Beginner Vonage User Problems with Tivo!!!!!!!

Posts: 25 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: May 02, 2005 Posts: 25

You may also need to go the external modem route so you can slow down your download speed. Once I did this, I get 100% sucess rate each time. I found instructions here:

http://wiki.ehow.com/Make-Your-Directv-Tivo-work-with-Vonage-VOIP-service

Works for Tivos and DirectTivos

Posts: 217 · Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2005 9:03 am Post subject:

Could you post this document? The link isn't working. Thank you.

Posts: 25 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: May 02, 2005 Posts: 25

Interesting... the link works for me. Anyhow, here is the cut and paste of it:

How to Make Your Directv Tivo work with Vonage Voip service

Most people experience problems with using their DirecTV Tivo (aka DirecTivo) with Vonage Voice Over IP (VOIP) phone service. The problem is that Vonage phone service does not handle data calls well, especially those transmitting at speeds higher than 19k. One helpful workaround is to use a cheap external modem that is attached to the Tivo unit and to set up the Tivo to slow down its data transfer rate. The setup is really easy. Here’s how:

Steps

1. Get an external modem.

2. You can find cheap 33.3K modems on Ebay for around $10-$15. Some are even preconfigured to work with Tivo. If not, instructions for configuring your modem can be found below.

3. Get a Tivo serial cable and an adaptor that connects the Tivo serial cable to an external modem (the adaptor is called a DB9-to-DB25 adaptor). Note that you need this special adaptor since an ordinary "null" adaptor won't work. You can get both the serial cable and this adaptor at www.weaknees.com (just tell them that you need to connect your tivo to an external modem, and they will send you what you need). Alternatively, you can get these parts on www.ebay.com or www.tivo.com. These parts cost around $10 total.

4. Unplug your Tivo power cord.

5. Connect the serial cable to the Tivo.

6. Connect the Tivo serial cable to the serial jack in the rear of the Tivo unit which is located above the IR port. Connect the other end of the serial cable to the special DB9-to-DB25 adaptor

7. Connect the serial cable to the modem.

8. Attach the phone line to the Line jack of the modem and to a phone jack in your room.

9. Attach the power cord to the modem and plug in the power transformer plug. Turn on the modem.

10. Plug in the power cord to the Tivo.

11. Go to the "phone setup" area in Tivo.

12. When your Tivo menu screen is up, use your Tivo remote to navigate to "Messages & Setup" => "Recorder & Phone Setup" => "Phone Connection" => "Change Dialing Options." (If you are running Guided Setup, this step doesn’t apply. If not, do not run Guided Setup if you don’t have to.).

13. Highlight “Select Dial Prefix” and press Select. Follow the screen’s instructions to enter the following prefix (without the quotes): ",#319" [That’s comma, pound, three, one, nine]. This tells Tivo to use the external modem and to dial at 19K instead of 56.6K.

14. Press Select to save the prefix. Then, test the new settings to make a test call.

15. When that completes, force a daily call. When that completes, force another daily call to make sure that the process is repeatable.

16. Troubleshooting

17. Make sure that the Tivo is plugged into the Line 1 of the Vonage phone adapter.

18. If the local dial-up code doesn’t work, set your Tivo area code for New York (212). I'm not sure why NY works better than other area codes, but it did for me. In some cases, Vonage may require dialing a long distance number with a 1 before the area code. Note that the area code must be part of how Tivo dials the local dial-in number and not as part of the dial prefix. So “,#3191” will not work. I made my Tivo dial out as 1-212-XXX-XXXX.

19. Try to lower the dial-up speed by changing the dial prefix to ,#396. This dials at 9.6K.

20. Make sure your Vonage service is set to 90Kpbs. You can make this change by logging into your Vonage account at www.vonage.com or calling Vonage customer service.

21. Try setting your Call Waiting Prefix to *99 [that’s “star nine nine”]. This tells Vonage that a data call is coming.
Tips

* Read How to Configure a Modem to Make DirecTV work with Vonage Voip Service for information about configuring your modem correctly.

http://wiki.ehow.com/Configure-a-Modem-to-Make-DirecTV-work-with-Vonage-VOIP-Service

Posts: 14 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Aug 19, 2005 Posts: 14

Mrfilovirus, I owe you one big thank you!!!! I just signed up with Vonage on Friday, got my Vonage router today, set it up tonight, and with the aid of your post above, got my old Series 1 TiVo (Sony SVR-2000) working within about a half hour!

Here's what worked for my box, both are from your tips above:
1. Changed the Call Waiting prefix to *99
2. Changed the dial-in number to New York, using the 212 area code and one of the Manhattan numbers (212-277-3895).

No external modem, just these two setting changes using the internal modem of the TiVo box.

Thanks a lot! Very Happy

Posts: 25 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: May 02, 2005 Posts: 25

Glad to help - although i wish I could take credit for the info contained. I found it myself. Very Happy