Short answer: Maybe. Read on for the longer answer.
For years I tried to avoid paying the “cable box rental fee.”
Why? It makes no sense.
For years we could plug a coaxial into our TVs and get cable television. The technology worked and we liked it!. Now my cable company (Cox) requires me to rent a small box to do what we did before. It’s very cheap at just a couple dollars a month. We’re lucky in that in that we can use that for the bedroom television… I have bigger fish to fry than worry about around $30 a year.
However, I can see that being more than a hundred dollars a year for some families with more televisions. When the kids grow, I can imagine them wanting their own televisions. (I’m not saying that is going to happen, but it is a bridge to cross.)
The cost of DVR is a different story. Historically, a DVR is essentially a cable box with a hard drive in it. They cable companies often jack-up the price to $15 a month for this hard drive. It’s not even a big hard drive. Also these boxes are greatly run-up your electricity bill.
I say, “historically”, because many cable companies are adding a cloud service to the package. It is a good value, but not something that is worth paying a monthly subscription fee for. (Tech people know to look into Plex and other ways to stream their media.)
That sums up my problem with cable companies and their boxes/cloud. It doesn’t need to be charged as a recurring service, but they do it anyway. At $15 a month, it’s $1800 for one box over 10 years.
Wouldn’t it be nice to just buy it once for a couple of hundred dollars and be done with it?
For years, I believed that wasn’t possible. I got so frustrated that I created my own DVR with a Windows 7 computer and HD Homerun Prime.
So imagine my surprise when I read this Yahoo Finance article. It’s authored by David Pogue is super-star in technology journalism.
However, what I found interesting is that the article doesn’t give a popular marketplace to buy it. He doesn’t suggest Amazon, Best Buy, or Frys as possible places to buy. Instead he lists “Cableboxandmodem.com” and doesn’t even link to it in the article. Aesthetically, Cableboxandmodem.com doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence (I know I shouldn’t throw stones.)
It’s all very weird and I don’t know what to think. What do you think? Would you try to buy a cable modem through a website like this?
Would I buy from this company? Yes if the following were met:
* Most of the items are factory refurbished, or customer pulls, meaning they are used.
* Most of the items are REALLY old technology. Several of these DVRs were out a decade ago.
* The warranty is only 1 year. This is not something I would put up with for a new item.
Otherwise, sure, if the item met my qualifications.
Cableboxandmodem.com are a scam. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. They ripped me off. Jay is very nice until you call him and tell him that the box doesn’t work. He is happy to take it back, but you pay return shipping and you will not get a refund. So you will lose your money. Also, this should have been the tip off. They don’t take credit cards, only checks. No recourse. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY
Warning, this is a scam. The website listed is owned by someone named “Jay” who sells people preowned cable boxes. The problem is that there is zero compatibility with any box manufactured by cable companies, as they own them and have all the serial numbers in a database. Therefore not eligible….basically like stolen iPhones that won’t activate, ever. It would be lovely to pay less money and own your own cable box (and you may be able to purchase a new one (or a used one) thanks to efforts by the FCC recently, but unfortunately this is not currently allowed.
There are many many victims to Jay and his websites. Please read the sitejabber website reviews posted below to find out just a few that reported what had happened to them. The usual story is that he’ll ship units to you that won’t work, and when you return them back to him, he’ll pretend like you never existed and you are out hundreds of dollars. I’ve heard that the BBB has hundreds of people that have filed complaints against him. I reported him to the FBI’s internet division. People like this need to be reported, and people on the internet need to watch out for crooks like this. This is fraud.
Website represented in this video —- http://www.cableboxandmodem.com
True reviews about this website:
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.cableboxandmodem.com
Another website by same liar — http://hddvrtv.com/
More true reviews about that website:
https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/www.hddvrtv.com
You are correct, Jay is a total fraud and theif. He took my money, I returned the box within 4 days, and he refused to give me a refund. Stay away from them. I only lost $100.00. Another cable customer I met lost $600.00.
is this product turstable? I mean I am planning to buy it. But need some genuine review of it.
can you please share your thoughts on this, is it recommended one?