 tomkbPremium join:2000-11-15 Tampa, FL kudos:5 | Buying verizon cable boxes Hi all,
I've just moved to Tampa and I'm new to Verizon cable and FIOS.
We currently live in an apartment and are only running 2 TV's because of the apartment size. One TV has a Verizon HD box and the other TV just has the regular non-HD box.
I went on ebay and noticed there are several boxes available for sale that match my current cable box, QIP-2500-3
Our new home will have several more TV's with all the additional rooms. Does anyone know if I can just buy the boxes, or for that matter, can I just plug the cable lines directly into the TV's?
I don't want to have to spend $10/month for each additional cable box. |
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 kes601 join:2007-04-14 Virginia Beach, VA | Won't work. Vz has to activate the boxes.
You can get local channels and maybe still the music choice channels plugging straight into the tv if it has the proper type of tuner (having brain fart now, can't remember name). |
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 ThinkdiffPremium,MVM join:2001-08-07 Bronx, NY kudos:4 | said by kes601:if it has the proper type of tuner (having brain fart now, can't remember name). QAM Tuner (or Digital Cable Tuner). -- University of Southern California - Fight On! |
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 kes601 join:2007-04-14 Virginia Beach, VA | Ok, that is what I had down and then second guessed myself.....oh well. |
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 | reply to tomkb Those boxes on ebay are basically stolen property. And even if you paid the 200+ for them, as soon as you activated them with VZ, they'd bill you for the box monthly anyway. |
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 kes601 join:2007-04-14 Virginia Beach, VA | said by matthewh16:Those boxes on ebay are basically stolen property. And even if you paid the 200+ for them, as soon as you activated them with VZ, they'd bill you for the box monthly anyway. Vz would never activate them anyway. |
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 FiosmanPremium join:2006-12-28 Allendale, NJ kudos:3 | reply to tomkb Do they fine you if you try to activate these boxes? I thought I heard that they did |
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 PoloDudePremium,VIP join:2006-03-29 Northport, NY kudos:2 | No Fiosman, they don't fine you. @Tomkb DO NOT BUY BOXES OFF EBAY OR ELSE WHERE! Vz will not activate them. They are considered stolen equipment. Yes even after the account holder gets charged the non-return fee. They are still considered by the company as stolen. -- My horse fights with me and fasts with me because if he is to carry me into battle, he must know my heart and I must know his or we shall never become brothers. -Plenty Coups, Chief of the Crow |
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 birdfeedrPremium,MVM join:2001-08-11 Warwick, RI kudos:5 | And because there is no activation as such for the routers, any VZ-branded Rev.G or Rev.I Actiontecs you get off eBay, while still "having fallen off the truck", are not considered stolen. Hmm.
Oh, well, any time there's a multi-billion dollar company, you'll find plenty of wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
Uh, oh. Cat's out of the bag. Authenticated routers coming soon. You didn't hear it from me. |
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 tomkbPremium join:2000-11-15 Tampa, FL kudos:5 | reply to tomkb I know the HD channels are in the 500 channel plus range, but what about non-hd, can I just plug my TV's in? There are lots of channels in the sub 100 range. |
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 Zero join:2009-07-01 Collegeville, PA | If your TV has a QAM tuner, it will receive all non-encrypted channels. On FiOS TV, this is SD/HD local channels (1-49 & 460-549). |
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 wmcbrine213 251 145 96 join:2002-12-30 Laurel, MD | reply to birdfeedr said by birdfeedr:And because there is no activation as such for the routers, any VZ-branded Rev.G or Rev.I Actiontecs you get off eBay, while still "having fallen off the truck", are not considered stolen. Hmm. The routers aren't rented to customers. They're "sold" (at $0.00, but theoretically it's a sale). So there's no reason for them to be non-transferable.
tomkb: The channel numbers are meaningless; they're virtual. Verizon is all-digital. An analog tuner will get nothing. A QAM tuner will pick up the locals, but they will not be mapped to their virtual numbers.
If you'd like to own a device that can tune all channels, as well as map them, then you need something that takes CableCards. But you still have to rent the cards. -- 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 |
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 tomkbPremium join:2000-11-15 Tampa, FL kudos:5 | reply to tomkb Do I care about mapping channels though? As long as all the channels come in, I can memorize new channel numbers, will that work? Just get one of these QAM boxes and learn the new channel numbers? |
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 kes601 join:2007-04-14 Virginia Beach, VA | They aren't standard numbers, they are like 744.13. |
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 | Mine map just fine on my TV. They usually map to their broadcast channel number not the FIOS channel number. But as always, YMMV. |
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 kes601 join:2007-04-14 Virginia Beach, VA | said by CrobertGauth:Mine map just fine on my TV. They usually map to their broadcast channel number not the FIOS channel number. But as always, YMMV. Wish that were the case here. |
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 | reply to wmcbrine said by wmcbrine:said by birdfeedr:And because there is no activation as such for the routers, any VZ-branded Rev.G or Rev.I Actiontecs you get off eBay, while still "having fallen off the truck", are not considered stolen. Hmm. The routers aren't rented to customers. They're "sold" (at $0.00, but theoretically it's a sale). So there's no reason for them to be non-transferable. tomkb: The channel numbers are meaningless; they're virtual. Verizon is all-digital. An analog tuner will get nothing. A QAM tuner will pick up the locals, but they will not be mapped to their virtual numbers. If you'd like to own a device that can tune all channels, as well as map them, then you need something that takes CableCards. But you still have to rent the cards. not to mention there isnt anything that needs to be activated with a router, unlike a cable box or card. |
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 | reply to kes601 Just curious.... I already have 3 Verizon SD boxes and one HD DVR. Since SD boxes are already enabled and if one was to purchase a Verizon HD box via ebay to replace one SD box, would the HD box via ebay work properly or does it still have to be enabled by Verizon?? |
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 | Why are people so hard-core determined to traffic in stolen property?
If you want to own a cable box, buy a TiVo or buy a Cable-Card tuner like the Ceton InfiniTV and build an HTPC. |
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 | Even though it's not right, I guess because I have been a faithful Fios customer for 5 yrs and get tired of paying basically $40 monthly for the boxes that I currently have and Verizon will not work with me to reduce the costs. Where as new customers get certain boxes free for life. |
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