# Callvantage and Directivo



## pyrrhus (May 5, 2004)

Long time lurker, first time poster.


I have noticed that many people have had trouble with vonage and a couple people have asked about directivo with callvantage. Directivo seems to work with callvantage straight out of the box. I tried it on my directivo (hooked to the Dlink TA through my home wiring) and it worked perfectly. I then took the TA to a firends using a different BB provider and his directivo worked there also. 


Now all I have to do is start playing with the TA settings to get my FAX to work with callvantage also 


Michael


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## feynman (Jul 29, 2004)

I have had vonage for about two years now. I was never able to get my directv tivo to connect through vonage. I used ppp for a while and that quit working so I decided to try and tackle the vonage problem again. I ended up at a Radio Shack and they have the vonage adapters. While the guy was ringing me up their POS asked for my vonage account and the new routers MAC (I was thinking kewl it will work when I get home... I was wrong.) I paid and headed home. When I got there neither adapter worked. I called up their customer service number and got the following choices.

Press 1 for new service (existing customers should not use this)
2 and three were for customer support and tech support.

I was on hold for over 30 minutes untill I got disconnected (was on my CELL)

I decided to try hitting number one when I called back and sure enough they answered right away. They were less than helpfull. In that option I am the red headed step child. I tried three times in a row and got the same results so I went back to tech support. When someone came back on they refused to activate the new adapter even though their POS asked for my account info and router info. The guy informed me that I needed to pay them $99 for the router instead of the $79 I paid at Radio Shack. I was rather peeved.

I ended up talking to a few guys at work and they pointed me back at AT&T so I called them. They waved the $79 charge for the adapter and waved the setup fee. They charged me 9.95 for shipping and 19.95 a month for the first 6 months. 

yesterday I got the thing in the mail and it is rather nice. I hooked it up and tested it out. The kewl thing about this adapter is that it does a type of QOS for the network. I plugged the wan port directly into my cable modem and my wireless router into the other port. I kicked off an ftp session and watched the throughput stay at about 250KB/sec I then made a phone call and like it should my bandwitdh dropped down to like 30KB/sec. I have had no problems with any of my phone calls unlike the other service which had lots of echo and deadspots. Once I hung up the throughput went right back to 250KB/sec.

When I started in on the tivo I started out trying to use the ,#019 codes... none of them would work well (they still worked better than vonage which never connected)


a little while ago I decided to just leave the ,#019 out and it connected... I was getting hate messages telling me that I hadnt made a call in 39 days so there was alot of data to transmit. It kept dieing on "Getting account status" It finally got past that and I have made three successful daily calls in a row. 

I would suggest callvantage to anyone using VOIP that wants to get their updates. I did play with different access numbers and got mixed results. There were two numbers that just did not work. I ended up trying 4 or 5 numbers found one that works well.


I just thought I should share this with the group in case you were looking for an answer to the vonage no connect blues.


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## restevns (Sep 20, 2002)

Just installed CallVantage - no special codes needed on HDVR2, works great making daily and test calls!


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## starbuck (Jan 25, 2003)

Does anyone have experience with VoicePulse working OK with DIRECTV? VoicePulse has gotten some good reviews lately in PC World and PC Magazine.

http://www.voicepulse.com/

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,115053,pg,2,00.asp

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1630778,00.asp


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## turls (Feb 6, 2000)

I don't get the big deal with these VoIP services. You can't even transfer your number if you depend on DSL as your only broadband option. That's a big deal killer.


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## Tenorsaw (Aug 4, 2004)

> _Originally posted by turls _
> *I don't get the big deal with these VoIP services. You can't even transfer your number if you depend on DSL as your only broadband option. That's a big deal killer. *


The big deal killer is when you're paying $20 in taxes alone. The big deal killer is when you're paying for a charge named "dial tone". The list goes on and on. Ditching Verizon is one of the best moves I've ever made.


