# Alt EPG 0161 number



## TIVO_YORK99 (Feb 14, 2001)

Hi all,

As the tivoland forum is down at the moment, does anyone know if the 0161 number has been activated yet?, and if so, what is the number?

Thanks

Peter


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TIVO_YORK99 said:


> As the tivoland forum is down at the moment, does anyone know if the 0161 number has been activated yet?, and if so, what is the number?


The 0161 number has not been activated yet. However the new 0845 number of 0845 0800300 has 60 lines available and seems to be working perfectly and is never engaged.:up::up::up:


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## bigwold (Jun 4, 2003)

Pete77 said:


> 0845 0800300 has 60 lines available and seems to be working perfectly *and is never engaged*.:up::up::up:





Pete77 said:


> 0845 0800300 ... has lines *free available pretty much all the time 24/7*


Pete, you seem to be contradicting yourself within the space of just over an hour


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## TIVO_YORK99 (Feb 14, 2001)

Thanks for the reply.

I'm currently using the 0845 (which I agree with you is working great) but it isn't on the free package that my aunt has, but she does have free 0161 calls.

Peter


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

TIVO_YORK99 said:


> I'm currently using the 0845 (which I agree with you is working great) but it isn't on the free package that my aunt has, but she does have free 0161 calls.


I originally thought like you about this however it turns out that in their terms and conditions most phone companies exclude all known ISP dialup numbers (other than 0800 or 0808 which the caller always pays for by subscription) from their free calling plan allowances. Otherwise of course nobody would have ever paid for an 0808/0808 dialup provider and everyone would have used their free call minutes to call an 01/02 number for up to an hour. So even the alternative 020 number being given for Tivo after they closed the 0808 number was being charged to most people who used it.

The only solution on the call costs issue seems to be if the AltEPG can find a way to change the Tivo configuration to limit the call to say once a week as that would mean only one call connection fee and one more efficient call hopefully at the weekend when 0845 per minute call rates are always lowest.


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

Here's an idea:

unplug the phone from the line socket and only connect it at weekends

Far too simple...


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

mikerr said:


> Here's an idea:
> 
> unplug the phone from the line socket and only connect it at weekends


I agree it works as long as you are the kind of person who has a routine and diarises absolutely everything. However I know that in my case I would forget and find I was losing recordings.

If someone could develop a low cost telephone socket adapter with a timer on it that only allowed calls to be made between set hours by the device connected to it then I am sure there would be a marketplace amongst Tivo owners, especially if it only cost say £15 or £20.

However I suspect a software based solution in terms of the Tivo dialup configuration setup that is rolled out from the server will turn out to be cheaper and easier. Or alternatively Jamie Easterman may be able to offer us an 0808 dialup number connection to some of his lines with say up to 30 minutes of calls a week to only the AltEPG servers for perhaps a £15 per year subscription.


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## Trinitron (Jan 20, 2003)

Pete77 said:


> If someone could develop a low cost telephone socket adapter with a timer on it that only allowed calls to be made between set hours by the device connected to it then I am sure there would be a marketplace amongst Tivo owners, especially if it only cost say £15 or £20.


Something like this. Unfortunately the company importing them discontinued the range a couple of years ago[1], they used to cost £15!

[1]Hmmm. That sounds familiar.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

Trinitron said:


> Something like this. Unfortunately the company importing them discontinued the range a couple of years ago[1], they used to cost £15!


That dialler is a lot more sophisticated in terms of functionality than is needed in this case.


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## Trinitron (Jan 20, 2003)

Sorry I spoke!


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## pteronaut (Dec 26, 2009)

Silly question, but couldn't you use a phone jack extension (like this <Maplin>) coupled with a 7 day plug in mechanical timer <Maplin>?


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

pteronaut said:


> Silly question, but couldn't you use a phone jack extension (like this <Maplin>) coupled with a 7 day plug in mechanical timer <Maplin>?


I expect that might achieve the desired goal except that £59.99 seems rather pricey. No doubt part of that price would have to pay towards the cost of your commission earning referral link to the Maplin website.


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## pteronaut (Dec 26, 2009)

Pete77 said:


> I expect that might achieve the desired goal except that £59.99 seems rather pricey. No doubt part of that price would have to pay towards the cost of your commission earning referral link to the Maplin website.


Capable Networks (TCF's owners) skim referals now.

I merely used Maplin as a source of UK compatible electronics as I am in the US. Of course you are free to source similar devices from other retailers.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

pteronaut said:


> Capable Networks (TCF's owners) skim referals now.


Thanks for explaining. What are they skimming for exactly though?

However 59.99GBP is a sufficiently large investment that it might obviously be better spent on installed a Turbonet, TurboNZ or Cachecard network card in the Tivo to permanently eliminate the phone call cost.

Unfortunately In order to blackmail phone consumers in the UK to take inclusive call packages most UK phone providers have brought in ever large connection fees for each UK call that is not part of a call package and these have increased from only 5p (about 8 cents) three or four years ago to 13p (20 cents) today. On top of this they have small print that says calls to data numbers are excluded from the call packages which are only for voice calls. Although that depends on whether they have caught that particular number yet as being associated with data calls.

Up to now the typical dialup Tivo owner has been happy to stick with the 0808 Freephone call to Tivo but now that their weekly phone call cost could easily be over 1.50GBP or 2.40 dollars per week then either getting a Cachecard or retiring the Tivo is the only sensible way to go in the long term in terms of the cost of running it. Of course no one knows for sure how long our new AltEPG service will last for but at the current level of phone call costs it would pay for itself in only 12 months. The problem is that installing a network card in a Tivo means lots of technical complexity that is probably beyond the average dialup using Tivo owner...........


