Quote:
Originally posted by larryziegler
That's not the way it used to be, here in certain parts of Calif at least, when you had to pay for each hookup and you didn't pay for equipment....if you wanted 3 tv's hooked up, you had to pay a nomimal charge for those extra tvs, but you got the box with it.....that crappy old Scientific Atlanta box. It's very likely the FCC had a hand in changing the ways cable companies handle their billing for service now.
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That's how they get around the regulation - by including the box. If you don't need the box (i.e., no premium/scrambled channels on the other TVs), don't take the box.
The same holds true for internet connections. The cable company will tell you that you need a cable modem for each computer. They won't tell you you can use a router instead and connect as many computers as you want. Most people don't know any better, but it's perfectly legal.
What I find most despicable about that particular practice is not so much their greed, but they keep users ignorant about security. With only a cable modem, the computer has no firewall and will succumb to worms, bots, trojans, etc. and become a zombie in a matter of hours.