# Whole home set up - is the $199 connection service required?



## campion (Mar 29, 2012)

Okay, so here's my deal - sorry, none of the previous posts I read could completely answer my question (or at least, not in any way I understood). I recently upgraded an old standard receiver to an HD receiver (H24), to go along with the HD-DVR I'd had for some time (an HR22). Amidst various bits of billing confusion, I was told that I now had a $20 Advanced Receiver Service charge (rather than separate charges) that included whole home dvr. Then one representative told me that whole home should work automatically, so I tried setting it up. 

Both boxes say Whole Home is activated (or whatever, I'm not in front of the equipment right now); but both boxes also say "No networked device detected" (or something to that effect). I had thought to just go with a wired connection on both devices to create a whole home system (I'd read some posts where people did this).

My DVR box is networked (using an ethernet cable) - I'm able to access On Demand content on this box. Today, I tried connecting my H24 box to the same network, again using a wired connection. It won't connect. I've checked the network, I've checked the cable - they're working.

So, I can't connect using the network for some reason. But I thought I'd see about going through Directv. I called today, and they say that my house was not originally set up for whole home, and that to do it I'd have to pay a $199 fee for someone to come out and get it connected properly. 

Therefore, my question is - are they right? Is this what I have to do to get Whole home? Or is there some other way I can do this?


Thanks in advance for your advice.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

You haven't gone into all the details of your system, "but" you should have been able to configure MRV with ethernet.
For $199, you move to the coax networking, which means a SWiM system, a DECA adapter for the HR22, and a connection to your home network for internet access.

I'd look at the H24 network settings a bit more and get ethernet working [I'd hope].


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

They aren't giving you an accurate story. I'm also surprised that they're charging you for WHDS if you didn't ask for it.

What you tried should have at least showed that the H24 was LAN and Internet connected. Ultimately, the setup you created should work for WHDS if the service is actually turned on and your H24 Ethernet port isn't faulty.

How many coaxial cables are coming into your HR22?


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

harsh said:


> They aren't giving you an accurate story. I'm also surprised that they're charging you for WHDS if you didn't ask for it.


Before you start telling someone else they aren't accurate, you might check it yourself.
The new pricing has a group of what used to be separate line items, now being one, and a $1/month less than before.


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## campion (Mar 29, 2012)

harsh said:


> They aren't giving you an accurate story. I'm also surprised that they're charging you for WHDS if you didn't ask for it.
> 
> What you tried should have at least showed that the H24 was LAN and Internet connected. Ultimately, the setup you created should work for WHDS if the service is actually turned on and your H24 Ethernet port isn't faulty.
> 
> How many coaxial cables are coming into your HR22?


Thanks to you and veryoldschool for quick comments. I'm home now, so I can play more with my settings. I am seriously beginning to wonder if there's a problem with the ethernet port on the H24 - nothing I'm doing is fixing it.

My HR22 has one coaxial cable going into it, but I also have a power inserter (I'm assuming it's got one coming in and one going out). I'm also happy to describe whatever other parts of my set up would be helpful.

Anyway, like I said in the OP, I had thought I could get it set up through ethernet without having to pay for their service. But of course, I need to get the darn ethernet set up!

I'm running a wired/wireless network using a Linksys wireless router with four ethernet ports. One's used for my computer, I ran another line to my living room where it splits into two - 1 for the HR22 and one for my Blu-ray. I've never had any difficulty getting the HR22 to recognize the network - it's always run smoothly.

For the H24, I simply plugged in another cable to the router and ran it to the box. It is just not receiving any data. THe lights on the back of the box at the ethernet port are not lit. I've checked the router to confirm that that particular connection is good - it is.


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## campion (Mar 29, 2012)

veryoldschool said:


> Before you start telling someone else they aren't accurate, you might check it yourself.
> The new pricing has a group of what used to be separate line items, now being one, and a $1/month less than before.


That was a whole other snafu. I had a legacy package that included HDDVR service, and then this month they tried to charge me the new $20 fee in addition to that. I spent more than two hours on the phone last night (got disconnected a couple times) trying to resolve that.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

You might have a problem with the ethernet port.
You might try some rebooting/rerunning setups and/or reset defaults, etc.
It sounds like you have a SWiM with the PI and a single coax to the HR22, which means of there is a problem with the H24, since it has an internal DECA, adding a DECA to the HR22, and another to connect to your home network [or even use the switch you seem to have there] might be a work around for a bad ethernet port of the H24.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

campion said:


> That was a whole other snafu. I had a legacy package that included HDDVR service, and then this month they tried to charge me the new $20 fee in addition to that. I spent more than two hours on the phone last night (got disconnected a couple times) trying to resolve that.


"Yeah tell me about it", I've still got an ongoing fight with U-verse, so it isn't only DirecTV.


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## campion (Mar 29, 2012)

Folks, I got an answer. I found out that the H24 comes with ethernet disabled. A hard reset with the ethernet cable plugged in will turn on ethernet. Once this was done, I was able to connect to my network and then get my "unsupported" whole-home working. Interesting tidbit to know, I guess! Thanks for your help.


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## campion (Mar 29, 2012)

veryoldschool said:


> "Yeah tell me about it", I've still got an ongoing fight with U-verse, so it isn't only DirecTV.


Talking to the Indian (or wherever) reps was pointless. I got the typical boilerplate speech they're giving about this new few, and nothing I tried when explaining my actual bill did any good. Calling back and talking to a native English speaker did the trick. I ended up just going to a new package since I'd already had to do a new 24 month contract anyway for the new box. I guess it would have been much worse if I'd insisted on staying with the old package.


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## CCarncross (Jul 19, 2005)

Yes, you have to reboot the device if you make any changes to its setup...it doesnt automatically network without a reboot. It only recognizes things that are connected during startup, so if you just connected up the ethernet cable and expected it to work, obviously you found out it doesnt. The same would whole true if you had switched from a standard multi-switch to swim or some thing like that as well.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

veryoldschool said:


> The new pricing has a group of what used to be separate line items, now being one, and a $1/month less than before.


We are talking about an account created prior to February 9th, right? It seems like the price is a couple of dollars more with WHDS than without.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

harsh said:


> We are talking about an account created prior to February 9th, right? It seems like the price is a couple of dollars more with WHDS than without.


You might want to check your bill, oops that's right, you don't get a DirecTV bill.
HD service $10
DVR service $8
MRV $3
which is all covered with the new $20 monthly fee.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

veryoldschool said:


> You might want to check your bill, oops that's right, you don't get a DirecTV bill.
> HD service $10
> DVR service $8
> MRV $3
> which is all covered with the new $20 monthly fee.


But if you didn't ask for WHDS, shouldn't it be $18?


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

harsh said:


> But if you didn't ask for WHDS, shouldn't it be $18?


If you're a new customer, it has become part of the package.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

veryoldschool said:


> If you're a new customer, it has become part of the package.


As the OP upgraded an "old standard receiver", that wouldn't seem to apply here.


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## veryoldschool (Dec 10, 2006)

harsh said:


> As the OP upgraded an "old standard receiver", that wouldn't seem to apply here.





> I ended up just going to a new package


It must only be you that thinks this.


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