Rogers email about decommissioning cable boxes

[wayner92]

I am still on legacy cable in Scarborough, ON.  I just got an email from Rogers that said:  "Your account shows that your current TV Box with a model number starting either with SA or PA will be decommissioned as of April 30, 2024."

Does anyone know what is behind this?  I have quite a few cable boxes of various types - SA3250HDs, SA4250HDs, SA8300HDs, etc.

Are they totally getting rid of legacy cable in my area?  Or just decommisioning some boxes?

*Added Labels*

[ostrich2]

@-G- Only a tiny, TINY minority of Rogers customers have fibre Internet. Whoever told you that this was a requirement for Ignite TV was misinformed. (My parents subscribe to Ignite TV, have multiple set-top boxes, and only have a 150 Mbps cable Internet service. They use a standard, Rogers-supplied and supported configuration, no third-party equipment, and it works great.). Rogers won't let you purchase Ignite TV (with or without Internet) if they cannot deliver a suitable Internet service to your home.

Right - I wasn't assuming that IgniteTV required fibre,  but my assumption was that Ignite internet was fibre based.  I suspect from your comment and the others that I may have an incorrect assumption in terms of how the services associated with IgniteTV work with respect to your type of internet.   The picture I had was something like:

IgniteTV --> using regular digital cable internet --> standard coax --> existing cable modem/router that IgniteTV devices and your other existing devices associate with,  IgniteTV just becomes another type of client using your cable internet connection

IgniteTV --> using Ignite internet --> fibre based infrastructure connection only --> Ignite TV services and your other internet devices interface with Ignite internet router and cable modem

I gather this picture is probably incorrect. It sounds then like normally if you're using IgniteTV,  you would also normally use Ignite internet setup, even in the standard digital cable/coax case? And the Ignite modem/hub completely replaces your existing digital cable modem and acts as your wireless router for all your other general devices accessing the external internet (you generally wouldn't use your own router in this config)? 

 So the IgniteTV set top boxes connect to the router you end up using (can be by WiFi or direct ethernet connection),  and then your TV connects to the set top box via HMDI - that's no problem, I have two TVs, they both have standard HDMI connections. 

 Does this sound correct? 

[-G-]

@ostrich2 Yes, that's pretty much it.  I'll clarify further.

From a technical perspective, there is no difference between legacy Rogers (cable) Internet and "Ignite" (cable) Internet.  You get a different cable modem but the underlying technology is the same; it is still DOCSIS (cable) Internet.  Rogers may call Ignite Internet "Fibre-powered Internet" but it is no more "fibre-powered" than the cable Internet service that we have all had for years.

With Fibre to the Home Internet, the underlying technology is XGS-PON.  The bits for your Internet service flow into your home over a fibre optic connection rather than over coaxial cable, but Internet is Internet; the underlying network protocol is still TCP/IP.

Ignite TV is an IPTV service -- TV channels get streamed over your Internet connection.  You tune to a TV channel (as you would with any TV service) with your remote control and the program airing on that channel gets streamed to your set-top box, similar to how a Netflix movie gets streamed to your computer or media player.  The Ignite TV set-top box doesn't know or care whether you get your Internet service over coax cable or fibre, or over a string between two tin cans.  When my parents had a multi-day cable Internet outage in their neighbourhood, I set up a Wi-Fi hotspot on my iPhone and connected their Ignite set-top box to my phone so that my mum could watch her favourite programs in the evening.

[Mar12]

I wonder if they’ll just keep charging the bill as they have done in the past. In Ontario currently 148$ for int and cable, with old copper cable wires …. That have been here for 40 years….