(Warning: Rant ahead.)
I have a seven-year-old, perfectly functional TV and VCR. I have been told I need to install an adapter to continue to get cable TV. After its installation, it is no longer possible to record one station with the VCR while watching another. I expressly asked about this three times when I picked the adapter up, and either was assured that wouldn’t be a problem or they didn’t understand the question.
I honestly expected this would be the situation given my experience of the digital television switch with broadcast channels, which is its own ongoing disaster of a story. But I held out hope. I finally got my suspicions confirmed with another phone call. “But you can get a DVR for $22 a month.” Of course I would like to pay more for something I used to be able to do without extra cost or effort, whether that’s recording a TV program without worrying about accidentally changing the channel, or watching a football game at 11 AM on Saturday in September.
Fortunately, Mediacom allows for more than one adapter, and there is at least one guide out there for how to use a two-adapter system. “Sounds like an awful lot of work,” another tech told me when I asked if such a solution was feasible. It wasn’t a lot of work in 1986.
Mediacom has also been intentionally vague about when the analog cable will actually be cut. If you look at the FAQ to find out “when,” the answer is, “Now. The conversion is currently taking place.”
I also am no longer able to eliminate channels I don’t want from the lineup.
I’m not too worry about the situation because I have a device to let me watch TV on my computer, but I won’t know if that will also be rendered inoperative until it happens.
Ironically, the same day this was going on, I missed out on a package delivery because I do not have a landline.
Finally, while I’m going full Andy Rooney: Remember when it didn’t use to cost six bucks to eat a “value meal” at Burger King?
UPDATE FEB. 17: My feelings on age, right here.