 pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
1 edit | Frivolous I'm no fan of the cable companies but if you really don't want to pay the box rental fee, then don't get service that requires a box. No one is holding a gun to your head to force you to get things like premium channels or expanded digital cable. Not to mention that if you get satellite TV, you must buy all the equipment you want.
What's next, a lawsuit against cable companies for "requiring" you to buy a TV? Come on.
But as for buying such boxes, here's my personal reasons why I would not buy a box (if I were still a Cable TV subscriber)
1. Absolutely horrid build quality. The rental boxes are absolute junk. In the last 3 years that we had digital cable, we went through 5 boxes.
2. Related to #1, there's no way such boxes are worth more than $10 retail, since they must be replaced so often. Make a better box and sell it for a little more instead.
3. But if you do #2, you run into the problem that even within the same cable company's service footprint, different types of boxes are used. I don't want to spend $200 or so on a box and then be left with a useless brick should I move to a different area (sorta the same problem you get with satellite now).
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Romney/Ryan 2012 - Put a couple of mature adults in charge. |
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| also need to look at mirroring / outlet fees as well also need to look at mirroring / outlet fees as well.
service Electric Cablevision let's you pay a One-Time Lease fee for a DTA and they let you BUY CABLE cards as well.
shaw cable and other canada systems yet you buy the or rent to own with no outlet or mirroring fees per box. |
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 IowaCowboyWant to go back to IowaPremium
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA
 ·Comcast
 ·Verizon Broadban..
| TiVo is an option All you need is a CableCard for TiVo.
I have a TiVo in the living room, a Comcast DVR in the bedroom and a SD box in the basement on an old TV.
I used to have two TiVo boxes but I moved one of them to grandma's house in Maine so I could have a DVR in my room at her house without making her pay Time Warner the $12 DVR rental fee. As a matter of fact, the CableCard for the TiVo is $1.75 per month (and includes the SDV tuning adapter) instead of the $8 set-top box that was there before.
At my house, Comcast charges hefty fees for equipment (probably to compensate for the high rate of unreturned equipment in my area). They charge the same $9 for either an SD box or an HD box.
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Romney-Ryan and Scott Brown are the Right Choice as they are Hope & Change you can count on. |
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| reply to pnh102
Re: Frivolous ...the company's business practices "are straightforward, fair and in full compliance with applicable state and federal regulations."
Notice they didn't mention "ethical". |
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pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | said by 8744675:...the company's business practices "are straightforward, fair and in full compliance with applicable state and federal regulations."
Notice they didn't mention "ethical". Sure they are ethical, for the shareholders of the company.
Legal standards are the only ones by which parties in court should be judged.
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Romney/Ryan 2012 - Put a couple of mature adults in charge. |
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| reply to IowaCowboy
Re: TiVo is an option TiVo is a bigger ripoff than the boxes from the cable companies, you have to pay either the $500 lifetime fee or $19.95 a month plus the CableCard fees just to get any encrypted channels.
It is a bit underhanded to charge someone more than the programming fee to be able to access it, since they run these promotions down people's throats and don't really show the real costs, but they have to find some way to recoup the equipment costs, I guess.
This is why I want to build an HTPC because a CableCard is cheap, and I never have to pay fees for anything. And like pnh, I've had terrible luck with Motorola DVR's, I went through at least 10 when I had that service. That's why I refuse to pay for it now, although I'm on my 3rd Motorola HD box now in 15 months, although the other 2 only made it about a month combined. |
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 Steve MehsGun Control Is Using A Steady HandPremium
join:2005-07-16 | reply to Joe12345678
Re: also need to look at mirroring / outlet fees as well said by Joe12345678:also need to look at mirroring / outlet fees as well.
service Electric Cablevision let's you pay a One-Time Lease fee for a DTA and they let you BUY CABLE cards as well.
shaw cable and other canada systems yet you buy the or rent to own with no outlet or mirroring fees per box.
Yes, they need to look at mirroring fees on satellite services as well, like your precious DirecTV.
