We had used SD digital cable for quite a while with no problems, about a month ago we experienced major "pixalization" to the point where the picture and sound would freeze and it was unwatchable. The weird part was if you plugged the cable directly to the coaxil input on the back of the tv it worked fine. We called tech support many times, but all they would do was re-authorize our box or give us a new box all together, none of those solutions ever worked. We gave up all together on getting it fixed for a week or 2, but we just got a new RP-HDTV and are very interested in getting HD programming. We had a tech come out to gives our new 3250HD box and attempt to fix our issues. He thought he had fixed the problem by replacing a splitter of some sort, but it was working fine for under a hour then the problem returned. We then had another tech out who determined there was a problem with a outside pedestal and another crew would have to come out and fix it. They said they had fixed the problem and it should be working perfectly... it was not. They are now sending out a tech again to attempt to troubleshoot the problem, the question I have is how many more things could possibily be causing this??? How much longer can I excpect to wait until they find a solution? I'm considering giving it all up and just moving to BEV, but I would rather not.

If it matters I live in London, and my neighbor is having the EXACT problem with his digital cable.

Wow, what a lot of text and I'm not really sure what you are asking here.

Rogers techs, in my experience, are typically quite knowledgable so the fact that they haven't been able to fix it suggests a tricky problem. Rest Assured, returning to you home several times and replacing hardware is very expensive so I'll bet they want to get the problem resolved as quickly as you.

Well I guess I'm asking if anyone has had the same problems, and how long it took for rogers to troubleshoot the problem.

Take a look at the Digital Home FAQ "Tips for SA STBs". Check the Signal strength at various times and on various channels (especially a couple of the HD ones) and advise us of the "range".

It could be an intermittent problem with the signal to your area.

It stays between -15 and -18 for all channels, about 90% of the channels dont even come in at all right now.

That level is too low. What is your S/N ratio? I suggest you call Rogers, ask them to verify the signal (they can do that remotely) and have someone out to get the signal above -10, preferably closer to zero.

They may need to do a new "drop" to your house, install an amp, or something else still...

Your neighbour should ask for the same - indicate that this may be a neighbourhood problem to Rogers...

S/N ratio is 0 for the channels that dont come in at all (im guessing thats normal) for the ones that barely do its around 20-25. Another Rogers tech is coming tommorow, hopefully he can resolve this.

There is an obvious solution to your problem - get the signal strength up to acceptable levels. S/N should be close to 35.

Is that something fairly easy to do? Should the Rogers tech be able to do it tommorow?

Depends on what issue he finds.

If it's a neighbourhood problem, he may "transfer" the problem to "outside tech" - those people who work outside the home and that may then take more time. If it's going to take some time, you can ask for an "amp" to tide you over until the situation is resolved "outside".

If the problem is in your house, then he can fix it, even if it means putting in an Amp, changing splitters, etc.

alright, thanks for all the help :D

The drop line to your house may be wet. That will cause the high-end frequencies to attenuate a great deal. Any Rogers tech can determine this. If its a local area or street problem, he will refer to a Maintenance tech to get it resolved. Dont panic, your problems are fixable.

I have almost the same issue. My Signals for all channels are -14 my S/N is 35 and all my channels come in just fine.

I had a similar problem in late winter this year. My Rogers HS wouldn't provision and I couldn't get ROD to work. A tech showed up, tested the levels inside and they were fine one minute and then -20 or off the scale the next. He went outside and tested the tap in the pedestal in front of my neighbours house and determined that the signal was low off of the tap. He put in a service call for an outside tech and they fixed the problem by the next day.

And don't forget to call Rogers and ask for full internet/cable credit for all of the days from when you first called to when they actually fix the problem.

Did that today, rogers tech came by and said that around here -15 is about normal these days.

Well the tech today figured out the problem, a pedestal outside my home was shorting out. He figured out if he left the door or lid (whatever you want to call it) to the pedestal open the cable came in just fine, but if he shut it, it would stop working totally. He decided to leave it open until the maintence crew could come replace it.

Just an update to my last post. it was +15 signal, not -15. Wrong keystroke.