Government Launches TV Converter Box Coupon Website
The U.S. government, in its infinite wisdom, has launched a website that allows you to apply for a "converter box" coupon so that your analog-only TV will work after the digital transition.
We'd love to tell you more about the website, but we can't get most of it to load, and neither could the reader who told us about it.
We're also not sure how people without internet access are supposed to apply. If any of you manage to get the website to work, you can post your thoughts about it in the comments. We're going to stop clicking and go make some coffee.
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Comments:
I got it to work with no problems, under Firefox even.
After submitting, I got the following contact information:
If you have any questions, you may call the Toll-Free Consumer Support Hotline
at 1-888-DTV-2009 (1-888-388-2009), 1-877-530-2634 (TTY), or write to us at:
TV Converter Box Coupon Program
PO Box 2000
Portland, OR 97208-2000
It worked fine for me. Apply for the coupon, print out an application verification and you're done. They said the coupons likely won't be out until late Feb./early March.
Worked for me. I applied for my parents, who don't have a computer.
This is great news. I've been waiting for the day the government would use tax dollars to subsidize TV viewing, predicated on dumb legislation that mandates the quality of the signal received.
@fluiddruid: What's your secret? After reading your comment I tried again. Throbber's spinning again. I also don't have a TTY, but thanks for the number.
@theWolf:
Ah, wouldn't it be nice if you actually knew what you were talking about. The reason for the set top boxes has has nothing to do with picture quality, it's all about efficient use of scarce wireless spectrum. The gov't will spend about $1.5BN on set top box subsidies. It will take in about $12-15BN by reselling the now vacant spectrum formally used for analog television. Net profit to the US taxpayer: $10BN plus.
No idea what the secret is. I had no problem with the site at all using the current version of Firefox. It was even quick, too... but I'm on a T1.
@theWolf: This is great news. The government mandates that we move forward into the future and ditch obsolete technology and also acts to ensure that those of us who can't afford to upgrade what we have can get help to make sure we can use the new technology at minimal cost.
What do you have against mandating the non-use of old, obsolete technology and also helping people ensure that they don't have to spend thousands of dollars to deal with the switch? I mean, it's not like people might need to see emergency information like tornado warnings or evacuation orders or anything...
"We're also not sure how people without internet access are supposed to apply."
I figured the phone number in the picture seemed pretty obvious...
Seems to be loading for me now. Check it out!
Yeah it was down for me with both Firefox and IE when I first tried at around 8 AM yesterday morning, but sometime in the afternoon it started working again and I was able to enter my information.
So I'm guessing that the day after the tuners and government issued coupons hit the streets we'll see a boatload of digital tuners on Ebay.
@Klink: You beat me to it. White text on a red background is exactly the most eye-popping...
I had a bit of trouble this morning when I tried to get my coupon, but I think it was just a flooded server. It's only (in theory) the second day these coupons were available. Although there is no link to the site on the FCC's page detailing the program. Well, at least there wasn't one yesterday.
I'm a small government Conservative with a long Libertarian streak, and I even I don't see a problem with this.
This legislation isn't bad at all, it eventually will move America ahead in technology. We are the most technologically advanced country out there, yet the amount of Americans using the technology that we create is pathetically small.
No problems here. It worked just fine!
The bad part is that the coupons expire 90 days from when they issue them to you. So if the first boxes come in March and they issue the coupons to you in March, you have 90 days to buy them. I would prefer that the coupons didn't expire and I could use it when I needed to. Actually the only way I would buy one is if the coupon price is the same as the converter box price- which they aren't expected to be at the start. I get cable, so these are useless to me anyway.
All I can see out of this is converter prices will be $40 and up. Whatever price drops there could be, won't happen until the coupon program ends.
Don't you just love government price fixing?
It's been pointed out at Slashdot, that the coupon expires in 90 days. I'm not sure if it's 90 days after you receive the coupon, or 90 days after the digital switch. And apparently, only certain converter boxes are eligible for the voucher.