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## judson_west (Nov 10, 2001)

There have been numerous reviews of CallVantage saying that the voice quality is much better than Vonage. I suspect the lack of voice quality on Vonage is due to the small bandwidth used by the service and this equates into problems when using the line for TiVo's modem.


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## Tenorsaw (Aug 4, 2004)

> _Originally posted by judson_west _
> *There have been numerous reviews of CallVantage saying that the voice quality is much better than Vonage. I suspect the lack of voice quality on Vonage is due to the small bandwidth used by the service and this equates into problems when using the line for TiVo's modem. *


There is no lack of voice quality on Vonage. I honestly have never tried CallVantage, but I think a lot of people are exaggerating about CallVantage being that much better or they must have had Vonage when they first started their service (more than one year ago). When they first started, I remember it echoing every now and then. That was only for like a month or two. Now, people have a hard time believing me when I tell them my phone is not POTS. I've been using Vonage for about a year and a half.


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## MD_TIVO (Nov 4, 2003)

> _Originally posted by starbuck _
> *Does anyone have experience with VoicePulse working OK with DIRECTV? VoicePulse has gotten some good reviews lately in PC World and PC Magazine.
> 
> *


I have not been able to get my Directivo to call out on my Voicepulse line.


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## rkwillms (Apr 23, 2003)

I am a CallVantage user. I had tivo prior to getting callvantage. When ordering the CallVantage service, I never gave a second thought about what impact it would have on my TiVo service. My tivo (series 1) was unable to connect at all over the callvantage service. I tried connecting an external modem, but again, it would not connect. I finally gave up and sold my series 1 and bought a series 2 so I could use the network interface. Havent had any problems yet. 

The callvantage service works ok, but there customer support SUCKS!


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## natgas (Oct 5, 2001)

I just had CallVantage installed and it never crossed my mind about my Dtivo's calling out/in; since my dtivo is downstairs and my CallVantage TA is upstairs, what can you suggest for hooking the dtivo up to it? thanks


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## jimnme (Oct 2, 2004)

Here is my experience with Directivo and voicepulse. I set my bandwidth to the maximum at voicepulse and allowed 7, 10, and 11 digit dialing. 

On the Tivo I used the ,#034 setting. I only got to the point where it was downloading about 20 percent of the attempts I made. Then when it got to the downloading part it would give me the "call interrupted" after a few minutes.

But I kept trying. Just keep forcing it, watching tv for a while, go back and check it and start it again if needed. Now 4 days later, I got the "download complete" and the new software was installed. I then called back in 3 additional times and each call was successful. So, I think every time you get to the downloading part, it adds a little more and you can download it in bits and pieces until you are done. 

So I would say, after a slow process of trying over and over and over again, my voicepulse problem with directivo seems to be eliminated.

One thing I found that made it get farther into the download was turning OFF my PC and laptop so they didn't draw any bandwidth at all. I'm not positive this did anything, but it seemed to download longer before getting the "call interrupted" with the computers off.

Hope it helps someone. If anyone else is successful this way I would love to hear about it. I didn't have to use the external modem or any of those things, just the,#034.

Michelle


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## dixonbm (Oct 6, 2004)

> _Originally posted by natgas _
> *I just had CallVantage installed and it never crossed my mind about my Dtivo's calling out/in; since my dtivo is downstairs and my CallVantage TA is upstairs, what can you suggest for hooking the dtivo up to it? thanks *


Cut the Bell connection into your house and then you can plug your TA into your home's phone network. Then you should have a dial tone on all phone jacks in your house.

Just make sure that the connection from the local phone company to your house is cut. If it isn't your TA will get fried due to the voltage travelling through the line.


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## nesby (Feb 7, 2006)

Has anyone been able to successfully make a Directivo call through the callvantage linksys router? If so, can you post your config?


