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Getting Free Cable From Cable Modem? 17

Posted by Cliff from the channel-1337 dept.
Steve writes: "Hi there, I live in Ottawa, Canada. I get my internet access via a cable modem. However I did not have cable and decided to split the connection onto my TV and got cable tv. Just recently my cable tv, lost 3/4 of the channels. I think the cable company is getting smart. Is there any software to download that will allow me to get these channels back? Is there anything else I can do to get these channels back? Any help will be greatly appreciated."
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Getting Free Cable From Cable Modem More

Getting Free Cable From Cable Modem

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  • I think I have a way... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Order the channels. When they send you a monthly bill, you pay for it. Novel idea, no?
  • While we're on the topic of not paying for the TV. I'm searching for software that would let me descramble the scrambled TV.... On linux normally...

    I've tried FsckTV, but it doesnt seem to work with all cards. Is there any 100%-software way to do it?

    I'm in Canada, so its NTSC...
    Is it possible to do it all in software, or is there something missing?...
    Well... quite an open question.. I know.. Can I do it?
  • I recently moved into a house with Cable TV, prior to that I did not have cable TV at all. I found myself wasting hours watching stupid crap on the Comdedy and SciFI channel. I had a talk with him and we are shutting it off. TV sucks .. your brain.

    TV Turnoff Week is April 22-28, check Adbusters, for more info: http://www.adbusters.org/campaigns/tvturnoff/

    --
    microsoft, it's what's for dinner

    bq--3b7y4vyll6xi5x2rnrj7q.com
  • (Check the date.)
  • Unitron asked:

    "Could you explain what you mean by "uncapping" a cable modem?"

    This has been a subject of discussion on a
    number of UseNet newsgroups and other
    discussion forums. In short, providers offer
    "tiers of service", each with a different
    maximum transmit and receive speed. Some
    folks want to know how they might overcome
    this limitation, and remove the "speed cap".
    In fact, it is impossible to do this in a
    well-managed system.

    "...and do you happen to know what frequencies, and how much bandwidth, they use?"

    The cable company can use any frequency they
    like. They can even move the frequency in
    a matter of a few mins if they need to. Some
    configurations even allow 'frequency hopping',
    which allows a noise event to be detected and
    avoided. There are several different
    modulation schemes that can be used with
    the same equipment, each supporting a
    different "channel bandwidth".

    "...Does the cable company grab a 6 Mhz slot that they don't have a channel on and use that, or what?"

    In essence, yes. The downstream frequency can
    be any unused channel. There is also an upstream
    frequency, which is most often a frequency that
    is below the normal range for cable channels.
    The downstream could be (for example) channel 67,
    while the upstream is likely somewhere around
    20Mhz.

  • just a little thing i came across in my bored net wanderings, here's a great explanation of how a cable modem works.

    click me. [howthingswork.com]

  • Check the Band Width of the Splitter.
  • "You seem to be all for this sort of thing anyway..."

    - A.P.

    --
    * CmdrTaco is an idiot.

  • Could you explain what you mean by "uncapping" a cable "modem", and do you happen to know what frequencies, and how much bandwidth, they use? Does the cable company grab a 6 Mhz slot that they don't have a channel on and use that, or what?
  • Hey, I need a good programmer who will work long grueling hours for free. Any takers? No? I thought not.

    Get Linux. It has everything you need in it and it was created by programmers who worked on it many long grueling hours for free.

    By the way, FP.

    Sorry, it was actually 3rd post. You would normally go home with a consolation prize but. . .

    Does that count for anything on an obscure, exceedingly lame AskSlasdolt article?

    Not on April Fools Day.

    -"Zow"

  • One it's illegal :) Two, check the line coming into the house for a silver tube like thing.... Remove it a connect the two cables from it together. Voila, you should have all the channles that don't need subscribing to, or a box to descramble.... That silver thing is a filter that blocks a large range of frequincies that the modem itself doesn't use. ***Disclamer, that wasn't me typing this, it was the little green man that visits me every 3rd friday after each 2nd sunday.

  • Check the Band Width of the Splitter.

    This is important for anyone splitting a CATV line that feeds a cable modem or a digital cable box. Those cheap $2.99 splitters from K-Mart won't cut it. Look for one that says it will work with satellite receivers.

  • Ignoring the ethical implications of your question...

    If you suddenly "lost" channels that you had before, the cable company likely got around to "trapping" your drop, likely to prevent your home from generating RF noise that might mess up services to which you do not subscribe.

    This means that your "free basic cable" is now limited to whatever a bandpass filter allows, likely an arbitrary group of channels that just happen to be between the downstream (usually the higher freq) and upstream (usually the lower freq) frequencies.

    You can't "reprogram" your cablemodem to "get more channels". Cablemodems use only two frequencies (or bands thereof), which can be thought of as "channels". The cablemodem is not a "set-top box", and has nothing to do with TV channels.

    You might check out your demarcation point (the box where the cable from your house meets the cable "from the pole"). You may find one or more silver cylinders about the size of a shotgun shell, each with a cable connector on each end.

    Removal of one or more of those silver cylinders may restore your channels, but also makes you guilty of an actual criminal offense. At the price of cable, the downside risk is not worth the "reward". In past decades, each cable company made a big show of prosecuting one or two "cable thieves", but more recently, they have adopted a less fascist approach, making a big deal of "amnesty days", where people can "sign up" to keep their bootlegged service without paying for the prior period where the service was "bootlegged".

    Those who are both hyper-technical and hyper-legalistic can read their state's laws, most which focus on "illegal CONNECTIONS" to the cable system, and figure out that any coax wire emits a certain amount of stray electromagnetic radiation, which can be picked up via antenna, amplified, and fed to a set-top box or cable-ready TV. This sort of activity may be protected under the "Freedom of the Airwaves" act, which, in general and with certain exceptions, allows anyone to enjoy whatever they can receive with a radio.

    Of course, running an antenna "upstream" of the filters but very near your cable drop and working out a very wide-band amplifier may be more trouble and expense than the cable bill.

    To be honest, you make me sick. Your cable company is enlightened enough to offer you cablemodem service without "bundling" it with even basic cable service, allowing you to buy exactly what you want, nothing more. Your reaction to the situation is to whine when the free side-effects of your cablemodem service become limited.

    ...and before you ask, no, I'm not going to tell you how to "uncap" your cablemodem. None of us are. You are clearly a looser, and civilization does not need another clueless looser wasting serious bandwidth.

  • Sleep with the cable repair man, silly.
  • Here's a novel idea - pay for your cable service. That way you can get as many channels as you want...

  • Easy fix (Score:4)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 01, 2001 @02:41PM (#322103)

    PAY FOR THE SERVICE!!!

    Honestly, the mentality of the people who post questions here amazes me. You all want everything for free. Hey, I need a good programmer who will work long grueling hours for free. Any takers? No? I thought not.

    Get a life, grow up, and pay your own damned way through life. Quit being such a clueless leech.

    By the way, FP. Does that count for anything on an obscure, exceedingly lame AskSlasdolt article?

    Nothing is ever a complete failure.
    It can always be used as a bad example.

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