Directv Phone Line Question

[redbudga]

If i get a Directv/Tivo with 2 or 3 additional regular Directv systems, i have been told Both:
as long as the main Tivo is hooked up to the phone line, the other receivers do not- but you cant order ppv on those other.
also been told:
You must have all receivers hooked to the phone line at all times or dtv will charge you full price each month for each reciever instead of the 4.95 for each receiver.

I know people who have never hooked up their receiver to a phone line...Whats the DEAL?????????????/

 

[sfss]

Okay. Let me clarify this for you.

1) Yes you will need to have your DVR (tivo) connected to a phone line at all times. Whoever says differently does not know what they are talking about. Why do I say this? Because at the end of the day, and when you have a problem and call up DTV because you are getting a message on how your DVR hasn't made a daily callback ... I'm the person you will no doubt speak with.

2) You do not need to have your regular receivers connected to a phone line. About DTV charging you full price each month for each receiver? That is not correct. If you want to order ippv (ordering ppv with your remote control) then yes, you will need to have a phone line going into that receiver.

Now there were a few posts mentioning on how you can order ppv and never be billed for it if you don't have the receiver connected..... you can't cheat out DTV forever with those unbilled ppv's.

Can you order ppv (via automated phone line, live represenative, or directv.com) on a receiveer that isn't connected? Of course! You just can't do it over the remote control. Frankly, I think orderling online is the easiest as it will mirror to all of your receivers and there isn't a fee either (automated phone line $1.50).

And why do you ask the DVR needs to be connected to a phone line at all times? It's continually updating the software information, continue loading new guide data and if you leave the DVR unplugged any longer than a few days it will notice this as it typically makes a daily call back... daily. If you don't have it unplugged you will eventually get a message along the lines of

"Your DVR has not made a daily callback in 14 days and it needs to make one" If it doesn't you slowly lose the features of the DVR. I've had customers call in and try to tell me they were told they could have the DVR without connecting it to a phone line. This isn't true. You either have to keep it connected or don't use the DVR.


Hope that answers your questions and any others feel free to ask!

 

[redbudga]

Thanks for the response. This is an email that i received from Directv:

"Thanks for writing. We're excited to hear about your interest in DIRECTV
DVR with TiVo. For answers to all of your DVR questions, to find out
what great new customer offer is waiting for you and to buy one today,
visit our DVR web site at DIRECTVDVR.com.

We ask customers to connect a phone line to their DIRECTV System for
billing as well as program ordering and viewing purposes. The phone line
sends us account information from your system's receiver box. This
important link lets you order pay per view movies and events with your
remote control, get access to your local Regional Sports Network (if it
is included in your monthly package), and watch popular sports
subscriptions like NFL SUNDAY TICKET and NBA LEAGUE PASS. If you have
more than one receiver, connecting the same land-based phone line allows you to "mirror" your monthly packages for only $4.99 per month, instead
of paying the full monthly price for each receiver.

So Whats the deal DTV tells me that if i do not run a phone line or buy a wireless phone jack, that i will have to pay full price for my extra receivers.

 

[skaeight]

There really should be FAQ section on these forums, mainly to answer this question. If I had a nickle for every time this question has been asked I'd be a very rich man.

In short, if you have a directivo, yes you will need a phone line, however only for the first call to download the latest software, and also occasionaly to get rid of the nag screen that the above poster was talking about.

If you just have regular recievers, no you don't need one. I don't have a line connected to either of mine. Just call them and tell them that you don't have a phone line, and you would like to turn off the ability to order ppv via the remote. They will disable the IPPV setting on your account, which will keep the mirroring on your account and *SHOULD* keep any sports subscriptions. The CSR told me there may be a rare blackout on some sporting events, because sometimes they are required to check by phone which zip code you reside in. He said these will be very infrequent. I may have only seen this once, there was a Boston Redsox game on ESPN Alternate that was blacked out one time, but I'm not 100% sure if that was a result of not having a phone line connected.

Please someone make a sticky or something so this question doesn't continue to get asked in every single dbs board. I don't want to be one of those jerks that just yells "newbie, use the search" and then doesn't answer the question, but this question is ridiculous. It seems like it gets asked at least once a day.

