Daily call every hour?

[bcronin]

I have two series 1 DirecTv-with-TiVo receivers. One (the primary) is a Philips DSR6000R01. The mirrored-to receiver is a Hughes GXCEBOT.

Lately I have noticed that the DSR6000 is making frequent brief outgoing call attempts (there is an "extension in use" light on the phone connected to the line, so I can see when it is trying; it seems to be trying about once an hour). The most recent time it did this I quickly picked up the phone and was able to hear the touchtones it was sending. I am not that big a geek that I could tell what the numbers were that it was dialing, but it was an 11 digit number and the first 4 sounded a lot like 1-800.

This is very odd, since I have the receiver set to make its daily call using a 7 digit local number. I also checked the status of the last phonecall and there was no indication that it had failed. I also ran a test call to the 7 digit number and that worked fine.

So I am confused. What the heck is this 800 number that it is dialing, and why is it trying to do it so often?

Anyone ever hear of anything like this? :confused:

[OLdDog]

Sounds like it is trying to call DTV. The DTV call is a seperate call from the TiVo call.

IT will try several times fairly quickly each day until it is able to get connection with DTV.

[bcronin]

What is the purpose of the call to DTV versus the call to TiVo? Why might it be trying so many times? I have the receivers connected to a measured-service line and I get charged 9 cents a call, so I would like to minimize the number of calls.

[OLdDog]

The purpose of the DTV call is to upload PPV info and other DTV subscription data. It seems that no call is truly needed as you can order PPV from the web or by ophone and the guide data comes from the sat.

If you have no phone line connected you will get nag screens after a while but nothing else bad seems to happen.

Since you have an interent connection you might want to try PPP over serial for the TiVo call.

PPP Info: You need a computer running XP or 2000 with an internet connection.
This is the serial cable you need or you can use the cable that comes with a lot of TiVos and a null modem adaptor and a gender changer (F to F).
http://www.tivohelp.com/archive/tivohelp.swiki.net/.uploads/serial/tivocable.jpg
then read the text at this link to make the connection work:
http://www.tivohelp.com/archive/tivohelp.swiki.net/45.html

I had little problem after I realized that the instructions were for an older version of XP and I just set the parameters as suggested in the text even though the menus were not exactly as shown.

Also you will probably want to turn off the Window's firewall and assign two IP addresses for your TiVo to use.

I also had to go to a slower speed than the default BUT that is probably because I needed to use a long cable. (I used 19200 I think)

[bbristow]

Seems like my daily calls were scheduled about 9 days apart on my old Hughes HDVR2 (running 3.1.1e) , but now they are every TWO DAYS on SD-DVR80 with same software! What is going on?

[bcronin]

Well, this is getting silly. I have been watching the phone and the darned receiver is calling out every hour. It can't be failing to connect every time, why is it calling so often? I wonder, might there be some requirement that the receiver be calling in on the same number that the account was originally associated with? When I converted my main telephone line to Vonage, I reconnected the receivers to my remaining analog line. So, they would be calling in from a different number than DirecTv has on file for me. Possible?

[bcronin]

Well I spent over an hour with DirecTv tech support on this issue yesterday. The bottom line is that it is the once-a-month call to DirecTv that is failing, not the regularly scheduled TiVo call. Those are working fine. The DirecTv call was supposed to have happened on April 28th for my account, according to the tech. Apparently it failed on that day, and it has been retrying it every hour since.

When it tries, I see two very short calls. Each lasts no more than 20 to 30 seconds. After the first one fails, it pauses about 10-15 seconds and then tries once more before giving up for another hour. I have two receivers in the house and both receivers are acting the very same way (which would tend to rule out a hardware issue with the receiver, since it is unlikely that both could have failed the same way at the same time). We tried changing various settings in the phone-setup (e.g. turning phone line detection on and off, adding various prefix strings to try to slow the modem down, etc.) all to no avail. Each time the tech triggered either receiver to phone-home, I'd see the two-short-call failures.

