Why does Whole Home require $80 Professional Installation?

At this time whole home DVR does indeed require professional installation.  The DVR boxes network via the coax cable in the home and because of this we require a technician to install and potentially troubleshoot any coax cabling issues that could arise.  Those sorts of problems cannot be effectively resolved over the phone.

Mike R I have the same situation! I would like the expanded DVR for 1 room only! To replace the same! I was told it their needs to be a special signal???? From outer space? My existing DVR is working fine!  I already pay a fee for in house wiring! I guess I should call with a tech problem and they can use the voodoo meter to see if my cable conforms! As a customer for 20 years this is to me absurd! Thanks!

I made the leap to Whole Home, since I have internet, tv, an phone,with Cox, my installation was around $50.00.  I think it was well worth it.  The tech replaced ends on my cable, (in the attic, at the wall, and on the outside box).  He replaced some out of date splitters, and my out of date modem.  He really did a nice job on everything, making sure all was working properly.  He gave a quick lesson in some of the features, shortcuts, etc using the new remotes.  I wished I could remember his name, he deserves credit for an outstanding job.

What I got for my $80 professional Whole Home Network installation fee:

The COX rep called ten minutes before he arrived and was here exactly at the time scheduled 3:00 PM.  I have COX TV, Internet, and Phone. Took him from room to room and showed him all the cable connections in TV room, kitchen, and basement.   I had been scheduled to get 2 Home DVRs and one Client but after talking with him about my requirements decided that all that I needed was 2 Home DVRs.   There is a button on the remotes labeled DVR List.   From any room on the Home network clicking the button once shows all the recordings on all the Visible DVRs on the Home network.  Clicking the DVR List button again cycles through a display of each of the recording on the individual DVRs.  Recordings can be scheduled and deleted from any Home set-top box. My understanding is that there can be up to 5 Visible DVRs (their recording can be seen on other boxes on the network) and a total of 15 DVRs/Clients on one Home network. 

1. He checked the cable signal coming into my home and the connection to the pod on my property line.   Apparently when a tree limb fell on the pod in a storm last year a corner was broken off the distribution box that is covered by the pod.  This damage allowed air and water vapor to enter the sealed distribution box.  He said that he would request replacement of the damaged distribution box.

2. He checked each segment of COX cable in my home and replaced 4 corroded connectors.   The segment of cable between my TV room and kitchen was below spec.  He wanted to go into the attic and replace the cable, but because the outside temperature was 100 and my attic was probably about 130, I insisted that he do the rest of the installation and replace the cable the next week when the high temperature will be 85.

3. He installed a filter on the incoming cable after the Cable TV / Internet & Phone splitter to prevent my Home network traffic from leaking out and disrupting my neighbor’s cable service.

4. He discovered that the levels from my Cable Internet / Phone modem were too high and corrected it.

5. He installed and tested the two CISCO Explorer 8642HDC DVRs.

6. He explained to me and my wife the features of the Home network.   Got additional Premium channels only available with Whole Home and the Trio Guide is great!

Replacing my two Scientific Atlanta 8240HDC DVRs and CISCO Explorer 4642HDC with two CISCO Explorer 8642HDC DVRs my monthly bill went down a little.  The $80 will be paid back in a little over a year.   There is no way that I could have done everything that he did.   I do not have a key to the pod, special test equipment, nor knowledge and experience that he has. The work that he did (not including the new cable to be run from the TV room to the kitchen) took him over two and a half hours.  I consider the $80 a bargain for what I got in return.

They want to make money off of you. Duh! Ask to speak to a manager and explain your situation. Also, refuse to pay! Explain that you can go to Dish and not have to pay this great huge installation fee. They will back down eventually.

Hi Chris,

I have DVR and I did not have anyone tell me that a tech would need to come out!  My sevice sucks but it has nothing to do with my hook up because just in the middle of almost every on demand movie is says "We are sorry but come back later".  I have had the service for 8 months now!  So sorry I chose Cox!  Real waste of money and lots of time!!

Jim W,

How much did they pay you to post that?

To be clear, this is specifically related to the whole home DVR setup.  From what you have described conerning your issues I'd say it sounds like a return signal issue which a technician should be able to troubleshoot further.

