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Reviews (8)
Nov 07, 2013
Check version of box and with cable company. Works great if supported.
1 of 1 found this helpful Mainly US purchaser info:
There is the 8300HD and then there is the 8300HDC. They look similar, but the front label says which it is. The HDC uses a cablecard and has a cover on the back where it's inserted, the HD does not. Your US cable company is under no legal obligation to allow you to use the HD because it doesn't have a separate cablecard, but they may anyway. Ask before purchasing. They are obligated to allow you to use the HDC but can (and probably will) require you rent their cablecard even if you already have one.
The box contains limited firmware that only does power-on self test and then boots from the internal cable modem. If your cable company doesn't use this family of boxes, there will be no firmware for it to download from their system and it will not work. It has to be connected to the cable of a compatible system when plugged in and it takes a while to download and initialize.
Your cable company may say they can't activate it and that you aren't supposed to be able to buy one. If they use boxes in this family in their system, they CAN activate the HDC (and maybe the HD). The HDC/cablecard combination must be "bound" just like a Tivo, but it won't send the same response and they may think it failed. You will have to wait a while after plugging it in for it to show the Host and CableCard ID's on the TV screen that they need to bind them. The box's host ID is not on any label. Once bound, it should re-boot, but try power cycling if it doesn't. I can't help with the HD, my cable company won't activate them.
As far as owning one, it's more common in Canada. They were even sold at Best Buy from what I've read in online forums. And it's old enough that they are showing up on the US surplus market. So having one does NOT mean it's stolen from a cable company (which they may claim). Of course, it could be a unit rented from a cable company that somebody abandoned in an apartment and somebody else picked up. They can rightly consider that "stolen" and refuse to activate it.
You don't need a tuner adapter, it's built in. That's unusual for a customer-owned box. Once you get far enough that they say they can activate it, they may say you need one, but you don't.
The box is two-way capable and thus capable of pay-per-view. Good luck getting the cable company to activate that. Tivos and other typical customer-owned boxes aren't two-way capable, and they may have no way (at least that they know of) to authorize two-way capability. I'm still working on finding the right person that knows how to do it.
They are rather old. The hard drive may need replacing before long. There are instructions you can find online for replacing it, including upgrading to as large as 500GB. But it's PATA/IDE, not SATA. Any replacement drive is likely going to be used (from eBay!). It MUST have a working internal hard drive, but it can also use an external eSATA one if the firmware supports it, so the internal one can be small. I have a 1 TB external (that's max) and can store a ton of programming.
Being more commonly purchased in Canada, Canadians on compatible systems should have a much better experience getting them activated and can use either model AFAIK. The cablecard is a US FCC requirement.
Bottom line is "Do your homework". Be aware of the limitations and you won't have to beware the consequences. For those who can use them, they work great.
3 stars due to the activation issues and possible incompatibility. 4 once you get past that.
Sep 09, 2016
Great for a keychain drive
If you are like me and carry a USB thumb drive on your keychain, you know that plastic ones just don't last. Well, this guy is going to last. I'm not sure what metal it's made of, but it's not cheap sheet metal. I've been carrying it on my keychain in my pocket with other keys and change for a couple weeks now, and it's not even scratched, much less even slightly bent. The latch makes it go on and off the keychain easily when I want to use it and stay on when I need it to.. It's a decent speed. Only USB 2.0, so not blazing fast, but that's how it's advertised and priced. And, most importantly, it really is the size it says, not one of those foreign rip-off devices that's made to report it's bigger than it really is.
Oct 30, 2011
Not an iPhone, I like that, other's won't
2 of 2 found this helpful Like all Windows Mobile phones, this is aimed more at a businness user than a casual user. In fact, it was originally only available through the AT&T business site or special order from a store.
If you want lots of games, music, videos, YouTube, etc., get an iPhone.
If you want seamless sync with Outlook contacts and calendar, a user replaceable battery (so you can carry a charged spare if you are a heavy user), expandable memory via a micro SD card, a slide-out or on-screen keyboard, and a lot more, then get this. Apple doesn't think anyone needs them, but I sure do.
Not 4G, but AT&T 4G isn't that widely available, anyway. Does have AT&T 3G accelerator.
We browsing is pretty good, especially since you've got the keyboard. IE mobile is OK, but add the free Opera browser and you can have it ID itself as a mobile drevice (to view moble-specifiic sites automaticaaly when a site is set up for that) or not (to view the standard web site no matter what).
Onboard GPS works with Google maps. Do wish it had a compass to make using it easier to orient the map when walking.
With decent lighting, camera takes prety good pictures for a phone, but the LED "flash" is pretty useless except as turned into a flashlight via a free app.
There are a reasonable number of apps available, but the slant is still more toward a business user except for a lot of games that seem to be aimed at keeping you busy while waiting for a plane or something. No "Big Brother" deciding what apps will see the light of day. No "jailbreaking" to load "unapproved" apps. Even a few custom ROMs are available.
Apps to turn it into a WiFi hot spot are available: one free, one not but easier to use and still pretty cheap.
Note that there are two versions of this phone, one with the AT&T frequencies and one with European. Make sure you get the right one or you'll have some limitations. T-Mobile users won't get 3G with either version because of unique frequency.