I was following a little lost puppy....

[Isomorphic]

Hrmmm,

http://www.samsung.com/Products/Hom...x/HomeGateway_CableSettopbox_SMT_H3050TWC.asp

So. Was there a pallet of shrink-wrapped PVRs next to this mythical pallet?

 

[Khandurian]

There are always pallets of shrink wrapped PVR's. However, they were the SA8300's and SA8300HD's.

 

[iceturkee]

i'm reading elsewhere that some bhn techs are beta testing this samsung hd receiver. SMT-H3050

 

[stevenl]

Yes employees have them already. /me enjoys his new box. its not DVR though just hd

 

[casper04]

yea they offered to me... but it was a pain in the rear testing pivot.. so i declined

 

[stevenl]

Ya they really screwed that up didnt they? and have you seen the price plans? Who in their right mind would buy that hunk of crap. With so many other cellular options. Even at employee pricing I wouldnt buy it and still get a better Cell deal at T-Mobile

 

[iceturkee]

are we talking cell phones or hd boxes?

 

[Khandurian]

looks like both!

 

[stevenl]

"pivot" is the name of the joint venture cell company just fyi.

 

[iceturkee]

yup, i had a brain fart there. so you know more about this steve? wanna share with the other kids in class?

 

[stevenl]

Yes what I do know is I think its a hunk of crap. I mean not the service itself Its sprint and sprint has a decent network and all that, but the pricing plan is just crap, dont expect anything worth changeing your cell plan over happen anytime soon. The neat features I Was looking forward to like programming your dvr from the phone and the "base" to let you take your number with you anywhere you go isnt even being launched yet so its kinda pointless for me to get. Plus its to expensive. The TV service alone is like 20bucks a month or somthing. I see it as a wasted effort, and think BHN and the other joint venture partners are just scratching at the surface, if they truely want to push the cell business they need to buy their own company and make it unique otherwise theirs no selling point.

 

[jcarrera]

Very few people are going to go for it unless it is significantly cheaper than their current cell cost--even if it has additional features.

Just my opinion.

But I am not surprised. BHN prices everything outrageously until they have competition They just don't yet realize they already HAVE competition in the cell area..

 

[Isomorphic]

Can I hijack back the thread for a moment , and ask if BHN is going to outright sell SMT-H3050s, or will there be some silly monthly CableCard fee attached to them? And if so, what is the point?

 

[stevenl]

Id assume they will be offering them for sell. and of course with that you will more then likely need to rent the cable card like they currently do, for 1.99/month Unless of course the "Card" is something less complicated and cheaper then the one they currently have perhaps just a little chip like satellite uses, then maybe if its not to expensive to buy them offer it free im sure.

 

[iceturkee]

actually, i believe the new price of the card is 3.99. it changed in march.

 

[stevenl]

What a rip DOnt even get on-demand. But im assumeing its includeing the "digital Tier" of channels in the new price, so 3.99 for an extra 50+ channels isnt a bad price,

 

[jcarrera]

actually, i believe the new price of the card is 3.99. it changed in march.

Typical of BHN in a no competition environment. That will recover their cost of the card in about 3 months.. The life of the re-usable card is years.

 

[stevenl]

3.99 x 3 = 11.97 ? Thats a cheap card. Not to mention the cost of the programming of the extra 50+ channels you get. Nor the cost of the technolgy needed to make the card work, nor the extra up keeps of running the network and software and such for the card. Unlesam Requires the cable companies to add these cards, but its all "at the cable companies dime" uncle sam isnt paying for it.

 

[Isomorphic]

If I buy the card as part of some STB, then a "card fee" is nothing more than disingenuous profit-taking. Just raise the cost of the digital tier and eliminate the fees... It's not like you can access the tier without the equipment. It reminds me of Ma Bell charging us to rent telephones.

It's easy to point out their hypocrisy when you consider that they don't charge for a cable modem, or for the digital phone modem. It's included in the service.

 

[Khandurian]

I do not "think" you will be able to buy the card. I am told the boxes you will be able to buy at Best Buy, Circuit City, etc. etc.

However, to activate the digital tier sections, you will have to rent the card from BHN at the $3.99 price a month.

I was informed that all the boxes will have no cards in them, and you will need to rent the card from your provider.