Time Warner Cable - Can you get/use a cable box other than theirs and prevent the $7/mo fee?

Question

Are there cable boxes available that are compatible with Time Warner Cable service to allow me access to all of the channels and features provided by Time Warner, but will allow me to access these features without having to pay the $7.00 per month rental fee?

If so, any recommendations on where to purchase these?

Answer 1

The short answer is that you may be better off paying for a bit longer and wait for some standards to be adopted. The long answer includes various info. The TWC (local to me anyway) flip flopped under pressure and now will support the latest TIVO box. Some high end HDTV TVs will work, but it depends on what channels are scrambled by your local provider and what modulation your set can adjust to. A lot of people see 158 channels instead of the full slate for some really tweaky technical reasons. Getting the bottom 125 channels tuned analog is fairly easy; lots of sets and VCRs do that (some limit at 100, older ones 40) but analog signlas will supposedly go away before all that long. The announcement you are breathlessly waiting for is support for the DVB. Here is a wiki article about that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVB
However, notice that there still may be encription and you still might have to get something from your provider (it might just be a descrambler card that looks like a credit card).

Answer 2

My boxes are 7.95 per month and I'm going with Direct TV now.
Can get a lot more channels (250 Premier) and it's free installation and free boxes plus the promotion they have going on with free ipod and DVD player and rebates to knock another $10 off the monthly bill. Plus, I will be paying about $50.00 less per month. Go figure. (They have a way of checking which programs you watch the most and then they jack the price up on those, i.e. Sundance and Independent film channel.) That is what happened to me. Their service people are vague like they don't know what is going on because they don't. In essence, everything to get or don't get from them will cost you. If you are a long-time customer, they thank you by jacking up your costs.

Finally to answer your question, no there are not. Just thought I would offer you alternative.

Also, direct TV offers thethe cool satellite radio service which is included free of charge with most packages, too. I'd say they have it going on!