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## SecureTalk (Apr 8, 2002)

nesby said:


> Has anyone been able to successfully make a Directivo call through the callvantage linksys router? If so, can you post your config?


I have Vonage [I know it's not CallVantage] but my config works and may be worth a try. It cant hurt.

For the dial prefix I use : ,#401,*99, 
I temporarly turn off call waiting: *70 
Use the full dial string for a local: 1-areacode-number

Good luck


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## nesby (Feb 7, 2006)

Doesn't the #401 tell it to use the USB port? Maybe I'm off-base but I thought that's what that code did. I think the *99 is Vonage specific too. It shouldn't be this difficult to make a stinkin' phone call .


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## scalo (Dec 28, 2004)

nesby said:


> Doesn't the #401 tell it to use the USB port? Maybe I'm off-base but I thought that's what that code did. I think the *99 is Vonage specific too. It shouldn't be this difficult to make a stinkin' phone call .


The problem with using VOIP is that the dial tone is not the same as a land line, I am not sure on the specifics but for whatever reason the Tivo modem is not able to detect the dial tone, the only change I have now made is to set the dial options to not check for dial tone. This seems to work for me everytime I call, you might want to try it and see what happens.
Scott


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## OLdDog (Dec 15, 2001)

The ,#401 causes the TiVo to use ethernet as the dialup.
===============
,#401 - 3.0 only - This sets up the Tivo to use ethernet for the daily calls. On Series 1 boxes, this means TivoNet or TurboNet. On Series 2, this means a USB-&gt;Ethernet dongle. Not all dongles will work, do a search for more info.
===============
Once that is correctly detected the TiVo will NOT use the phone at all but it will NOT work on a series 2 DTiVo without hacking.

The easiest solution for many that have a windows XP or 2000 computer nearby is to use PPP over serial. That is what I do and I get all the updates and no nag screens and seamless opperation with NO phone line at all hooked up to my TiVos.


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## nesby (Feb 7, 2006)

OLdDog said:


> The ,#401 causes the TiVo to use ethernet as the dialup.
> ===============
> ,#401 - 3.0 only - This sets up the Tivo to use ethernet for the daily calls. On Series 1 boxes, this means TivoNet or TurboNet. On Series 2, this means a USB->Ethernet dongle. Not all dongles will work, do a search for more info.
> ===============
> ...


Awesome, thx for the info. I understand I need a null modem cable and a tivo cable? Is that correct? I have a null modem but I'm not sure what a tivo cable is and I don't see one in my Philips DTivo box.

Can you point me to a thread that describes the PPP setup? Forgive me, I'm an idiot.


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## OLdDog (Dec 15, 2001)

This is the serial cable you need or you can use the cable that comes with a lot of TiVos and a null modem adaptor and a gender changer (F to F).

If you make this cable you do not need the null modem adapter or gender changer. Those are only needed if you use the serial cable supplied with many TiVos.








then read the text at this link to make the connection work:
http://www.tivohelp.com/archive/tivohelp.swiki.net/45.html

I had little problem after I realized that the instructions were for an older version of XP and I just set the parameters as suggested in the text even though the menus were not exactly as shown.

Also you will probably want to turn off the Window's firewall and assign two IP addresses for your TiVo to use.

I also had to go to a slower speed than the default BUT that is probably because I needed to use a long cable. (I used 19200 I think)


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## smittypros (Feb 13, 2006)

jimnme said:


> On the Tivo I used the ,#034 setting. I only got to the point where it was downloading about 20 percent of the attempts I made. Then when it got to the downloading part it would give me the "call interrupted" after a few minutes.
> 
> But I kept trying. Just keep forcing it, watching tv for a while, go back and check it and start it again if needed. Now 4 days later, I got the "download complete" and the new software was installed. I then called back in 3 additional times and each call was successful. So, I think every time you get to the downloading part, it adds a little more and you can download it in bits and pieces until you are done.


