# Bolt Lifetime deal - what to do with old Premier?



## Shad (Dec 28, 2010)

I've been offered a deal from Tivo that I can upgrade my Premier to the bolt and transfer lifetime service to the new bolt for $99. It's a deal I'm actually tempted by. There are advantages to upgrading that didn't justify the full price upgrade, but at that big of a discount I feel like it's worth it.. They say that they will deactivate my old premier at the end of October. My question is this.. Will that completely brick the premier, or would I be able to move it to another TV and watch shows off the new bolt and my Roamio? I'd basically like to use it as a Tivo mini accessing content off the other Tivos. Do they render the device completely useless when they deactivate it?


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## Shad (Dec 28, 2010)

Sorry I posted this in the wrong forum.. Can an admin please move to the appropriate forum?


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## ShinySteelRobot (Apr 2, 2010)

I received the same marketing email. When TiVo says "deactivate", it's probably safe to assume they mean they'll deactivate your old Premiere's _lifetime service_, but I don't know for sure. You could likely add service to your Premiere again in the future.

To be on the safe side, you could probably email them or call them to confirm.


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## Worf (Sep 15, 2000)

No, a TiVo without service is deactivated. It's not removing lifetime service, it's removing service, period.

If you wish to keep the TiVo in service, you must call them now and have them schedule in a month to month plan prior to deactivation. Otherwise once deactivated, their policy is to not activate it ever again. Make sure you get a case number, because you can bet your TiVo will be deactivated and customer service will not reactivate it, so you need to quote them a case number that said they were going to transfer it to a month to month plan instead.

Chances are good that that's as best as you're going to get. The intention is to deactivate the boxes for good.


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## sfhub (Jan 6, 2007)

Worf said:


> If you wish to keep the TiVo in service, you must call them now and have them schedule in a month to month plan prior to deactivation. Otherwise once deactivated, *their policy is to not activate it ever again*.


I know that is the case for S3/HD and earlier. Is that the case for Premieres also?


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

sfhub said:


> I know that is the case for S3/HD and earlier. Is that the case for Premieres also?


No, it is not. Premieres can still be activated / reactivated.


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## dvr_kamikaze (Oct 5, 2017)

I would like to get to the bottom of this as well. I upgraded to a Bolt with this promotion and figured that the old Premiere would work like a mini. You don't need service if you don't have a cable card in it, do you? A co-worker has multiple premieres in his house and told me he uses them. Then again, he got a Bolt before this promotion. I'll have to ask him.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

dvr_kamikaze said:


> I would like to get to the bottom of this as well. I upgraded to a Bolt with this promotion and figured that the old Premiere would work like a mini. You don't need service if you don't have a cable card in it, do you? A co-worker has multiple premieres in his house and told me he uses them. Then again, he got a Bolt before this promotion. I'll have to ask him.


Yes, you need service for the Premiere and note that the Premiere does not work like a Mini for live TV.

Scott


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

The Mini originally required monthly service to function, it was only later that it was sold with lifetime service included. If you want the function of a Mini you'll have to buy a Mini.


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## dvr_kamikaze (Oct 5, 2017)

HerronScott said:


> Yes, you need service for the Premiere and note that the Premiere does not work like a Mini for live TV.
> 
> Scott


Yeah, I checked with my co-worker and he had chucked two old Premiere's. He has a lifetime service plan on a Bolt and a Premiere. I'll probably pick up the Mini once our daughter is older so that we can send her off to watch her shows on another TV.


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