I got kidnapped by Time Warner :-----(((

Unfortunately - it is not. I checked the law - the law specifies that
coops have right not to allow installation dishes on common property
like roof. I will try to organize tenant rebellion - even majority of
apartments are rental.

Zalek

You don't have a balcony or a window that faces in the right direction?

Sam Spade wrote in :


Unfortunately - it is not. I checked the law - the law specifies that
coops have right not to allow installation dishes on common property
like roof. I will try to organize tenant rebellion - even majority of
apartments are rental.

Zalek

You don't have a balcony or a window that faces in the right direction?


we USUALLY ALLOW THEM TO BE PUT UP ON VENT PIPES

"zalek" wrote in message
ups.com...

Seth wrote:
"Zalek Bloom" wrote in message
...
. Please pass a law that allows consumers to
purchase equipment from someone other than a company that has a
monopoly on a service. I plan to start a campaign on the internet
about this problem and I will publish your response - or lack of - on
the internet.

A law has been passed by the FCC. It's called CableCard. Buy a TV or
other
TV reception device that has a CableCard slot and the cable company is
required to rent you a card to provide authorization of scrambled
signals.

In regards to the box you bought "on the street", do you even know if it
is
compatible? Just because the outside is the same doesn't mean some
internal
parts are different. Like the authorization daughter board may be
registered to a different cable box. I know at work (I'm in the IT
field) I
can't authorize an RSA token on my system where the license number
belongs
to someone else.

Your campaign will go nowhere if you don't do some research first.

Seth,

Thanks for your answer - I will try to find this law and to see if it
apply to my case.
The box IS COMAPTABLE - I bought it from a person that was using the
same cable company in the same city as me - Time Warner in NYC. I have
exectly the same box for my TV - Scientific Atlanta - Explorer 2100.

A) They didn't have it working as an authorized box (maybe cause it's a
bootleg box). The cable company has no obligation to authorize a bootleg
box.

B) It's stolen. If it was a legitimate box it wasn't theirs to sell as they
were only renting it. The cable company has no obligation to support stolen
equipment.

Cable company recognized this box - the box was displaying a message to
call operator because the service was cancelled - other box worked OK.

Call operator is most likely very generic to the entire series.

"zalek" wrote in message
ps.com...

I don't think this is the case - TW HAVE MY INFO and HAVE BOX NUMBER.
If the box is stolen - TW can inform NY Fattest. I LEGALY purchased
this box on ebay.

You can't legally buy something that can't be legally sold.

This can be other case - someone cancelled service, keept the box and
paid penalty for not returning the box. After paying penalty - he sold
the box.

Just because they paid the no turn-in fee doesn't make it theirs to sell.
The proper thing to do under that scenario is to return the box and get the
deposit back. That is the only /legitimate/ way to recoup one's expenses in
that scenario.

"zalek" wrote in message
oups.com...

MegaZone wrote:
"zalek" shaped the electrons to say:
And I think there should be a law that protect citizens from a monopoly
- I cannot choose other service.

They have the right not to authorize some random box on their
network. A box that could be hacked in any one of any ways to allow
access to content, disable copy protection, etc.

And if you only paid $30 for the box - it was hot. They cost a lot
more than that new, wholesale.

-MZ
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer,
me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men"
508-852-2171
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Eris

After rethinking - I think you are right. We have the best government
money can buy. Companies have the right to milk American citizens as
long as they help our politicians. Citizens have no right to buy used
cheaper equipment - it hurts company's profit.
Please - do not write letter to your representatives - it is our
patriotic duty as Americans to be milked by corporations

Dude, TV is a luxury, not a right. If you live in NYC you can get all the
TV you need with tin foil rabbit ears. You can't get milked on a luxury
item. It's totally optional. Next you'll bitch about how Mercedes gets so
many times the price of a Hyundai and write your congresspeople to fix that
as well.

You want a (non essential) service someone offers, you pay their price,
period. If I want to charge $500 to mow people's lawns, so be it. I may
not get much business cause cheaper alternatives exist, but that's my
business. You don't like TW, then use rabbit ears or move to some place
that has someone other than TW as a cable company or has an appropriate
place to put a dish.

People whine and whine and whine that the government doesn't do enough to
protect them, but god forbid the government ever told you how to run your
business you would be crying bloody murder.

When the only place within 5 miles of you to carry milk starts charging $10
a gallon, then you have something to whine about.

"Jukka Aho" shaped the electrons to say:
2) You carry the device home and plug it to the cable outlet - and
bingo, you'll already see the "must carry" channels.