Several times I picked up the extension during the call just to see what was happening on the line. You could definitely hear the local and remote modems trying to handshake. So my best guess is that the root cause of the problem is that they are unable to complete the handshake for some reason. I'd suspect some issue with the phone-line or the local modem, but then the calls to TiVo work fine!

The tech told me that there are actually two modems in the receiver, one for TiVo calls and one for DirecTv calls, and that it is possible that the DirecTv modem failed in both receivers (but this seemed pretty unlikely to me). Both receivers are Series 1 DirecTv-with-TiVo boxes (one is a Philips DSR6000R01, the other a Hughes GXCEBOT). Both receivers have had their hard drive upgraded (one to 120GB, the other to 240GB), but the upgrades were done 2 years and 1 year ago respectively and unlikely to be related to these failures as things have been working fine until just recently.

I am at this point waiting a call back from a "supervisor" at DirecTv (supposedly to try to escalate the problem to the next level). It seems to me there ought to be a log file somewhere (either locally, or at the DirecTv end) that might have more information pertaining to the connection failures).

Is there any way I can get access to a local log file on the receivers that might reveal more information? Any other suggestions?

:confused:

[UR14Me]

...the first 4 sounded a lot like 1-800.

Is it 1-866-709-2073?

My CallVantage log is full of outbound call attempts to this number, on the average of four per hour.

UR14Me

[bcronin]

Now *thats* interesting. That could well be the number, hard to tell, but I wonder ... do you also have two receivers? If so, this looks to me like you could be experiencing the same issue as I am. Two calls every attempt, two receivers, two attempts per hour, 4 calls per hour ... This may well be a more pervasive problem that only I have noticed so far. The only reason I noticed is because there is a phone on the line that has a red light that comes on every time the line is picked up (and I sit here all day working with that phone right next to me and since it is the only phone on the line, when I see the light come on by itself, I know it is one of the receivers). Do your calls occur in groups of two, that is, two calls in rapid succession?

[UR14Me]

I indeed have two DTivo's, and looking at the call log, there are indeed two calls to the same number within a minute or two of each other.

UR14Me

[Rych6896]

I have the same issue:

One of my tivo's, t60, or hd250, has been calling this number: 866 709 2073 hundreds of times a day. The reason I know this is I have ATT Calladvantage and I can check my call logs.

The strange thing is, neither tivo has that number set as a call in number. I have a local number set for both tivo's. Tonight I hope to narrow down which tivo is the offender. According to the logs, this has been going on for two weeks.

[bcronin]

Do they occur every hour of the day, and for how many days has it been happening, can you tell? Do your logs go back that far?

[bcronin]

I have the same issue:

One of my tivo's, t60, or hd250, has been calling this number: 866 709 2073 hundreds of times a day. The reason I know this is I have ATT Calladvantage and I can check my call logs.

The strange thing is, neither tivo has that number set as a call in number. I have a local number set for both tivo's. Tonight I hope to narrow down which tivo is the offender. According to the logs, this has been going on for two weeks.

Right, this number is not the TiVo number, this is the DirecTv number. It is for reporting PPV events and stuff like that. Can you too check your logs to see how long this has been going on? I bet it is both your receivers. Both of mine are doing it. One receiver makes its two calls at 35 minutes past the hour. The other at 10 minutes past.

Oh and my receivers are connected to a regular analog line, so I doubt it has anything to do with broadband phone service.

[Rych6896]

Do they occur every hour of the day, and for how many days has it been happening, can you tell? Do your logs go back that far?

I went back in the call logs and found out they started on 4/13/05 at 12:13 PM. It looks like my tivo actuallt tries calling around 32 times per day in 2 call increments.

[bcronin]

Ok, so I bet the 13th is your day to call. Check back and see if there was a call on March 13th to that same number, if possible and then none until April 13, and then the zillions-per-day since then.

[Rych6896]

There was a call to 800 713 9274. My guess is DTV changed the call in number on that date and it is screwed up going forward.

[bcronin]

There was a call to 800 713 9274. My guess is DTV changed the call in number on that date and it is screwed up going forward.
Interesting. So there was a call to that number on the 13th of March (that number definitely has a modem on the other end, I called it to be sure) and then nothing until the 13th of April, when it began trying to call the new number, and it has failed ever since. That about sum it up?