With cable it is very simple, you pay $7-10 per month per every digital cable terminal you have on your account. There are no upfront costs, you do not own the hardware and if you cancel service the hardware must be returned. With DirecTV, I pay an additional outlet charge for having two boxes, I also had the privilege of paying $100 for the HR34 and $200 for the HR24, that’s $300 in upfront costs plus the additional outlet fee, for hardware that I do not own that must be returned to them when I cancel, that I cannot resell and recoup some of my costs. If one of my boxes dies, that’s a charge, unless you pay for the DirecTV rip off service protection plan. If one of my cable terminals dies, I hop in my car and exchange at the office at no additional charge.
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For the future of our nation, we must unite and vote out the terrorist known as Hussein Obama. Come November 6 2012 we must remove the socialist pig out of office and get our country back on the RIGHT track. |
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Reviews:
·Mediacom
·RoadRunner Cable
| Illegal tying -- legal definition From the Wikipedia article: re a Federal suit:
"Success on a tying claim typically requires proof of four elements: (1) two separate products or services are involved; (2) the purchase of the tying product is conditioned on the additional purchase of the tied product; (3) the seller has sufficient market power in the market for the tying product; (4) a not insubstantial amount of interstate commerce in the tied product market is affected."
In this case:
1. yep, you could make this case
2. yep
3. maybe... this one's iffy... there are certainly choices like satellite out there
4. hmmm... not sure there's any interstate commerce here, the local cable outlet is doing all the business
Conclusion... this will probably not fly legally, and the initial judge who said "file in the states" probably had it right. |
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 plencnerbPremium
join:2000-09-25
Elgin, IL
kudos:2 | By them from where? While I agree paying a "rental fee" each month upwards of $7 is a bit much. However, I am trying to figure out where I can "buy their set top boxes".
Unless things have changed in the last few days, they are not like a Cable Modem where I can go to Best Buy or Wal-Mart and pick one off the shelf and pay for it.
Does this former judge also plan to get the Set Top Boxes in stores for people to purchase? Kind of throws this whole case out the window if people have no way to purchase them on their own.
--Brian
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--Brian Plencner
E-Mail: CoasterBrian72Cancer@gmail.com
Note: Kill Cancer to Reply via e-mail |
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amungusPremium
join:2004-11-26
America Reviews:
·KCH Cable
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to osravens
Re: TiVo is an option I agree. Sure, they have a few perks on top of a cable box, but I still don't get it.
It's always the one thing people forget to mention - that it costs about the same, or more than a cable box, when all is said and done.
edit: ...build that media center  ...simple, easy, no monthly fees (other than the card, if you go that route).
also, I've had good luck with past moto DVR boxes. Not to say that they're super great, but when they first came out, it was pretty cool, and I never had a problem. |
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| reply to Steve Mehs
Re: also need to look at mirroring / outlet fees as well And don't you have a monthly fee on top of that for each box?
That reminds me why I stick with cable even though we're light years behind in HD channels. Not all of us can be spoiled with the kind of lineups Time Warner Cable has in many areas, unfortunately. |
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 drewAutomaticPremium
join:2002-07-10
Port Orchard, WA
kudos:6 | reply to plencnerb
Re: By them from where? You don't think that the OEMs would start putting their STBs in retail outlets if people were actually able to use them with their service? |
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 ilikemeI live in a van down by the river.Premium
join:2002-08-27
Denton, TX
kudos:1 | reply to Steve Mehs
Re: also need to look at mirroring / outlet fees as well said by Steve Mehs:said by Joe12345678:also need to look at mirroring / outlet fees as well.
service Electric Cablevision let's you pay a One-Time Lease fee for a DTA and they let you BUY CABLE cards as well.
shaw cable and other canada systems yet you buy the or rent to own with no outlet or mirroring fees per box.