 

[Barney]

I'm just a newbee.....ran search for "mirror". redbudga stated " If you have
more than one receiver, connecting the same land-based phone line allows you to "mirror" your monthly packages for only $4.99 per month, instead
of paying the full monthly price for each receiver. "

Well, I just called D* and told them I do not have a phone line to my 2 D* STB's (one in the bedroom is a basic & one in my HT is HD) & wished to turn off my PV by remote to save the charges for my 2nd STB. They told me I would have to disconnect one & cancel the "feed" to it...to be just charged for one STB.
So, if I run my one land based phone line to each STB, I will only be charged for one receiver?

Barney

 

[skaeight]

I'm just a newbee.....ran search for "mirror". redbudga stated " If you have
more than one receiver, connecting the same land-based phone line allows you to "mirror" your monthly packages for only $4.99 per month, instead
of paying the full monthly price for each receiver. "

Well, I just called D* and told them I do not have a phone line to my 2 D* STB's (one in the bedroom is a basic & one in my HT is HD) & wished to turn off my PV by remote to save the charges for my 2nd STB. They told me I would have to disconnect one & cancel the "feed" to it...to be just charged for one STB.
So, if I run my one land based phone line to each STB, I will only be charged for one receiver?

Barney

No, you're completely missing the point here. You are charged $4.99 for each box beyond the first, whether or not you have a phoneline connected. There is no way to have more than one box and not pay a mirroring fee.

What you wanted to do was call them and just tell them to turn IPPV off, not tell them you don't want them to charge you a mirroring fee. The point of having IPPV turned off is so that you don't have to have a phone line connected and all programming will continue to be mirrored. Sometimes if you don't let them know you won't be able to connect a phone line, after 30 days you may lose your RSN or possibly even mirroring to your second reciever.

Just to summarize, if you want 2 boxes, you will be charged a mirroring fee, there is no way around this.

 

[Barney]

Thanks skaeight. That makes sense.

Barney

 

[grazingbob]

DSL noise and DTV phone call

We recently got DSL (ADSL), now the DTV/TiVo box can't make its daily phone call becaus of the line noise... is there a solution or are there other customers with the same issue?

 

[Angerphile]

Do you have a DSL filter on your phone line?

You need to have one of those installed between the wall and your receiver for it to make its callback.

~

 

[silversurfer]

And why do you ask the DVR needs to be connected to a phone line at all times? It's continually updating the software information, continue loading new guide data and if you leave the DVR unplugged any longer than a few days it will notice this as it typically makes a daily call back... daily. If you don't have it unplugged you will eventually get a message along the lines of

"Your DVR has not made a daily callback in 14 days and it needs to make one" If it doesn't you slowly lose the features of the DVR. I've had customers call in and try to tell me they were told they could have the DVR without connecting it to a phone line. This isn't true. You either have to keep it connected or don't use the DVR.


Hope that answers your questions and any others feel free to ask!

This information is inaccurate. DTivos no longer acquire their guide info from the phone line. It is acquired by satellite. The only time a phone line is required is for a software update. The authorization to download the software from the satellite comes via the phone line. These changes were made with ver 3.1 of the software. The nag screen still comes up but there are no other ramifications of not having a phone line hooked up.

However D* still has a policy that if you have 2 or more receivers on your account all receivers must be hooked to a phone line. They are not enforcing this policy and quite frankly with many people having only cell service as well as VOIP this policy is no longer enforcable.

Just wanted to correct this misinformation...

Also we tend to stay away from sticky's on this board due to the fact they make everything cluttered and most users do not like them...If you see a question and don't want to take the time to answer it politely then skip it and let someone else do it. This board is here to help people not to yell at them for not using a search engine.....

 

[DirecTVTechCSR]

Well... some things are still taken off of the phone line/daily call. You are correct about the guide though. The new software versions allow it to be aquired via satelite.

However, the Showcases, and Tivolution magazine, for example, come off of the phone line- and the DVR service needs to have a call made at least every 31 days to stay active.

Full functionality requires a phoneline. If you don't care about all the features, just connect it when you get a nag message and force a daily call so they don't disconnect the dvr service.

A lot of people say it won't turn the dvr service off... not true. I get around 5-10 calls each day regarding this issue. "Why can't I record anymore?" "Do you have your phone line connected?" "No." Then we go through the process of connecting it, resending auths, and forcing a daily call to get it back.

