# What is the phone line for on regular DirecTV receivers?



## RickStrobel (Jan 19, 2000)

Here's a softball question for you DirecTV users. What's the phone line used for on standard (non-TiVo) receivers?

Here's why I ask. A customer of mine was having trouble with his DSL service. All three of his DirecTV receivers were plugged into the phone line (without filters too). During my testing only two of them were plugged in. If the unit in the basement was plugged in to the phone line the DSL would barely work. When disconnected it was somewhat reliable. 

It turns out that they also had outside wiring issues that Bellsouth should have fixed by now. I told them to just unplug the phone lines from all of their receivers for now.

We're going to install all the filters properly. But, doesn't only one receiver need to be connected to the phone line? The master receiver? That's what the Bellsouth tech thought might be the way it works - he wasn't sure. They never order pay-per-view movies.

Also, their DirecTV service was just installed a few months ago by a local dealer.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

RickStrobel said:


> What's the phone line used for on standard (non-TiVo) receivers?


To report PPV purchases so they can be billed, that are temporarily stored on the card.


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## RickStrobel (Jan 19, 2000)

So if they never order PPV then they really don't need a phone line?


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

RickStrobel said:


> So if they never order PPV then they really don't need a phone line?


Correct.


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## Boston Fan (Feb 8, 2006)

RickStrobel said:


> So if they never order PPV then they really don't need a phone line?


If they order PPV movies from their online account instead of with their remote control, the receiver still does not need to be plugged into a phone line (and has the added benefit of making the PPV available on ALL receivers).


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## RickStrobel (Jan 19, 2000)

So was the Bellsouth guy mistaken about the "master" receiver theory? If you want to watch PPV movies on all three receivers (not ordering them online) then each one would need a phone connection. Is that correct?


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## Guindalf (Jun 13, 2001)

RickStrobel said:


> So was the Bellsouth guy mistaken about the "master" receiver theory? If you want to watch PPV movies on all three receivers (not ordering them online) then each one would need a phone connection. Is that correct?


Not only was he mistaken, he was wrong. If you order a PPV, via remote, it is only available on that receiver. The only way to be able to watch on all three is to order online. There is no such thing as a "master receiver" in this situation. If you ask DirecTV, they will tell you that ALL receivers must be connected to a phone line.


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## RickStrobel (Jan 19, 2000)

Guindalf said:


> If you ask DirecTV, they will tell you that ALL receivers must be connected to a phone line.


That way each receiver can order it's own PPV unique PPV movie?

In the Bellsouth's guy's defense, neither he nor I knew for sure what the purpose of the phone line was. We didn't get into any details like watching the same PPV on all receivers.

So here's a slight hijack:

How does it work if you order a PPV online and all receivers can see it. Do they embed a code in the bitstream that's sent to everyone but just your unique card knows how to decode?


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## Guindalf (Jun 13, 2001)

If you order online, D* doesn't know for sure which receiver is going to view the PPV, so it has to send a signal to all of them in your home. When you order via remote, it is the machine you're ordering from that handles the signal to decode the event, which is reported to D* on the next phone call.

There are far more technical people than me out there who could probably give a more detailed explanation, but that's my understanding.


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## purple6816 (May 27, 2003)

If they never dial in and you throw the box away (they are cheap) you wont have to pay for the purchases. 

A friend of mines kid ran up a huge amount of porn purchases. He kept ordering them every 10 minutes or so and they just threw the box away it was cheaper.


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## rminsk (Jun 4, 2002)

purple6816 said:


> A friend of mines kid ran up a huge amount of porn purchases. He kept ordering them every 10 minutes or so and they just threw the box away it was cheaper.


You can not run up a huge bill of PPV. After a set limit it will not allow you to order PPV without calling in first.


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## Stanley Rohner (Jan 18, 2004)

If the phone line isn't plugged into the receiver for a long period of time it won't even let you order PPV via the remote.


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## T1V0 (Jun 14, 2006)

Stanley Rohner said:


> If the phone line isn't plugged into the receiver for a long period of time it won't even let you order PPV via the remote.


Correct. Typically if a certain receiver doesnt call DTV back for a while, they'll disable remote control PPV to prevent the exact issues mentioned previously in this thread.


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