3) If you want to see more channels, you'll contact your cable operator,
get a smartcard, and stick it into the card reader slot on the front
panel of your set-top box - and hey presto, you'll see whatever channels
or channel packages you have ordered and paid for.

That's how it works here in the US too in most areas. Analog cable is
a standard, any device with a 'Cable Ready' tuner can connect and tune
analog channels. Most TVs, VCRs, DVRs, etc, sold for the past couple
of decades are Cable Ready.

For digital cable until a couple of years ago you were stuck with the
cable company's STB. But now we have CableCARD. There are CableCARD
TVs, CableCARD DVRs (like the TiVo Series3), and generic CableCARD
STBs. These are labeled as Digital Cable Ready.

Digital cable is QAM modulated in the US. Some digital cable channels
can be sent as 'clear QAM', no encryption. Any QAM tuner can tune
those - any DCR device has a QAM tuner, and there are other devices
with QAM (but no CableCARD), including PCI tuner cards.

You only need CableCARD for encrypted digital channels. A CableCARD
is a decryption token, pretty much the same form factor as a PCMCIA
drive.

I have a TiVo Series3 dual-tuner DVR using CableCARD for digital
cable.

-MZ
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer, me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-852-2171
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/ Eris

Zalek Bloom wrote:

I am a Time Warner Cable subscriber. I want to add cable service for
a new television that I just purchased. Time Warner Cable wants me to
pay $10 per month for another box. I just bought the same box that
Time Warner uses for $30. Time Warner refuses to recognize this box
even though it is in perfect condition. I live in New York City and
there is no competition for Time Warner. I live in a building where
management does not allow us to have a Satelite Dish. Please pass a
law that allows consumers to purchase equipment from someone other
than a company that has a monopoly on a service. I plan to start a
campaign on the internet about this problem and I will publish your
response - or lack of - on the internet.

I don't know if laws has been passed to that effect here but the change
you're proposing is basically how it works in Finland today.

1) You buy a DVB-C [1] set-top box from any place that sells consumer
electronics. (You can freely choose the make and model: there are those
with only a single tuner, those with a single tuner and an HDD for PVR
functionality, those with two tuners and an HDD, those with two tuners,
an HDD, and a USB connector for transferring your recordings to a PC,
and even those with an Ethernet connector for the same purpose. DVB-C
tuners are also available in the form of PCI cards and USB devices, for
your computer, if you'd like to watch [and record] cable tv that way or
build a VDR box with Linux, or something.)

2) You carry the device home and plug it to the cable outlet - and
bingo, you'll already see the "must carry" channels.

3) If you want to see more channels, you'll contact your cable operator,
get a smartcard, and stick it into the card reader slot on the front
panel of your set-top box - and hey presto, you'll see whatever channels
or channel packages you have ordered and paid for.

There are some tv sets with integrated DVB-C tuners (and card readers,
or options for them) as well, but the selection isn't too good yet.

_____

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB-C

--
znark

zalek wrote:
Ed wrote:
zalek wrote:
Seth wrote:
"Zalek Bloom" wrote in message
...
. Please pass a law that allows consumers to
purchase equipment from someone other than a company that has a
monopoly on a service. I plan to start a campaign on the internet
about this problem and I will publish your response - or lack of - on
the internet.
A law has been passed by the FCC. It's called CableCard. Buy a TV or other
TV reception device that has a CableCard slot and the cable company is
required to rent you a card to provide authorization of scrambled signals.

In regards to the box you bought "on the street", do you even know if it is
compatible? Just because the outside is the same doesn't mean some internal
parts are different. Like the authorization daughter board may be
registered to a different cable box. I know at work (I'm in the IT field) I
can't authorize an RSA token on my system where the license number belongs
to someone else.

Your campaign will go nowhere if you don't do some research first.
Seth,

Thanks for your answer - I will try to find this law and to see if it
apply to my case.
The box IS COMAPTABLE - I bought it from a person that was using the
same cable company in the same city as me - Time Warner in NYC. I have
exectly the same box for my TV - Scientific Atlanta - Explorer 2100.
Cable company recognized this box - the box was displaying a message to
call operator because the service was cancelled - other box worked OK.

Thanks again,

Zalek

This give a little bit clearer picture of what's happening. Sounds like
the person you bought it from was a TW customer who was renting this
box, but canceled his service, correct? Then he sold the box to you,
correct?

