We have WOW for our cable/phone/internet. lately my TV has been 'digitizing'. I had never heard of the word! For lack of a better term when I called WOW I called it start/stop and she called it freeze frame. So they sent out signals several times to my TV, sent out techs 3 times and it is still doing it. Today the 3rd tech came out, acted very concerned, used enough big words I thought he knew what he was talking about. Told me he was 99.99999% sure it was fixed but just to be sure gave me his work cell number and to call him if it came back. He would have it on all eve and turn it to voice mail at 10 PM. So after supper (our 38th wedding anniversary) we came home, put on Wheel of fortune and it was digitizing again!!!!

So I put in a call to my nice service man and it goes to voice mail. I give a message and wait. 90 minutes later a call again and leave a message. So 30 minutes later I call WOW and give my story and tell them that it has to be fixed and ASAP!!!!! She gives me a date for next Tuesday! After I convince her it is quite unacceptable she changes it to Sunday but the call time is all day, no 2 hour window. So I am stuck at home. No church, no nothing. After I regrettably accept it the dear thing asks if there is anything else she can do for me. I wanted to tell her where to shove it. And every time she puts me on old I get to listen to WOWs upbeat music and propoganda of how many service awards they have won and how wonderful they are. So after I hang up I decide that I am not done with them.

So I call back and immediatly ask for a supervisor. The person asks for a brief description of what it is about and then puts me on hold again to listen to the musical propoganda. So this really super nice guy comes on, listens, gives me a time for tomorrow morning for either a lead technician or supervisor and he will call me tomorrow afternoon to see ow things are. He was so nice. I also told him as an FWI that that particular propoganda tape should not be used during a complaint call. So i got off the TV early, got my nice quiet music and got on my computer to relax. Hopefully everything will get fixed tomorrow.

YOU GO GIRL!!! Those big companies need to hear they aren't so wonderful every so often. Good luck with the repair.......and Happy Anniversary!

I hate when they do that.

Have you done any trouble shooting on your own?

1. turn OFF your cable TV box, and UNPLUG it. allow it to sit for at least one full minute. Then plug it back in. This allows the box to reset itself. alot of times this single act fixes it. Please be patient while the box reloads. Turn off and unplug your TV at the same time if you want, but I dont think its your TV, I think its the Cable company and let me tell you why.


Cable companies rely on satellite signals, and right now there is a HUGE 400 mile wide storm over the east coast line, and that blocks their recievers from getting the signal from the satelitte. This causes pixelated or digitilized pictures on the customers end. its like the picture either freezes in place or you get a screen full of little broken up blocks. this is a reception problem on THEIR end. Once the interference passes, the picture normally returns. This happens frequently on Direct TV or other companies that rely directly on satelitte feeds, but cable companies that use the standard cable that drags from the pole to your home normally provide better services than this.

No TV on a Holiday weekend STINKS! Good for you to raise a fuss.

WTG, WOMAN!!!

Proud of you!

Have you stopped shaking yet?

We use the converter boxes for the over the air digital TV signals - and we get the signal break up during heavy winds, snow, rain storms - those things affect the signal coming though the air waves and weakens it.

But if I was paying a monthly bill for TV service - it would be even more irritating.


Funny thing to note
- the Zenith converter boxes get better reception most times with plain rabbit ear antennas than our new Toshiba HD TV with tuner built in and the roof top antenna. And rooftop ant is aimed for best reception.

But another brand of converter box was horrible returned it right away!
- that was before I researched to find the top rated boxes.

Dejibo, yes I have done that many times either on my own or when WOW tells me to.

Today was worse than yesterday. First I wake up at 7 just cause I can't sleep. I am literally exhausted. So I sit waiting for the AM call. It ends up that they come at 3:30 PM. But at that timme I am taking my Mom to the doctor. She has terrible leg swellng, more breathless and we had jsut got the confirmation call about when her pacemaker would be replaced.

Not long after the cable guys left after it was 'fixed' it just turned itself off like there was a ghost in the house. The DVR box went off then came back on by itself. So I guess it's not fixed.

About an hour later our son in law calls, driving home from work, out of gas and is calling from friends cell phone because he hasn't paid cell phone bill and his doesn't work. He works about 30 miles from here but my husband gets a five gallon gas can filled to help him. He calls me, can't find son in law and is calling from a pay phone at a Wendys. So I call the phone number of the friend and find out what exit he is at and try to call my DH. Apparently you can't call a pay phone! So there I am stuck. I can't call my son in law because he doesn't have a cell phone, can't call my husband because I can't call a pay phone. I have no idea what Wendys he is at. Eventually it all worked out, my DH had given up and started to drive home and just happened to see him.

Oh, the TV twice in the last 10 minutes has just shut off from the DVR and has to reboot itself of which it has never rebooted itself.

I think my B/P has gone down now. I had my chocolate fix and we will wait and see.

Is WOW the only provider in your area? Maybe there's a more reliable company in your area? We have Mediacom out in the sticks but there's Comcast all around us. We can get DSL with Frontier as an alternative, or Dish Network for TV. Check your options, if they don't have good service somebody else might.

My other option is Insight. My Mom pay about $20 less than we do, gets a lot less stations, no DVR/on demand and she doesn't have internet. I am going to call them and get a quote.

My sister had Insight before they were bought out by Comcast. They had good service at a good price. To have reliable service is worth a few extra bucks per month. My son said that he hopes we never have to switch to Comcast because Mediacom works ok for us here.

sometimes THEY reset the box from the cable company. They call it a "refresh" and it WILL shut off your box even if you are in the middle of something. They may be trying to trouble shoot your account from the office.

I agree, I would call another provider. Even if you use Direct TV or one of those guys.