What Free Cable?

suckass writes: "Apparently if you've got a cable broadband connection from AT&T you can get free basic cable just by splitting the line that goes into your cable modem. News.com has a story about it here."

Easy to catch

[crow]

This is easy for the cable companies to catch.

First, they normally install a filter on such lines that blocks the analog signals, so in many cases, it won't work.

Second, they can detect the signal leakage and see that you're receiving the signal. Considering that it's simply a matter of pointing an antena at your house from a van, and they have a list of who are Internet-only subscribers, it's not hard for them to check.

Using unauthorized cable signals simply isn't worth the risk.

Free?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know about everyone else, but I get basic over my broadband cable. I get charged an extra $6 if I don't subscribe to basic, and if I do I get charged a little over 5 for basic and 45 for broadband.

Re:Yes yes...

[Cmdr Taco (luser)]

Cox cable in my area requires that you have at least their basic digital cable package or order to have their broadband. That's why I haven't gone for it.

Not Hard To Stop

[jratcliffe]

Basically, if the cable operators want to stop this, it's pretty easy, but the way they're organized makes it more difficult. The frequencies used for cable modem downstreams are typically interspersed with the digital video channels, in the 550-860Mhz range. Cable modem upstream (along with telephony upstream and digital set top box return path, is almost always in the 5-42Mhz range (US values here, int'l mileage can and will vary). To provide cable modem, but no video, all they need to do is place a filter that will block 42-550Mhz. Not hard, but it requires the tech to be aware of both the video and data services the customer is getting. In reality, however, the field techs who handle video, and the ones focused on data, are two different orgs, with different trouble ticketing systems, etc, so the right hand often doesn't know what the left is doing, so getting the right filters in place can be a real pain.

Re:Yes yes...

[LinuxCumShot]

I did this with shaw back in the 98, when i cancelled my cable tv, the shaw guy came, took the wall plate off, put in a filter behind the wall and put the wall plate back on. after he left, i just took the filter off, and voila - free cable. not basic, all channels!

bling bling!

Re:Easy to catch

[swb]

Considering that it's simply a matter of pointing an antena at your house from a van

The tinfoil on my roof will protect me.

But seriously, point an antenna at my house to find out if I'm wathching cable? I can see checking the neighborhood branch cable's impedence to see if its within the range of what they would expect from the number of subscribers they have, but even that's a ballpark figure (neighbor buys new TV, etc etc). Please explain how they can find anything by pointing an antenna at my house.

A microphone maybe, when I curse them for shitty reception.

Its in my cable modem manual for crying out loud

[emkman]

it doesn't take a master hacker to figure that one out.

From page 5 of the Motorola/General Instruments SB3100D cable modem manual:
"If you have a TV set attached to the cable outlet, you may need a 5-900 MHz splitter to use both the TV and the SB3100D."

Thats about as plain and simple as it gets.

by design ?

[Derek]

After being a cable modem customer for six months, I got a letter from ATT saying that the free cable (TV) was simply part the offer. I called to confirm that I was not being charged for the cable TV and that it was free to use. They said yes, and I've been happily using ATT for cable modem access and cable TV signals for $45/month ever since.

I assumed that this was by design. Maybe this "free cable TV" that they gave me was simply an artifact of getting the interenet access and, rather than discourage people from using it, ATT might have decided to be proactive an make the cable TV a free offer to their appreciated customers.

-Derek

Re:Get a Cable modem, go to Jail

[Salden]

I even found a slashdot reference to the story. That site is down though.... Buy a Cable modem, Go to Jail [slashdot.org]

Same in Canada with Shaw

[Grip3n]

I've known this for a long time now, didn't know it was hush-hush. If you live in Western Canada you can get the first Tier basic cable package by splitting off the cable line. Shaw doesn't have any remedies for this at all in the foreseeable future due to technical regions. So, once again, if you live in Western Canada with Shaw broadband access (80% of us) you can get free cable as well.

Time Warner: Line Filters

[SgtClueLs]

I recently moved, and had to get my cable modem activated at the new place. What they do now, is put on a filter to block "tv" access. It's this cigar looking filter that sits on the poll. So it looks like it's slowly getting phased out.

