Cable company wants to rent me a new box

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jimbrewer

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Forgive me my ignorance. I briefly lost track of all the new technology about 15 years ago and never really caught up. I have become my parents.

Anyway, Cable company, (Comcast or whatever they call themselves this week) cut us off yesterday. We assumed it was a rain storm, but when we called, they say that we have to get some kind of special box from them. If we pay $9 per month, we will continue to get HD TV. If get the free box, it will not be HD TV.

I never heard of hooking up some kind of electronic gizmo to just stay even. The TV is a modern widescreen which we had to buy after the free digital converter box didn't work.

We have an unbelievably basic package, so its not like we've been accidentally getting free stations.

Have any of you heard of this?

Also: Who makes a good over the air antenna? I'd prefer to have one that works inside my house.
 
You should be able to get same service u had before. Did you have HD capable box before? I would argue them to make sure u get same service as before.
You need a- hd capable box b- hd channel subscriptions and c- hd tv in order to get full hd channels. A std box and high def tv wont connect with hdmi or component and will therefore not be in HD.
 
Try tvfool for help with the antenna. If you put your address into the website it will display what channels you can get and what antenna you need to do so.
 
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Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
Also: Who makes a good over the air antenna? I'd prefer to have one that works inside my house.


Those things seem like a pita. I had to keep taking them back. The one I ended up with was so-so. Very tempermental depending on weather. I wanted to get this motorized one that would pivot to get the best signal. But the sales guy at Walmart said he gets a lot of returns on those. One will work ok for one person and the same one will be returned by someone else. An outside one is prob your best bet. Or just stick with cable.
 
They told me a few months ago that they are switching to all digital channels and that they would be sending me a new box. Once I hooked up the new box I swear the channels that I watch the most were gone. So I called and complained and they said they made a mistake blah blah blah. I think there up to something.
 
Originally Posted By: Brybo86
This happened to me last week, screw the cable company, I got an antenna and I get more channels now than I did when I had basic.


How is that?
 
I used to get Chicago local stuff for free over the cable from comcast as I only pay for high speed internet. they used to be required by law to provide local stuff unencrypted. last week they said I will need a box as they are encrypting local channels now. so I got my big antenna connected on the roof and now I get all the Chicago channels as well as most of the Milwaukee channels...
good for when you want to watch the packers play on Monday night... yuck...
wink.gif
 
How is it possible? the Unbelievably Basic service Brybo and I apparently both subscribe to doesn't pick up low power local stations.

I don't know why they would encrypt the local stations, but I can see why the encryption would be an excuse to charge the extra $9.

I know I was getting an HD reception until they cut me off. So there is nothing wrong with the TV I bought a year ago. I guess its just a scam. Why don't they just raise the price $9 instead of inconveniencing me in this way? I feel like I'm being exploited, so I'm bugging out one way or another.

Indoor antennas are apparently catch as catch can. I don't have an attic, so it looks like I'll probably have to resign myself to a small roof top mount although I'm not crazy about having some guy drill holes in my ceiling.
 
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Incredible. I cant get past the thought of paying to watch commercials, which seems like the greatest rip Ive heard of...

But then they want to charge you to see TV that gets freely broadcasted in HD, otherwise they will downgrade the signal versus OTA TV?

Makes no sense. No, actually it does - they want to upsell you, and nowadays everyone "needs" and "deserves" HD. Cant live without it. So they are forcing you into a plan that is more lucrative. Of course they can also claim that they havent raised rates...

Id demand the same rate for the same channels, in the same quality as it is broadcasted at, or it originates from. No downgrading. If they wont do it, cancel.

Comcast built a nice 69 story tower here in Philadelphia with the profits from these sorts of things.
 
Most modern TVs (all?) have QAM tuners that should be able to decode the bulk of the cable channels without a box.

Hook up your cable line (the RG6 cable) to the TV and go through the menus, then do a "channel scan". You can probably view all your channels. Only thing you'd miss is the extra functionality the boxes can provide, such as PPV, Video-on-Demand, and of course DVR.
 
Originally Posted By: dparm
Most modern TVs (all?) have QAM tuners that should be able to decode the bulk of the cable channels without a box.

Hook up your cable line (the RG6 cable) to the TV and go through the menus, then do a "channel scan". You can probably view all your channels. Only thing you'd miss is the extra functionality the boxes can provide, such as PPV, Video-on-Demand, and of course DVR.

My 6-7 years old flat screen TV's have QAM tuner, I don't need cable box. The main flat screen connected to indoor antenna and it pickup more HD channels than basic cable.
 
I can explain what is going on here. TWC is going through the same thing in the other NYC markets that previously were on analog as well (Queens, Staten Island, Brooklyn, etc) Manhattan and parts of Maine have been this way for years.

