(This could have been in both housing and TV/Internet. I picked housing since that seemed like the more "important" part.)

I liked the look of Cablecom's current combined specials on internet and TV, so I decided to sign up with them.

So this morning somebody comes around to make sure the building is ready for "hi-speed" internet. Unfortunately, it turns out that it isn't, so it's going to need upgrading.

Even more unfortunately, the landlord isn't interested in paying for it. "Not my cable, not my problem" he apparently told them. So, if I want cablecom internet, I have to pay for the upgrade myself - estimated at 600 - 700 CHF by the girl on the phone (which sounds outrageous, but this is Switzerland, so whatever).


I'd preferred Cablecom because the connection is faster and cheaper (though that price doesn't really matter since work pays) and because of the TV bundle (which is somewhat important since I would have to pay for it myself). I'm not prepared to pay 600-odd for it though (since my work requires me to be on call and pay for my internet connectivity to do so, I might be able to claim back the 600 as an expense - which would obviously make the decision easy - there is a certain "principle" issue at stake here, however).


Questions:

1. Would the upgrade be needed anyway to get the digital TV and HDTV (I'd hazard a guess at yes, since I'm guessing "Cable ist alt" means that it's only an analogue capable connection) ?
2a. Am I likely to be able to negotiate shared costs with the landlord for the upgrade, since he benefits from a more attractive property afterwards ?
2b. Should the landlord actually be paying for it anyway ?
3. If it's not his cable and not his problem, why am I paying CHF25/mo in Nebenkosten for "cable TV" ?


As a somewhat related question, I decided to get the "mediabox recorder" since I liked the idea of DVR more than a couple of HD channels (the HD box doesn't record) with the theory that they'd actually have a HD DVR box out later in the year. If they did, would I be able to just "upgrade" to a HD recorder and pay a bit extra every month, or would I be tied to the "mediabox recorder" for the full 12 months ?

Cheers

you have basic cable TV channels and that's what you're paying 25 francs for.

Option 1 is to canvass the house and see who's interested (IIRC my Nebenkosten went up about 2 francs a month when my rented place got upgraded)

Option 2 is to tell Cablecom you're going to get ADSL unless they do it (questionable whether this will work - figure out ~2 years of your being a customer being worth how much?

Option 3 is go for ADSL and get BluewinTV

Is that the Cablecom "basic package", or something else ? How does one avoid being "double dipped" on cable charges ?

Having done the sums out for a whole year, ADSL is CHF85/mo (including the phone line, since I otherwise wouldn't have one) and the cable is 75/mo, with the first 6 months half-price - the "upgrade" only actually works out to a net cost of about CHF200. This is somewhat more reasonable, especially since the cable connection is faster.

have you seen www.freeinternet.ch?

Normally, the cabling inside the house belongs to the house owner, not to Cablecom. The cable is part of the house fixtures. Just like doors, walls, electrical wiring.

If you have old crappy cable, then you won't get new modern services, until the old crappy cable is replaced.

But maybe your landlord doesn't want to spend any money on the house...

Actually, if they are going to recable the house, that is pretty cheap.
Normally, to have 2 x people working inside a building for one whole day you'd be looking at around 2000 CHF. I always work on 1000 CHF per person per day.
Maybe the upgrade to your building is quite simple and straight forward...?

What principle? You have old, substandard cabling in the house.
It needs to be replaced.
The owner should pay
The building owner owns the cable
Simple.

The same when the letterbox is old and needs to be replaced.
Or when the front door is old and needs to be replaced.

Most likely, but not definitely. The digital TV service operates in a different frequency spectrum to the digital Internet.
Internet is a two-way service, and places much higher demands on the cable infrastructure than TV, (which is one-way only).

Maybe. Depends on how friendly he is, and how willing he is to negotiate.
Try your best.

Or stick it on Spesen and be done with it.

Generally, yes.

It is his cable, to the edge of the property (or to the Cablecom connection)
But Cablecom supplies the service to the house, and ultimately to you.
You pay for the Cablecom service.

If you don't want any Cablecom services at all - no analouge TV, no analogue radio, no digital TV, internet, phone etc - you can have the connection sealed (plombiert) and stop paying any fees to Cablecom.

