Tivo and Vonage

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 2

So you just got vonage and your tivo needs initial setup or update.
Not to worry these two little sugestions will save you lots of time.
First, set the dialing prefix on your Tivo to ",,,,*99" without quotes then check your quality
under the vonage bandwidth saver and make sure it's set to best.
Test your connection, and you should be able to have the tivo make connections

Posts: 33 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Jun 19, 2005 Posts: 33

johnboyny wrote:

So you just got vonage and your tivo needs initial setup or update.
Not to worry these two little sugestions will save you lots of time.
First, set the dialing prefix on your Tivo to ",,,,*99" without quotes then check your quality
under the vonage bandwidth saver and make sure it's set to best.
Test your connection, and you should be able to have the tivo make connections

If only it were that easy. It's not, so don't mislead people Smile

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 05, 2005 Posts: 2

I tryed for 3 days and it did not go past configuring modem, so as a hear when I pick up the head set there is a short delay in the dial tone, the the extra time out in dialing added with telling the voip server that the call is a data stream, made it work, and still working...Now it does not matter I use the network and get the updates and all thru that mode..

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 12, 2005 Posts: 3

psubill78 wrote:

johnboyny wrote:

So you just got vonage and your tivo needs initial setup or update.
Not to worry these two little sugestions will save you lots of time.
First, set the dialing prefix on your Tivo to ",,,,*99" without quotes then check your quality
under the vonage bandwidth saver and make sure it's set to best.
Test your connection, and you should be able to have the tivo make connections

If only it were that easy. It's not, so don't mislead people Smile

It works for me. I set the dialing prefix to *99 (no commas) and it works every time with a local number. Without the *99 it doesn't work. I already had the default bandwidth set to the highest, so the *99 must do more than bump up the bandwidth. This is on an original Philips Tivo box. I also put a DSL filter between the Vonage router and the phone line, although it was working fine without it.

BTW I'm using this on my backup Series I Tivo box. The regular one is a Series 2 and gets it's updates from the internet. The old box is for recording conflicts manually without the program guide (no subscription). So all the daily call does is keep the clock set!

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Sep 13, 2005 Posts: 1

I have Directv Tivo boxes, and I hate them because I can't put them on my network. So I just invested $170 for a new, 300h Tivo box.

Little did I know that I had bought a whole heap of trouble, trying to mix Tivo with Vonage. I have literally tried every code, prefix, option, etc., to no avail. I cannot get through the initial setup.

And do you know what the geniuses @ Tivo suggested I do? Why simply take my Tivo somewhere that has a land line and download it there. Where am I supposed to do this? Work? A coworkers' house?
I travel almost 100% for my job, so this is almost impossible. I am actually taking the darned thing with me to a hotel to try to get this to work.

If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know. While Vonage may not have a fix, at least their customer service reps are not the self-aggrandizing, smart alec twerps at Tivo.

This should not be that difficult, and if I didn't know better, I'd think Tivo was getting kick back from the major telephone co's.

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

Hey Michthorn,

my suggestion is this. Hook up an external modem to your Tivo (actually easy to do) and set the baud rate to 9600

Instructions can be found here at this very handy web site:

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

Once I did that, I get 100% on my calls with Tivo every day. The trick is in lowering the baud rate, and you can only go that low with an external modem.

It takes about 10 minutes to download each day, but I am on the unlimited plan (something to keep in mind if you have the other plan).