions · 2024-Aug-27 9:03 am · | |
| JDCMAN | JDCMAN Member 2024-Aug-27 9:47 am With the stream boxes, there are some programs where you can restart from the beginning. After you restart, you can pause and jump backwards, but you can't skip ahead. It seems to be mostly the basic cable channels like WE, Lifetime, etc., but not the premium channels. I just can't see paying that much for an inconsistent implementation that's worse than what it replaced, although I admit I have to do more research. I get that they dropped the SA boxes earlier for MPEG-4 codec support. And I get now that CableCARDs are niche so they don't want to have to bother to maintain the backend servers/services and fix the PowerKEY November 2024 rollover bug for the small population of CableCARD owners. But Optimum is apt to lose a ton of money for me. I pay $165/mo for Premier TV (no FIOS, if you call retentions they put you on hold, run the FiOS availability checker, see I can't get it, and then tell me sorry Mr. JDCMAN no retentions offers) and $2.50 for a CableCARD, tuning adapter is free. My Tivo hardware is all free and clear, I just pay $150/yr for service. To get 4 cable boxes and 4 rewind adapters with cloud DVR plus (apparently plus is required for the rewind buffer USBs to work), that's an extra $79.50/mo on top of that (don't forget the $1.50 additional outlet fee!) The Optimum Stream boxes, all of the costs remain except the rewind buffer and additional outlet fee. It sounds like they'll give one stream free for a year. After that, the costs are slightly less than going with traditional cable boxes ($79.50 - $8 for rewind buffer USBs - $1.50 additional outlet fee = $70/mo for four Optimum Streams and Cloud DVR plus. On top of the $165/mo I'm already paying for TV. Meanwhile I can go to YouTube TV for $73/mo, or DirecTV stream for $80/mo, and pocket $85+ a month. Maybe if I pay $8/mo for HBO max that becomes a paltry $78/mo savings. This all ignores the home phone because I'm a dinosaur who still has one. At the point I drop Optimum TV, Optimum Voice goes from $20/mo to $35/mo. There's also at least $1.43/mo 911 surcharge and the Universal Service Charge fee. An Ooma Telo is $80; mandatory taxes and fees under $7, Ooma Premier with extra features is $9.99/mo on top of the $7. If I go for non-premier Ooma, including sales tax on the hardware, I'll have saved money with Ooma over Optimum Voice at month three. If I spring for premier, I'll have saved money at month five. Everything after that is gravy. At the point where I don't have home phone, I'm not forced to pay Optimum $12/mo for a gateway (I've dealt with just leasing the modem while having the home phone to avoid making account changes that will drop my internet upload speed from 35mbps to 20mbps, now with the TV and phone I'm already making changes). So then that's another $12/mo off the bill. End result, Optimum stands to lose: TV: $165 (premier TV) + $2.50 CableCard fee = $167.50 Some of that, probably around $100/mo, is going to go elsewhere, but I'll still be saving a boatload of cash. All because Optimum chose to kill SA CableCards rather than fixing the PowerKey rollover bug. I think their calculus on this assumes that they will migrate a lot of users to just use Apple TV/other devices/maybe rent the Optimum Stream. For the first two options, the only loss of revenue is the $2.50 a month for a cablecard; for the users that go with Optimum Stream, the box rental is gravy. But for me, the math of retaining cable TV service doesn't check out without the Tivo service, and the loss of functionality like rewind/fast forward TV universally on live TV. |
· actions · 2024-Aug-27 9:47 am · | |
| ohreally | ohreally to steevo Member 2024-Aug-27 10:29 am seems like a curious decision given it wasn't that long ago that they sent out powerkey cablecards to replace the NDS. I'm assuming they don't want to pay for the fixes to run past November? (»www.lightreading.com/sec ··· set-tops) |
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| RemyM | RemyM to steevo Member 2024-Aug-27 10:46 am Well there is always the option to put up an antenna to use my TiVo and use streaming apps for everything else. I have Spectrum service at another house so I get Disney+, ESPN+ and Paramount+ included that I can use at either place. My wife needs her NEWS12 which is the only issue. |
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Bobcat00 to batterup Member 2024-Aug-27 11:05 am This will give me the push to drop Altice. I was wondering what the letter USPS sent me a picture of said. With no Altice I won't have a reason to visit this supposed forum. Yes, cut off your nose to spite your face. Or you could join the 21st century and get Optimum Fiber. |
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RickNY to steevo Premium Member 2024-Aug-27 11:50 am There are several competitive options to TV from Optimum - that have DVR options and run on most streaming platforms.. If you're being forced from Tivo due to dropping of CableCard support - its probably a good opportunity to explore those options -- even for sports fans. The writing has been on the wall for CableCard and Tivo for a long time. This -- coming from a long time Tivo user that dropped Optimum for TV service when I moved last year. |
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steevo Member 2024-Aug-27 12:07 pm Yes, the end has been near for a long time. I've been shopping for a while but with credits and promos, I am at 115 for PremiereTV plus Sports. Hard to beat considering YES, MSG, NFL RedZone, HBO, Starz, Sho, etc... I already watch most of these through AppleTV anyway. I have a feeling that once I give up the cards, the promos will get harder to renew. |
