OK – so you’re hi-tech and you’ve dumped your landline for Vonage or some other VoIP. And now your TiVo doesn’t dial-in. You’ve got a bunch of options to get back on track. Figure out which model classification you have below and we’ll tell you what to do. Believe it or not, all TiVo DVRs have a serial port (even though it looks like a headphone jack) and this makes for some possibilities.
Series 1 TiVos (Philips DSR6000 and HDR series, Sony SVR-2000 and SAT T-60, Hughes GXCEBOT): These units are the original. If they work, keep them going. We sell an external modem kit for your TiVo that will work with Vonage and most other VoIP providers. It’s easy to install, quick to setup, and just plain-old works.
Series 2 Standalone TiVos and DVD TiVos: If you’ve got one of these, and you’ve got VoIP, then you just need a network adapter and you can get your TiVo on the net and you won’t need a phone line. Just go into Messages and Setup and tell your TiVo how to connect after you hook up the hardware.
Series 2 DirecTV TiVos (including HD): Two options here. Easiest is: don’t dial it in at all. If you’ve already set up the unit, it doesn’t need to dial-in anymore. It’ll complain that you haven’t dialed it in in XX days (mine is finally over 400!) but you just have to click Select once per day, max, and it’s gone. You can’t purchase PayPerView from the unit, but you can still purchase it by phone or on the internet and this TiVo will see the show. Don’t worry about the guide data running out – that comes from the satellite dish on these units. But if you want to get rid of the warning message (nag screen) and/or be able to do PayPerView, you can use our external modem kit. If you have one of these units, you’ll need the $11 cable also since one didn’t come with your unit originally.
If you haven’t set up your Series 2 DirecTV TiVo yet, then you have two options. You can go to a friend’s house (even one without DirecTV) and get through the two setup phone calls there. If you do that, first get the unit through the beginning of setup with a satellite dish connected; then call DirecTV and have them activate the card. After that you can do the dial-ins without the satellite dish connected if you need to. The other option is, yet again, the WeaKnees external TiVo modem kit. This will get you through initial setup, and the later dial-ins.
One final note: at least one VoIP provider doesn’t support modems at all, so we recommend that you avoid them: Packet8.