Sure seems like the same issue.

Feel like tring to call it in? I have a feeling that the more they hear about this the better the chances someone will realize it is a widespread issue (and not just confined to me).

You can reference my original incident number if you like ...

DVR calling DirecTv every hour [Incident: 050501-000798]

(although that was the incident number assigned to the email I sent originally, which was answered simply telling me to call tech support, I sort of doubt when I called tech support that the original incident number was preserved). I know I have an open ticket at DirecTv because they have been trying to reach me for a day or so. We keep playing phone tag (they call at the oddest times of the day).

For what its worth, the latest person at DTV to call and leave me a message was "Jamie" at 800-695-9251. He is supposedly a supervisor.

[Rych6896]

Interesting. So there was a call to that number on the 13th of March (that number definitely has a modem on the other end, I called it to be sure) and then nothing until the 13th of April, when it began trying to call the new number, and it has failed ever since. That about sum it up?

Sure seems like the same issue.

Feel like tring to call it in? I have a feeling that the more they hear about this the better the chances someone will realize it is a widespread issue (and not just confined to me).

You can reference my original incident number if you like ...

DVR calling DirecTv every hour [Incident: 050501-000798]

(although that was the incident number assigned to the email I sent originally, which was answered simply telling me to call tech support, I sort of doubt when I called tech support that the original incident number was preserved). I know I have an open ticket at DirecTv because they have been trying to reach me for a day or so. We keep playing phone tag (they call at the oddest times of the day).

For what its worth, the latest person at DTV to call and leave me a message was "Jamie" at 800-695-9251. He is supposedly a supervisor.


I'll call in later today, when I'm at home and can plug the phone line back into the tivo

[scottt]

I have the same problem. Something (I have a T-60 and a HDVR2) is dialing 18667092073 many many times. I'm on the phone with DTV (using the 800 # above right now).

[bcronin]

Any progress?

[scottt]

Ok, I disconnected the HDVR2 last night. The calls are still happening with the same frequency. I'll disconnect the T-60 next.

[bcronin]

That will stop the calls, guaranteed ;-)

[scottt]

True, but I still need to fix the issue (or should I say DTV needs to fix the issue)

[bcronin]

True, but I still need to fix the issue (or should I say DTV needs to fix the issue)
Absolutely. It is probably happening to all sorts of people and nobody has really noticed. Since it seems to happen with many different kinds of receivers, I suspect some problem at the DirecTv end. Maybe a bad bank of modems, or something. They aren't calling me back anymore, so I guess I'll have to start bugging them again. Going to be Monday before I can do that. In the meantime if you or anyone else has any luck with them (or finding a workaround other than unplugging the phoneline), post here please. Thanks.

[Fish Man]

It's happening to me too. I've go 4 DirecTiVos!

That's lots of call attempts!!

[wrf]

I am seeing similar behavior. I have a DSR6000 hacked to place its "daily" call over a network interface. I also have a stock R10. A few weeks ago I noticed our telephone going active for no apparent reason rather frequently. Both DTIVO boxes were connected to an analog phone line, so I decided to switch them both over to a Vonage line I have. That way I could track the time and number of the calls.

Well, after a little bit of expermentation, I concluded that the DSR6000 was responsible for all the calls. It has been placing two calls at 2, sometimes 4 hour intervals day and night. Phone number is 1-866-709-2073.

I don't think the hacks installed in the DSR6000 are directly responsible for the problem since it has been operating just fine for over a year. However, it is a bit suspicious that the R10 seems fine.

I think I'll call direct TV. I'll post any answers.

[super dave]

I'm averaging 20 call attempts a day with my 1 SAT-T60 to 1-866-709-2073! My daily calls are now working with the Beta firmware for my Linksys RT31P2, but apparently the Mothership calls are failing. I'm glad to finally get the daily calls to work, we are moving and I won't have such an easy time using the PPP over Serial, the PC and TiVo will be 2 1/2 floors apart, but this barrage of calls is annoying.

