| Is this Free Cable legit ?? I have been living in this apartment for nearly five years. Last week I bought this Sony Bravia 46" HDTV. In the past, I never subscribed for any cable service from any local service providers over the years, as I had no TV.
To get channel signals on my TV, I tried various types of antenna that I bought on eBay, Fry's, Radio Shack etc. spent nearly $100.00 or more on such items. I even bought a Philips Booster at Fry's. None worked, so I had to return all of them. They all picked up only one channel. That was frustrating. The TV is working fine. I even hooked up my Laptop using VGA cable and it works great!
After I returned all the antennas, I was remained with this 6 feet long antenna cable, I think it's the coxial type. I heard about making your whole house electrical wiring as an antenna for TV purpose, but did not know how to do that.
I saw this cable socket on the wall, so I thought since I never subscribed to any cable company, this socket may not be active. May be I can make this connection and it's wiring as my huge antenna, as my socket to receive TV signals. I screwed the antenna cable into this socket and the next on the back of the Sony TV. I start searching for Channels.
To my surprise, this searching picked up nearly 100 analog channels and more than 150 Digital Channels! This socket in the wall is active? I do not know.
My question is this: Is this legal? Will the Cable company find out this connection? Will I be charged for this connection? Will I be fined for this? I did not do anything just attached this cable into the socket and then at the back of the TV and the channels have been picked up by the HDTV.
Please advise, Thank you. |
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| Alot of apartment buildings pay for basic cable as part of your lease.
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Professional student pilot! |
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nonymousPremium
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ Reviews:
 ·Callcentric
| reply to somewhere
Only you know if the apartment complex supplies any cable with your normal rent. If not most likely you are leeching off of a neigbor. Wiring in apartments can be odd.
The cable or sat company most likely would not like it, if it is not included in your lease. |
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 LocoObviously InsanePremium
join:2002-11-09
21 Jump St.
kudos:2 | reply to somewhere
Just enjoy it while you can. |
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tcopePremium
join:2003-05-07
Sandy, UT
kudos:1 | reply to somewhere
I've read in the cable forms that once a person stops paying for cable (usually because they move out) that the cable person needs to go out and disconnect it to that apartment. Many times they don't go out right away. If you have been living there for 5 years then this probably won't happen. If it's really cable then enjoy it. No one is going to handcuff you for it.
If its a cable connection then you should no see channels with weird looking numbers (123-12). If you see numbers like that then it's OTA digital channels. |
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 psafuxPremium,VIP
join:2005-11-10
kudos:2 | reply to somewhere
The apartment is very likely paying for basic or basic / expanded for all the tenants.
You could ask your apartment manager or super and I am sure they could tell you for sure. |
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As far as them being able to tell if you are using it, no it is not something they can track. Like Loco said, enjoy it while you can but do realize that even though you will not get caught that it is stealing and illegal. Even if a cable guy came into your place and realized you had a live connection when you are not paying for it, they have no way to prove you watched it. All you did was hook up a cable for future use and you had no idea it was a live connection. You would be lying of course, if you have no moral objections to this then you are good to go.
I remember renting a place years ago and being too broke for cable or internet. We had 3 VHS tape, Back to the Future, Shawshank Redemption, and some kids flick for my son. That is all we ever watched for 6 months. A friend came over and made a comment about checking to see if the last renter might have had cable and the cable company might have not turned it off, sure enough we did. 50 channels all free and for 6 months we had been stuck watching the same 5 hours of VHS tapes over and over. So we used the free cable for the next 2 months and finally had the money to pay for it and we had them set us up with an actual account. I considered it a demo trial period, not stealing.  |
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nonymousPremium
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ Reviews:
·Callcentric
| reply to somewhere
I always love the since I am broke I deserve free stuff. Yes people should have food, health care and some safe place to live especially if they have children. But there are books from libraries and other alternatives to TV. There is always interlibrary loan if your local library has a bad collection. Try games and stuff. My kid loves playing games more than TV. |
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 GbcueAlmost P.E.Premium
join:2001-09-30
Santa Rosa, CA
kudos:8
 ·AT&T U-Verse
| said by nonymous:I always love the since I am broke I deserve free stuff. Yes people should have food, health care and some safe place to live especially if they have children. But there are books from libraries and other alternatives to TV. There is always interlibrary loan if your local library has a bad collection. Try games and stuff. My kid loves playing games more than TV. My local library actually has lots of new-release DVD movies and TV shows!
