How do I connect my TiVo for the initial call???

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 08, 2004 Posts: 4

I just bought a TiVo and was trying to make the initial call using a Vonage telephone line. This is not a direct TV tivo, but the tivo series2 variety. I have seen that I must use a phone line to make an initial call, so I am using my Vonage line. I do not have another phone line to swap out for this call.

My Vonage modem is a Cicsco ATA 186. I am connecting my Comcast cable internet connection to the modem, and the modem to a phone (or in this case, TiVo).

I play around with the options, and tried a few codes, but nothing seems to work ( I either get a can't connect message or a phone is busy message). I am calling from Chicago, and changed my area codes (including using 877). When I look on my Vonage activity screen, I see activity that it is making the call. However, it seems to start the call, then just end without ever getting to the "Downloading" message. I see a red light on my phone modem that indicates a call is being made.

I was given the code *99,,#034 from Vonage support, but they said they don't support TiVo (and it didn't work).

I plan on using an internet to make the subsequent calls, but need to make this initial call via a phone line.

Can anyone please help with this?

Posts: 188 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 07, 2004 Posts: 188

Try this, plug a 2-line DSL Filter from Radio Shack into the modem port of your TIVO then use the prefix *99, then the 11 digit number. Otherwise you can always take your TIVO over to your neighbors house and use his POTS. Please let me know if this worked.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 08, 2004 Posts: 4

Unfortunately that did not help either. Maybe b/c I have cable and not DSL? The error message I got was simply "Failed. Could not connect"

As a side note, when I use ",411" as the prefix, I can get a message that says the phone is busy. Of course, the phone is really not busy b/c I can dial the same number that is dialed (by looking at the Vonage activity log). However, I have no idea what ",411" does. I have tried "#034" and "#411" and neither work.

Any other suggestions?

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 08, 2004 Posts: 4

I wanted to provide another update that could help inthe resolution..

I have a wireless G router that is connecting to my Vonage mode. However, this is a hard connect, not a wireless connect, so this should be seemless.

I just purchased a Vonage data line, and have been trying to connect. I am still not successful using "(none)" for both phone settings, and "Off" for the last two settings. "Tone" is also selected.

I used my laptop to dial in to work with the Vonage phone line without any trouble. So what is the difference?!?

Posts: 188 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 07, 2004 Posts: 188

I have a cable modem also. If the DSL Filters did not work than you are probily going to need to use an external modem. They are easy to find used and cheap at thrift shops. Here are a couple links that should help:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=66115&highlight=voip.

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=135715

I had to use an external modem before I found out about using DSL Fillters. I hope that this helps. Just keep plugging it's doable.

Posts: 183 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: May 05, 2004 Posts: 183

I realize this is a bit off topic, but wouldn't it be nice if the TIVO people realized that some users have Ethernet connections and they could allow those to access their data? I mean, it's kind of backwards that people with megabit network connections have to use modems and phone lines.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 08, 2004 Posts: 4

You can connect via ethernet connection, but you have to make these initial phone calls via a phone line. Yes that is stupid. Sadly, these initial phone calls are for downloading software and patches, which is supposed to take 4-8 hours. Ethernet would speed that up.

Can we not drift off again. There are several threads that started about connecting Vonage to TiVo, and then drifted off into other topics such as DTiVo.

This is just TiVo to Vonage connectivity.

I am now on my way to an analog phone line at another house to get the initial setup. I cancelled the fax/data line from Vonage since that didn't work.

Does anyone have a set of codes they can recommend to enter on the setup scren? I haven't seen this posted, yet have seen peopleindicate they have tried a list of different codes. The ones that I have tried haven't worked.

As for that external modem thing. I had thought about that, but didn't really want to screw with that b/c it shouldn't be needed according to things I have read about people getting Vonage to connect to TiVo. It is told that it is not required. So rather than waste countless hours setting this up, I would prefer (along with countless others that have this same problem) a solution that would work without rigging anything up.

Thanks

Posts: 188 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 07, 2004 Posts: 188

Honestly, if you have a stand alone TIVO, I feel that the best route for you to take would be to do the initial setup on a POTS and then visit http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/
read the posts and set you TIVO up through it's USB port. There are alot of good posts there. That way you can avoid the whole Vonage/Tivo thing. People with DTivos cannot do that.

Posts: 7 · New Forum Member Joined: May 06, 2005 Posts: 7

For all of us non-cyber geeks. What exactly is a POTS?? Is there a thread that will tell me step by step what I need to do to get my series 2 to work with Vonage?

Posts: 2252 · Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 10:32 pm Post subject:

bamanador wrote:

For all of us non-cyber geeks. What exactly is a POTS?? Is there a thread that will tell me step by step what I need to do to get my series 2 to work with Vonage?

Plain Old Telephone Service

VoIP Acronyms are found here.

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