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

[wayner92]

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***

[LordDrakkon]

Put them out with the trash.

[Pauly]

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

[-G-]

@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.

[wayner92]

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?

[-G-]

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@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?

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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.

[VivienM]

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?

[57]

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@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?

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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

[Pauly]

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? 

[57]

@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.

[VivienM]

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.

[Pauly]

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.

[VivienM]

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...

[57]

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@VivienM wrote:

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

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

[Pauly]

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?