TV Detector Vans 📺 📡

Apparently TV detector vans are a thing, at least in Great Britain where you are required to pay a licensing fee if you own a television and watch the BBC. Lest you not be on the list of people who pay the TV licensing fee, you might get a knock on your door by the TV licensing agent, who upon discovering you have a television without a license could issue a summons to appear in court.

Lately I’ve been feeling like I’ve come under increased surveillance if not interest by Verizon FIOS and Spectrum Cable for refusing to get internet at my home. I’ve been tracked down twice each by the Verizon FIOS salesman and the Spectrum Cable salesman trying to get me signed up for their services – one time after work, the other time last week when I was working from home. Apparently there are fewer and fewer people to recruit locally to expand their services too. That said, I kind of resent the endless paper trash they send me or how aggressive they are these days.

As if somehow I was getting internet for free or that my non payment to the internet providers was somehow scamming them out of their corporate profits… But I still don’t want home internet!

The heck of it is with unlimited smartphone data and such a powerful basic phone, there isn’t a lot you can’t do with your phone – it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to operate and more portable and able to be taken into bed under the covers. I still have the library I can go to when I need a lot of bandwidth on my laptop or just use the free wifi at the office. I prefer to retire to bed early and I don’t really want television at home.