If I take my digital cable box/dvr over to a friends house who only has basic cable, will it work over there?
Yes, but for how long depends how far away your friends house is.
^^ why would that matter?
I heard somewhere that they ping the box to make sure that it is on the correct node of the network…
If you move its somewhere else it may not work after they ping it, and figure out that it is in a different place.
a lot of people will say no, but I know for a fact it can be done since the guy that lived upstairs from me did it for a year. He took it from his parents house and put it at our house. I know for a fact we were not getting charged and they never turned it off.
I used to take the box from my parents house in Amherst and bring it to my Canisius dorm. It would work for 30-40 days at a time. Then I’d just switch boxes.