# Standard Directv Receivers (D12) And Vonage



## eldonde (Nov 5, 2009)

Hello,

I recently got vonage and noticed that my D12 receivers are unable to successfully connect with Directv. In the calls log I see that the receiver is indeed making the daily calls to 2 toll free numbers, however when I called DTV tech support they are saying that the calls arn't succesful. They walked my throught the process of adding *99 Prefix in the receivers but nothing seems to change.

I contacted vonage which ran tests to diagnos call quality and other stuff but no luck. The techs at vonage even have me disable call waiting but to no avail.

I did a thorough research online and saw many posts with different sol.utions but all those seems to be directed at tivos/dvrs. I tried them however with no luck.

Can anyone help?

PS I tried several variations of the dial out prfixes which includes:

*99
*99..
..*99
,*99,

and many others were tried.


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## LI-SVT (May 18, 2006)

I had endless trouble with Vonage and my DirecTv receivers. It is a known issue for Vonage. If you do a serch at the Vonage site for TiVo you will find a bunch of info about how to make the internal modem work. None of it worked for me. In the end I switched to my cable company for phone service, it works much better. The other option is copper lines.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Generally, DirecTV's modems work pretty well on Vonage, as they connect at a fairly low speed that is more forgiving with the types of problems that are typical with VOIP service. The TiVos required (or at least attempted) a higher speed connection when calling the TiVo servers, and almost never worked on Vonage or other VOIP services.

But if you're in a location or with an ISP that causes Vonage not to work well with modems, then there usually isn't a lot you can do to fix it.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Put at least 4 pauses in front of the number you are trying to dial. That fixed it for me. When I pick up the phone, for some reason, Vonage stutters the dial tone about 2 seconds before giving me a solid dial tone. If I try to dial the phone during that time, it misdials, so Im assuming thats what the D* box does too. Hope that helps.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

Davenlr said:


> When I pick up the phone, for some reason, Vonage stutters the dial tone about 2 seconds before giving me a solid dial tone.


The "stuttered dial tone" means you have voice mails waiting, so if you clear out your Vonage voice mail box, your dial tone will go back to normal. The same thing is true with many phone providers.

But you are exactly right that if you are on a system that uses the stuttered dial tone as a voice mail indicator, you'll want some extra pauses in your dialing string so that the modem waits for a normal dial tone before attempting to make the call.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Thanks, learn something new every day. Guess thats why my phone says "New Voicemail" on the display too huh?


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## eldonde (Nov 5, 2009)

Thanks for all the replies. I will try and post my results.


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## eldonde (Nov 5, 2009)

I tried the pauses and removed all the voicemails, but no luck. any ideas.


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

eldonde said:


> I tried the pauses and removed all the voicemails, but no luck. any ideas.


No - it's pretty much a situation where if it works you're lucky and if it doesn't there isn't much you can do about it.

Voice Over IP (VOIP) phone service is inherently incompatible with analog modem functions (including fax, alarm systems, and modems in set top boxes). Some VOIP service (and equipment) is better than others, and some VOIP providers have fax capable or enabled service (at extra cost) that helps. But for the most part you're pretty much out of luck.

With the D12, the primary thing the phone line gives you is the ability to order PPV via the remote. You can order PPV on-line as a work-around/solution to that.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

carl6 said:


> With the D12, the primary thing the phone line gives you is the ability to order PPV via the remote. You can order PPV on-line as a work-around/solution to that.


Also, if you happen to have your D12 connected to the Internet, you do not need the phone line connected for ordering PPV via the remote.

- Merg


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

I don't think the D12 has ethernet / network capability.


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## mhayes70 (Mar 21, 2006)

I didn't think it did either. I have been pretty lucky with mine. I have an R15 and it is able to dial out and get caller ID with Vonage.

I wonder if his Internet speeds would have anything to do with the problem?


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## suplkk (Aug 20, 2007)

Do we know which D12 has this problem?


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

suplkk said:


> Do we know which D12 has this problem?


Pretty much any D12 (-100, -200, etc., not sure all which manufacturers produce the D12 receivers). At any rate, any DirecTV receiver or DVR would have the issue with VOIP (SD or HD, receiver or DVR) as they all use analog modems for telephone connections.

As far as lacking ethernet, again any D12-xxx (or any other SD unit D11, D12, R15, R16) none of the SD series products has ethernet capability.


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## fwlogue (Dec 6, 2006)

What I had setup in the past to work was dial prefix of *99 and select a phone number in New York area code 212. The number I used to use to dial into was 212-271-7103 not sure if it is still active or not. It would sometimes take a couple of attempts but was always able to connect every night.


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## eldonde (Nov 5, 2009)

I have a D12-100 and no it does not include an ethernet port. Also there is a hidden menu that enables me to enter a dial prefix but i did not find anywhere that allow me to enter or change the actual dialout number.
Concerning internet speeds I did a test and all diagnostics passed however I did an actaul bandwidth test and my results are Down is 245 and up is 148 kbps.

As of this posting my 6 D12 boxes are still dialing 2 diffrent numbers 4 times per night.

No Luck


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

The idea of dialing a local number (as noted by fwlogue) was applicable to Tivo, as they had local number set up around the country, and picking the local number that was either closest to you, or closest to wherever your VOIP phone service actually interconnected with the real phone system, often times would result in good enough quality of service to make the analog modem call work.

In the case of (non Tivo) DirecTV, the receivers do not call local numbers. They all call into a toll free number at DirecTV. As a result, you can't use the local number trick for them.

If you are unable to get your receivers to dial in, my suggestion would be to disconnect the phone lines from them. In fact, one thing you might try is to disconnect the lines from all but one receiver for a day or two, and see if it succeeds. If it does, then disconnect it and connect another, etc. But if none connect regardless, then just unplug the phone lines and don't worry about them. Order PPV on-line.


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## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

I've heard that if you order PPV on-line, it will be available on all receivers. If you order PPV from a receiver, then the movie is only available on that receiver. I have not ever ordered PPV so I cannot confirm this. 

Anyone else?


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

Maybe the OP's location may be playing a part in all this. Assuming the OP is really in Belize.


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## The Merg (Jun 24, 2007)

Supramom2000 said:


> I've heard that if you order PPV on-line, it will be available on all receivers. If you order PPV from a receiver, then the movie is only available on that receiver. I have not ever ordered PPV so I cannot confirm this.
> 
> Anyone else?


That's correct. If you order on-line, it is available on all receivers.

- Merg


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## carl6 (Nov 16, 2005)

The Merg said:


> That's correct. If you order on-line, it is available on all receivers.
> 
> - Merg


Oops, missed that part. We shouldn't even be taking about service there.


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## Doug Brott (Jul 12, 2006)

RobertE said:


> Maybe the OP's location may be playing a part in all this. Assuming the OP is really in Belize.


Thanks for the heads up .. and good point. DBSTalk is not the place for discussion o fDIRECTV service outside the country since DIRECTV is not legally available outside the country.


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