Trying to get tv service for Larry

[elizilla]

The nursing home requires residents who want tv service, to pay Comcast individually. Other than that, they knew nothing - I should call Comcast. I am now on hold for my 4th different Comcast rep, as they pass me around trying to figure this out.

And you know the minute I get service to room 109, they'll move him. Seems like they would have a better plan. :-(

Edited to add... on hold with Comcast rep #5, got dumped back to voice mail triage. Sigh.

Edited to add... one way to deal with a customer whose questions you cannot answer - "accidentally" cut them off. Talked to the nursing home again, they still don't know anything. Called Comcast again, they know nothing and don't want to sell me service because I don't own the building and I don't have Larry's SSN. Finally talked to someone who agreed to set up service in MY name for that room number. They can't hook it up until next Monday and there's a $35 install fee. I wonder if Larry will even be in that room by then? Also, will I have to pay $35 and wait a week to move the line, every time they move him to a different room? Sheesh, he's never going to have television. You'd think they would have some kind of plan in place.

Comments

[pi3832.livejournal.com]

Is there internet in the room? A streaming media player like ROKU might be a better answer. The Roku LT model has RCA plugs for connecting to analog, standard definition TVs. Instead of paying Comcast, you pay Netflix, and Larry can watch 88 episodes of Red Dwarf back-to-back.

Do they get over-the-air TV in the rooms? I'm wondering if they have analog TVs, so that you'd have to get a digital-tuner set-top-box to be able to get the local broadcast. (Parts Express might sell such things.)

[pi3832.livejournal.com]

Sure enough: DTV converter box

[elizilla]

There would be internet if I buy it. From Comcast. :-) Larry's not going to stream Netflix, anyway, because he doesn't *do* anything. Someone else has to turn on the TV and prop him up in front of it. When the show ends, he'll watch the snow. I wouldn't even bother except the expression on his face makes me think he is there, he does know what is happening. And the poor bastard has to be bored to death.

They tell me there's no reception inside. Not for TV or for cell phones either. The building is kind of a concrete bunker.

[pi3832.livejournal.com]

Will he have a window? And do you have the place's address?

[pi3832.livejournal.com]

Found the address. Depending on which way a window faces, you might be able to pick up a few channels.

Just a possible back-up plan, in case the cable thing continues to be fubar.

[elizilla]

His window faces east. Because of the medical equipment, he has to have his back to it. The TV ends up by the door.

[pi3832.livejournal.com]

East into the court yard? If it's into the court yard, with the trees, that's not encouraging.

Indeed, due east isn't that great in general. There're antennas clustered to the northeast, and to the southeast. Using a directional UHF antenna like the Philips "PH-DTV1" you might be able to pick up one or two stations.

If you can aim northeast-ish, 41 (ABC) and/or 50 (ION); if you can aim southeast-ish, 46 (FOX) and/or 49 (NBC). (Personally, I'd aim for the ION channel, just because I hate local news shows that much.)

It's hard to predict OTA reception. With digital TV, you can sometimes get a usable reflected signal. You just have to play around with it. If you're only trying to get a specific channel, it can be a lot easier, compared to trying to sweep the sky for as many channels as possible.

In the end, over-the-air DTV is binary in its results—either you get a great picture, or you get nada. There are no fuzzy, ghosting in-betweens.

[schmi.livejournal.com]

My bad if I've asked this before. Who is Larry?

[elizilla]

Larry is a guy from my science fiction club. I have known him since the 1980s, but was never a super close friend. When he had this stroke in 2011 I started going to see him in the hospital because I lived so close, and it seemed that I could do it more easily than most. He didn't recover. Instead he periodically takes another bad turn and gets a bit worse. And it turned out that he didn't really have anyone else; he has a court appointed guardian who never knew him when he could talk. I have ended up looking out for him more and more, as he wends his way through hospitals and nursing homes. The guardian has to be prompted to do anything beyond the minimal arrangement of nursing care, and since Larry is indigent he doesn't get things like TV or a haircut, unless a friend steps up to pay for it.

[schmi.livejournal.com]

That's a sad story. :( It's good of you to care for him.