it's three cords.
power in, antenna in, box out to telly.
not exactly rocket science.
but hey, they can't afford to eat so they might as well watch telly, huh?
Government helping pensioners by installing Digital Boxes
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it's three cords.
power in, antenna in, box out to telly.
not exactly rocket science.
but hey, they can't afford to eat so they might as well watch telly, huh?
Out of curiosity, don't some of the newer playstation type consoles also double as HD tv receivers? It'd be amusing to see half the pensioner population addicted to World of Warcraft or something, beating each other with brooms because they screwed up a team attack 
Yeah, on reflection you're right Cupcakes... a set top box is far more important than 3 square meals a day and access to proper health services or palliative care...
My apologies for being stuck here on planet earth in the real world....
Are they taking away old people's pensions and giving them settop boxes instead ?
Because most of us have no idea about these isolated / expception areas and thought it was happening later on from what we've heard.
I think the entire of SA outside Adelaide that switched last year. There's a schedule online somewhere, all the first areas are regional ones. Mildura was the very first region to turn off, almost a year ago now.
http://www.digitalready.gov.au/when-do-i-switch.aspx
All the metro areas are 2013, by the looks of it.
Was kind of hard to miss, there were adverts on tv practically every ad break about it for almost a year in advance, got worse as the switch off got closer.
Nonsense. There are loads of elderly people who would struggle with connecting a stb themselves and getting it up and running. For some of them, even getting down on the floor and round the back of TV to plug it in would be impossible. My elderly neighbours are Greek - as are many of the people where I live. When Helen got a new microwave last month I was called in twice to explain how it worked and write down some instructions. I didn't mind because she feeds me several times a week, but when she gets a stb I might have to camp in her loungeroom for a week and watch Greek TV till they get the hang of it.
Hard to miss or not, I was just suggesting a possible reason for people missing it as you pointed out we had.
I had no idea of what you explained above, except that not too far away, analogue is geting the chop.
Perhaps I was alone, but judging by the posts on the thread as youv'e said.....
I did say that I would have thought family would be doing it for the majority that couldn't do it themselves.
Imagine you're an elderly widow/widower and your family has moved interstate or overseas. You recently lost your license and you're alone most of the time. TV, radio, newspapers and the odd telephone conversation are literally going to be your only connection to the outside world in that situation!
Even elderly people with strong ties to family and community feel lonely and isolated at times – I’ve definitely noticed this in my own grandparents. I can’t imagine what it’s like for the ones who are a little worse off than them.
At the end of the day it’s the pensioners without family to install the set top boxes who actually rely on television for company the most. It would be a big disaster if we didn't have a program like this!
I'm pretty sure in the US vouchers were given to pensioners and they were expected to install the boxes themselves. It ended up causing massive problems for them.
Even elderly people with strong ties to family and community feel lonely and isolated at times – I’ve definitely noticed this in my own grandparents. I can’t imagine what it’s like for the ones who are a little worse off than them.
At the end of the day it’s the pensioners without family to install the set top boxes who actually rely on television for company the most. It would be a big disaster if we didn't have a program like this!
I'm pretty sure in the US vouchers were given to pensioners and they were expected to install the boxes themselves. It ended up causing massive problems for them.
No doubt there would be a few that have mild dementia and/or don't understand simple instruction, and/or are physically unable to plug in a system, AND have no family close by to connect them on.
What I'd like to know is how they identify who needs this 'service' at the extra cost of $300, or is it allocated to all regardless of whether it's legitimately needed and used, or not.
If that's the case and people/companies are pocketing money for doing nothing, then it'll be a huge mismanagement and waste of public funds.
What I'd like to know is how they identify who needs this 'service' at the extra cost of $300, or is it allocated to all regardless of whether it's legitimately needed and used, or not.
If that's the case and people/companies are pocketing money for doing nothing, then it'll be a huge mismanagement and waste of public funds.
Umm...$300?
I think $100 an hour is a fairly decent wage, given that's an extreme example
You're right once again OA.
Cynical me, had visions of good neighbours like Depreciator and dutiful children like myself doing the 'service', and Acme STB Installations getting the $300.
A digital antenna is the same as an analogue one. It just depends which area you are in, as to whether UHF or VHF is used.
and this is the case in point about supplying a stb rather than a new tv.
my recently deceased m-in-law had moderate dementia. we gave them a stb for christmas 18 months ago. for the following 12 months she could not cope with having a different remote than that of the tv and stubbornly insisted on watching the snowy, channel-few analogue tv.
people with dementia (even mild) do not cope with change at all - to install a stb and expect them to cope is unrealistic.
a new tv, with on remote and channels programmed to the channels they are used to pushing on their old remote (cannot program channels to certain numbers on the stb remote) would make much more sense for those pensioners.
What I would like to see is a government that operates like a good business
The government is spending our money and it should be spent wisely
ALP track record has been poor and I dont want to see the same repetative
rorts that went on in the past
Pensioners need to be able to watch TV when analoge is switched off
So it would be good to appoint a smart labour minister to delegate this
I think a lot of people on this forum could easily work out a good plan that
would end up with a win for pensioners and a win for taxpayers
Senior
The government is spending our money and it should be spent wisely
ALP track record has been poor and I dont want to see the same repetative
rorts that went on in the past
Pensioners need to be able to watch TV when analoge is switched off
So it would be good to appoint a smart labour minister to delegate this
I think a lot of people on this forum could easily work out a good plan that
would end up with a win for pensioners and a win for taxpayers
Senior
This will be another failure for sure. All things the labor party touches turns to disaster.
It is not that it is a bad idea, the management is what will be bad. A few crooks will make a lot of money from it.
I wonder how long until the NBN will be obsolete, if it isn't already. Wireless is pretty damn good atm.
It is not that it is a bad idea, the management is what will be bad. A few crooks will make a lot of money from it.
I wonder how long until the NBN will be obsolete, if it isn't already. Wireless is pretty damn good atm.
so you would only charge for the 100km to get there, but not the 100 to get back? and spend potentially 3 hours on the road plus at least an hour there for the sake of 150 bucks? fair enough. i would simply refuse such job and suggest they look elsewhere as this doesn't cover my time to get there.
you forget that $350 was an average figure, and for some households installing set top box would include running new cables, installing new antenna etc....
but I totally agree, if places like Harvey Norman can provide the service of the same nature and quality for the money they claim they can and to ALL people who require it, then they should be given this job to do.
i can bet you that no person on this forum would be able to devise a plan that would have no one on this forum whinge about it
