[BroadHopper]

I know of a number of folks who cancelled their subscription and or moved to a new location and find that connecting directly to the cable outlet on the wall allows basic cable. I talked to a technician and was told normally there will always be a signal at the cable outlet unless they unhook the cable at the pole. Most of the time they don't. You do need a box to unscramble premium channels. The cable company has some kind of password in the box.

There is a new switch installed on the poles that can 'hook and unhook' your service electronically from the office. This eliminate the manual labor of climbing the poles. This is necessary as there are boxes out there that you can buy with password. This is illegal and there is a heavy fine if caught.