 
NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
 ·VOIPo
1 edit | Clarification The decision to do this earlier puts them in a better competitive position. They utilize the bandwidth reclaimed for more channels, better HD - whatever and they allow their customers to continue to receive channels by handing out the boxes.
Now the letter I received did not specify free boxes to just analog customers but it spelled out specifically how I could get "free equipment" to be able to view analog channels on any of my TV's where there is no "paid Set-top-box".
So I have one HD-DVR and 3 analog box converters.
It remains to be seen how the billing will shake out and I am sure most of the users here will report their status as soon as it starts to occur (good or bad).
Edit: for spelling | |
|
 | RadioDoc
58ef2c0
Premium,ExMod 2000-03
join:2000-05-11
 ·AT&T Midwest
| Re: Clarification This is exactly how Comcast and the other cable companies should handle the analog-to-digital conversion, instead of bending over their longest-term customers and forcing Yet Another Comcast Add-on Fee on them. Take the one-time hit, hand out the boxes for free and get it over with.
Good for Verizon. If only they could get their billing shit together they'd be stellar. | |
|
| |
NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
| Re: Clarification said by RadioDoc  :This is exactly how Comcast and the other cable companies should handle the analog-to-digital conversion, instead of bending over their longest-term customers and forcing Yet Another Comcast Add-on Fee on them. Take the one-time hit, hand out the boxes for free and get it over with. Good for Verizon. If only they could get their billing shit together they'd be stellar. Yeah - look at my billing issue post here..... | |
|
| |
David in NJ
@netfnds.com
| Up to 3 free STB The free set top boxes are not just for those with analog only service, it is for anyone who has TVs currently receiving analog only.
I had 2 Verizon STB and 3 analog sets. After receiving the letter notifying me of the analog shutoff I called the 800 number and they offered up to 3 free Motorola DCT700 (No guide or VOD) for as long as we live at this address. Additional boxes are ~$3/mo.
I look at this as a net positive. | |
|
rdmiller
join:2005-09-23
Richmond, VA | In progress The transfer to all-digital is already under way. D-day in this market was Monday (04/07/08). | |
|
majortom1029
join:2006-10-19
Lindenhurst, NY | hmm So basically this is another example of how the fcc is allowing verizon to do whatever it wants and cable can do nothing.
Why is it that verizon gets exempt but cable doesn't? | |
|
| 
N3OGH
Bear patrol must be working like a charm
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
 ·Verizon FIOS
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: hmm "Verizon had cut a deal with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to cease analog transmission prior to the 2009 date in exchange for a waiver exempting it from the ban on set-top boxes (STBs) with integrated security, which was put into effect in July."
I'm ignorant on the whole subject of STB's with integrated security, and the associated "bannage".
Could someone fill me in?
--
Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power… | |
|
| | 
kontos
xyzzy
join:2001-10-04
West Henrietta, NY
| Re: hmm said by N3OGH :I'm ignorant on the whole subject of STB's with integrated security, and the associated "bannage". Could someone fill me in? In a nutshell, VZ made a deal with the FCC. They agreed to give away free STBs to customers in exchange for the FCC granting them permission to stop sending analog/unencrypted video to their customers. | |
|
| | MyDogHsFleas
Premium
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX
·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T Southwest
| said by N3OGH :I'm ignorant on the whole subject of STB's with integrated security, and the associated "bannage". The FCC's direction is to separate the application functionality of the STB from the component that secures the communication (i.e. makes sure the user is entitled to receive what they are receiving, and tries to prevent piracy via encryption or other techniques). Their goal is to open up the STB market for third parties, by forcing the providers to sell a separate security device to their customers, and allowing their customers to hook up other STBs to that security device. | |
|
| | 
Ebolla
join:2005-09-28
Dracut, MA
| the boxes comcast and other providers are required to buy now have a cable card built into them. This is the only difference from older model settop boxes. It is the FCC's way of "getting cable cards into more peoples hands" problem is the cable cards are integrated into the box and not removable by customer. This essentially makes it like an older model box just with more parts to go wrong. FCC at its finest. | |
|
| | 
dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ
| said by N3OGH :"Verizon had cut a deal with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to cease analog transmission prior to the 2009 date in exchange for a waiver exempting it from the ban on set-top boxes (STBs) with integrated security, which was put into effect in July." I'm ignorant on the whole subject of STB's with integrated security, and the associated "bannage". Could someone fill me in? This feb 2009 date is only for OVER THE AIR analog, NOT fibre, cable, satellite.
the seperable security thing was supposed to give the sub more choice in STB. HAHA what a joke that was!
