EF'ers,

Looking through the numerous UPC threads, I share the pain with many of you with the current crap Cisco HD box and service... After the 4th failure of my box in two years, I called CC last night and told them to simply take it away, as I'm off to Swisscom.

But for the first time, CC through me some information to make me think twice.

CC: 'Sir, we know you have had several problems with this Cisco box, and we are aware of these issues to. But from November this year, we will no longer be supplying this box to our customers, as we will be moving to a brand new Samsung HD Box'

ME: 'What a NEW box?'

CC: 'Yes, and it will have many new features including being able to record upto 5 programs at once! You will also be able receive a greater choice of English HD channels'.

Me: 'Will it cost more?'

CC: 'Not for our existing HD customers, but new customers will see an increased monthly premium'

Me: 'Ok, I call back in November for a new box'....

Brilliant, after almost two years a new box!!!

Has anyone else had this conversation with CC or know of what's on the horizon with CC new box? I'm a little excited now!

PS: They are replacing my current faulty box with another one for now!

Thx for the info!!! Great news.

Did they elaborate on "greater choice of English HD channels"?
And what was wrong with your Cisco box?

Unfortunately, I didn't get that info. I was far too excited about the news of a new box...

The Cisco box has had no end of problems from what I hear. My main problems were both the software (crashing) and the hard drive failing. According to the technical person at CC, they send out several replacement boxes each day...

I so hope you are right, but....
http://www.upc-cablecom.ch/en/b2c/ab...m?newsitem=253
and
http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/digital/...story/11515169

say something about second half of 2012...

Looks like a nice bit of machinery. I'm hoping to switch to Cablecom from Swisscom this year. 100Meg Broadband here I come!

Had the other HD box supplied with cablecom, never had any serious troubles with it but it was never really great either. Generally really slow to respond, slow menus, slow navigation. Wouldn't mind a new box, must've had this one for a few years now.

I have the cisco box which was recently internally upgraded to offer faster menus. It annoys me that with this box i can only record one channel and watch one channel. with my previous box I would record two and watch one simultaneously.

on the other hand the cisco box allows dolby digital output while my previous HD box did not.

Im excited to get my hands on the samsung offereing... looks like it can be controlled with an ipad app and im holding out for being able to record remotely by using such an app. new HD channels would be welcome and a little overdue as well.

november this year would be basically awesome though.... as previously i had also heard mooted only the second half of 2012. lets hope!

Hi, I just signed up for the "Smart Combi" deal which gets me internet + tv + phone. I'm wondering if I need the TV set top box though. Can we just run the cable line directly to the back of a TV? Do we need the cisco box?

Note that I don't have a TV yet and I'm setting up just the internet and phone portion so I can't try this out myself.

I don't need the TV recording functionality so the fancy cisco box is of no use to me. I just want to watch whatever channel they offer. If this works I may downgrade my service to internet + phone.

Thanks

DavidSJC

The basic channels are offered without the box but for the extra digital channels you will need to go through the box as the signal will need to be decoded.

You have registered for the following products:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Services Monthly CHF
================================================== ======================
Power Combi 99.00
3 months try & buy period
Obligatory copyright fee 0.80


Not until January though

Thanks for this, great to see some pics of the new box!

Agree, Agree and Agree some more - Far too slow!

Oooh, iPad app too!!! Get's even better!!!

I'm going to call them again this evening and make sure it is Nov 2011 and not 2012....

well, let us know what they say. i fear nov 2011 a little too good to be true. friendlykiwi would probably have an opinion on that.

Hmmm. Nov 2013 more likely...

Anyway, what does a new box have to do with more English HD channels? The box doesn't care as the signal is pulled through the network anyway so it basically comes down to bandwidth available...

It's not the actual box' fault but rather the horrible firmware they are using. Had the same in Dublin (Silver Thomson non HD box) with slow responding commands, on screen navigation not always working and a series link that was useless. Now, the Cisco box was introduced after the Thomson box but clearly didn't make any improvements.

UPC should spend more time to correct the software side before getting new boxes...

Oh, is it just me or is the Cisco box acting strange at times? It switches off when recording (with the ">>>>>>LOADING" in the display) and suddenly goes back to the initial setup screen!

Forget about Cablecom!

Any news on this new box then?

Thanks for the info... hope there will be more english channels... I have been hearing this for quite some time now...

I have a 1 year old Cablecom box, no recorder, and receive 13 programmes from the UK plus CNN etc.

bbc-world, bbc1, bbc2, bbc3, bbc4
itv1, itv2, itv3, itv4
channel4, E4, More4, Film4, channel5

How many extra UK programmes can there be? Or are you counting HD channels as new?

They get the bulk of their english-speaking channels from Free-SAT, so I guess they could add any of these channels that they feel like to their current channel offering:

http://www.freesat.co.uk/what-you-get/our-channels

et Voilà:
"Thank you for your interest in our groundbreaking, new TV Service, due to launch in 2012."

new box (is that a Samsung logo?):