Where does the cable co. stop and my world begin?

[Dan M~]

Background:

I've been having problems with the cable company, ever since I got my computer connection through the them. The modem loses connection, weak signal. The first guy came out and swapped out a three-way splitter for my four-way splitter (all located in my basement) and seemed to solve the problem for awhile. After the last rain storm I was getting intermittent connection. A new tech came out and gave me a buch of grief about how I am paying only for one connection and have to get rid of the three-way splitter and only slit once, for one TV and the cable modem. So I lose a TV connection and the problem persists. Now they say they must replace the drop from the street, mine is probably 20 years old. New Problem: Where the cable comes out of the ground and enters the house I have installed a standard two-gang plastic box and conduit that runs just under the ground. I did this because my dog thought it was fun to nervously gnaw on the cable that was attached to the side of the house foundation. The cable tech said this was non standard and they would not touch/route the cable through this device.

Actual question:

Where do my rights to modifing the cable-run across my property, or within my house, begin? I have not made any changes to the cable outside of the house (other then shielding it from my stupid dog). I am replacing the RG-59(?) cable in the house with RG-6 Quad and quality splitters. The one Tech said I can not do either! Whats the real story and where can I find this info? I tried calling the cable company and the lady who answered's only worry was confirming I was a customer and couldn't after 20 minutes... I hung up.

What are my rights as a cable customer?

(I do not wish to rip off the cable company, I just want the best and cleanest connection for my viewing and surfing pleasure, while keeping my property neat and clean.)

Thanks.

 

[Julie K]

EDIT: Nevermind. I wasn't really answering the question.

 

[Jared_B]

I think we know for sure that the box mounted to the side of your house with all the connections, by law, belongs to the cable company. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I do believe anything inside your house should be your property, and you should have the right to do anything in there, short of theft of cable service. You were the one who payed for the wiring inside your house, so why can't you change it?

 

[nolesrule]

You can do anything with the wire inside your house as long as you do not illegally decode channels. At least that's what a lawyer told me.

When I was in college, I was using cable to get the broadcast only (plus Sci-Fi/Comedy Central) package. One day, while rewiring for a new VCR, I discovered that by skipping the decoder box, I could get all the standard cable channels plus HBO. Apparently, HBO was so popular that they decided that blocking it would be the exception, rather than the norm.

Since I wasn't decoding a scrabled channel, I wasn't doing anything wrong.

As for your situation, you can have as many TV hookups as you want. Of course, you'll need to make up for signal degredation the more you split.

 

[Jeff Blair]

It is just like with the phone company. Anything that goes TO your house/apartment is there deal. But, once it hits that side wall, it is all yours. Just think about what they would say if lightning hit the pole outside, and melted the cable in your house. They would laugh you off the phone when you tryed to get them out there to replce it. Just my $.02 of course.