TIVO via 800 Calling Card Success

TIVO via 800 Calling Card Success from Toshiba with Basic TIVO
After moving to an area without local tivo access and lacking instate
long distance service, I finally solved the setup and program update
problem.

This works if you have NO Long Distance provider specified and it
works for me with a Sam's AT&T prepaid calling card. It also almost
requires the use of a programmable phone with two memories, one for
the AT&T access number and the other for the card number.

Set the detect dial tone option off
Set phone presence detection off
Enter Setup and proceed to the offering of program guide access
numbers
Choose the best long distance number.
Pick up your programmable phone and listen as it dials out. The idea
is to dial your 800 number and card number and end up with a you can
dial now just before the unit dials. This may take a couple of passes
to get the hang of it. On AT&Ts service you can hit the # key to get
some options offered to avoid timing out. Once you get it right, the
operation proceeds just like a local call. On my Comcast cable without
digital it takes about 10 minutes to download.

You can go about 12 days on TIVO Basic service before it starts
affecting the program guide, other than late changes like football
games.
Since you have no long distance service the TIVO gets a busy signal
when it tries to dial out and you then do a connect now update when
you want to before retiring.

In article ,
says...
TIVO via 800 Calling Card Success from Toshiba with Basic TIVO
After moving to an area without local tivo access and lacking instate
long distance service, I finally solved the setup and program update
problem.

This works if you have NO Long Distance provider specified and it
works for me with a Sam's AT&T prepaid calling card. It also almost

I'm a bit confused as to why you need to do all that. First of all if
you have Comcast cable broadband why not just connect Tivo that way?
Anyway, why the telephone thing instead of just putting your "800
#,pin#,," or something like that in Tivo's "dial prefix" field? Or
doesn't the Toshiba model have that?
--
Jud
Dallas TX USA

Jud Hardcastle wrote:
In article ,
says...
TIVO via 800 Calling Card Success from Toshiba with Basic TIVO
After moving to an area without local tivo access and lacking instate
long distance service, I finally solved the setup and program update
problem.

This works if you have NO Long Distance provider specified and it
works for me with a Sam's AT&T prepaid calling card. It also almost

I'm a bit confused as to why you need to do all that. First of all if
you have Comcast cable broadband why not just connect Tivo that way?
Anyway, why the telephone thing instead of just putting your "800
#,pin#,," or something like that in Tivo's "dial prefix" field? Or
doesn't the Toshiba model have that?

Because some of us still own the first model Tivo ever produced...the
14-hour one, which isn't easily networked. By "isn't easily networked", I
mean that some of us don't care to buy additional hardware and crack open
the case on a box that functions perfectly fine over the phone line. Why so
many people are so desperate to use a broadband connection to download
program data that takes less than ten minutes a day on a phone line is
beyond me.

Anyway, I keep my original upgraded Tivo around as a backup to my HR10-250,
which also dials up just fine on my fax line.

--
tooloud
Remove nothing to reply...

"tooloud" wrote in message
...
Jud Hardcastle wrote:
In article ,
says...
TIVO via 800 Calling Card Success from Toshiba with Basic TIVO
After moving to an area without local tivo access and lacking instate
long distance service, I finally solved the setup and program update
problem.

This works if you have NO Long Distance provider specified and it
works for me with a Sam's AT&T prepaid calling card. It also almost

I'm a bit confused as to why you need to do all that. First of all if
you have Comcast cable broadband why not just connect Tivo that way?
Anyway, why the telephone thing instead of just putting your "800
#,pin#,," or something like that in Tivo's "dial prefix" field? Or
doesn't the Toshiba model have that?

Because some of us still own the first model Tivo ever produced...the
14-hour one, which isn't easily networked. By "isn't easily networked", I
mean that some of us don't care to buy additional hardware and crack open
the case on a box that functions perfectly fine over the phone line. Why
so many people are so desperate to use a broadband connection to download
program data that takes less than ten minutes a day on a phone line is
beyond me.

Anyway, I keep my original upgraded Tivo around as a backup to my
HR10-250, which also dials up just fine on my fax line.

Well, in the case of the OP, he doesn't have a Series1. No Series1 machine
were made with TiVo Basic, so it must be a Series2. A $15 USB adapter seems
like a lot less trouble than what he's going through as described.

Because some of us still own the first model Tivo ever produced...the
14-hour one, which isn't easily networked. By "isn't easily networked", I

It's no more difficult than any TiVo. It's easier in some respects than
the newest ones.

mean that some of us don't care to buy additional hardware and crack open
the case on a box that functions perfectly fine over the phone line. Why
so

"Perfectly fine" is definitely a subjective and specific assessment.
With my SBC phone lines, 2/3 or more of the attempts failed. With teenages
around the house, many more failed. What's more, only the phone update
worked at all. Telnet, FTP, tyServer, and TiVoWeb all require networking.

many people are so desperate to use a broadband connection to download
program data that takes less than ten minutes a day on a phone line is
beyond me.

If it were just that, I would not have, but it isn't. The Network
based tools are extremely important to me, and in any case, once I switched
my phone server to Vonage, the TiVo daily call would not work at all. I had
to switch toa networked solution whetehr I really wanted to or not (I did).
Saving over $250 a year at a one time cost of $69 while getting greatly
enhanced features on both my phone and my TiVo was well worth it.