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My Blog 2.0 |
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nonymousPremium
join:2003-09-08
Glendale, AZ Reviews:
·Callcentric
| reply to somewhere
I always lve the since I am broke I deserve free stuff. Yes people should have food, health care and some safe place to live especially if they have children. But there are from libraries and other alternatives to TV. Try games and stuff. My kid loves playing games more than TV. |
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 MJimLayAKA FlexBaudPremium
join:2004-10-06
Pensacola, FL
kudos:2
1 edit | reply to Bruschi
said by Bruschi:Alot of apartment buildings pay for basic cable as part of your lease. Interesting... I've never seen or heard of such a thing. I've only heard of HOA's paying for cable/internet, but never an apartment. |
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 r81984Fair and BalancedPremium
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T DSL Service
 ·row44
| Many apartments include cable into the rent.
Some even include internet.
They can get a cheaper rate if everyone in the building gets it.
An article from a few months ago said some cable companies will force the entire complex to pay, included in their rent, or not provide cable to the complex due to high theft.
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Republicans: less fiscally conservative than that other party. |
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TomS
join:2008-01-21
Gloucester, MA | reply to somewhere
Apparently I'm the only one who doubts this is a legit post?  |
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When I lived an apartment they gave us basic cable but if you wanted premium you had to pay for it yourself.
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Professional student pilot! |
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 John GaltForward, MarchPremium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
kudos:2 | reply to s10blazer
said by s10blazer:As far as them being able to tell if you are using it, no it is not something they can track. Like Loco said, enjoy it while you can but do realize that even though you will not get caught that it is stealing and illegal. Even if a cable guy came into your place and realized you had a live connection when you are not paying for it, they have no way to prove you watched it. All you did was hook up a cable for future use and you had no idea it was a live connection. You would be lying of course, if you have no moral objections to this then you are good to go. It is the responsibility of the cable company to do the disconnects. It is their responsibility to control access to their system.
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The man who speaks to you of sacrifice is speaking of slaves and masters, and intends to be the master.
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horsemouthPlease Clarify My CSPPremium
join:2002-03-13
canada | reply to TomS
NO |
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 BlitzenZeusBurnt Out CynicPremium
join:2000-01-13
kudos:1
·Frontier FiOS
·Verizon FiOS
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They might find out on an audit of your building, but if it's not part of the buildings services you still cannot get in trouble. You've been there for five years, so either somebody screwed up to turn you on, or it was always free.
You're finding analog channels? Even the local legacy cable provider here no longer provides more than the local broadcast channels over analog, and you need a digital box of some kind for all of the pay channels. Sounds like your provider still is in the pre-historic era.
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My hourly rates:
$25 per hour.
$35 per hour if you want to watch.
$45 per hour if you want to help.
$75 per hour if you tried to fix it, and failed.
$125 per hour if you called tech support, and didn't fix the issue while making things worse |
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mscottc
join:2006-07-16
Jersey City, NJ | reply to tcope
said by tcope:I've read in the cable forms that once a person stops paying for cable (usually because they move out) that the cable person needs to go out and disconnect it to that apartment. Many times they don't go out right away. If you have been living there for 5 years then this probably won't happen. If it's really cable then enjoy it. No one is going to handcuff you for it. If its a cable connection then you should no see channels with weird looking numbers (123-12). If you see numbers like that then it's OTA digital channels. Actually you are wrong, tcope. Cable companies provide multiple digital programming streams on a channel using a system called QAM. A TV with QAM will receive up to about a dozen digital SD channels or 3-4 HD channels on one QAM channel and they will be labeled something like 88.1, 88.2, 88.3 and so on. Many of those channels, especially the premium channels with be encrypted. However, those that aren't are referred to as Clear QAM and can be picked up by any TV with a digital QAM tuner, which is just about every new TV> |
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 mjfwish I was bluePremium,Mod
join:2000-08-05
New Orleans, LA
kudos:1 | reply to somewhere
I think the original anonymous poster has gotten his/her answer or else he/she would have replied by now. |
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