If you have your system hacked to contact tivo by other means, then the phone line wont be needed. If not, its easiest to just connect one and leave it there, or go thru the hassle of plugging it in every couple weeks to get it to stop pestering you.

Without the phone line, after 31 days of no contact to Tivo, the DVR service is interupted and will need to be reactivated. This basically makes it work like a standard receiver, and the Tivo functions are lost until it is reconnected and reactivated.

There is a possibility that certain models can get past this, but I don't know. People don't call in to report that everything is working fine without a phone line. They call in to report that it isn't.

 

[ShadowEKU]

Do you have a DSL filter on your phone line?

You need to have one of those installed between the wall and your receiver for it to make its callback.

~

I want to add on to that.

DSL operates on HIGH frequencys outside of human ear abilities. This is part of the reason you can use the phone and DSL at the same time.

The DSL filter should have 2 ports a DSL Modem Port (Completely Unfiltered) and a Phone Port (this filters out any of the high band DSL noise) You should connect your receiver to the PHONE side. Ive had many ppl ask me why its not working and they have things plugged in to the DSL Modem side.

Note that a DSL modem and Modem are 2 different things.

 

[Elf]

Our system insists that "yes" be checked off under "receiver connected to a phone line" in order for us to mirror your programming to that receiver. If "no" is checked off, the receiver will just sit there like a lump and give you x721 on anything you try to watch. Thus, during activation, "yes" is always checked off, but the receiver may not actually be connected.

If you don't have your receiver actually connected to a phone line, IPPV (impulse PPV / remote-control-ordering) will either be disabled immediately or will disable itself after the receiver realizes it hasn't been able to call DTV's system to download purchases.

The party line is that "all receivers must be connected to a phone line" yadda yadda but it really only *matters* when we're talking about a Tivo.

(And *YES* it matters a lot, for the reasons already stated. "I was told I didn't *have* to have my receivers connected to a phone line all the time" is one of my least-favorite phone calls - because it means that I must not only win the caller's trust that I know what I'm talking about, but also convince the caller that the installer was full of it when he told them that.)

--Elf

 

[bwarning]

I have 4 of my DVRs not connected to a phone line, no problems for the last six months.

 

[ShadowEKU]

I have 4 of my DVRs not connected to a phone line, no problems for the last six months.

bet you arent getting software updates... hell i jsut updated last week to ?.?.??e

 

[alta]

OK, here comes D* for Dummies again. Because I don't pay close attention, I don't know if the poster is a D* employee who is telling it like it is or one who is spouting the company line. I also never know if its a poster that is just guessing.

So, here is my question: Does there have to be a phone line connected in order to get TIVO, or more importantly, the successof that will be coming down the road later this year?

When I signed up for D* about 9 months ago I had a land line, but didn't have it connected because of receiver placement. I was told that I should hook it up and call D* to tell them to "pulse me" so that D* could verify my locatin for RSN purposes. I did this, although the CSR I got when I called to ask for the pulse told me it was ridiculous. But he did tell me that I was verified.

I then cancelled my land line since we are entirely wireless and never used the land line, after verifying with D* that it would not impact my viewing, but that I could never get TIVO.

Any non-company line thoughts?

 

[ShadowEKU]

OK, here comes D* for Dummies again. Because I don't pay close attention, I don't know if the poster is a D* employee who is telling it like it is or one who is spouting the company line. I also never know if its a poster that is just guessing.

So, here is my question: Does there have to be a phone line connected in order to get TIVO, or more importantly, the successof that will be coming down the road later this year?

When I signed up for D* about 9 months ago I had a land line, but didn't have it connected because of receiver placement. I was told that I should hook it up and call D* to tell them to "pulse me" so that D* could verify my locatin for RSN purposes. I did this, although the CSR I got when I called to ask for the pulse told me it was ridiculous. But he did tell me that I was verified.

I then cancelled my land line since we are entirely wireless and never used the land line, after verifying with D* that it would not impact my viewing, but that I could never get TIVO.

Any non-company line thoughts?

The TIVO currently gets its software, updates the account, and (like the rest) reports PPV off of the phone.

The future? Who knows... they may make the new receivers Vonage Compatible and eliminate all our worries. until its here there isnt really a bottom line