Are cable converters legal? YES! cable converters are legal. If your cable TV company can possess & rent the box to you then you can own the cable box yourself. An example in time would be when company rented telephones to consumers. The federal government directed that it was legal for consumers to own their own phone. Now you wouldn’t consider buying only from company. The cable TV industry is in its early stages is relative to this development. It is legal for you to purchase and it is legal for you to own. When you buy a cable box it is your responsibility to inform the cable TV company that you are accessing their signal. It is illegal to receive their transmission without paying for it.

8. What is an addressable cable converter-descrambler? This is a converter-descrambler that can be controlled by the cable company from their office location. Through remote coded messages sent via the cable system, the cable company can "address" the customers’ unit to begin descrambling selected premium or pay per view channels. An addressable unit allows the cable company to access your cable box to change the descrambling configuration or program. This function provides the cable company the ability to add or delete descrambling on the channels that come in through your cable line. A non-addressable unit does not provide the cable company access to the cable box program. The program remains stationary and is unchangeable. Both cable box designs have the potential of receiving all channels, none or somewhere in between dependent on the box program.

This holds true even if your cable box is purchased as a non-addressable non-detectable, and "bullet proof" unit. 2. Are all cable converters alike? No. Prices can range from $15 to $400 depending on the quality and amount of features included in the equipment. Some companies offer to sell you a description of how you can build (implied), with only 7 parts from radio shack, a converter. Some sell old converters that are barely in date and likely to be replaced by the cable companies by higher technological grades of equipment Some cable box sellers provide systems that hardly provide any benefit to the purchaser where the quality of reception is poor, without recourse. State-of-the-art cable box companies will provide the most recent technology in a variety of packages tailored to fit the customer’s budget.