Cable Thieves - 14 February 2007

yup, i had to contend with cable thieves last weekend. the thing is, our cable connection at home was perfect when we signed up for the service sometime Q1 2006. i don’t recall the very first call we made to ask the provider to check the connection, but i distinctly remember trying to schedule a repair during the christmas season.

but it was only last weekend that the cable guy came over to check the connection and reception. i told him that i suspect some people have illegally leeched onto our connection, so the guy had to check the cable path to verify.

guess what? there were unlicensed cables latched onto our connection! not one, not two, but THREE neighbors were connected!!! all of them within the compound itself!!

i was FUMING when i found out. the cable guy started cutting off the other cables and we checked the reception inside the house.

it was PERFECTLY CLEAR.

i traced the 1st cable to Unit A which is right at the gate. the nerve. those people just moved in a couple of months ago and they had the gall to do that?!?!

the 2nd cable was hidden behind the chicken wire on top of the wall, and it was fixed in a way that the cable was secured by twisties every 1 or 2 feet. and i traced it to the unit right in front of our pad, where it was divided again by a splitter!! i swear, i wanted to cut it off and chop up the cable into tiny pieces and dump them in front of the leeches’ units. but i couldn’t reach the darn splitter.

i confronted the guy in one of the units, and i asked him why there was a cable going to their pad which was latched on my line. he goes, “but that was there before we even moved in”.

yeah right.

i knew the people who lived in that unit before, and they would NEVER do that.

*sigh*

i called up the cable provider and asked if people like my neighbors could be jailed or fined given the situation. i was told by the customer service representative that there is no existing law yet in the san juan area governing such situations. only manila and makati are covered.

damn, damn, damn!

seth told me not to pick a fight, but i honestly wanted to confront them and call them THIEVES!!!! can’t they just pay for their measly cable connection???? if they want foreign shows, then they better be ready to pay for it! i’m not working my ass off everyday just to go home to an unclear tv reception because of their stinginess.

so every night when i head home, the first thing i do after switching on the lights is to open the tv to check if the reception is still clear.