DIRECTDVR-without phone-line

[cr0mag]

Ok ssimp.... in getting back to your question, you really need a way to connect your D* tivo reciever to both a dish and a phone line to get through the initial setup AFIK. I did mine at a friend's house who had D* and a phone line. Then I took my box back home and everything was fine. I did get a "nag" message from time to time telling me to make a phone call, but I just ignored it.
There is one cheesy option that I just thought of... Can you run a phone cord to a neighbor's house just long enough for the call? If you have a neighbor who will let you do that, you'll be set! Once the call is done, remove the long cord and you're all ready to go.

 

[Rancid1]

Tech Tier 2 is a great idea. Have the 1st tier solve all the simple problems so people don't have to wait 45 minutes to have a service call scheduled. They don't know everything though. It's like what you guys call " CSR roulette " . I hate that term because it indicates you get different info from different EC's.... but it's true.

Who you manage to get on the other end of the line unfortuantely makes all the diferance in the world when it comes to service, technical expertise, and the ability/willingness to work with the customer. For crying out loud, I talked to a D* customer today who requested tier 2 since his dvr wasn't making it's call. Tier 2 had previously sent him 2 replacement recievers. This one was his third. Now if someone had simply asked the gentleman to check for a dsl filter on his phone line between the ird and the phone jack, it would have saved him, and us, a lot of time. Just a single case, but just goes to show tier 1, tier 2, billing, crg, cis... Whatever the department you are connected to the only thing that realy matters is who you get on the other end. I myself handle calls that by policy should be transfered, but if the customer demands not to be transfered then i'm gonna fix his sh*t.. Isn't that why i'm there?

 

[DTV-T2-Tech]

This is true, It all depends on who you talk to, Because DTV is growing so rapidly there are hiring a lot of people. And this is a very technical job. Most people who get hired on are not very technical, esp. at T1 level, If ask them a question outside script most are lost and try to transfer to T2. And some T2 agents are not very knowledgeable either. I pride myself being a very informed T2 tech.

 

[Ramy]

This is true, It all depends on who you talk to, Because DTV is growing so rapidly there are hiring a lot of people. And this is a very technical job. Most people who get hired on are not very technical, esp. at T1 level, If ask them a question outside script most are lost and try to transfer to T2. And some T2 agents are not very knowledgeable either. I pride myself being a very informed T2 tech.

Well maybe you can answer me a question. When is Directv going to come out with software to enable the USB ports? It seems to me to be useless to even put them on the thing if they are disabled. Also they need to fix the problem of viewing HD signals on a 4:3 tv. All material is stretched top to bottom. I want to be able to use bars at the top and bottom, which I can't curretly do right now. And yes I have used all the functions of the ratio button and the tv size and nothing works in HD mode, they all work in SD mode but that doesn't help me when I watch a HD channel.

 

[DirecTVTechCSR]

back to the original question at hand... Yes you need a phone line for full functionality of the Tivo. When you first set up a Tivo, you have to make an activation call. Then there are other features on the tivo such as the showcase that downloads over the phoneline. Without a phone line hooked up, you will lose these features after about 2 weeks. This is what is referred to as the "daily call" which while it does not actually make daily, it does call from time to time (about once a week) to update these features. It also holds 3 weeks of prog guide info at a time, and this info is updated thru the phoneline unlike standard receivers. After 31 days of having no phoneline/no daily call, your tivo service will be disconnected and you will have to reactivate it again.

 

[stevesmall]

Never had a phone line hooked up here,