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Buy Your Cable Box And Save |
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TV in recent years has been greatly enhanced by features provided by
cable operators high definition programming, video on demand and a ever
growing menu of channels are features that most TV viewers love but one
thing that most cable subscribers hate are cable box rental fees. The easiest way to get away from the expensive sting of cable box rental fee is to buy your own cable box(es). Most cable operators sell cable boxes to subscribers through their own outlets or through affiliated retail stores. Buying a cable box directly from the cable company is practically plug and play, but the downside is that buying from the cable company is the most expensive way to buy your own cable box. In some instances the price to buy the box outright costs the equivilant to paying four years of rental fees. E-Bay, Craig's List and countless other online markets are full of cable boxes available for purchase. The first step knowing what digital cable platform your cable company uses. The majority of cable operators use ether Motorola or Scientific Atlanta head end systems to provide digital cable service. If your Cable operator uses a Motorola digital cable system then you will have to Motorola cable box, likewise you'll need a Scientific Atlanta cable box if your cable system uses the Scientific Atlanta platform. The best place to start looking for a cable box available for purchase would be the local classifieds ether online or in he newspaper. Buying locally will ensure compatibility with cable company in the area. If buying through eBay or classifieds another city to get the cable box you want you have to first have call the cable company you subscribe to find out if they will add a box from outside their service area onto their network. Smaller independent cable operators generally do, but the big national cable companies generally do not. That’s not to say that you cannot buy a cable box and use it on Comcast, Cox or Time Warner that just means that you have to buy a Comcast box if you subscribe to Comcast or a Rogers box if you subscribe to Rogers. After buying a cable box that is compatible with your cable operator you next need to call them with the unique identification number on the barcode label from the bottom or back of the box. Your cable operator will likely check with other cable companies to make sure that he box hasn't been reported stolen or lost. When the box comes with a clean history your new cable box will be added to your cable account. Your cable provider will do a hard reset on the box which will erase the firmware and program the box with interactive program guide software they use on the boxes they distribute to subscribers. Now that you know how to buy a cable box and have it activated by your cable company the next thing that needs to be considered if the cost is worth it. If you are going to use the box for three years or more and can recover the cost of buying a cable box within a year it’s well worth the upfront purchase price. One caveat about buying your cable box is in the event of technical problems you are responsible for repair or replacement of the cable box. That means potentially going without digital cable service while a user owned cable box is repaired or a new box is purchased and shipped. Despite inroads made the major video game systems and by devices such asApple TV, Google Chromecast, Roku, Boxee and all the boxes and that promise to bring the world of Internet video to TV sets in just about every room in our homes the set top box from the cable company remains the most popular way to navigate through all those shows on the hundreds of channels that come down that wire. Rental rates cable companies change for boxes that bring high definition programming, PVR functionality, and multi room PVR continues to increase as technology advances. Buying your own cable box may provide a more affordable alternative especially if you are looking to add a high end cable box to our home entertainment system. |
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