# Wireless phone jacks and TIVO



## mjsd (Oct 24, 2003)

Am trying to clarify contradictory advice I got from Expert Satellite and my installer. I was sold a set of Phonex wireless jacks to use with my two TIVO DVRs. My installer says they will not work due to inadequate bandwidth. He says however that there are "modem capable" wireless jacks that will work but could not give any specifics. What's the real deal, and any suggestions? One TIVO location is pretty much totally impractical to run a phone cable.


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## HarryD (Mar 24, 2002)

I bought these. They're working for me just fine. Don't plug them into a surge protector (they have some built-in surge protection) and they need to be plugged directly into an outlet. This is listed on the instructions but I tried the surge suppressor anyway.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

Wireless phone adapters work fine with Tivo's but they do need to be "modem" capable to handle 56k. Normal voice only wire phone jacks are typically 36k only. Basically YMMV using voice only jacks with Tivo's. Older ones would probably be fine, but newer ones might not work or only work part of the time. You'll never know until you try.


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## Kenster (Apr 24, 2002)

Must you have a permanent phone connection for D-Tivo? I thought it was necessary just for the initial hookup and for ordering PPV.


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## bonscott87 (Jan 21, 2003)

Correct, just need to call in for initial hookup, PPV and sports subs for the DirecTV side as well as software updates from Tivo. You can take it to a friends house to do the original setup and later on for any software updates.

"Officially" it won't work and you will be told this if you ever ask a CSR, but technically it's ok.


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## Kenster (Apr 24, 2002)

I don't mind an occasional phone hook-up. I have land line phones but no jack near where the TV is, so I have to run a long phone cable to my UTV when I want to order a movie. No big deal but I wouldn't want to have that line in the way all the time, Or spend the money on a wireless jack if I really don't need it.


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## HarryD (Mar 24, 2002)

The occasional long phone cable will work fine, Ken.


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## cnsf (Jun 6, 2002)

Keep in mind you will get some annoyance splash screens if you don't call in for a while. The first is around 14 days.


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## Mike Richardson (Jun 12, 2003)

HarryD said:


> I bought these. They're working for me just fine. Don't plug them into a surge protector (they have some built-in surge protection) and they need to be plugged directly into an outlet. This is listed on the instructions but I tried the surge suppressor anyway.


I bought that same model off eBay. (I wonder why mine say "PROPERTY OF AT&T" on the back). If I don't plug them into a surge protector, the sound quality is all scratchy and they don't work. But for some reason they will pass caller ID to a phone but not to a DISH receiver.


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## HarryD (Mar 24, 2002)

Yours sound like someone else had them first. I plugged them into a surge when I first installed them but could not get dial done on Tivo. Then I read the instructions and it said 'DO NOT USE A SURGE PROTECTOR'. Plugged them straight into the outlet and they've been great ever since.


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## Mike Richardson (Jun 12, 2003)

HarryD said:


> Yours sound like someone else had them first. I plugged them into a surge when I first installed them but could not get dial done on Tivo. Then I read the instructions and it said 'DO NOT USE A SURGE PROTECTOR'. Plugged them straight into the outlet and they've been great ever since.


If I plug them into the outlet though the sound is all scratchy and noisy and nothing works (although a voice call will work but very bad quality). They work plugged into a surge protector for everything except for passing caller ID to a DISH box. (it will pass CID to a phone, and the DISH box can dial out to do PPV, but it won't pass CID to the DISH box. a direct wall connection will pass CID to the box.)


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## boba (May 23, 2003)

Mike who stole those from AT&T cable and sold them to you on Ebay? Shame shame receiving stolen property,he he. Seriously the wireless phone jacks are not supposed to be plugged into surge protectors and only the Modem version is supposed to reliabily pass caller ID.


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## Mike Richardson (Jun 12, 2003)

boba said:


> Mike who stole those from AT&T cable and sold them to you on Ebay? Shame shame receiving stolen property,he he. Seriously the wireless phone jacks are not supposed to be plugged into surge protectors and only the Modem version is supposed to reliabily pass caller ID.


The guy who sold them wrote all this crap about how it works with caller ID and TiVo and oddly enough "AT&T Worldnet" service. It passes caller ID to a phone but not to a DISH box. PPV dials out fine. Someone a long time ago said it was due to a cheap chipset in the DISH box.


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## SonicDeathMonkey (Oct 16, 2003)

I bought some from BB that were supposed to be modem compatible. My DTivo logson and starts the update but dies after a while. Then I tried it with a real long phone cord to a hard wired jack and it did the same thing. Any thoughts?

SDM


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## cnsf (Jun 6, 2002)

May be a bad phone number. You may have line noise throughout the house. Try a closer phone number. This is assuming it is a legal Tivo.....


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## SonicDeathMonkey (Oct 16, 2003)

cnsf said:


> May be a bad phone number. You may have line noise throughout the house. Try a closer phone number. This is assuming it is a legal Tivo.....


Thanks for the advise. It is a totally legal Tivo. I get a real clean signal when I use dial-up for my computer through the hardwired line. I have also tried every number in my area. Personally I think it borked once on a d/l and fscked up the software. I was just wondering if it had happened to anyone else.

SDM


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## cnsf (Jun 6, 2002)

You can check the Tivo Community to see how to restore factory settings. That may get you back to the beginning, but you may lose everything, including Season passes, recorded shows, etc.


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## SonicDeathMonkey (Oct 16, 2003)

I wanted to give you a quick update. On a whim I decided to try a phone number that was completely out of my area. I have unlimited long distance at home and so the length of the call did not matter to me. It ended up working. What I think was happening was my local exchange had too much noise but when I switched to the LD exchange the signal to noise was better and TADA!!! It worked. Another piece of the puzzle is the size of the d/l was HUGE. My TiVo was trying to get an updated version of its software. The d/l took almost an hour. Sheesh. Thanks again for your help.

SDM


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