August 2, 2001
CABLE TV QUESTIONS
1. Must I have a cable (converter) box if I only have Basic Service? If you have a "cable-ready" TV and do not want to be able to order pay-per-view movies or have any premium channels, a converter box is not necessary. As of July 1st the converter box costs $1.85 per month to rent for Basic Service customers.
2. Must I have a cable (converter) box if I have Standard Cable (Basic Service and Expanded Basic Service)? This level of service does not require a converter box rental either. One must have a "cable ready" TV, and then you can see all the programming offered at this level without a AT&T Broadband converter box. Again it should be said that you are precluded from obtaining premium channels or ordering pay-per-view movies if you do not rent this converter box. As of July 1st this box costs $3.95 per month to rent.
3. Must I pay for NESN even if I do not want it? AT&T Broadband has made a financial arrangement with New England Sports Network so that this channel is part of the Standard Cable TV package. This triggered a price increase of $1.40 for everyone with Standard Cable so the total cost to all with Standard Cable as of July 1st is $37.39 plus taxes, fees and rental cost of converter box and the remote control (totaling $7.46) for a grand total of $44.85.
4. What is the SVC Protection or the Service Protection Plan and do I need it? This Plan costs $1.95 per month and is similar to the option offered by the telephone company. It is designed to "insure" that a repair visit needed to repair wires within your house or apartment (connecting Cable TV service to your television) will not have a cost to you as long as the problem does not call for rewiring within the walls of your home, for example. If your dog chews the wire behind your TV or connections are loose, the service call is free if you have this SVC Protection Plan. Problems outside your building are the responsibility of AT&T Broadband.
This seems to be a costly ($23.40 per year) expense that may never be needed. The chance of something happening to the wire between the wall plug and the TV set, that had been installed by the company originally, are slim to none. Also, any serious "in the wall" wiring problem that could possibly occur might well be the landlord's responsibility if you are a tenant. In a large apartment building the building owner or developer might have had the entire building "wired for Cable TV," so the tenants would not have to face the cost of re-wiring bad wires within the walls anyhow.
5. What is Digital Cable TV and do I need this added to my service? Digital Cable TV will not generally improve the quality of the picture you see on your television. Some premium channels such as HBO may broadcast a few of its shows in "digital mode" and the picture could look better. At this point in time and for the next few years virtually all programming is presented in "analog mode" and the picture quality is unaffected by the addition of Digital Cable TV.
The only new feature offered to customers who now have Digital Cable Service is an interactive program guide that is displayed on your TV screen and some additional channels are present. While the monthly rental of this converter box is the same as the regular (analog) converter box ($3.95 per month) you must pay an additional $2.95 per month for most the basic Digital Service package. More costly and elaborate packages are offered to Digital Cable customers when the service representative comes to install the box in your home.
Even if you are called by AT&T Sales people and encouraged to make an appointment for Digital Cable TV to be installed, you are certainly not required to have a company representative come to your home and "upgrade" your system to Digital Cable TV.
6. Senior Discount -- what is it and what do I have to do to get it? For 15 years Cambridge residents over 65 years of age in certain subsidized housing buildings enjoyed a 15% discount off of their Cable TV bill. This was applied to the three levels of basic cable service and in some cases was a discount of over $3.00 per month. The new contract with the City of Cambridge that runs for ten years which started last January 1st, was to give a 10% discount to all seniors in Cambridge regardless of their housing status.
The city is now in dispute with AT&T Broadband over this because on February 1st the company dropped the $16 per month level of service (Basic II) and re-named the remaining two levels. AT&T Broadband now claim that the discount does not apply to the $38.00 level of service (called Standard Cable Service but formally called Expanded Basic Service) but only to the $6.89 Basic Service level (formally Basic I.) This would only give a 69-cent discount to all seniors. This dispute may be only settled through a lawsuit so the outcome is unknown at this time and the $.69 discount is only being applied to seniors.
There is some confusion right now over the procedure to obtain the discount. Some customers have obtained it via a telephone request and others are sent a form to sign and need to offer some documentation to receive the discount. This must get sorted out between the city and the company. If a phone call can do it seniors should make the call (1-888-633-4266), even for the 69-cent discount! If it involves photocopying documentation and mailing a form to AT&T Broadband it does not seem worth the effort until the conflict is resolved and new instructions for senior customers are available.