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth | |
|
|
Mr Anon
@il.us
| This doesn't sound like anything that cable can't do. They've done it already. This was done in Chicago. My friend had Basic expanded service with a Scientific Atlantic (analog) box. Not too long ago they had to give up that box for a new one, its the new (Motorola?) small radar detector shaped digital boxes.
This is not my only biases for this, its actually the second behind reading and article that was posted here about the change.
I believe the providers are still required to carry the broadcast of analog channels and to support or make their service available to analog sets. I haven't read any law but so far this seems to be put into practice as in allowing accessing to your "cable" service with no extra cost need for basic analog type service, IE: if all you have is non digital (maybe 120 or less channels) service then there has to be some sort of possible use of the service without a box rental fee. This does not seem to mean that you need to carry channels in an analog format.
It's all a bit confusing, just as it is for most people with HD that have to understand you need four parts of the pie to watch HD, The TV, The service, The channel, and the program. If you are missing any you get something less than HD. | |
|
| | |
| | |
NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
| Re: hmm That would be the "culprit".....lol | |
|
| | | |
Mr Anon
@il.us | Re: hmm Yes, the only exception is the comcast version seems to have black casing instead of the gray. | |
|
| | | | 
cypherstream
Looking forward to the future of things.
Premium,MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs: | The thing only tunes from 90-860 MHz. Why can't they put analog from 54-90 MHz then? | |
|
| | | | | 
wmcbrine
Touched by His Noodly Appendage
join:2002-12-30
Laurel, MD
2 edits | Re: hmm said by cypherstream :The thing only tunes from 90-860 MHz. Why can't they put analog from 54-90 MHz then? Because they need the space for HD, which the free box can't handle anyway.
Edit: I mean for Fios. I don't know others' plans.
--
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 | |
|
| | | 
Frank
is chilling
Premium
join:2000-11-03
somewhere | holy crap,
i saw one of those at a car dealership, i was wondering what the hell it was. | |
|
| Sammer
join:2005-12-22
Canonsburg, PA
| said by majortom1029 :So basically this is another example of how the fcc is allowing verizon to do whatever it wants and cable can do nothing. Why is it that verizon gets exempt but cable doesn't? No the FCC offered the same deal to cable companies and a few smaller ones took them up on it. Neither Comcast or Time Warner Cable are ready to go all digital yet. | |
|
| 
tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Saint Clair Shores, MI
| said by majortom1029 :So basically this is another example of how the fcc is allowing verizon to do whatever it wants and cable can do nothing. Why is it that verizon gets exempt but cable doesn't? Could it be something like this:
»blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2007/1···spy.html  | |
|
Lee GWB
Yaco
Premium
join:2001-10-13
Allendale, NJ
·Verizon Online DSL
| Got um too Hi,
I had a spare TV in my office (15 HDTV) and a Spare in the guest room.
Now when the wife is on a rampage I get all my Starz and MMA (Non HD) and life is good !!
GOOD DEAL!!
Lee
--
"I Don't feel Tardy"
"When Clinton Lied, All that was left was a stained dress.
When Bush lied, all that was left was 4000 less US Soldiers.. | |
|
NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
3 edits | Not so Free Box
Benigno Gonzalez sent a letter saying "free" yet I was billed for an outlet and the adapter! |
Today is that day and the bill was $40.00 higher than usual as a direct result of being billed incorrectly.
I called the FiOS help line 1 888 553-1555 and after speaking to a representative for 10 minutes - she quickly acknowledged that the order for the box was placed incorrectly and in addition, I was billed $19.99 for an additional outlet (never ordered, never installed). She placed me on hold a few times and then said she needed some time to fix the issue and would reverse the 19.99 charge and had to figure out how to fix the recurring 3.99 charge for the digital box.
