Stealing my neighbor's cable?

samba · Post by **samba** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:49 pm

I am currently paying almost $90 a month for basic cable and slow cable internet, because I have no choice, because my unnamed service provider has a monopoly on cable tv in my area. naturally i have no love for my service provider.

When my cable was installed, the guy took about an hour to do it. He spent a bunch of time messing with stuff in the basement and failing, until he finally (this definately seemed like a back-up plan) came up to my apartment and ripped open a panel in the wall in one of my closets. Exposed were 3 cable wires running up presumably to the apartments above. Using a splitter, he tapped me into one of the lines running from the basement, through my wall and above. That is how I have had cable.

Recently, I lost my connection to both cable and internet. The provider did not know why, AND COULD NOT SEND SOMEONE OVER UNTIL 9 DAYS LATER! My own theory is that I had been sharing cable with one of the other apts, and the other guy turned his off.

Anyway, after feeling abused by my provider, I did everything i could to figure out why I wasn't getting tv or internet, but concluded the problem extended beyond the interior of my apartment. So I said what the hell, and used the splitter to split a different wire.

Now I have perfect cable and internet.

My conscious is clean, since my provider is a bastard and i assume my neighbor's cable is working (why would my end of the splitter work better than his?). The company is expected to finally show up this saturday to look at my problem. My question is this:

Should I cancel my cable and internet subscription, and use this one?

To answer this question, these two questions must be answered:

1. Am I screwing over my neighbor at all in this?

2. Is this detectable?

samba · Post by **samba** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:55 pm

I am currently paying almost $90 a month for basic cable and slow cable internet, because I have no choice, because my unnamed service provider has a monopoly on cable tv in my area. naturally i have no love for my service provider.

When my cable was installed, the guy took about an hour to do it. He spent a bunch of time messing with stuff in the basement and failing, until he finally (this definately seemed like a back-up plan) came up to my apartment and ripped open a panel in the wall in one of my closets. Exposed were 3 cable wires running up presumably to the apartments above. Using a splitter, he tapped me into one of the lines running from the basement, through my wall and above. That is how I have had cable.

Recently, I lost my connection to both cable and internet. The provider did not know why, AND COULD NOT SEND SOMEONE OVER UNTIL 9 DAYS LATER! My own theory is that I had been sharing cable with one of the other apts, and the other guy turned his off.

Anyway, after feeling abused by my provider, I did everything i could to figure out why I wasn't getting tv or internet, but concluded the problem extended beyond the interior of my apartment. So I said what the hell, and used the splitter to split a different wire.

Now I have perfect cable and internet.

My conscious is clean, since my provider is a bastard and i assume my neighbor's cable is working (why would my end of the splitter work better than his?). The company is expected to finally show up this saturday to look at my problem. My question is this:

Should I cancel my cable and internet subscription, and use this one?

To answer this question, these two questions must be answered:

1. Am I screwing over my neighbor at all in this?

2. Is this detectable?

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 3:59 pm

samba wrote:
1. Am I screwing over my neighbor at all in this?

2. Is this detectable?

Lets rephrase..but the concept is still the same....

If each night, you ran over to your neighbors car..stuck a hose in the gastank..and siphoned his gas ....to put in your own car...

1) Are you screwing him over?
2) Is it detectable...eventually?

Noevo · Post by **Noevo** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:01 pm

1) yes, you're taking bandwidth that you're neigbor is paying for also likely slowing them down.

2) probably not until you posted this.

samba · Post by **samba** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 4:54 pm

alright, cat that analogy doesn't work for me since i didn't know whether i was taking anything from him.
noevo, on the other hand, that was helpful. Not what i was hoping for, but that makes sense.

buckifan · Post by **buckifan** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 9:14 pm

1. No.

2. Same as 1.

If you cancel your account the internet will stop working but the basic cable will remain.

morbidpete · Post by **morbidpete** » Wed Jun 28, 2006 10:02 pm

cant be taking his bandwith, each modem is provisinoed to its own line/ or mac addy. but stealinghis basic is. i think you just tappe dinto another line of the same service with alot less db loss in the line wether it was less splitters or tv or somehting.

agreed · Post by **agreed** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 1:26 pm

Now why do I get the slightest feeling that someone happens to have an imaginary cable company, and an imaginary cable installer?

JMedley1 · Post by **JMedley1** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 3:17 am

Saying a word for the Cable company. It is always an adventure to come to a complex to install/turn on cable. They never know until they get there if they can turn it on or not. If you did splice into somebodyelses cable then you are stealing. Like someonelse said you won't recieve any internet. Make sure you know when the Cable company is expected to come to your apartment again and before he does disconnect yourself from your neighbors
cable line.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 9:22 am

I could never be a cable installer, I cant see why people will do so much crazy **** on their own instead of making the appointment and having the cable co. fix it.

If somehow you are stealing cable from another line it is bad, and can ruin the quaily of the line. Also when you did this you had to interrupt someone else's service, how nice of you!

