Signature Home Installed

[Steve Mehs]

I called the special Signature Home number Thursday and set up an install appointment Today at 8AM. I am very impressed with the service. The CSRs are very thorough, after I was done setting up the install I was transferred to a Specialist who took note of my specific set up including what I have connected to each TV as far as gaming systems and BluRay and all of that and so on. These techs that come to the house are supposed to take care of setting up everything and anything related to additional TV and internet related devices. While I am more the capable of doing this all myself and would rather do it myself, it is really nice to know that TW is stepping up like this. FINALLY Time Warner is offering white glove treatment for those that both want and deserve it.

Here's the kicker, I explained to the Specialist I did not want to go into too much detail with my set ups as next week I getting a brand new 3DTV and new home theater gear all around and there's no point into going into it any farther as I won't have any of this in a week from now. The support specialist said no problem, if I have want them to network my TV and hook anything up, I can call them and they'll take care of that free of charge.

One thing I really tried to hit on was since wideband is not available in my area I absolutely do not want a DOCSIS 3 modem. I do not want a separate phone modem and cable modem if I don’t have to, that is just plain retarded. And I certainly do not want to use Time Warner’s wireless networking gear.

I already have everything included in the package, but I was really interested in multiroom DVR. The install went excellent! The tech called me at 7:50 to confirm the appointment and say he’s on his way. He showed up at 8:05 and went through the Home Connection Plan that was laid out with the Connection Specialist over the phone the other day. I explained to the tech that I did not want to utilize their wireless hardware or get a new modem, but the tech assured me DOCSIS 3 will be launching in Rochester in the next few months. They are shooting for late 1Q11. When he was in the basement checking the signal levels he called his supervisor to confirm what frequency my area uses and that I’ll be all set when DOCSIS 3 launches. I asked again as he was leaving about DOCSIS 3 and again he said we are slated to get it. So while I still think it is retarded TW doesn’t have a combo DOCSIS 3 Phone Modem I can deal with it if that means I’ll have 50Mb/5Mb in a few months. And hopefully at some point in the future a combo modem will come out made by a real manufacture not Ambit.

The multiroom DVRs are great, we have two Samsung boxes installed, with massive 500GB hard drives in each. I asked the tech about the Ciscos, he didn’t have any on the truck but said I could swap them out in the future if I wanted to. As with any box I’ve had, Navigator runs smoothly and flawlessly on these babies. I have to say I can’t stand the stretched guide and menus on the Samsung boxes, leave it to a company like Samsung to screw something up. I’m off from work Christmas week, looks like I’ll be making my rounds to the TW offices to see if I can get my hands on some Cisco 8642s.

All in all even though I didn't get the hardware I wanted, I'm all set for the future. The signal levels dropped a bit with the 4 way splitter, so the installer called in a line tech with a bucket truck and he was out here within 10 minutes to adjust the signal levels at the pole.

I have to say the level of service you get with Signature Home is well worth the price and I can't wait for DOCSIS 3 to launch!

 

[mike123abc]

It sounds like a nice service. I am unfortunately in the Time Warner backwater here. I keep hoping some day they will compete with Dish, but so far they just have 5 HD channels that are not locals.

 

[Islandguy43]

So Steve, what is your monthly bill gonna look like now?

 

[Steve Mehs]

It will be about the same. Dollar or two difference at most, nothing changed for me but having MRV and a DOCSIS 3 modem.

I called up my personal solutions advisor and requested that I have my Samsung boxes swapped out for Ciscos. Due to my work schedule the soonest I can have a tech out here is Friday.

 

[Islandguy43]

It will be about the same. Dollar or two difference at most, nothing changed for me but having MRV and a DOCSIS 3 modem.

I called up my personal solutions advisor and requested that I have my Samsung boxes swapped out for Ciscos. Due to my work schedule the soonest I can have a tech out here is Friday.

Ok can you be more specific. I am paying $123 a month for a hd-dvr, another hd box, all the tiers (sports, movie, hd , and variety) except espanol, with the hbos and my standard roadrunner (I own my modem).

 

[Steve Mehs]

Signature Home is $199.99/month for Digital Cable with two Multiroom HD DVRs (500GB each for 1TB total), Digital Phone w/Voice Mail and Road Runner Wideband at 50Mb Down/5Mb Up. If for whatever reason Wideband is not in your area you get RR Turbo at 15Mb Down/2Mb Up in Buffalo. No additional movie packages or whatnot are included and can be added at the normal price. My price is about $270 for everything. I'm not exactly sure if the Variety and Movie Tiers are included or not for you guys in the Buffalo service area. In Rochester there are no such packages like that, a regular digital cable subscriptions includes just about everything but the premium movie channels.

 

[shaun-ohio]

in columbus ohio here, it is 179.00 for the entire package, i am ready for it but my wife is the hold up here, she is afraid that they have the same hd dvr's they have always had, set up a favorite list but it still does every channel in the guide and when you channel up or down, and she is not happy with this at all. and you only get a week of listings instead of 2 weeks like my tivo series 4 or dtv dvr gives you. and there is nothing to brag about with there dvr's it is just a simple dvr the only thing they have added is look back and start over, no internet access or nothing, but tw has called me everyday now wanting me to sign up for the signature service.

 

[Islandguy43]

Well in our area wideband is only the drawing board. There is still tons of upgrading the half-ass system they acquired from the Adelphia breakup. I suppose if FIOS was active doing installs in my town, TW would bending over backwards trying to get subs for the signature service. On top of this, only TW or Directv have the Sabres and Yankees in HD here.

 

[maxmoto]

So how does the whole house dvr work and why do you need signature home to do it?

 

[mfarrell]

Steve or any other Signature Home customers:
I'm writing a story for Multichannel News about cable high-end services like Signature Home and would love to talk to customers about what they think of the service so far. You can e-mail me at mfarrell@nbmedia.com or call 917-281-4716. Thanks.
Mike Farrell
Sr. Finance Editor.

 

[Steve Mehs]

Mike - Email sent

Maxmoto - The whole house DVR is very simple. Basically you get two either Samsung H3272s or two Cisco Explorer 8642HDCs and they can share recordings between the two boxes. Each DVR has a 500GB hard drive. For now all you can do is view content from one DVR on another, you cannot delete shows (which I think is a good thing) from the DVR it wasn't recorded on and unfortunatley you cannot schedule recordings on networked DVRs yet. The DVRs are networked via MOCA and special filters need to be installed. You can start watching a show in one room and pick up where you left off in another. You can also add client boxes, regular non DVR cable terminals to the mix for multiroom viewing as well. If you have a Cisco set up you'd get the Explorer 4642HDC, not sure what the Samsung client box is. As to why it's only being offered to Signature Home subscribers, not sure, that's how TW wants it. So far I have used them very little since it's Christmas time and everythings all repeats, but from little I've used the multiroom DVR function thus far, no complaints.

For now it's pretty basic stuff, but I'm hoping the future will bring more. A couple things I would like to see is for the DVRs to be able to access each other’s buffers and if there is a recording conflict between three scheduled recordings locally on a DVR it would automatically schedule a recording on the second DVR. Those are just some of the things I would like to see happen. But for now Time Warner’s Multiroom DVR works pretty well and it can only get better. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and Multiroom DVR is a relatively new thing in the real world and so is the MOCA technology behind it, so give it time.

 

[maxmoto]

Thanks for the explanation.