She took my reach number. We got cut off. No callback.
So I re-dialed. Got another rep who said a bunch of things such as:
1. oh this is billed to a credit card so I have to transfer you to someone who takes credit card payments
2. So how many adapters do you have? I answered that I have a DVR and a Digital adapter. Her answer: "So wht's is the problem"? I explained the letter from Benigno Gonzales offering free equipment as long as you reside at your current address. Her response: "Well did you call them back? - they are the ones who placed the order for you so you need to call them."
I said at this point in a nice way: "you are telling me me one untruth after the other, give me your supervisor please", and she did.
The supervisor acknlowledged that another rep still had the account open and she was working on it. He spoke to her and she promised that as soon as she was done, she would call me back.
One hour later still no callback.
If this is Verizon's way of offering free equipment, everyone needs to be on the lookout for their bills because mine (picture above) shows what they did wrong.
If this gets resolved I will report it here but I feel like the Maytag Repairman sitting here waiting for the phone to ring. | |
|
| EPS
join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA | Re: Not so Free Box Sounds like the big problem was that the phone got cut off, more the phone company's fault than Veriz- oh, wait... | |
|
|
cypherstream
Looking forward to the future of things.
Premium,MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs: | No wonder they have so many billing problems. They can't even spell the word Adapter ! | |
|
| |
NY Tel
Premium
join:2004-04-09
Smithtown, NY
·VOIPo
| Re: Not so Free Box said by cypherstream :No wonder they have so many billing problems. They can't even spell the word Adapter ! I know, I saw that today also. I guess Adapters are free but adaptors are not.  | |
|
| | 
Squirrelly
join:2000-10-24
Harrisburg, PA
·Verizon FIOS
| said by cypherstream :No wonder they have so many billing problems. They can't even spell the word Adapter ! LMAO | |
|
ke4pym
join:2004-07-24
Charlotte, NC | Erm, might wanna check those dates The 2009 date is for broadcasters to cease analog transmissions.
Cable companies are supposed to keep their analog on until something like 2012ish. | |
|
| afiggatt
join:2007-07-12
Sterling, VA
| Re: Erm, might wanna check those dates said by ke4pym :The 2009 date is for broadcasters to cease analog transmissions. Cable companies are supposed to keep their analog on until something like 2012ish. The cable companies only have to keep analog locals to 2012 if they keep any analog at all. If the cable company provides a low cost or free SD STB for the analog subscribers and sufficient advanced notice, the cable companies will be allowed (by the FCC) to shut down all the analog channels. A number of smaller cable operators such as RCN have decided to do this, not just Verizon Fios. The big players such as Comcast and Time Warner with millions of subscribers face serious conversion costs in doing this along with opposition from local government boards.
Yes the February 17, 2009 analog shutdown only applies to over the air broadcasting for full power TV stations. But some cable companies are using it as cover for doing a analog shutdown themselves to free up the bandwidth for more services & thus revenue. | |
|
| | 
koolman2
Premium
join:2002-10-01
Anchorage, AK | Re: Erm, might wanna check those dates My local company did this a few months ago. The boxes are something like $5/month each.
--
There's no place like ::1. | |
|
Moon1234
@charter.com
| Low Power stations remain analog. And the key component there is FULL power stations will be required to go Digital. Local, low power stations can remain analog. So if you are in a major city there will still be low power analog stations.
I bet these low power stations will capitalize on this situation. Many people will not immediatly have a digital STB for OTA so they will tune to what they can get which will be the low power analog stations that still remain. | |
|
Agent 86
@comcast.net
| The FCC wants cable to drop analog "In a nutshell, VZ made a deal with the FCC. They agreed to give away free STBs to customers in exchange for the FCC granting them permission to stop sending analog/unencrypted video to their customers."
Completely wrong. The deal is that in exchange for dropping analog Verizon gets a price break on set top boxes (they aren't required to buy ones that support CableCard).
The FCC wants cable to drop analog by 2/2009. Don't ask me why, but they do. | |
|
|
|
|
Verizon Pulling Analog FiOS Channels
·