# Dial-in problems with VOIP/Vonnage



## Klaatu500 (Jun 24, 2006)

Anyone else having problems with the daily dial-in required for the DirectTV/TIVO receiver over a VOIP or Vonage phone line. Everything was working fine until I switched to VOIP. TIVO advanced technical support says that they have had very FEW successes in using this combination. Any advice??????


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

Yes, it's challenging to make analog modem-based devices, like your DVR, work properly with digital VOIP phone systems. The good news is that, once you've completed the DVR's initial Guided Setup with an analog phone connection, you no longer need any phone connection. You just won't be able to order PPV movies with your remote control (order via DirecTV's web site instead).


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## hmotwr (May 23, 2006)

I had the same problem, but I noticed that connections after midnight and before early in the morning were successful, so I just wait for the system to keep attempting until it is successful, and that's usually early in the morning or very late at night.
You also have to set your vonage sound quality to the highest, that will increase the successful attempts number.
Latency may be an issue also, if you live far from the USA.


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## Klaatu500 (Jun 24, 2006)

Ive spent hours on the phone with both DTV and Vonage and they both admit that they know there is a serious problem. 

Yes, you can run the unit without the phone line working, but once you order up to your credit limit (whatever that is), you wont be able to order any more (even via the website) until the box makes the dial-in call - according to DTV support...


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## Dkerr24 (Oct 29, 2004)

Klaatu500 said:


> Ive spent hours on the phone with both DTV and Vonage and they both admit that they know there is a serious problem.
> 
> Yes, you can run the unit without the phone line working, but once you order up to your credit limit (whatever that is), you wont be able to order any more (even via the website) until the box makes the dial-in call - according to DTV support...


That is completely untrue. As long as you place your PPV orders via the Directv website, you never need to make a dial-in call. I've ordered PPV via the website for 2 years, and my unit has been disconnected from the phone line for the past 4 months, and I've never been denied an order.


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## iammatt (Jun 26, 2006)

I've been dialing in through Vonage for about a year now with no problems. DirecTV told me that it would not work through Vonage, but I decided to try it anyway. Am I just lucky?


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## fugitiveALiEN (Sep 13, 2004)

I have been using my directivos for a long time now over Lingo's VoIP service and it was spotty but i found that it usually did connect in the evenings. My latest problem though is that i recently upgraded one of my 40 hour boxes with a new hard drive and decided to wipe it clean and start fresh, i didn't care about all the old stuff, season passes, etc... however i'm finding that guided setup REQUIRES an actual land line. I'm still trying to get confirmation on this point. But i'm prepared to purchase an external modem, or possibly walking my unit to a friend's house and hooking it up there =/ what a hassle... i wish they would fix this since there are probably a LOT of technological folks with tivo and voip.


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## Klaatu500 (Jun 24, 2006)

Both Vonage high-level tech support and DirecTV high-level tech support will admit (under pressure) that they have a serious problem here and they are "working to resolve it as quickly as possible." And I know we cant be the only two people in the US experiencing this phenomenon. Keep me posted if you hear of any updates.


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

fugitiveALiEN said:


> I have been using my directivos for a long time now over Lingo's VoIP service and it was spotty but i found that it usually did connect in the evenings. My latest problem though is that i recently upgraded one of my 40 hour boxes with a new hard drive and decided to wipe it clean and start fresh, i didn't care about all the old stuff, season passes, etc... however i'm finding that guided setup REQUIRES an actual land line. I'm still trying to get confirmation on this point. But i'm prepared to purchase an external modem, or possibly walking my unit to a friend's house and hooking it up there =/ what a hassle... i wish they would fix this since there are probably a LOT of technological folks with tivo and voip.


It's true that Guided Setup requires an analog phone connection, but you should only need to perform Guided Setup when you first activate your DVR. If you need to repeat Guided Setup later, just take the DVR to a neighbor/friend's house with an analog phone connection. You don't need the dish connected to perform Guided Setup.


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## barry11746 (Jun 25, 2006)

I have a second line with Vonage for my fax machine. When I connect the Tivo to the fax line it works ok.


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## strange_69 (Mar 4, 2004)

I am a Vonage user and here is what works for me:

First: Buy a DSL Filter from Radio Shack and plug it into your TIVO.

Next: Go to your Phone Setup Screen and setup your phone connection as follows:
Dial Prefix: 12122717103
Call Waiting Prefix: *70,*99
Tone/Pulse: Tone
Phone Avail: On
Dail Tone Det: Off

That should get you hooked up. The Dial Prefix is a New York Number that works well with Vonage. Once you get this to work you can swith your dial out number to the same number as you Dial Prefix and then get rid of the Dial Prefix so that everything looks normal again or you can just leave everything alone and it will work fine. I hope that this helps.


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## 94SupraTT (Feb 17, 2005)

strange_69 said:


> I am a Vonage user and here is what works for me:
> 
> First: Buy a DSL Filter from Radio Shack and plug it into your TIVO.
> 
> ...


Thanks. I was able to activate my Tivo over Vonage with this setup.


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## purple6816 (May 27, 2003)

Try another sip provider. I use Telesip

I have an asterisk server and use it to run my home

If you like vonage you will like asterisk. It is easy to setup takes 30 minutes or so. [email protected] is the easyist one to setup.

http://nerdvittles.com/index.php?p=123


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