Hi Eric, not that simple. If it were, you wouldn't be having this discussion now and every few months for the past few years. One of the MANY possible issues: A failed attempt at self install can adversely affect the channel outside your house, and therefore other users (and therefore ADDITIONAL truck roles due to complaints of other users that would otherwise be OK).
It can even be a time-dependent intermittant failure so it doesn't point to Joe at all. The MSO has no control over what "joe" does with his in-house wiring, nor the quality of the connections, cables, components "joe" might add. gpowell made some very valid points. There are also many potential issues a proper modem install can cause with TV reception.
Also, Joe probably didn't have 2-way service before, so there may well be a filter in the line that Joe doesn't have access to, even if he installed his modem "correctly."
Suffice it to say it is FAR more complex an issue than it appears to the untrained eye. There are literally hundreds of possible scenarios that aren't hard failures that may not be noticed for a while. There are even network management issues, unrelated to the success or failure of the self-install, that contribute to the reluctance to open the flood gates. I can't possibly convince you of the complexity here, so you can take it or leave it; but, you may notice that the only people that can't understand why self-install is such a big deal are journalists and consumers that don't understand the issues. You can lump CEO's giving lip-service to the wonders of self-install into this crowd too.
Hell, most IT departments at companies don't allow users to add hubs (a seemingly braindead operation) indiscriminately because they can screw up an entire collision domain--intermittantly, and IT gets tons of calls, and doesn't even know that hub was installed. |
