Can or can you not complete initial setup of Tivo without a phone line?

November 1, 2005 1:21 PM

TivoFilter: Can or can you not complete initial setup of Tivo without a phone line? Nerdery Inside.

Tivo 140 Hr. Netgear WG111 wireless usb adapter. Most forums ive found regarding this topic are circa 2003. Yes, i've tried ,#401.

posted by provocateur to Computers & Internet (13 answers total)

What version of its software does it have? If it is below the latest one (7.2.whatever), you'll find very limited wireless support and no way to complete the setup without making a phone call.
posted by briank at 1:28 PM on November 1, 2005

I looked into this when I bought mine in May. According to everything I read in FAQs and forums there was no way to connect for the initial setup other than via telephone. I hauled the Tivo into work one night and hooked it up for the initial setup. Since then I've been using a netgear 10/100 USB 2.0 ethernet adapter and it's worked like a charm. Just be careful that the phone line you plug it into is a real line and not part of some digital PBX. You could fry the poor thing that way. I made sure by plugging in a regular home phone into the socket first. (may have been unwise, but ... )
posted by roue at 1:59 PM on November 1, 2005

I ended up having to run a stupid super, super long phone cord out to my Tivo to complete the setup.

Good luck!
posted by fenriq at 2:00 PM on November 1, 2005

I bought a TiVO two weeks ago from BestBuy, and the software was version 4 or something. Without the newest version (7.2) you won't be able to connect via the network (the box didn't recognize my network adapter even though it was TiVO approved - no drivers). So I had to go to a friends place to make the land-line call. Be warned that the phone call could take a couple of hours (and a couple of calls) to get everything downloaded and your box totally upgraded. After that it works splendidly with the internet.

If somehow you can find a new TiVO with version 7.2 software already installed, you'll be fine. I doubt that is possible though.
posted by blue_beetle at 2:00 PM on November 1, 2005

I did it last spring, it was trivial. My Tivo (gotten through rewards points at TivoCentral) had whatever version was "latest" at the time, and I simply put in the "use the network" prefix for the phone number. The only catch was that I had to have DHCP running on my network, since there was no way to configure anything before the setup, no IP, no name-servers, no gateway. My DHCP had only been half set up before then, just serving up IPs, but I added those bits of information (gateway, etc), and it ran just fine.
posted by Invoke at 2:11 PM on November 1, 2005

I second Invoke's response, less the tivo rewards portion.
posted by TheAnswer at 2:19 PM on November 1, 2005

I had no problems doing it in a 5.x machine or whatever the major release was pre-7.x, with a wired USB adapter and ,#401. I had to restore from a backup and update the software to 7.2 to sell it, no problems.. didn't even have a subscription when I did it.
posted by kcm at 2:54 PM on November 1, 2005

Use the ,#401 dialing prefix. It will ask you for your area code and stuff like that, but it doesn't matter. If you have DHCP good to go, you shouldn't have a problem.
posted by rxrfrx at 3:02 PM on November 1, 2005

I just reimaged two separate TiVos, and so had to clear and delete everything and redo Guided Setup on both. Learn from my mistakes so you don't waste your evenings grappling with this the way I did.

MAKE SURE THE ADAPTER IS CONNECTED TO THE TIVO BEFORE POWERING UP! If you haven't done this, then the adapter won't be detected before you begin Guided Setup, which means you'll have to go all the way back out to Demo Mode, let it run through the Demo mode cycle once, unplug it, and then reconnect the adapter before powering back on or it won't work. It might pull an IP address, but it won't work.

If you have sub 7.2 software, only a wired Ethernet USB connector will work. The same information still applies, however. ,#401 prefix.
posted by sun-el at 3:16 PM on November 1, 2005

We have no landline, but setting mine up last year was no problem. We aren't wireless, though.
posted by Ruki at 3:29 PM on November 1, 2005

Best answer: I just setup my new TIVO, and I don't have a phone line. I followed these instructions and it worked great. It's really quite simple, just follow the instructions exactly and you'll be fine.
posted by split atom at 4:14 PM on November 1, 2005

I've used vonage to setup my tivo. It took a couple tries, but it'll work. I doubt you have vonage, but that's how I did it.
posted by Jomoma at 6:17 PM on November 1, 2005

Yes. It's a pain in the ass. For DirecTV, it involves ripping out the hard drive and reimaging the Tivo. I imagine the procedure is same for a cable/antenna Tivo. I've read about the 401 trick, but it never worked for me, and so I had to go the other route. dealdatabase.com forums are your friend.
posted by arimathea at 6:20 PM on November 1, 2005