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| the_wolf | the_wolf to ohreally Member 2024-Aug-27 12:15 pm This was interesting in that article: Vantiva, which acquired Cisco's set-top business in 2015 (before Vantiva was spun out of Technicolor), has built image updates for the bulk of PowerKEY devices in the field, said Jim Potts, Vantiva's SVP of North American sales. That solution has been in customer labs for at least six months, and one customer has already begun to deploy it, he said. Potts said the new image addresses the rollover date for the "vast majority" of set-tops with PowerKEY-based CableCARD security modules, including the Gen 2 and Gen 3 versions. There are a small number of Gen 1 versions in the field that aren't addressed by the new software images, he said. |
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| JDCMAN | JDCMAN Member 2024-Aug-27 12:30 pm From what I've read here, the suggestion is that the reason that the SA cable boxes were replaced was not due to the PowerKey date rollover bug in November, but because they don't support MPEG-4. MPEG-2 is the best SA cable boxes can do. Eliminating the SA boxes allows them to, bare minimum, send out MPEG-4 (or perhaps even a more efficient codec yet) for all channels. Same amount in channels in less bandwidth, more bandwidth to reclaim for internet. It would be consistent with other moves Optimum has made to get more bandwidth for internet like using switched digital video. A couple years back I had issues with an OOL Business connection because that cable drop had a wideband TV blocker at the pedestal and with SDV they moved the frequencies for internet below 850mhz. At the point where Optimum decided to trash all the SA boxes on the grounds of them not supporting MPEG-4, the cablecard users were a tiny tiny group. Cablevision probably came to the conclusion that they didn't want to run the backend server/services solely for the conditional access of SA CableCards and just cut them off. |
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| the_wolf | the_wolf to steevo Member 2024-Aug-27 4:00 pm I got the letter today. So I'm going to try using Apple TV as long as I don't have to convert to their sh*t gateway. Otherwise come October bye bye sub-Optimum for TV and phone. Apple TV and streaming for me. BTW, in the letter it showed a SA CableCard. All of my cards are labeled Cisco which as I posted before have an update available for. I guess they are just trying to push everyone away from TiVo and coax to move to fiber and their new piece of sh*t boxes. But in my case no fiber now or anytime in the future. It sucks that I have no other choices as T-mobile or VZW won't cut it. |
· actions · 2024-Aug-27 4:00 pm · | |
| BigTime Bill | BigTime Bill to steevo Member 2024-Aug-27 4:36 pm I got the dreaded letter today. I have 2 Tivos now, and while I want keep the ability to DVR, I do not want to pay the exorbitant monthly fees that Optimum charges for DVR usage (starting at $9.95/month for only 25 hours of capacity, plus another $12.95/month for each device used for playback). Would the following solution work: Get 2 AppleTV 4K boxes, with no monthly fees for either of them. Attach an HDMI capture card to one of the AppleTV boxes, and use the HDMI capture card with Windows Media Center to record content to the hard disk of a separate Windows 11 computer dedicated to this purpose. Then, stream the recorded content back to either of the AppleTV boxes. Would this work, and/or is there a simpler way to accomplish this without incurring Optimum DVR usage fees? I guess it's either a solution like this, or dumping Optimum, going with FIOS and YouTube TV which has unlimited DVR usage included. The disadvantage there is losing News12NJ, and losing our long-established Optimum email accounts. I suppose we could keep Optimum and only get Internet service from them, and use YouTube TV with that but it may be more expensive than what we are currently paying. FIOS has a 4-year price protection offer now which would avoid the annual renegotiation necessary with Optimum. Any suggestions will be appreciated. |
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steevo to the_wolf Member 2024-Aug-27 4:56 pm You need their Ubee gateway to have OptimumTV which is required to use the stream app on the AppleTV. I'll find out later this week when my Ubee 6e arrives. No Fiber or FIOS available for me either. They say Fiber is not needed for OptimumTV but the website does not offer OptimumTV or stream device as an option for local addresses that don't have fiber. |
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Bobcat00 Member 2024-Aug-27 5:09 pm You need their Ubee gateway to have OptimumTV which is required to use the stream app on the AppleTV. The Optimum Fiber gateway should be fine, too. Am I the only one that can't use the search feature here at DSLReports? The DSLR search function has been dead for years. It's a miracle that the forums still work. |
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| brian163 | brian163 to BigTime Bill Member 2024-Aug-27 6:06 pm "going with FIOS and YouTube TV" Just noting I'm in the same boat and considering the same. I was fed up with Optimum a long time ago but was complacent in making any change. Now that they are killing my Tivo service, they've effectively forced my hand. I simply have no reason to stick with their overpriced service offerings. The only positive I could list about Optimum cable was it's reliability in my area (with the exception of major power outages when the service itself went offline). But I haven't heard complaints from any friends or family using FIOS so that may be a wash. |
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steevo Member 2024-Aug-27 7:01 pm I am considering Fubo or DirecTV Stream if this doesn't pan out. The thing is, Optimum PremierTV tier plus Sports is still the best value IF you can keep the promos going. |
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| lhiraman | lhiraman Member 2024-Aug-27 7:54 pm I got that letter today as well. Anyone wanna buy my Tivo setup? |
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| Jessecar | Jessecar to steevo Member 2024-Aug-27 8:47 pm Has anyone had any luck getting a CableCARD from Verizon? Chat and phone support both say they're no longer given out from Verizon as well. |
· actions · 2024-Aug-27 8:47 pm · | |
