wingnut28
join:2008-01-22
Ellensburg, WA
 ·Charter Pipeline
| At my parent's house they had cable outlets in all 5 bedrooms plus living room, family room and kitchen. They paid $30 a month (low fee due to being early customers when cable first came to the area many years ago.)
Every cheap tv and vcr in the house could receive all 80 channels and you could record a channel and watch another.
Now at my house we pay a lot more as basic cable is around $60 a month, but then I added digital channels. Now you need a stupid vcr sized box. The result is only 2 tvs get all the channels and 3 others do not. It is only $5 a month for a box ($10 for HD capable) but it is not only the money but the inconvenience factor. They (Charter) do provide nice remotes with the box (and charge $29 install fee) which can mostly replace your original remote.
The prices seem somewhat reasonable, but when you add the additional fees for the digital channels, the extra fee per box (and have to find a place for the box) it starts being a hefty charge.
My single HD tv will tune in these digital channels, but is blocked by encryption (except for one weird sport channel.)
Of course, you then need a digital video recorder to work with this. They are nice but add another $15 a month to the bill.
I fear we are going to become a 2 tier nation, those that can afford full tv and high speed internet, and those that can't. |