Also, I have to agree with the "Sad" tag for this story. The government is gonna make a huge amount of money selling off the analog spectrum. The LEAST they can do is provide the converter boxes for free.
I used the site Tuesday evening with Firefox and had no problems whatsoever. You were asked a question as to whether you had "paid" TV subscriptions or only antenna and I'm wondering if this affects how the requests will be prioritized. We shall see . . . .
We are all losing the point of why this all happened. It's not about mandating quality of signal. It's about freeing up the finite amount of electromagnetic spectrum. Our radio spectrum is full. You cannot create new frequencies when a business or police department or city works department needs to put new two-way radios in their cars... or when people demand non-licensed wireless equipment for their personal use.
Digital TV signals take up much less space than the analog signals, and provide better quality. By squeezing the TV broadcast signals into a smaller space, it frees up all sorts of radio spectrum for more two-way radio, wireless data, or even more cellphone spectrum. Not all of the freed-up bandwidth will work for cell phone and data, but some of it at the top will.
The TV broadcasts are an old technology and haven't changed since TV was invented in the 1930s-1940s. For the most part, a TV built then would work now relatively well (except for the UHF channels, perhaps) and a TV built now would have worked back then. And, in reality, the bandwidth for a TV signal is waaaay inneficient compared to modern digital TV signals.
Think of it this way for those of you who love your precious CFL light bulbs and love how the government has mandated the end of the Edison incandescents. Yeah, you're saving energy. Digital TV is nothing but the government doing the same thing, but you are now saving electromagnetic spectrum.
I'm really surprised to see so many people require the converter box... Humph. For the time between ditching cable and signing up for DirecTV (about 2 years), I felt as if I was the only person in the US that was receiving broadcast TV... I really don't remember talking to anyone else that did NOT have a cable/satellite feed.
@Peeved Guy: I think I read somewhere once that something like 70% of people have cable/satellite. But that's still 30% of the population that doesn't. And what about those like my parents, who have cable on most TVs but have a set or two where there's no cable feed, such as in the kitchen? (there's a small TV there for the news and the like, or for taking to the basement if the tornado sirens start up).
@Peeved Guy: My parents have cable on their big TVs, but also have a couple of small TVs at their house that aren't hooked up to cable, in their kitchen and computer room. (I've spent the last ten years watching way less cable than my peers because I could only get broadcast stations while on the computer. And now that I've moved out I still constantly forget that I'm not limited to the networks.)
They must not have expected this kind of demand for their site.
My wife just happened to show me an article saying this site would start offering these coupons on 1/1, and it just happened to be early morning hours of 1/1 at the time with me at the computer.
I logged in and applied for my coupon with no problems at all, site loaded fine. I imagine I hit it before the rush.
@Buran:
@Propaniac:
Ah... I hadn't considered the old "spare room/kitchen TV" angle.
Still, the 30% figure still seems (to me) that it would not make the lawmakers offer a subsidized alternative to cable/satellite.
I'm happy that it's being done, however. I was concerned about the switch a few years ago because at the time we didn't want to pay for cable, so the required expense of a converter or new TV seemed a bit draconian to me.
site worked fine for me in safari, firefox, and i.e. pretty useless for me as i won't have any analog tvs anymore by the time this happens.
seems to be working fine right now....i will get one "just in case" something happens with my cable.
I hit the site this morning; no problems. I wanted to get ahold of a PDF version of the application, so that I could fax it to my father, but the only application on the site was the on-line app. At the same time, the NTIA or FCC (can't remember which right at the second) had applications on their site, but had the word "SAMPLE" watermarked across them. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!?
@Peeved Guy: Supposedly its closer to 14%.
The first 22 million vouchers are for any reason, like the spare set. After that you can still get them but my understanding is that you'll have to show that you only recieve it OTA. It isn't suposed to be about subsidizing an alternative, it was designed for those few million people out there that can only recieve OTA signals.
Signed up, but the site was a bit slow due to the high traffic. Unlike some people, I don't have cable and don't need it. In fact I don't really watch a lot of TV and just about any show is up on BT. So why should I bother?