One bad thing about this filter is that it really degrades your signal strength, and can cause your cable modem to desync sometimes. Hell, they even unfilter it if you are having alot of problems.

Re:Easy to catch

[crow]

I've heard that they check for signal leakage. If you have the wrong combination of splitters, signal amplifiers, and unshielded cables, then you're actually broadcasting the cable signal. Supposedly the cable company sends out vans to check that this leakage is within tollerance. In some cases, they will ask to replace some of your internal wiring so as to reduce leakage. Supposedly they are required by the FCC to keep the leakage under a certain level. (I read it on the Internet, so it must be true.)

I've also heard that you can play the same game and use a high-gain antena to steal cable by capturing the leaking signal from your neighbor's house. I don't know how well that works, though in theory it is possible.

It's a trivial matter to instead of looking for leakage beyond their regular tollerance level to look for any leakage whatsoever from non-subscribers.

Bait and switch

[tenman]

I have had to deal with AT&T Broadband in Plano Texas for 2 years now. Twice they have done this bait and switch on me, and this time I figured it out.

When I first moved here, I got the cable modem, and when I hooked my TV up to the outlet... it worked. I have extended basic channels. About a month after they put in my cable modem, a door-to-door guy came and offered a 30-day trial of the premium basic (as many channels as you can get without going digital). We tried the cable for about 20 days, and then I called them to cut it off (cause I'm a cheep ass). They can't and turned it ALL off. It took to weeks to get my cable modem back on, but they never turned back on the basic cable. I called to argue with them, because I thought that basic cable was included. They said that it wasn't included with the modem, and that I was lucky they didn't seek for me to pay them for the months that I was "stealing" cable.
I ended up paying them to turn basic cable back on (which is what they want).

I ended up moving to another apartment, and to do so I basically had to set up new service. Then again, they put the cable modem in and Boom! I had extended basic again. Like clockwork, a month after they put in the cable modem, they sent a door-to-door guy around to offer extended basic. To test my theory (I knew I wasn't going to be there long anyway) I signed up for the 30-day trial. The rest went as expected. 20 days later I called to have the free trial turned off. Off went the cable modem and the TV. Again I paid to have basic service turned back on.

Once again, I moved to yet another apartment. Once again, the cable modem was installed, and magically, the extended basic was as well. 30 days later, I told the door-to-door day 'No Thanks', and I've had extended cable to this day.

Word to the wise... the cable company wants you to get used to the cable, and then rip you for it later.

Re:Crappy moderation...

[Bonker]

Cox Communications in the Texas Panhandle, which I've written about before [slashdot.org] does this. You gotta have either basic analog cable or digital cable before they'll let you have a cable modem account.

Re:Get a Cable modem, go to Jail

[zorg50]

Here's [216.239.35.100] the google mirror of that geocities site.

Not quite as simple as it may seem...

[no_such_user]

It's scary to look at the reactions cable companies have to folks who are even SUSPECTED of stealing service in the manner the above article suggests.

Slashdot Story: Get a Cable Modem...Go to Jail [slashdot.org]

Google cached link to subject's web page [216.239.39.100]

Same story, different folks... [wsrcc.com]

Re:Easy to catch

[GigsVT]

People do unwittingly broadcast cable TV, by hooking up thier rooftop antenna to the same coax system in some way. Signal can also leak out to antennas through devices that are connected to antennas and cable, that don't have very good isolation.

RE, How they found out

[Technician]

