Cable guy undergoes makeover over time

Long depicted as slovenly cranks who dodged growling dogs and tracked mud on the living room carpet, cable guys these days often have backgrounds in engineering and computer science. Such training is required - along with a new dress code for some - as cable companies and their telephone rivals try to lure clients and boost revenue with a suite of products just as cloud-based cable boxes and iPad apps that let subscribers set recording times remotely.

"Back in my day, you called the phone company, we hooked it up, gave you a phone book and left," said Paul Holloway, an area manager based in Denton, Texas, and a 30-year employee of Verizon, which offers phone, Internet, television and home monitoring services . "These days people are connecting iPhones, Xboxes and 17 other devices in the home."

Robert Kolb, a 33-year-old installation and service supervisor for Comcast's Xfinity television, phone and Internet service, has a one-year certification in network engineering. He wore pressed slacks and a sporty fleece jacket on an Internet upgrade job in the Philadelphia suburbs recently.

He was checking the family's existing Internet service, which had been spotty, strained by the home's six computers and multiple iPhones.

The surge in high-tech offerings comes at a critical time for cable companies competing in an Internet-based market­place. Today, more than 90 percent of the 115.9 million U.S. homes with televisions subscribe to basic cable, either from a cable operator or a satellite or phone company.

The near saturated market means growth for cable companies must come from all the extras just as high-speed Internet service, home security, digital recording devices and other high-tech upgrades. In 2011 Comcast introduced 16 products, more than the previous two years combined.

The consumer wants a state-of-the-art experience

"We think the consumer wants a state-of-the-art experience," Brian Roberts, Comcast's chairman and chief executive, said as he showed off the company's forthcoming in some cases cloud-based cable box. Remote control in hand, he added: "We have to factor in Androids, iPhones, tablets and any other device in your life."