No Name,

I was neither encouraged to submit nor compensated for my post, nor am I affiliated with COX in any way.  When COX bought Media General in Northern Virginia their network and support was dismal. I complained a lot online and to their phone support.  They have come a very long way since then and they should be recognized for their accomplishments as well as given negative feedback when they deserve it.  

I have self installed more than a half dozen failed/upgraded set-top boxes over the years.  I thought that $80 for swapping boxes was excessive, before I realized that the charge is for a home high-speed (1) wired network installation not a box swap.   My guess is that 95% of self installs would require a COX visit to fix and there would be more than a few filters not installed or installed wrong, causing neighborhood network problems, while the other 5% were not getting the best that they could from their network.

BTW, Friday the distribution box in the pod was repaired. After this and the tweaks inside, my Internet upload speed is now a consistent 6.25 - 6..5 Mbps, which is more than 1 Mbps greater than I have ever seen before.   The download still varies a lot based on time of day, but I get close to the “up-to” speed  when the neighborhood kids are sleeping.   Had to reschedule the cable replacement between the TV room and kitchen.  Will post if anything worth mentioning occurs.

(1) As I read the specs, theoretically, a Home DVR Network could be recording 30 live programs while 5 visible Home Network DVRs transmitted 15 recorded programs (or duplicate programs with potentially different starting points in the programs) to 15 other boxes on the Home Network.

WHOLE HOME SYSTEM NOT ALL THERE!!   Dont get yet!

I HAVE COX BUNDLE PKG AT HOME AND COX AT WORK  FOR THE LAST 25 YEARS

If I were in charge of the programmers for the new cisco whole home boxes I would have said "Programmers, I want you to program these new boxes to at least do the same thing as the motorola boxes Plus, make them watchable in the other rooms as well. 

NOT HAPPINING!!

I HAVE 16 COMPUTERS AT WORK AND I KNOW YOU CAN MAKE THESE DO WHAT EVER YOU WANT THEM TO.

I had to pay extra for installation,  and a little more per month for one little thing.  (Record in living room and watch it in bedroom) and they took away my motorola boxes which does these things the Cisco Boxes don't' do:

1.   Volume on cable box for those of us with surround sound

2.  No Slow Motion

3.  Display on front is so small I have to get out of bed to read it  (do they know how old the Baby Boomers are?)

4.  No 6 hr auto save when you paus live show   (only 1 hour and that doesn't always stay paused for the whole hour)

5.  Move the fast forward/pause bar up so you can see the scroll bar on your live show

6.  Double click on the Play Button for one and half speed veiwing of recorded show

7.  Can't go back on guide an hour or 2 to see what you just missed so you can record it next time

8.  Re arrange recorded programs.   Put them in alpha or date order like the Motorola box

9.  Re arrange recorded plrograms by putting the show I watched at the bottom so my Wife knows I watched it  or if we want to save for my grand daughters to watch later....

10.  GIVE ME MY MOTOROLA BOXES BACK SO I DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO MY WIFE SAY "I HATE THESE BOXES" EVERY DAY...!

Clif-3, satisfaction is always a function of expectations.  You don’t mention which area of the US you live in.  Here in Northern Virginia COX has always provided Scientific Atlanta DVRs, which don’t have some of the features you have come to expect.    Comparing the old Scientific Atlanta DVRs to the CISCO Whole Home DVRs then the Whole Home DVR is the clear winner and subscribers with Scientific Atlanta DVRs should be very pleased with Whole Home DVRs.

My experience with Whole Home DVR setup in the New Orleans area was pleasant but took awhile an definitely required a technician on site.  The Installation involves checking the line signal at all connections, if the signal is weak at any of them the technician fixes.  Then the Tech has to install a filter on the line so that the network of boxes inside doesn't bleed out into neighbors, etc.  Then a second technician at Cox has to provision the boxes.  All told it took the tech on site just over 2 hours because I live in an apartment building and was having some signal issues pop up.   I have a highly proficient Technology Background and would not have been able to do this installation myself.  Joe, the technician, was extremely professional, courteous, knowledgable, and personable.  Once the installation was finished I have my condo wired the way I want it and my initial experience with the System is awesome. I love the new Trio guide, I love that I can continue my DVR'd programs in my Bedroom, and perhaps it is the placebo effect but my picture looks significantly better.  I will update in the Forums as I get more time with the system.