I do find it hard to believe that switchign the line would allow the modem to connect.

chanwell · Post by **chanwell** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:29 am

If you are or would be getting it for free its not the neighbor to be concerned with. it is the cable company. If you get caught, you will be taken to court and fined for a period they define as free cable and black listed from getting cable. Then you will be real mad.
Don't bother. just get it fixed, and if they fail keep calling, be nice and keep asking for someone higher on the ladder.
You may finally get a person who knows how to straten out the mess.
Good luck

ace · Post by **ace** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:24 am

Also if you are caught anything that is hooked to the tv goes with them. This means any game systems, stereo's, computers if they are physically connected and anything else that is connected to the tv can be confiscated.

I hope you get caught.

Tortelvis · Post by **Tortelvis** » Sun Jul 09, 2006 9:34 pm

I would like to know how they are charging you for someone elses account? You know what you did is wrong, but hey, if it doesnt bother you all that much just plead ignorance and say that the current splitter is what the installer did for you.

petebbdl · Post by **petebbdl** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:14 pm

i think that judging him is wrong

jacking line is also wrong

but look @ it this way the cable company screwed him over 1st by bodging it

KevinFarr · Post by **KevinFarr** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 8:59 am

I'm sure he's stopped reading this. But for those of you to say he's doing immoral things, and that you hope he gets caught, you're making yourself look like a bad person yourself. This guy pays for his internet and cable. The cable company obviously sent an under qualified technician over to his housing complex to install something, and he failed and did not call for assistance, or make a new appointment and apologize for the inconvenience. The guy was paid to do something wrong, and to hook his service up to someone else's service.

"Samba" is paying for the upkeep of a line that is no connected, or being used at all. He is paying $90 of his hard earned money for something that's not being used, but he is sharing a line with a neighbor. Each modem had a different MAC address, so each one gets it's own bandwidth, so they aren't sharing. But one guy is paying for two apartments' television and internet access. This is the companies fault, not his. If he hooks his up to another line, it's nothing worse than what the company did in the first place. He's paying $90, he deserves to get his service regardless. He;s still paying, he gets his service no matter what. I believe Samba did the right thing. You all know you would have done it if it was going to take 9 days for someone to come look at it and say nothing is wrong.

Look at morals, he's paying for it, and he wasn't getting what he was paying for, so no one else would take care of it, so he did what he needed to do. You aren't going to pay $3.75 for a cup of coffee, and stand for the girl at the stand to tell you, you need to wait 9 hours for her to make it. You're going to get upset, and demand a refund, or go someplace else. This guy couldn't do either, so he did moved a cable. Big deal. He didn't kill somebody.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:33 am

His neighbor shouldn't be penalized for having his own connection work, yet a neighbors not working. What is Samba's traffic impacts his neighbors productivity? Suppose Samba runs P2P programs..which crush his neighbors connectivity. I do a lot of remote support from my house, establish a lot of VPN connections to clients, etc. If "someone" broke into my wireless...overwhelmed my connection with traffic..in a manner that prevented me from using my own connection...I'd be ripping mad.

For your coffee analogy...if the girl didn't give me my cup of coffee after I paid for it..yet the person in front of me had his cup of coffee...say he put it down on the counter and started looking at the pastry display selecting a muffin to purchase for breakfast...and I quickly took his cup of coffee and drank 1/2 of it without him seeing me...would I not deserve a punch in my face?

Simply asking the neighbor for permission until the matter is sorted out in a week or so would be a better approach IMO.

Sleepylazy49ers · Post by **Sleepylazy49ers** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:46 am

I think the cable technician that was over there should lose his job.

SNAFU · Post by **SNAFU** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:11 pm

I've been installing cable for years and it's unimaginable what people do to steal cable, but that's another subject.

1. Yes, you are screwing your neighbor. You are using inferior equipment causing signal loss.
2. Yes, we have equipment that can detect pirated cable. You are causing a signal bleed that we can/will trace.

$90 a month is a cheap price considering the option of getting caught stealing cable. And I would like to know how you're stealing internet, don't you use the modem your paying to connect with? Go ahead and stop paying and cancel your account for both then try to connect with your modem, they will be at your door shortly to figure out why/how your attempting connected at all when your wires have been stubbed.

Shinobi · Post by **Shinobi** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:42 pm

First, I would undo what work you have done. That's not too fair for the people above or below you, although I understand your fustrations.
When the cable tech comes out, tell him you want the job done right.
And watch what he does. If he does the same thing again, tapping from another line....

1) Take pictures of the job.
2) Call the cable company, tell them you are not paying untill the job is done right.
3) If they still do not come out and / or do the job right,
call the FTC (not FCC).1-877-382-4357
I think you should talk to the Division of Enforcement, Order Enforcement department first. Here why.. Your not getting what you are paying for. And they are not fixing your problem, even though you have contacted them.
Also.. they might call the cable company for ypu.. because they will be representing "you".

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