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What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

wayner92
I'm a senior contributor

I have about a dozen old digital cable boxes - SA3200, SAS3250HD, SA4250HD, SA8300HD and some Nextbox boxes.  I own all of these boxes - none were rented from Rogers.  Several of these boxes will be deactivated on April 30, and the others can no longer be added to a Rogers account so there is no point giving or selling them to anyone.

Should I just put these out on garbage day to be collected as part of the city of Toronto's Electronic Waste program?

Is there any point in taking them back to Rogers? 

 

 

 

***Edited Labels***

22 REPLIES 22

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

LordDrakkon
I'm an advisor
Put them out with the trash.

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

Pauly
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

OR instead of putting them out in the trash, you can think of the environment, and drop them off at any place that accepts e-waste for recycling. Lots of places are willing to accept old digital boxes, and divert them from ending up in the landfill

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

-G-
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

@wayner92 Per the FAQ, "I’ve replaced my TV box. What should I do with the older one? ", you can put your old STBs in a box and send them back to Rogers at no charge.

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

wayner92
I'm a senior contributor

I could send/take them back to Rogers but is there any point?  They won't be reused - what's the difference between putting the boxes out for electronic recycling with the city and taking them back to Rogers?

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

-G-
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

@wayner92 wrote:

I could send/take them back to Rogers but is there any point?  They won't be reused - what's the difference between putting the boxes out for electronic recycling with the city and taking them back to Rogers?


Since you own the boxes, Rogers shouldn't care whether or not you return them or what you choose to do with them.  However, if there is a system glitch on their side and some system says that you need to return one of your boxes, then what?  Rogers will also have a proper e-waste management plan for the old set-top boxes.  I would send the boxes to Rogers for disposal... but that's just my opinion.

 

I'll tag @CommunityHelps and ask for their input.

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

VivienM
I'm an advisor

I have the same question because I have five owned boxes sitting on my living room floor. All the newer models that are not in the April 30 list, I might add. Just trying to figure out if it makes any sense to find them a new home vs returning them to Rogers.

 

Is it confirmed that an existing Rogers legacy digital cable customer cannot activate those? e.g. if someone currently has an 8642 on an active account, they couldn't replace it with my 4K PVR?

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

57
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

@VivienM wrote:

Is it confirmed that an existing Rogers legacy digital cable customer cannot activate those? e.g. if someone currently has an 8642 on an active account, they couldn't replace it with my 4K PVR?


According to the following, "Note: These boxes cannot be re-activated or moved from one account to another."

 

https://www.rogers.com/support/digital-cable/digital-tv-box-retirement

 

It seems to imply it's for those boxes in the list, however, I believe Rogers will no longer activate any boxes moved.  You'd have to confirm with Rogers, but since all legacy digital will eventually be phased out, it may not be worth the trouble, even if you could.

 

There's also a link at the bottom of that webpage for returns - even owned boxes:

 

https://www.rogers.com/support/billing-accounts/returning-rental-equipment

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

Pauly
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

I can certainly understand some people may have the opinion "I paid for these boxes and own them, why should i return them to rogers"  I get it, you have a valid point.   You ARE allowed to keep them, but also people with that opinion should also remember that the boxes are also discontinued and can no longer be used after a certain point, which has came and passed.  These boxes are essentially paper weights.  You can certainly do as you please with them, however I am against being of hoarder and want to reduce electronic clutter as best as possible.

 

If you have something which is OBSOLETE, not working, will not work, will not ever be reactivated, why not let them handle the removal and safe disposal of it and avoid hoarding useless unwanted electronics? 

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

57
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

@VivienM (and others). There are numerous options outlined in this thread for owned boxes:

 

- "Return" them to Rogers per my previous link.

- Take them to an e-waste site when you're going with other e-stuff you've amassed.

- Call a nearby Rogers store to see if they'll take them (usually not, so get the employee name if they say yes).

- If you live in a house, put them at the curb on a nice day. It's amazing how quickly some stuff disappears from there.

- You can check with Rogers to see if another customer can use them, but the answer is likely to be no and it won't be for long with the end of legacy digital cable around the corner anyway.

- Please do not put it in the garbage.

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

VivienM
I'm an advisor

I agree with all of the above - my question was much simpler, i.e. is there any hope of someone else (an existing customer obviously) being able to use these things, if only for 6-12 months or however long legacy digital cable TV stays around?

 

If the answer to that question is "no" or "spend 30 minutes on the phone to try and find out", then I completely agree that returning them to Rogers is the most reasonable thing to do.

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

Pauly
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

When Rogers announces a discontinue of one of their services, it also typically means the equipment can not be reactivated for someone else, discontinued means discontinued for everyone, not just you. they  want to shut down their legacy digital cable as quickly as possible, so that usually means can't be reactivated for anyone else.  They want people off this platform, they  want people onto ignite.