Yes, they need to look at mirroring fees on satellite services as well, like your precious DirecTV. With cable it is very simple, you pay $7-10 per month per every digital cable terminal you have on your account. There are no upfront costs, you do not own the hardware and if you cancel service the hardware must be returned. With DirecTV, I pay an additional outlet charge for having two boxes, I also had the privilege of paying $100 for the HR34 and $200 for the HR24, that’s $300 in upfront costs plus the additional outlet fee, for hardware that I do not own that must be returned to them when I cancel, that I cannot resell and recoup some of my costs. If one of my boxes dies, that’s a charge, unless you pay for the DirecTV rip off service protection plan. If one of my cable terminals dies, I hop in my car and exchange at the office at no additional charge. At my other house we have DirecTV and all the basic HD receivers were free. We had to pay a one time fee of $100 for the HR34 HDDVR, but they do not charge an additional fee per month for it being a DVR, unlike cable.
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Fiber Optics is the future of high-speed internet access. Stop by the BBR Fiber Optic Forum
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 MajestikWorld TravelerPremium
join:2001-05-11
Tulsa, OK | reply to pnh102
Re: Frivolous It's true. Nobody is forced to upgrade.
Basic Cox cable came with my condo. Never upgraded so never needed any box.
TV is just not that important to me.
Always been fascinated at how much people are willing to pay for tv.
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The adventure continues...Sanctuary.... |
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| reply to Steve Mehs
Re: also need to look at mirroring / outlet fees as well cable systems have a protection plan as well and I think there may be a fee to have some one come over to swap the box out.
On directv with out a plan you pay a fee to cover shipping out a new box to you / send the old one back. |
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| If you need a tech to hook up a cable box, then you're an idiot and deserve to be robbed blind. |
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Steve MehsGun Control Is Using A Steady HandPremium
join:2005-07-16 | reply to ilikeme
DirecTV charges an $8 DVR service charge. This charge covers all of the DVRs on the account. Typically with cable you pay a DVR Fee on each box.
The first receiver on the account does not get charged a lease or mirror fee, well it actually does but is credited off to make it look like your saving money. I pay $6 extra for having a second box. Plus an $8 DVR service change and another $3 for Whole House DVR service. I’m not sure what it costs with cable as $230 gets me everything and prices are not broken down. But that includes 2 whole house HD DVRs. My point is cable does not charge you to an upfront fee to rent their equipment and neither should satellite. But oh well, I was duped into paying $300 for these shoddy DVRs. Live and learn I guess
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cable systems have a protection plan as well and I think there may be a fee to have some one come over to swap the box out.
Never heard of that. But since you typically spin thing sin a pro DirecTV way, I wouldn’t doubt if you’re making it up. I have Time Warner and have never been charged an install fee or any type of fee for having a tech come out for any reason, including an equipment swap. The only fee I ever paid for anything was the $15 or whatever activation for digital phone to have my number ported. DirecTV tries to push their protection plan on me every chance they get. If anything goes wrong with their crap, I'll just cancel the service and pay the ETF.
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For the future of our nation, we must unite and vote out the terrorist known as Hussein Obama. Come November 6 2012 we must remove the socialist pig out of office and get our country back on the RIGHT track. |
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| Atlantic Broadband does have a protection plan that you'd have to pay of $6/month to avoid any fees for having techs come out.
They typically have installation fees too unless you do something, both times I've had them come it's either by taking the protection plan and agreeing to pay it for 6 months (a net savings of nothing, really) or doing auto-pay (which reduced it, but didn't eliminate it). |
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pnh102Reptiles Are Cuddly And PrettyPremium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD | reply to Majestik
Re: Frivolous said by Majestik:Always been fascinated at how much people are willing to pay for tv. I have to say I do miss cable TV.
But I can't justify paying the steep price for it. Even if the money wasn't an issue, I just can't look at that bill and say "yes, this is worth an extra $120 a month."
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Romney/Ryan 2012 - Put a couple of mature adults in charge. |
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Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA | reply to pnh102
said by pnh102:I'm no fan of the cable companies but if you really don't want to pay the box rental fee, then don't get service that requires a box.
Where I live there is no longer cable TV (except a few unencrypted QAM channels) without a box or DTA. Comcast includes one standard box (not a DVR) in the monthly subscription charge. They allow people to use their own cable modem (if it's on the approved list) for internet service but those who choose their digital phone service must rent a Comcast EMTA. The trend is toward more rented boxes or no service. |
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