TIVO with Vonage

June 30, 2006 4:09 AM

I have Vonage (love it), and would like to get Tivo. Does anybody have both? I hear I need a landline in order to recieve Tivo service...is this true?
posted by peglam to Computers & Internet (22 answers total)

tivo1 is very complicated tooks -weeks to straighten it all out.

I would check out Tivo2. It may be much easier and but Vonage support is not much help.
posted by beccaj at 4:16 AM on June 30, 2006

Response by poster: I guess I mean any kind of TIVO. Whatever the latest version is...
posted by peglam at 4:18 AM on June 30, 2006

Hmmm, let me restate the question as I understand it:

Will a dialup modem signal pass through a Voice-over-IP circuit?

alternatively:

Does TiVo now have broadband options that allow it to use your existing internet connection (instead of the phone line) to phone home?

I have no idea on both counts, but someone here probably will.
posted by intermod at 4:31 AM on June 30, 2006

Response by poster: I think my question was succinct, and people familiar with both don't need a translation..but thank you anyway.
posted by peglam at 4:40 AM on June 30, 2006

You can run Guided Setup using your network connection if your DVR has software version 7.2 or later pre-installed.
posted by lowlife at 4:45 AM on June 30, 2006

As I mentioned here, TiVo no longer requires a phone connection to set up or receive new guide data, if it's a new TiVo, as lowlife reiterates.

Meanwhile, intermod was completely accurate in his restatement. The two questions are *completely* different.

Because Vonage is over broadband, and packet data, and modems themselves are based on the modulation and demodulation of what's effectively a sound signal, modems do not work well at *all* over VOIP. You can kick down your baud rate to something ridiculously low, but phone-based TiVos don't readily let you do that, however see here for a further discussion on modems over VOIP. (This is why a fax machine will still work—the baud rate on a fax is crazy low.)

The secondary question intermod asks is the most important. TiVo does have broadband options, but sometimes these require the purchase of an additional ethernet adapter. (Most TiVos at the moment don't come with an in-built ethernet port.)

I have mine running on a Linksys USB-to-WiFi adapter, connecting to my home's network, and getting guide data and other broadband content over our cable connection.

Short answer to your question, yes, if you buy a newer (Series 2, 7.2+) TiVo. You'll probably buy a new box so, yes. You may need to purchase a WiFi adapter or USB-ethernet adapter. TiVo sells one specially designed for their boxes for about $50, but they're dirt cheap elsewhere. Check their compatibility charts for more information. (TiVos is "optimized" for their units, because they move network stack stuff to the hardware itself. I'm not sure how big a performance boost you'd see, but I know on mine, we transfer shows at about a minute per medium-quality-broadcast minute wirelessly to my computer.)
posted by disillusioned at 4:58 AM on June 30, 2006

Response by poster: I really just want to know if I NEED a landline. Looks like I don't. I have a usb to wifi adapter as well, connecting to my network....
Thanks.
posted by peglam at 5:21 AM on June 30, 2006

Best answer: As disillusioned mentioned, yes it works.

Very simply...

1. Buy a newer TiVo (Series 2)... you can usually find them for free at www.bensbargains.net

2. Then get a wireless USB adapter (but make sure that it is listed on the TiVo website...)

3. Take it to work or to a friend's house and let it connect THE FIRST TIME to a phone connection.

4. Then take your TiVo home and go into Network/Phone Settings and find your wireless network.
posted by k8t at 5:22 AM on June 30, 2006

I use my tivo on my wireless network and it works flawlessly.
posted by kdern at 6:18 AM on June 30, 2006

My experience: I purchased a Tivo Series 2 and Tivo's Wireless Adapter and they work perfectly. I was able to run the setup over my wireless broadband connection. I never had to hook up the phone line.

The Tivo Wireless Adapter is a bit expensive, but it works flawlessly. My wireless base is a good 50 feet from the adapter and there are quite a few walls between them.

