In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options
forced to rent a cable box
legear
Member Posts: 6,716
We just switched our cable provider.
Turns out companies are forcing customers to rent a box for every tv.
We used to have digital in the living room and basic plugged into the TV in the bedroom. Now we have to have a box for all.
I did some research and it was presented to the FCC years ago by the cable provider.
In their words, it would limit cable theft and lower costs for the customer cause work could be done from the provider vs sending a tech out.
Well guess what, it ain't cheaper. Never mind the extra $7-12 a month per tv.
So yet again we the little people get screwed by our elected crooks so the big corporations can profit more.
I wonder how much the cable company and the digital box companies paid the FCC people to allow this.
Cable used to be cheap, cheap in a way that most people didn't care to look at alternatives.
Now I'll be checking up on dish tv, and Internet options for tv.
Turning the crap off would be fine with me.
Turns out companies are forcing customers to rent a box for every tv.
We used to have digital in the living room and basic plugged into the TV in the bedroom. Now we have to have a box for all.
I did some research and it was presented to the FCC years ago by the cable provider.
In their words, it would limit cable theft and lower costs for the customer cause work could be done from the provider vs sending a tech out.
Well guess what, it ain't cheaper. Never mind the extra $7-12 a month per tv.
So yet again we the little people get screwed by our elected crooks so the big corporations can profit more.
I wonder how much the cable company and the digital box companies paid the FCC people to allow this.
Cable used to be cheap, cheap in a way that most people didn't care to look at alternatives.
Now I'll be checking up on dish tv, and Internet options for tv.
Turning the crap off would be fine with me.
Comments
I am happy with Direct TV. [;)]
It doesn't sound like you are forced to rent anything. You can cancel the extra box, or cancel the service all together. You are choosing to rent the extra box.
I am happy with Direct TV. [;)]
If you want to watch TV in another room you are forced to rent a box that was not needed before.
How bout that......
Add a TV antenna for the local channels again. I can see the tower lights in the distance at night, should do fine.
Programs I want to watch I'll either watch over the internet or download via a Torrent site.
This means I'll have to upgrade from my old 27" CRT set, but I'd do that anyway if the thing would just wear out already! [}:)]
That's the plan anyhow.
quote:Originally posted by shilowar
It doesn't sound like you are forced to rent anything. You can cancel the extra box, or cancel the service all together. You are choosing to rent the extra box.
I am happy with Direct TV. [;)]
If you want to watch TV in another room you are forced to rent a box that was not needed before.
How bout that......
Move the box [:D]
Antenna in the attic [:D] $0 per month
Antenna on the roof $0. 2 Roku's streaming from internet. No contracts.
What happens when you just connect the cable from the jack to the TV?
Good question. Most TV's these days are cable-ready, as in have a tuner for cable built-in. That doesn't help for the premium stuff of course, but just hooking up a cable to it should work.
Maybe legear's cable provider is doing something even more low down and high smell'n than the usual cable company idea of low down and high smell'n?
quote:Originally posted by nutfinn
Antenna in the attic [:D] $0 per month
Antenna on the roof $0. 2 Roku's streaming from internet. No contracts.
What kind of antenna do you have? Do you hook it to all the tvs, and do you get decent reception? I'm thinking about going that route. I was promised 150.00 a month for what I got for 1 year and after 4 months it's eased up to 184.00 already.[:(!]
jw
quote:Originally posted by utbrowningman
What happens when you just connect the cable from the jack to the TV?
Good question. Most TV's these days are cable-ready, as in have a tuner for cable built-in. That doesn't help for the premium stuff of course, but just hooking up a cable to it should work.
Maybe legear's cable provider is doing something even more low down and high smell'n than the usual cable company idea of low down and high smell'n?
I haven't tried yet. The cable guy did the install and I left for the casino.
I did research and found its something most providers will do sooner or later.
When the wife called to setup instalation the lady tried to rent us a box per tv and my wife declined.
If it were free for basic, then fine, but it's an extra unwanted charge for something that was free.
I'm sure there's some way around it if I look hard enough. Maybe some device on nunnbay.
quote:Originally posted by shilowar
It doesn't sound like you are forced to rent anything. You can cancel the extra box, or cancel the service all together. You are choosing to rent the extra box.
I am happy with Direct TV. [;)]
If you want to watch TV in another room you are forced to rent a box that was not needed before.
How bout that......
I have Direct TV in 4 rooms. I did pay a one time fee of $100 for three Wireless Genie Mini boxes but I have never been charged a monthly fee for them.
When I signed up for the service they wanted me to buy a receiver for each TV. I bought one and put it in the bedroom. I ran the cable from the antenna to the receiver and from the receiver to a VCR and the VCR to the bedroom TV. I ran a splitter cable from the VCR to the TV in the back room. I ran another one from the back room to the dining room and one from the dining room to the extra bedroom. Extra bedroom to living room and living room to kitchen. Kitchen to basement middle room and from there to basement work area.
All the technicians and installers promised me it wouldn't work, but if it did I would have piss poor reception. I've been running it that way for about twenty years without a problem so far. The only change I've made was I added another receiver so I can watch different channels in different parts of the house or record one program while I watch another.
quote:Originally posted by beneteau
quote:Originally posted by nutfinn
Antenna in the attic [:D] $0 per month
Antenna on the roof $0. 2 Roku's streaming from internet. No contracts.
What kind of antenna do you have? Do you hook it to all the tvs, and do you get decent reception? I'm thinking about going that route. I was promised 150.00 a month for what I got for 1 year and after 4 months it's eased up to 184.00 already.[:(!]
jw
The very reason I dropped Direct TV. Contracts/agreements mean nothing to them. They can and do raise the price at anytime.
This is the antenna that I bought: RCA 3036WR
I'm an Amazon Prime member; therefore, Amazon shipped it "free".
It's hooked up to 4 HDTV's and picks up 36 local channels. As I said, I, also, have 2 roku's with over 1,000 channels available to stream from the net and no contracts.
Antenna in the attic [:D] $0 per month
That option disappeared for us when they went to that (^$* digital TV.
Before that on a good day we could get all the Los Angeles stations & the San Diego stations. Now all I can get is two UHF stations. I am tempted to try installing a very good directional antenna as I HATE all of the cable & dish providers. They all offer "deals" & then the fine print adds massive amounts. Worse yet they require two year contracts that have a MASSIVE price jump the second year. A pox on them all.
quote:Originally posted by nutfinn
Antenna in the attic [:D] $0 per month
That option disappeared for us when they went to that (^$* digital TV.
Before that on a good day we could get all the Los Angeles stations & the San Diego stations. Now all I can get is two UHF stations. I am tempted to try installing a very good directional antenna as I HATE all of the cable & dish providers. They all offer "deals" & then the fine print adds massive amounts. Worse yet they require two year contracts that have a MASSIVE price jump the second year. A pox on them all.
I had the exact opposite when the switch to digital happened. I now get like 30 channels. I have a roof antenna and a cheap amplifier.