Recommendation for the digital converter box: Digital Stream

This goes in the category of things to save some money and simplify life...

Rabbit ears for your TV are nearing obsolesence. So because we rely on broadcast TV, not cable, we had to hop on the bandwagon and order our special digital converter box. You get a $40 voucher to buy one of these things... a box that brings your rabbit ears into the new millenium. After some research we ended up with the $60 Digital Stream converter from Radio Shack. So we paid $20 out of pocket in the end.

We were pretty skeptical before receiving it, assuming somehow there'd be something in the whole changeover for the cable companies and expecting the worst for our signal. Instead, we now have crystal clear broadcast reception of all the local networks, 3 PBS stations, innumerable foreign language and worship channels and even a weather and traffic station. Of course we still couldn't find anything to watch - the two finalists for our inagural viewing tonight were COPS and Antique Roadshow.

But just wanted to put in a plug for anyone who has basic cable and doesn't really use it. This new converter box might be more than enough and it's a single $20 pay out rather than monthly charges. Every house is eligible for up to 2 $40 vouchers.

Telecommunications industry side note: my husband and I were talking about this recent news that AT&T has lost 10% of its landline customers in the past year. It's amazing how this confirms that in the past few years cell phones went from the luxury item to landlines being the luxury item. That's the service people are shedding in hard economic times. For what it's worth the girls definitely seem to make cell phones their go to pretend phone item... "open it" "close it" they say when they hold up a Lego to use as a phone.