[Francesco]

Well, upping the ante:

All six of mine are Series 1. Some of my units have no phone lines hooked up. No biggie, right? Well, the one we order PPV from is connected through Vonage (DirecTV) and Cache Card (TiVo). The Vonage calls are flaky at best, but usually eventually get through. I check the Vonage logs and around the same time each month I can see it start dialing DirecTV. It repeats frequently until it gets through. Last time was April 3rd. Good, right? I'm not near the $200 limit on my card, so it should be fine. Except starting the 3rd of May, I get Ext. 733 on the screen, which apparently means it has not called back in 31 days.

I've been on the phone with various CSRs/TSRs over the last couple of days, with conflicting mis-information from all of them.

I'm on the line right now with Retention. He seems real nice and wants to be helpful (contrary to the last TSR with whom I spoke). But it seems I'm going in circles here. All I want is for them to get rid of the 733 cut-off, and let the flaky call attempts continue like they always did. We order tons of stuff and pay on time (automatically with direct-charges on a Visa card). I told him it seems like the DTV callback number has changed and is affecting S|1 users. He said, "Maybe."

[Francesco]

Dave, you say that the DirecTV calls are failing, or the TiVo ones? I may have to go on eBay and get a different ATA (an old Cisco 186, which worked fine before) or a Linksys that is upgradeable (I have a PAP2). The worst part is, they may want to have me exchange it for an S|2, which I don't necessarily want (Cache Card rocks!).

[bcronin]

Well, upping the ante:

All six of mine are Series 1. Some of my units have no phone lines hooked up. No biggie, right? Well, the one we order PPV from is connected through Vonage (DirecTV) and Cache Card (TiVo). The Vonage calls are flaky at best, but usually eventually get through. I check the Vonage logs and around the same time each month I can see it start dialing DirecTV. It repeats frequently until it gets through. Last time was April 3rd. Good, right? I'm not near the $200 limit on my card, so it should be fine. Except starting the 3rd of May, I get Ext. 733 on the screen, which apparently means it has not called back in 31 days.

I've been on the phone with various CSRs/TSRs over the last couple of days, with conflicting mis-information from all of them.

I'm on the line right now with Retention. He seems real nice and wants to be helpful (contrary to the last TSR with whom I spoke). But it seems I'm going in circles here. All I want is for them to get rid of the 733 cut-off, and let the flaky call attempts continue like they always did. We order tons of stuff and pay on time (automatically with direct-charges on a Visa card). I told him it seems like the DTV callback number has changed and is affecting S|1 users. He said, "Maybe."

Well, there have been people in this thread who are affected who are not using series 1 receivers. Further, I am not using broadband phone service. Its a regular old Verizon POTS line. So I'd like to avoid the trap of the problem being shrugged off by DTV as only affecting non-POTS users (or series 1 receiver users).

[bcronin]

Dave, you say that the DirecTV calls are failing, or the TiVo ones? I may have to go on eBay and get a different ATA (an old Cisco 186, which worked fine before) or a Linksys that is upgradeable (I have a PAP2). The worst part is, they may want to have me exchange it for an S|2, which I don't necessarily want (Cache Card rocks!).
My TiVo calls are working fine. It is only the monthly call to DirecTv (that apparently failed on March 28, and both receivers have been retrying twice every hour since then). This wouldn't be that big a deal except this POTS line is on measured rate service, meaning I am paying 9 cents per call ...

[Francesco]

Wow! Metered POTS definitely won't help in this situation...

Yeah, I don't want them to give me any crap about VoIP either. This is definitely a problem of their doing; it was working fine until this month's callbacks started (it usually starts trying around the 22nd of every month and gets through within maybe a half-dozen double attempts. Last success was April 3rd, then starting the 22nd it has been trying twice every two hours. And on May 3rd the ext. 733 came up. Retention guy agreed with me that it should not be there, and said he reset my account. He said he started another round of forced CBs, and if I was still locked out later on, call his direct number.

