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Set-Top Box Rental Fee

Good Day,

I am quite un-pleased with the way we are being robbed by Verizon for our set-top boxes. I know this post will not make any difference but I feel I needed to be herd. I have had fios now for over 4 years and I am very happy with the service however, I took another look at my bill and noticed I am still being charged $8.99 per month per box. That means I have already payed them over $400 per box. I feel that there should be a cap on the fee or offer the customer an option to buy the box. Either way, as I said I know that Verizon being such a big Monopoly does not care about what me (one person) says but I just felt I needed to write this. I will however start looking into new TV options such as a Roku box, I also noticed that the on-demand feature is now ony giving like 4 episodes free then you have to pay to see older episodes. Un-real!! What has this company become??

Thank you for letting me vent.

Comments

CRobGauth

Every provider works the same way.

there is a long thread under programming that discusses on demand

bobbo527

@TDesio wrote:
Good Day,
I am quite un-pleased with the way we are being robbed by Verizon for our set-top boxes. I know this post will not make any difference but I feel I needed to be herd. I have had fios now for over 4 years and I am very happy with the service however, I took another look at my bill and noticed I am still being charged $8.99 per month per box. That means I have already payed them over $400 per box. I feel that there should be a cap on the fee or offer the customer an option to buy the box. Either way, as I said I know that Verizon being such a big Monopoly does not care about what me (one person) says but I just felt I needed to write this. I will however start looking into new TV options such as a Roku box, I also noticed that the on-demand feature is now ony giving like 4 episodes free then you have to pay to see older episodes. Un-real!! What has this company become??
Thank you for letting me vent.

It is not just Verizon, EVERY cable provider charges rental fees on their boxes. I think it is pathetic as well. The FCC had ruled that companies need to allow users to buy boxes but that was last year, pre-election. We know what direction they are heading in now so don't expect that to ever become reality. It's a revenue stream for big business they won't give up, and that is for ALL cable companies.

CRobGauth

BTW, you do have purchase options for cable card compatible devices.

KLuong

What are you talking about? Xfinity gives the set top box for free.

CRobGauth

You are saying I can get unlimited boxes for free from Xfinity?

I find that hard to beleive.

Or that there isn't some outlet fee instead of a STB rental fee.

jonjones1

@CRobGauth wrote:
You are saying I can get unlimited boxes for free from Xfinity?
I find that hard to beleive.
Or that there isn't some outlet fee instead of a STB rental fee.

https://www.xfinity.com/learn/digital-cable-tv/x1/equipment

Seems to be accurate. However I read there are qualifiers. Link above.

SnoBrdr

I have Xfinity/Comcast at our other home and you pay for the boxes.

JJKiv

Because they "All" do it dosnet' make it OK. It is a straight out rippoff. Don't call Verizon nor Comcast nor any other provider. Call your state legislator. Have them pass a law that rquires EVERY cable provider within the state to allow purchase of the box at a fee that is not more than their cost plus 10%. Yes it will cost them, but only to the extend that they will no longer be able to make obsene markup profits.

CRobGauth

How do you determine their cost +?

It is a lot more than just the price of buying the box.

They have to maintain the box.

And they are updating software to give you new features.

You don't have to use their rental box.

You can buy your own cable card ready device and just rent a cable card.

And how many calls do you think they will have to handle when people have service issues with the box they own and they have an issue? How upset you think people will be if the cable company has to dispatch a tech only to find out it was the customer owned equipment and the customer gets a bill?

Keep in mind, you will end up paying one way or another.

I remember when you didn't need a box. You paid a fee for every TV you had connected.

zubin

I disagree. I have three TVs with DVR access on each one and my total costs for Fios equipment is $4.99/month. And no I do not have any special promotions on my account.

I bought my own equipment (a Tivo Bolt and Minis). I save at least $35/month this way. After the first three years, I recouped all of my costs for the Tivo and now just enjoy the savings!

CRobGauth

Different cost models. If one of your owned boxes dies, you have to buy buy a new one (assuming out of warranty).

And TiVo does not give access to vod content.

To some each of these items are something worth paying extra for.

Others it is not.

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