Essentially what is going on is that channels which were previously transmitted in analog have been moved over to digital format. There is a very good reason for this. Each analog cable channel takes up 6Mhz of spectrum in the cable "pipe" Whereas each Digital channel is only anywhere from 1-2Mhz. Meaning that the switch opens a LOT of room in the cable pipe. This is also necessary to help improve internet speeds, as there are only so many DOCSIS channels available. It also allows more HD channels, and etc. Essentially this move opens up a huge amount of spectrum in the cable plant.

Also the type of Digital Conversion that is going on with comcast I believe is the same as ours- meaning that if your TV has a clearQAM tuner you should not need an adaptor. If not, get one. It's free, and probably IS HD if it's the same DTAs that we use.

Originally Posted By: Warstud
They told me a few months ago that they are switching to all digital channels and that they would be sending me a new box. Once I hooked up the new box I swear the channels that I watch the most were gone. So I called and complained and they said they made a mistake blah blah blah. I think there up to something.


There is a reason for this as well. You are still getting all the channels you subscribe to from your cable provider, but any OTA channels you happened to be receiving without knowing they were OTA are being filtered out by the box. This can actually be rectified in part by splitting the cable before the DTA, and running one line to the DTA and hooking up to the TV using HDMI, and running the other line directly into the cable line on the TV. That is what I've been recommending to customers who live in the NYC Market who have been complaining about the same thing.

>Works for Time Warner Cable
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Incredible. I cant get past the thought of paying to watch commercials, which seems like the greatest rip Ive heard of...

But then they want to charge you to see TV that gets freely broadcasted in HD, otherwise they will downgrade the signal versus OTA TV?

Makes no sense. No, actually it does - they want to upsell you, and nowadays everyone "needs" and "deserves" HD. Cant live without it. So they are forcing you into a plan that is more lucrative. Of course they can also claim that they havent raised rates...

Id demand the same rate for the same channels, in the same quality as it is broadcasted at, or it originates from. No downgrading. If they wont do it, cancel.

Comcast built a nice 69 story tower here in Philadelphia with the profits from these sorts of things.


J, You don't want to pay to watch TV that's fine. But there are plenty of people who do and all you do is insult them on a daily basis. Also something you don't realize is that some areas you can't get hardly anything OTA. Parts of Upstate NY and Maine for example, get pretty much no OTA stations. NYC gets very little OTA because the tall buildings block a lot of the broadcast signal.
 
Who am I insulting? Seems my comments are about the cable company trying to upsell.

Its great that as an industry rep, you have some insight and are helping your customers. It really is, and its very insightful. But do you have any basis that this is the case in the NM market where the OP is?

Perhaps it is, perhaps it isnt.

But two things:

1) for all the discussion of the bandwidth pipe and freeing up more of it, every one of my OTA channels now has at least three channels associated, more or less everything is HD. I get it that this is broadcast spectrum, which may be different than cable/wired spectrum, but one way or another, MORE channels are being provided since the digital conversion, FREE. If the cable providers are cutting them off to reallocate the spectrum how they are piping it out (requiring a conversion box to realign to the FCC allocated frequencies, in order to allocate the other bandwidth to internet), then this is poor value for the consumer, as they are missing out on them.

2) ALL of our friends who pay for TV service get caught up routinely with price shifting, equipment fees, upsells for whatever channels, etc. LOTS of money a month. NONE of them are "happy" with the provided service. Of course the cable companies lobby to be the sole provider, so there is no price competition... Ive also been told (havent confirmed) they fix local pricing on certain services according to income levels nearby. We live in an affluent area, so the prices are apparently dragged up higher than other areas, once you get out of the teaser contract period. What a scam.

Id recommend that we deconvolute my dislike for the cable companies, their pricing structures and "upsell" tactics from what you construe to be an attack on the OP.
 
Originally Posted By: dparm
Most modern TVs (all?) have QAM tuners that should be able to decode the bulk of the cable channels without a box.

Hook up your cable line (the RG6 cable) to the TV and go through the menus, then do a "channel scan". You can probably view all your channels. Only thing you'd miss is the extra functionality the boxes can provide, such as PPV, Video-on-Demand, and of course DVR.


dparm, I used to do exactly this but as of last Wednesday Comcast started encrypting everything including local channels
 
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Quote:
Also: Who makes a good over the air antenna? I'd prefer to have one that works inside my house.

Winegard and ChannelMaster both have been making antennas for decades now. Whether an indoor one will work depends on many factors. A bowtie might work well depending on how far away you are. Also, only use RG-6QS cable. Never RG-58/9.

I've never paid for TV. I used an antenna only for decades with analog and now use the same antenna for digital reception. Works for me!
 
Got a $40 amplified indoor GE antenna at Target. Took some fiddling, but now I get all the networks just fine. Have to mount it more permanently, though. Has no trouble picking up signals from Sandia Crest in Albuquerque 40 miles away from Santa Fe. Not in a particularly advantageous in my house, either.

Cut the cable with Comcast tomorrow! (except for internet)
 
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