Failed while negotiating

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Feb 24, 2005 Posts: 1

I have racking my brains for hours trying to get my tivo ser2 to dial out with Vonage. I have tried all the codes but all i get my machine to do is dial out but always fails while negotiating ( EVERY FREAKIN TIME) what exactly does that mean........

Posts: 37 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Nov 16, 2005 Posts: 37

That error message means the modem in your Tivo is having a hard time getting the communication channel with the modem at the other end setup and ready to go. With voice over IP there is a digital to analog conversion that takes place. Because of this, the tones that the modems use to negotiate the communication path get distorted. Its like making a copy of a copy, it isn't as good as the original.

There are ways around this in Voip, things such as modem passthrough or modem relay. For faxes you have fax passthrough and fax relay T38. All of these provide the necessary functionality to get faxes and modems working properly. Unfortunately Vonage isn't going to give away those services for free when they can charge you for adding one line to their configuration file (literally that's all it takes).

You can try a few things. You mentioned that you tried all the codecs and none of them worked. This is not surprising. The only one that is going to come remotely close to working is the highest, 90k setting. This is the G711ulaw codec. This has the least amount of compression. As such the modem tones sounds the same going in as they do going out (for the most part).

Unfortunately some modems are sensitive to things such as echo and voice activity detection. These are things you can't control. Yor best bet is to set the 90k highest codec setting and plug your Tivo direclty into the phone adapter. If it still doesn't work, it probably never will.

Posts: 76 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Oct 17, 2005 Posts: 76

How about giving your Tivo an Ethernet connection:

http://www.9thtee.com/turbonet.htm

or a USB Ethernet adapter if you have a series 2.

Posts: 71 · Full Forum Member Joined: Mar 09, 2004 Posts: 71

how about reading the instructions in the post at http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic8488.html

THIS WORKS! I have tried it with three totally different directv tivos, and all work flawlessly with missing one single call.

Posts: 482 · Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2005 2:45 pm Post subject:

*99 just gives me a fast-busy signal.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 21, 2005 Posts: 5

I signed up for Vonage about a week ago.....Never ported number until I tried the Fax machine and Tivo unit.....Let me say I had Lingo before this and I could not get anything to work ever,,,,,,,,

First, my Tivo unit is a series 2,,with the 7.2 software,,,and is downstairs and is plugged into a phone jack on the wall.....not the adapter at all,,,I am also running a linksys befsr41 wired router for a second computer and a HP K60XI multifunction machine with a fax function...
When I got the free Motorola VT1000adapter ,plugged into the router, powered it up....lights quit flashing made a trial phone call....worked fine...Then from the adapter....I run a telephone wire to the wall jack,,which powered up the whole house,,( we have about 5 phones in the house)..All phones on Vonage at this point including the fax and Tivo unit.....I went in to settings on the tivo unit to see when it was scheduled to call the service again,,since it was a day away,,I manually dialed it from the Tivo box..The first time it failed,,,the second time it worked fine,,,I tried it about 4 more times it worked perfectly....connected and downloaded the menus every time without incident.... tried the fax machine,,,sent serveral faxes ..has never failed to send a fax,,not once,,,

I then hooked the house back to the land line....then back to Vonage....fax still worked fine....The Tivo unit failed on the first attempt again.....So, I just left hooked up to Vonage and let it dial out the on its on,,( this would be the second attempt)..It dialed out on its on,,connected , downloaded the new menu and disconneted by itself,,,,,I never changed dialing prefixes,,numbers or anything and it works perfectly....Why it didn't work on the first attempt I don't know.....The voice quality is crystal clear..!!!...I have never had to wait to talk to tech support or customer care for more than a minute or two....I have no complaints ,,,I ported my number today...

Not sure this helps any one,,,but I know it can work....!!!!

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 21, 2005 Posts: 5

capdaddy wrote:

I have racking my brains for hours trying to get my tivo ser2 to dial out with Vonage. I have tried all the codes but all i get my machine to do is dial out but always fails while negotiating ( EVERY FREAKIN TIME) what exactly does that mean........

Have you tried dialing the New York Numbers from Tivo,,,They say they may work for you

Posts: 37 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Nov 16, 2005 Posts: 37

Note, it may work occassionally, maybe even consistently. To be honest, if it doesn't work its most likely for the reasons I sited in my first post. Unless you pay for a dedicated fax line through Vonage, whether or not its going to work is chance only. Wiring and adding prefixes really shouldn't make any difference at all.