"Jud Hardcastle" wrote in
message bal.net...
In article ,
says...
TIVO via 800 Calling Card Success from Toshiba with Basic TIVO
After moving to an area without local tivo access and lacking instate
long distance service, I finally solved the setup and program update
problem.

This works if you have NO Long Distance provider specified and it
works for me with a Sam's AT&T prepaid calling card. It also almost


I'm a bit confused as to why you need to do all that. First of all if
you have Comcast cable broadband why not just connect Tivo that way?

He has comcast providing his cabletv. He didn't say that he had a broadband
internet connection. Some of us would rather tolerate the slowness of dial
up access for $15/month than pay three times that much or more to comcast.

Anyway, why the telephone thing instead of just putting your "800
#,pin#,," or something like that in Tivo's "dial prefix" field? Or
doesn't the Toshiba model have that?
--
Jud
Dallas TX USA

can you even put that many digits into the dial prefix?

"tooloud" wrote in message
...

Why so many people are so desperate to use a broadband connection to
download program data that takes less than ten minutes a day on a phone
line is beyond me.


Actually it's about a two minute phone call that occurs mostly in the wee
hours of the night.

why are they so desperate? Keep in mind that you are asking this in a forum
for an electronic/computer like gizmo. It's going to be mostly tech-heads
that reside in and get heard in such a forum. So the popular opinion on any
subject is going to be heavily skewed toward the tech-head view.

The vast majority of Tivo users have never even heard of alt.video.ptv.tivo
and see little or no reason to ever visit tivo.com and they also find
recording things at basic quality to be perfectly acceptable on their
non-upgraded Tivos. They have no vanity to publicly display regarding their
Tivo or how they use it.

Damn, now that's some flamin' hoops to jump through.


"Don Mooty" wrote in message
...
TIVO via 800 Calling Card Success from Toshiba with Basic TIVO
After moving to an area without local tivo access and lacking instate
long distance service, I finally solved the setup and program update
problem.

This works if you have NO Long Distance provider specified and it
works for me with a Sam's AT&T prepaid calling card. It also almost
requires the use of a programmable phone with two memories, one for
the AT&T access number and the other for the card number.

Set the detect dial tone option off
Set phone presence detection off
Enter Setup and proceed to the offering of program guide access
numbers
Choose the best long distance number.
Pick up your programmable phone and listen as it dials out. The idea
is to dial your 800 number and card number and end up with a you can
dial now just before the unit dials. This may take a couple of passes
to get the hang of it. On AT&Ts service you can hit the # key to get
some options offered to avoid timing out. Once you get it right, the
operation proceeds just like a local call. On my Comcast cable without
digital it takes about 10 minutes to download.

Leslie A Rhorer wrote:
Because some of us still own the first model Tivo ever produced...the
14-hour one, which isn't easily networked. By "isn't easily
networked", I

It's no more difficult than any TiVo. It's easier in some
respects than the newest ones.

It is? You're telling me that I can network my Series 1 Tivo as easily as a
Series 2 with a USB port on the back?

mean that some of us don't care to buy additional hardware and crack
open the case on a box that functions perfectly fine over the phone
line. Why so

"Perfectly fine" is definitely a subjective and specific
assessment. With my SBC phone lines, 2/3 or more of the attempts
failed. With teenages around the house, many more failed. What's
more, only the phone update worked at all. Telnet, FTP, tyServer,
and TiVoWeb all require networking.

While "perfectly fine" may be subjective, I'd be interested to hear how many
"normal" users, i.e. "users that don't regularly consult a newsgroup",
actually receive their program info via any means other than the built-in
modem. I'll bet it's pretty small.

many people are so desperate to use a broadband connection to
download program data that takes less than ten minutes a day on a
phone line is beyond me.

If it were just that, I would not have, but it isn't. The Network
based tools are extremely important to me, and in any case, once I
switched my phone server to Vonage, the TiVo daily call would not
work at all. I had to switch toa networked solution whetehr I really
wanted to or not (I did). Saving over $250 a year at a one time cost of
$69 while getting greatly enhanced features on both my phone and
my TiVo was well worth it.

I've read that Vonage doesn't necessarily cause the problems it's accused
of.

--
tooloud
Remove nothing to reply...

Kenny wrote:
"tooloud" wrote in message
...

Why so many people are so desperate to use a broadband connection to
download program data that takes less than ten minutes a day on a
phone line is beyond me.


Actually it's about a two minute phone call that occurs mostly in the
wee hours of the night.

why are they so desperate? Keep in mind that you are asking this in
a forum for an electronic/computer like gizmo. It's going to be
mostly tech-heads that reside in and get heard in such a forum. So
the popular opinion on any subject is going to be heavily skewed
toward the tech-head view.
The vast majority of Tivo users have never even heard of
alt.video.ptv.tivo and see little or no reason to ever visit tivo.com
and they also find recording things at basic quality to be perfectly
acceptable on their non-upgraded Tivos. They have no vanity to
publicly display regarding their Tivo or how they use it.

I agree 100%. Personally, the "network it" argument always seems like the
answer to a question that 98% of owners have never even asked.

--
tooloud
Remove nothing to reply...