You can upgrade easily. Cablecom anticipate that people will want to do this. They like it when people upgrade products :-)

PS: my Cablecom connection is now running at 15Mbps download speed :-)

www.freeinternet.ch + PayForPhone + MinimumChargePerMonth + CommitLongTerm = MoreExpensiveThanOtherOperators

Do the maths...

Yes, but as it was translated to me by one of the guys here, it means getting the mobile through them as well (work already supplies my mobile phone). 3500 is also a bit slower than I'd like.

Since I can't expense the Cablecom upgrade, I'll just get Swisscom ADSL. Work pays for that, too, so the higher cost isn't really important to me personally.


The question about Cablecom "double dipping" still stands, however, do I need to tell them as part of the signing up process that I already pay a fee as part of the Nebenkosten, or will they "know" ?

CS

They will generally be charging the landlord for the analogue TV connection.
In some exceptions they charge the tenant directly when the landlord refuses to pay for the connection.

What double dipping do you refer to?

They are charging for analogue TV basic connection, which is a current service in your apartment.

Digital internet has an extra fee on top of the basic connection, which would be charged to you personally (not to the landlord)

It just isn't entirely clear to me:
a) What I get for the 25 I'm currently paying.
b) Therefore, whether I'd be paying for the same thing twice by ordering Cablecom "digital tv basic" (I'm getting the "Cablecom collection" as well since it's half price for the first few months).

Basically, is the service I already get by virtue of the Nebenkosten the same as the "Cablecom digital TV basic" I signed up for (although analog, not digital, obviously) ?

Or, am I just paying for the "connection" and they're just nice enough to throw a few channels over it "for free" (if so, which channels and where are they documented) ?


This whole pay-for-"cable"-regardless thing is rather weird for me, coming from Australia, and I'm just trying to figure out what I'm getting and how it works.

DigitalTV from cablecom should come in at 6 francs IIRC which covers "rental" of the box. If you take the recorder, you pay more.

The base cost is your 25 francs.

[quote=drsmithy;188347]It just isn't entirely clear to me:
a) What I get for the 25 I'm currently paying.
[quote=drsmithy;188347]

This pays for the absic connection to the cablecom network, and includes analogue TV and analogue FM radio

Nope, this is for the extra digital TV service

No. What the Nebenkosten covers is the basic connection, not the extra service like digital TV.

You pay for the connection inclusive of analogue channels.
See here:
http://www.cablecom.ch/en/index/tvradio/cablecomtv.htm

Channels are listed here (eg: for Zurich)
http://www.cablecom.ch/en/sendertabe...keyword=800200:

Think of it like Foxtel Satellite, or Sky TV, where you pay to receive the satellite channels. Its the same thing, it just comes over cable, and not satellite. And it is MUCH MUCH cheaper than what is available in AUS and NZ.

Of course, you can do the old free TV thing like in Australia - just receive an off-air signal.
But you'll be stuck with 3 or 4 channels - which are digital these days, so you need a digital receiver.

The "pay-TV" part I get, that's just like home. It's the "Nebenkosten/must pay for a connection and get a few channels as well" part that's a bit different, since in Oz you don't pay just for having the physical connection (in places that are cabled) or get any channels for "free" (ie: without having a specific subscription in your name). Or you just have FTA TV, which is (obviously) completely free.

Thanks for the other info, though, good to know.

That isn't how I understand it where I live. I believe my landlord pays something like 300 CHF a year to Cablecom for the wires coming into the (3 apartment) house, and it is Cablecom's responsibility to take care that the connection works. They were here recently to do a bit of rewiring for a neighbour because his internet connection failed. I'll ask the landlord if he gets a bill for that work, but as I see it (maybe I am wrong?), no connection means no income from internet charges, so Cablecom should be responsible.

Think of it in a similar way to the power company.

The power company owns the lines to the house, and delivers a service over them

But they don't own the lines inside the house and the wires inside the apartment. Do you expect your power company to pay to fix a broken wire inside a power point in your bedroom?

Cablecom is normally the same (apart from some execeptions) - they own the cable to the house but they don't own the cable inside the house.

The fee the landlord pays is for the house connection to deliver the services to the house.

That doesn't mean that cablecom owns the wires inside your apartment.

Cablecom will kndly offer a service to repair/replace the wires, but the ownership stays with the house owner.

I had the same issues, take a look here for what happened

Cablecom - when?