Any one still use a land (fixed) telephone line?

[Electronic M]

Originally Posted by Charlie

So THAT, my friend, is a great explanation as to how I'm able to have a phone line that only does pulse dialing for my seldom used house line.

Very well put, Tom!

Yup. Sadly it is that way for most tel-com utilities.

A few years ago Spectrum decided to switch off analog cable here. It used to be I had probably 10+ NTSC tuners driving TVs (and several more in VCR's/DVR's/DVD-recorders) for me alone, and if I so wanted I could go to goodwill get 70+ TVs for $0.49 a pop plaster a wall with them and watch every analog channel at once. When they went digital instead of going with unencrypted QAM (which though I'd have to buy new tuners I could BUY and OWN my own tuners in whatever quantity I see fit) they went with encrypted QAM...This meant that only Spectrum issued boxes will tune cable. That wouldn't be so bad if they didn't charge rent (they were free for the first year to help cook us frogs...Er..Um..Customers). So now I have 3 tuners. And each of our 6 boxes is costing ~$6 a pop a month. If I want to watch/record more than 3 shows at once (which happens occasionally) I'm screwed. And my timer recordings on vacations can get shows maybe 2-3 channels max when the same bank of VCRs&such could record material from 70+ channels before.
If I can find a better option my family will probably cut the cable...

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by Electronic M

Yup. Sadly it is that way for most tel-com utilities.

A few years ago Spectrum decided to switch off analog cable here. It used to be I had probably 10+ NTSC tuners driving TVs (and several more in VCR's/DVR's/DVD-recorders) for me alone, and if I so wanted I could go to goodwill get 70+ TVs for $0.49 a pop plaster a wall with them and watch every analog channel at once. When they went digital instead of going with unencrypted QAM (which though I'd have to buy new tuners I could BUY and OWN my own tuners in whatever quantity I see fit) they went with encrypted QAM...This meant that only Spectrum issued boxes will tune cable. That wouldn't be so bad if they didn't charge rent (they were free for the first year to help cook us frogs...Er..Um..Customers). So now I have 3 tuners. And each of our 6 boxes is costing ~$6 a pop a month. If I want to watch/record more than 3 shows at once (which happens occasionally) I'm screwed. And my timer recordings on vacations can get shows maybe 2-3 channels max when the same bank of VCRs&such could record material from 70+ channels before.
If I can find a better option my family will probably cut the cable...

There are at least three better options, Tom. Get a Roku box and use it instead of a cable box, go with a standard TV antenna, or use a service like Hulu or YouTube TV. These will give you all your locals; YTTV and Hulu will add some cable channels. This way you can get at the very least your local TV channels, without having to lease a box from your cable company. I have Spectrum (Time Warner) cable (their Spectrum TV Choice package, which gives me all my locals plus ten user-selected cable channels) with a Roku device; my cable bill runs on average $100 a month, but that is the total charge for three services (telephone, Internet and the afore-mentioned Choice TV package).

I don't know exactly what the monthly charge is for the Choice package itself, but I am reasonably sure it is far less than what I would pay if I were renting a box. I would use a TV antenna and cut the cord entirely, but there are reception issues in my area that preclude me from taking that option, namely, I cannot get two important network affiliates OTA because of my location and because both stations transmit on VHF DTV channels that do not reach my area, a small town some 40-45 miles from the TV transmitters.

BTW, Spectrum (TW) and every other US cable operator have ended analog cable, switching to 100 percent digital (encrypted QAM) service. The only way anyone can get cable service from any US cable company these days is by renting a cable box--there are no exceptions whatsoever. This has also put an end to recording TV shows off the air with a VCR, although some services such as Hulu and Youtube TV offer what they call a "cloud DVR", which will allow subscribers to record TV shows for later viewing even if they do not have a standard DVR.