Rob
posted by robabroad at 6:28 AM on June 30, 2006

I use the Linksys wireless adapter and it works perfectly as well -- this is on 3 different TiVos.
posted by k8t at 6:30 AM on June 30, 2006

I've run guided setup on a series 2 over Vonage and it worked fine. YMMV
posted by mblandi at 7:09 AM on June 30, 2006

I have experience with this

Yes it does work...but not well

I had a hell of a time getting the tivo (a series2) to update the guide over the vonage voip line. It took literally dozens of attepts before a stable enough connection would allow all of the information to get downloaded. I used every single access number available in my area (and some outside my area) and had the exact same result. After a week of this I caved and went and got a network adaptor to run the tivo directly through broadband. Now it works wonderfully.

Of course, your mileage may vary with whatever particular vonage adaptor you are using and your area but this was my experience.

One more thing...This is Tivo's list of compatible network adaptors. If you do decide to go out and get the network adaptor from linksys CHECK YOUR TIVO FIRMWARE. I didnt and bought the USB200M Version 2 linksys adaptor. Of course I did not have TiVo Software Version 7.2.2 which meant that I had to download it via the almostnotworkingatall phone line. Pain in the ass but i did eventually get it. Save yourself the trouble and look at the firmware before you go and buy it or check amazon for the version 1 USB200M. You will not find the version 1 in stores anymore

I hope this helps
posted by Evan Gaffney at 7:17 AM on June 30, 2006

My Tivo (a UK model, but the point stands for US ones too) is a Series 1 which has been modified with a Turbonet card. It runs ftp and telnet daemons and has a web interface to the Tivo called Tivoweb. It doesn't use its modem at all anymore - entering a "special" dialing prefix instructs the box to route all traffic over the network instead.

(This bundle also lets me run nifty plugins like the one I needed to remap all the channel numbers - I'm in Ireland now and Tivo doesn't know about local cable providers.)

What the modem's actually doing is a few HTTP requests using UUNet's local dialup POPs to get a connection. Makes sense that there's nothing dialup-specific about it.
posted by genghis at 7:29 AM on June 30, 2006

I just want to pipe up that I have a Series 1 (so I can't use wireless networking) and Vonage and it works fine. I use the Vonage adapter that allows me to connect a regular phone, and then I plug the Tivo into that. I have had no problems and the setup was completely simple.
posted by bove at 7:56 AM on June 30, 2006

I also had my Series 1 working with Vonage... I had to use the TiVo dial codes (easily Googleable) to make it drop the modem to 9600 bps, but it did work. Fortunately I had a DirecTivo so the calls were generally short (no guide data needed). When I switched to SunRocket I didn't even need the special codes.
posted by kindall at 8:23 AM on June 30, 2006

We have multiple Series 2s on Vonage Linksys router -- have had this at a home with cable and one with DSL. No problems. The TiVo information that downloads isn't a banwidth hog.

Vonage is only rough when we're downloading a bittorent file.
posted by k8t at 10:49 AM on June 30, 2006

My modem and fax work well over Vonage when I am forced to use them every few months. They did not work well at all until I installed DD-WRT and set up quality of service, running BitTorrent on a dedicated machine at lowest priority for that entire port.
posted by meehawl at 10:58 AM on June 30, 2006

If you're going to get a Tivo, I would hold off a little while. The Series 3 Tivos are supposed to be out sometime later this year.
posted by nathan_teske at 11:20 AM on June 30, 2006

As others have said, Tivo now supports 100% broadband setup.

The dual dual-tuner (DT) TiVos have ethernet built-in.
posted by Laen at 11:37 AM on June 30, 2006

One final note no one else mentioned: While Tivo Series2 can work with a wireless connection, it doesn't support WPA.
posted by Brian James at 11:38 AM on June 30, 2006

Depends on the Tivo. I absolutely COULD NOT get a similar setup working with a DirecTivo from DirecTV. DirecTV tried to help, Vonage tried to help, and I read countless dvr forums and tried all kinds of crap. Never ever worked. I ended up running a long cord to my neighbors place once a month.
posted by drstein at 3:55 PM on June 30, 2006