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

VivienM
I'm an advisor

Yes and no. They stopped taking new signups for legacy digital cable years ago but they certainly allowed existing customers to swap their boxes with second-hand owned ones.

 

Have they actually announced the discontinuation of anything other than the boxes on the discontinued list? It's been foreshadowed for years, sure, but that's a little different. And actually, I switched to Ignite in the fall when the assumption everywhere was that legacy digital cable wouldn't see 2024, and yet... it's still around for boxes other than those on the discontinued list.

 

Anyways, I don't understand the hostile response. All I wanted to know was whether there was any chance that some random person who had one of the boxes on the discontinued list could use one of my not-on-the-discontinued-list boxes before trying to expend any effort trying to find such a person. It seems like no one actually knows the answer but the general expectation is that they would refuse to activate those boxes. And I don't think it makes any sense to advertise these boxes (for $0), try to meet up with people, etc, if there's no reasonable certainty that someone could benefit from them.

 

So now I just need to find a store that will take them...

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

57
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

@VivienM wrote:

...is there any hope of someone else (an existing customer obviously) being able to use these things,


I wouldn't trust the answer today anyway, in case they won't activate in the future to whomever you give your box to...

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

Pauly
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

If you look at the online ads, people have been desperately trying to sell their legacy rogers digital cable boxes for months, if not even more than a year on the online sites where you sell used items, and most have had very little success.  I have even seen people try to offload their digital boxes for FREE and no bites.  Unfortunately, the buy and sell marketplace has been swamped with these boxes and no one is buying them, and even if someone does buy them, im sure thy will encounter a lot of roadblocks trying to get them activated. I'm NOT saying its NOT possible, I am saying maybe someone has the authority to do it but it will probably take arms length to find someone to do it. and what? you get a few months out of it then it stops working due to the powerkey bug?

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

-G-
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

@VivienM wrote:

Have they actually announced the discontinuation of anything other than the boxes on the discontinued list? It's been foreshadowed for years, sure, but that's a little different. And actually, I switched to Ignite in the fall when the assumption everywhere was that legacy digital cable wouldn't see 2024, and yet... it's still around for boxes other than those on the discontinued list.


Not that I have seen.  So far, only the FAQ for the discontinuation of Digital TV packages, the retirement announcement for the old set-top boxes, and a post indicating that in May, 2023, support for legacy services will be very limited going forward.

 

I have not seen any new submissions from Rogers on the CRTC site pertaining to Digital TV's upcoming demise or anything pertaining to legacy Home Phone.

 

Telecom Decision CRTC 2021-385 made it official that as of December 31, 2023, Rogers will no longer allow DOCSIS 3.0 modems to connect to their network.

 

Rogers also made it clear to their investors that they intend to start rolling out DOCSIS 4.0 sometime this year -- that will require them to free up spectrum on their cable plant.  However, they also got thrown a curve ball when Casa Systems went bankrupt last month, and in just three weeks time won't exist as a company anymore.

 

I honestly have no idea what is forcing them to keep the Digital TV service operational.  Contractual commitments?

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

mebe
I'm an advisor
I intend to keep my digital box as a reminder of the past.

Rogers seems to be in no hurry to kill digital tv, but if Rogers soon decides to start removing channels, perhaps down to only the Starter Pack channels, that would be yet another gentle push to help reduce the digital tv subscriber count.

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

Pauly
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

I honestly have no idea what is forcing them to keep the Digital TV service operational.  Contractual commitments?


It could also be customer hesitation,  I remember back in the day when Analog cable was being shut down, lots of people were complaining. there was a lot of push back.

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

Pauly
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

I am against keeping obsolete items,  My family in the past had a tendency to be hoarders and had collected too much useless stuff it got out of hand.  We did a major cleaning up and got rid of ALL of our unwanted and obsolete electronics even the sentimental ones that reminded us of the past.  It's nice to have sentimental items but the way things are going, electronics are becoming obsolete way too fast. To save the planet, its best to dispose of them in an environmentally friendly way so a e-waste facility or electronic recycling collection is the way to go. I do not suggest dumping electronics in the trash

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

Gdkitty
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

@Pauly wrote:

I honestly have no idea what is forcing them to keep the Digital TV service operational.  Contractual commitments?


It could also be customer hesitation,  I remember back in the day when Analog cable was being shut down, lots of people were complaining. there was a lot of push back.


That was crazy.  i was on here for that.

2+ years of them notifying, saying it was disappearing. 

then a rush of people "why was my tv not working/cut off"

Re: What do I do with old digital boxes (in Toronto)?

Pauly
Resident Expert
Resident Expert

My dad had a garage sale, so he found some stuff in the house, guess what one of them was?  yup, an Analog Cable external converter box. My dad was like "someone maybe could use it"  so I told my dad even if you gave it to them for FREE it would not work, time to send it to the e-waste collection bin.  I am not sure how long he has had that sitting in his basement but man that thing was old.  Have old unwanted electronics?  Please Recycle them!

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