OK, since you asked, I used to work overseas and we shared a building with the cable folks. I got to know the techs. There is three very popular ways to detect theft of service. The most common is when checking the system for integrety, they find leakage of the signal. Some cable channels share the commercial airline communications frequencies. Picking up cable channels here is interference in violation of FCC rules (USA). Cable companies usualy use 100% shielded RG-6 cable drops to the house. A pirate drop added to a cable system is typicaly done with braided RG-59 which is only 95% shielded. The leakage usualy isn't enought to get a picture outside the home. The cable company does not even try to receive a picture. They use a sensitive narrow band receiver with a yagi antenna and look for leakage of the video, sound or cable FM radio carrier. Video carriers in the aircraft band is the most common leakage detection as they are picked up as part of FCC compliance checks. Midband cable channels A-I are typicaly channels 14-22 and are just above the FM radio band in the aircraft band. 121.5 MHZ is the aircraft emergency frequency. Leakage on that frequency is a big no-no.
The second method used are using a TDR and measuring the distance to the end of the cable. A splitter tries to keep the impedance to the source to 75 ohm, but it isn't perfect and show up well on a TDR (Time Domain Reflectometry a type of in cable radar checking distance to splitters connections, ends, breaks etc.) A teltale sign of theft of service is the presence of a splitter in the TDR return and two or more diffrent distances to the terminations (6ft to cable modem and 35 foot to TV for instance).
The Third method used is the least reliable. At the head end they run one of the channels through a time base corrector with a set drift (slightly off spec horizontal frequency). During a popular program (superbowl, HBO) the van sniffs for TV's exactly matching this offset sweep speed. The catch here a TV with a noisy sweep circuit from a subscriber can swamp a bootleg reciever's signature as it gets buried in the background noise level. Getting a match in sweep frequency from a TV in a house not subscribing to ESPN or HBO in suburbia can result in enough evedince for a search warrant for the illegal decoder. This is very hard to do in apartments, but not too difficult in surburban areas. They only catch those who happen to be tuned in at the time of the sweep. Those who time shift tape are not detected. The head end stuff is very expensive for this so this is a tool of larger cable companies and cable companies that hire the survey from a 3rd party.
Leakage tests are the most common theft detection when done in conjunction with tap sweeps. TDR's are used in apartments because the temptation to run a wire to the next apartment is high. With the high density, the time to do a TDR audit has high payback results. Changes in cable response can be tied to duration of a tenant stay to make good cases of theft. The arguement of that was the way it was when I moved in doesn't work if they get two recorded TDR records that show the change after you moved in.
As you can see, two of the 3 common detection methods do use an antenna on a van pointed at your house. They look for leakage of the raw cable signal and check the sweep frequency of your TV. TDR sweeps require a tempory outage of the signal and are not done with an antenna on a van.

I hope this helps explain it.

Re:Not for long.

[standards]

Not long at all for me - AT&T in Boston has a filter on my line. Cable modem works fine. For TV, no signal - filtered at the pole.

Re:Yes yes...

[lucifuge31337]

I see you're one of the suckers that think they actually can tell what is passing.

Electrically, how exactly do you think it looks different fromt he outside if a frequency stops at a filter, an unplugged cable/jack, or a tv/set top box? Answer: it doesn't look any different. And the possible minor differences aren't consistant enough to know which is which, and which might be just poor feed line.

Re:Actually...

[Afrosheen]

I installed cable modems all over Oklahoma and Texas for Cox and AT&T. Allow me to enlighten you.

If I were to show up at a new house without cable, I would run a new line to the ped (short for pedestal, also known as a consumer interface or a million other terms). At the ped, if this person didn't already have cable tv and it wasn't part of my work order, I'd slap a 400 trap on the line. The 400 trap blocks everything but the cable modem's frequency range. Trust me, these things work.

Since the pedestal is locked and requires one of three unavailable-to-the-public keys, you won't be pulling this filter anytime soon. Some of you may have access to a broken pedestal but when the cable guy shows up, he'll call it in and it'll get replaced.

Some installers, in a rush, neglect this filter, but it's standard practice to put one on each house/apt/whatever when the customer doesn't already have cable. It's also common practice to split the incoming (master) line to the home and put upstream traps on half the split and connect all t.v. lines to this half of the split. The cable modem gets alot of power (anywhere from -10 to +13db) from this half of the split and the rest of the lines don't send rf interference upstream so the cable modem has a clean path upstream.

I'm mentioning the split/upstream trap because some of you might go rooting around in your attic or somewhere poking around on filters and getting creative with the setup. Don't touch anything. If there's a 400 trap you don't have access to it anyway and if you pull the upstream trap you're setting your cable modem up for poor performance.

So basically, I'd say you probably have a 20% chance of getting cable tv over your cablemodem line, and when you split it, you'll be dumping rf interference into your room because your crimping tools will inevitably be inferior, and your tv will be dumping upstream noise into your cable modem stream. You've been warned, proceed at your own risk.