Well, what he did is sold you something that didn't belong to him. His
service was canceled. The box is the property of TW. Maybe THAT is why
they refuse to activate it for you. It isn't yours! If that is the
case, and you leave the sucker plugged in, you'll be lucky if they don't
hunt it down on the network, find out the serial # is for one that never
got returned and you get a knock on your door from one of NY's finest
(in about 3 months or so based on my experience with response times)
asking you to accompany them to the precinct house.

I don't think this is the case - TW HAVE MY INFO and HAVE BOX NUMBER.
If the box is stolen - TW can inform NY Fattest. I LEGALY purchased
this box on ebay.
This can be other case - someone cancelled service, keept the box and
paid penalty for not returning the box. After paying penalty - he sold
the box.

Zalek

Just because you bought it on ebay, doesn't make it legal or legit. So
far as I know, Time Warner does not sell them, therefore the seller did
so without the permission of the owner (Time Warner). That's called
theft. Whether you were aware of the legal state of the box or not, you
may be guilty of receiving stolen property. I'd be trying to get my
money back by filing whatever formal complaint you need to file with
ebay if you can't get the seller to give you a refund.

"Seth" wrote in message
...
"zalek" wrote in message
oups.com...

MegaZone wrote:
"zalek" shaped the electrons to say:
And I think there should be a law that protect citizens from a monopoly
- I cannot choose other service.

They have the right not to authorize some random box on their
network. A box that could be hacked in any one of any ways to allow
access to content, disable copy protection, etc.

And if you only paid $30 for the box - it was hot. They cost a lot
more than that new, wholesale.

-MZ
--
URL:mailto:megazoneatmegazone.org Gweep, Discordian, Author, Engineer,
me.
"A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men"
508-852-2171
URL:http://www.megazone.org/ URL:http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Eris

After rethinking - I think you are right. We have the best government
money can buy. Companies have the right to milk American citizens as
long as they help our politicians. Citizens have no right to buy used
cheaper equipment - it hurts company's profit.
Please - do not write letter to your representatives - it is our
patriotic duty as Americans to be milked by corporations

Dude, TV is a luxury, not a right. If you live in NYC you can get all the
TV you need with tin foil rabbit ears. You can't get milked on a luxury
item. It's totally optional. Next you'll bitch about how Mercedes gets
so
many times the price of a Hyundai and write your congresspeople to fix
that
as well.

You want a (non essential) service someone offers, you pay their price,
period. If I want to charge $500 to mow people's lawns, so be it. I may
not get much business cause cheaper alternatives exist, but that's my
business. You don't like TW, then use rabbit ears or move to some place
that has someone other than TW as a cable company or has an appropriate
place to put a dish.

People whine and whine and whine that the government doesn't do enough to
protect them, but god forbid the government ever told you how to run your
business you would be crying bloody murder.

When the only place within 5 miles of you to carry milk starts charging
$10
a gallon, then you have something to whine about.




You know it's almost impossible to get a signal with rabbit ears in NYC. One
would almost think it's a conspiracy. In New York City, almost all
buildings do not allow dishes for liability reasons (they might fall off).
It's a result of this that cable could almost charge what they want. Where I
live in NYC we had Direct TV. Out of no where, a lawsuit was filed by the
FDNY stating it was a hazard and we had to switch to cable. Someone must've
paid one helluva campaign donation. All city owned/serviced buildings cannot
have a satellite dish on them. Most private buildings are usually fined by
Sanitation and Fire, and they have returned to cable.

Not good for the consumer.

Gus

"Gus" wrote in message
...

You know it's almost impossible to get a signal with rabbit ears in NYC.
One would almost think it's a conspiracy. In New York City, almost all
buildings do not allow dishes for liability reasons (they might fall off).
It's a result of this that cable could almost charge what they want. Where
I live in NYC we had Direct TV. Out of no where, a lawsuit was filed by
the FDNY stating it was a hazard and we had to switch to cable. Someone
must've paid one helluva campaign donation. All city owned/serviced
buildings cannot have a satellite dish on them. Most private buildings are
usually fined by Sanitation and Fire, and they have returned to cable.

Not good for the consumer.

That's a case where you may want a lawyer to review the FCC rulings and
possibly pursue. The FCC says under certain conditions you can't be
prohibited from having a satellite dish.

And when did rabbit ears stop working in NYC? I sued to live there (65th
and 3rd) and they worked fine. Post 9/11 I thought most of the transmitters
were relocated to the Empire State Building (although I know a couple were
moved to Alpine, NJ but with the intention of moving them to the Empire
State Building once some upgrades were completed).