"Still, the 30% figure still seems (to me) that it would not make the lawmakers offer a subsidized alternative to cable/satellite."
For the 70% of people who can afford to spend $40 a MONTH on cable, the subsidy probably doesn't make much of a difference.
It is exactly the 30% of people who choose not to spend that sort of money on TV for whom this switch would be most hurtful.
I'm sure the conversation went like this:
Congressman A: We should mandate that everyone switch to DTV in order to speed the switchover, free up spectrum for more innovate uses, and get a boatload of money to use on government projects.
Congressman B: But what about my poor constituents who can't afford a new tv?
Congressman A: Whatever. We'll give them a free box to convert it and we'll still make boatloads of money.
(but later people noted that if we give coupons which make them "free" the manufacturers will set prices at artificially high rates and take the profit for themselves, so they made the coupons for a price they thought would be reasonable.)
It worked fine for me but now that I learned about the 90 day time limit on the coupons I'm kinda wishing I had held off on submitting my information.
I was able to complete the offer, are the boxes going to be free or not?
Its a little ambigious on what to expect.
Hmmm. Worked for me just fine.
Don't buy any converters until you call your cable company. More than likely you'll never need one. This is a huge scam
It's not a scam, but what happens if youcan only get your TV from either Cable, or Sat.? I smell a rate hike, like there haven't been many already.
I don't have cable. I don't watch much tv at all, and what shows I do want to watch, occasionally, can be found online. Therefore, this box program will be great for us!
Question, though - are any converter boxes actually available? I notice the 90 day thing - will they be out before then?
Yeah, definitely a scam. I saw another one just like it: my local auto parts store sells headlight bulbs for 97 Chevy F-150s, even though NOT EVERYONE OWNS A 97 F-150! Total scam. /sarcasm
It's like any product: if you don't need it, don't buy it.
What happens to all the handheld and portable TVs on the market? Are they all now functionally useless (with no alternative)?
Works -- but what's up with that 90-day issue? Great, now I have to go buy one of the early versions to get the discount... or wait another year for the prices to drop.
I ordered my coupons early this am. Be warned! Tehy expire 90 days after issued. And they dont tell you this until AFTER you order them (at least over the phone that is).... so I will have to buy a box in a few months. Sadly.... they are likely to be gigantic.
So you might want to wait before ordering your coupon.... so that the converter box manufacturers have a chance to slim down the converter box to make it more appealing.
Sadly.... i will probably have to get one the size of a VCR! :(
Apparently, even if you have cable TV without a converter, it is supposed to stop working after a certain amount of time (which = a monthly rental on a digital cable box for every TV)
@catnapped: Handhelds and portables are going to be doorstops (or I guess paper weights). The scam here is being perpetrated by the box manufacturers. People expect the boxes to cost $50-$70 while the coupons are valid, with a market price approximately ..... wait for it ..... $40 lower once the coupons expire. The government is lining the pockets of the manufacturers.
You can always use one as a monitor for a security camera. Or use them as a monitor for digital cameras (for people who use digital cameras attached to telescopes so they can make sure the picture they are taking is in focus... because most dig. camera's LCD screens are tiny).
I have an old casio portable that I love that will prettymuch be useless to me after the switchover. :(
@catnapped: Yup, unless you can hang one of these converter boxes onto it via an external antenna input.
@MBZ321: this is supposed to be up to the individual cable companies. The signals coming over your coax are not subject to the switchover, only broadcast.
For the immediate future, my inside source at Comcast tells me that they will continue to downconvert the digital broadcasts to analog cable at the head-ends.
I've been trying to claim my coupon since yesterday and claim my parents'.
The site wouldn't process the request and spew just a standard error message yesterday.
Today, the Firefox throbber just spins endlessly.
I think their scheme is "save money by refusing to let people actually get a request to go through".
Unacceptable.
The local paper does say you can also call 1-888-388-2009 but I'm hard of hearing, so I don't want to have to use the phone if there is a written alternative, and isn't the government required to provide "accessible" services, like the website/phone combo? Except, it's not accessible if the written-only portion doesn't work!