Is this true, that it gets further in the download each time? We have Time Warner VOIP and haven't been able to make a successful call in almost 400 days - and are now having the slo-mo problem so need to upgrade our software.

I can't get it to complete a test call with any new dialing options, but it does get to the "downloading, phone in use" almost every time, sticks there for 30-45 minutes or even longer, then has call interrupted. I've been doing this for almost a week now, probably five or six times a day. Should I just keep trying and hoping that it's downloading a little more each time?

Thanks for any help...I'm with nesby, shouldn't be this hard to make a phone call!


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## nesby (Feb 7, 2006)

OLdDog said:


> This is the serial cable you need or you can use the cable that comes with a lot of TiVos and a null modem adaptor and a gender changer (F to F).
> 
> If you make this cable you do not need the null modem adapter or gender changer. Those are only needed if you use the serial cable supplied with many TiVos.
> 
> ...


Thx OldDog. I have both ends of the cable (female DB9 from null modem and stereo plug). Right now I have the following....

1/8 inch serial ------DB9
Red-------------------Orange
White-----------------Black
Bare------------------Brown

I'm confident my cable is messed up because I don't get any signal. Do you see what I have wrong here?

Thx, Brian.


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## smittypros (Feb 13, 2006)

I'm trying to do the same thing - I'm getting the unregistered user to pop up as an incoming connection, but the test call keeps failing during the "negotiating" part of the connection. I don't see anything specific in the troubleshooting for this problem - followed all the directions but can't figure out if something's wrong or I just need to keep trying. Any ideas? Thanks!


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## OLdDog (Dec 15, 2001)

nesby, I don't understand the cable you say you are using at all. THere should be only three wires involved.

Simply make the cable shown and you are good to go.

smittypros, try turning off the windows fire wall. That fixed the problem of failing while negotiating for me and many others.


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## nesby (Feb 7, 2006)

OLdDog said:


> nesby, I don't understand the cable you say you are using at all. THere should be only three wires involved.
> 
> Simply make the cable shown and you are good to go.
> 
> smittypros, try turning off the windows fire wall. That fixed the problem of failing while negotiating for me and many others.


LOL, sorry OldDog, I am pretty new when it comes to this stuff. What I was trying to say is that I cut off the 1/8 speaker serial end off a cable I had. I also had a null modem cable and cut the DB9 end off of that. I was trying to tie the 3 speaker wires (red,white, bare) to 3 (out of 8) wires from the female DB9 connection. I just wasnt' sure which 3 to link them up to. I don't have a soldering iron so I was trying to twist the proper wires together. Will this work?

I have another null modem cable as well and a DB9 gender changer in case I need that, but I don't have the tivo cable which is why I was trying to make this jacked-up version.


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## smittypros (Feb 13, 2006)

OLdDog said:


> smittypros, try turning off the windows fire wall. That fixed the problem of failing while negotiating for me and many others.


Thanks, OldDog - I actually have both the Windows firewall and Kerio (the one that I usually use) turned off...turns out the trick to get past the negotiating stage was hard-entering a couple of IP addresses for the Tivo.

BUT, now I can't get past the "preparing data" part of "hanging up" the test call. Fails every time. I managed to get past the test call so the new settings would be accepted by powering off while I had them in - but even with a daily call, it downloads for a loooong time, then fails while "loading series data" or something like that. I'm still trying, but I'd love any other ideas you might have!

Thanks again for your response; I appreciate it.


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## nesby (Feb 7, 2006)

Finally got it working through PPP. Hopefully someday DTV will support calls over broadband without any trouble. Thx to Otto, OldDog and company for your assistance!!!!!

By the way, once I successfully received the 6.2 upgrade via serial, I tried calling over Callvantage and again using the 2122773895 as the dial prefix and ,#034 in call waiting and presto!!!! I did have to add 7 commas after the 212... number to allow it to pause and connect before trying to dial the pre-coded dial number. I did not enable fax/modem support.


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