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## pteronaut (Dec 26, 2009)

Capable added code to divert all external links through some system that makes them money, rendering any referral link placed by a TCF member impotent (many members in the US section have been up in arms about this).

The links that I provided to Maplin are simply ones that were created by myself by going to http://maplin.co.uk & searching for the products themselves, no money to be made by myself, all my searching is free of charge for the benefit of TCF members. 

As you said in your last paragraph that the technical expertise of some owners might preclude them from the networking of their TiVo units, the solution that I presented might be of more value to them.

I expect that there are cheaper alternatives to Maplin in the UK (them having taken Tandy's position in that marketplace), which should knock at least £10 off of the total price of that package.


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## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

pteronaut said:


> I expect that there are cheaper alternatives to Maplin in the UK (them having taken Tandy's position in that marketplace), which should knock at least £10 off of the total price of that package.


What a shame that the British part of the Radio Shack operation closed down. I still remember their stores fondly as for the time they were filled with leading edge products.

Maplin is a more capable general electronics retailer that has cleverly filled the gap in the marketplace left by the closure of Tandy but it is not as strong on radio related products as Tandy was, although of course radio based communication as we have known and loved it will ultimately probably all be replaced by wireless IP packets in the long run.....


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## OzSat (Feb 15, 2001)

*A number of Ot and/or offensive posts have been remove. Please keep posts on-topic and personal comments/attacks away from this forum!*


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## kitschcamp (May 18, 2001)

Pete77 said:


> What a shame that the British part of the Radio Shack operation closed down. I still remember their stores fondly as for the time they were filled with leading edge products.


I'm guessing you've not been in a US one recently. Leading edge products is not the phrase that comes to mind.


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> Maplin is a more capable general electronics retailer that has cleverly filled the gap in the marketplace left by the closure of Tandy


Maplin is now but a mere shadow of what it originally was. It used to be the best electronic components supplier for the hobbyist.

I first dealt with them in 1978 and when they first introduced customer numbers mine was less than 12000. A few years later I also had a trade account with them and my customer number was greater than 3 million.

I designed and marketed a product and all of the components initially came from Maplin and every year I got my free copy of the catalogue.

Then they started to turn into Tandy and became less and less capable of supplying components. A couple of years later I didnt get my free catalogue so I rang up to ask why..... "you didnt spend enough last year"

I pointed out that the primary reason for this was that they had turned into a toy shop for "big boys toys" and that I couldnt spend any money with them because they had discontinued almost all of the components that I used to buy from them.

I think in the last 10 years I have probably spent less in Maplin than I used to spent on a monthly basis


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

Pete77 said:


> If someone could develop a low cost telephone socket adapter with a timer on it that only allowed calls to be made between set hours by the device connected to it then I am sure there would be a marketplace amongst Tivo owners, especially if it only cost say £15 or £20.


Getting back on topic...

Actually it is extremely easy to make something like that.....

you need....

1 telephone extension lead
1 12v relay
1 12v wall wart power supply
1 Plug in timer.

Here is the recipe.....

1. Cut the extension lead in half and wire to the relay contacts
2. Wire the 12v power supply to the coil of the relay
3. set the desired times on the plug in timer
4. plug timer into mains
5. plug PSU into timer
6 connect tivo via modified extension lead

The tivo would then only be connected to the phone line whenever the relay was operated.


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## worm (Feb 10, 2005)

as someone who lives with an electrical engineer, can I suggest that you don't try this at home unless you know what you are doing?


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## katman (Jun 4, 2002)

Its all low voltage powered by the 12v wall wart.


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## Richard42 (Dec 27, 2000)

katman said:


> Its all low voltage powered by the 12v wall wart.


NOT TRUE !

Actually you can get one hell of a suprise from the phone line if someone rings you when you're touching them ( been there, done it, OUCH  )

Richard


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## mikerr (Jun 2, 2005)

Richard42 said:


> Actually you can get one hell of a suprise from the phone line if someone rings you when you're touching them ( been there, done it, OUCH  )


BT lines have 50v line voltage (DC), but the ring signal is 75v AC


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## Benedict (Jun 8, 2002)

mikerr said:


> BT lines have 50v line voltage (DC), but the ring signal is 75v AC


It's not the voltage that will get you, but the current.

If you think that the 25Hz ringing signal carries enough current to drive the kind of mechanical bell type ringers found in old style phones (and several of them simultaneously at that) then you might get a sense for how nasty coming into contact with it might feel!


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## CarlWalters (Oct 17, 2001)

Benedict said:


> It's not the voltage that will get you, but the current.


Indeed. "It's the volts that jolts but the mills that kills".


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## Davyburns (Jan 7, 2004)

mikerr said:


> Here's an idea:
> 
> unplug the phone from the line socket and only connect it at weekends
> 
> Far too simple...


How much are we talking about for a typical 0845 call for Tivo?


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## sjp (Oct 22, 2001)

my last Sunday pre tivo epg turn off dial up, for a full weeks worth, was a good bit over 2 quid using the other 0845 number. i doubt a non VM phone charge would be much different.

nigh on a ton a year if i dialled up weekly (which would mean only 1 call set up charge per week) would have me looking for an 0161 number, i'd rather pay whoever runs the number a touch more than 50 quid rather than see BT getting half of it.


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