[super dave]

Dave, you say that the DirecTV calls are failing, or the TiVo ones? I may have to go on eBay and get a different ATA (an old Cisco 186, which worked fine before) or a Linksys that is upgradeable (I have a PAP2). The worst part is, they may want to have me exchange it for an S|2, which I don't necessarily want (Cache Card rocks!).
My TiVo calls are finally working, the one you set up through the TV Menu. The ones that are not working are the ones to DTV, they aren't anywhere to be found on a menu, I see them on my Vonage activity page. 20 a day.

[bcronin]

Wow! Metered POTS definitely won't help in this situation...

Yeah, I don't want them to give me any crap about VoIP either. This is definitely a problem of their doing; it was working fine until this month's callbacks started (it usually starts trying around the 22nd of every month and gets through within maybe a half-dozen double attempts. Last success was April 3rd, then starting the 22nd it has been trying twice every two hours. And on May 3rd the ext. 733 came up. Retention guy agreed with me that it should not be there, and said he reset my account. He said he started another round of forced CBs, and if I was still locked out later on, call his direct number.
I have not seen any call ext 733 msgs (yet?). The tech I worked with forced numerous phone-homes (at least 10) while I was on the phone with him (90 mins). They all failed. This is really annoying. If it is happening to lots of people (as I suspect, with few having realized it yet) and the eventual result is the 733 problem after about a month or so, DTV is going to be in for a blizzard of problems real soon now (though my last successful call-in was on 28 March, so says the tech I spoke to, so it has been at least 5 weeks so far). I plan to try to get ahold of them again Monday. If anyone else makes any progress before then, please post. Thanks.

[Francesco]

That's what I feared. Ugh. With Cache Card, I don't need it to call TiVo over the phone...

OK, looking for a Cisco ATA-186 on eBay.

Does anybody know if there is an area inside Teleworld/MFS to change the DirecTV callback number? I know where the TiVo mothership numbers/ports are located.

[scottt]

Ok, after weekend troubleshooting I determined that the T-60 is the one making the calls. The HDVR2 has been hooked back up since Sat, and no more 866-709-2073 calls on my Vonage logs. Time to call DTV with this new info.

[bcronin]

Ok, after weekend troubleshooting I determined that the T-60 is the one making the calls. The HDVR2 has been hooked back up since Sat, and no more 866-709-2073 calls on my Vonage logs. Time to call DTV with this new info.
Ok, so thats a series 1 box then. Perhaps this is confined to series 1 boxes? I'm losing track. My two are defniitely both series 1, but I thought someone reported a newer model doing it as well.

[Francesco]

Yes, that's the number my Series 1 boxes refuse to get through on - they have had success in prior months on different numbers, on this same Vonage ATA.

[scottt]

DTV tech support told me that since I have Vonage and not a land line, they make no guarantees that it will work, and if it doesn't, too bad.

When I explained that someone here with an actual land line was having the same problem she said that his issue would be taken care of.

Ok, now I'm pissed.

[bcronin]

DTV tech support told me that since I have Vonage and not a land line, they make no guarantees that it will work, and if it doesn't, too bad.

When I explained that someone here with an actual land line was having the same problem she said that his issue would be taken care of.

Ok, now I'm pissed.
Sigh. Ok, so when I read this I decided to try calling them back again to see if I could make any more progress. To make a 90 minute long story short, they confirmed (again) that my calls to DireecTv are failing. They had me play with dialing prefixes and dialing options (again), none of which made any difference whatsoever. They concluded (again) that they have no idea what is wrong and basically shrugged me off. Sigh.

[scottt]

I tried throttling down the modem on the T-60 from the ,#034 code to ,#019.....no dice.

[OLdDog]

I tried throttling down the modem on the T-60 from the ,#034 code to ,#019.....no dice.That is because the codes ONLY work for the TiVo side of the calls. The DTV side ignores any codes.

[Fish Man]

As you can see from my signature, I have 2 Series I and 2 series II units.

Both of my series I units are doing this "call every hour" pattern.

My phone line is a standard analog POTS line.

My series II units are having no trouble, and I tested the line with 2 V.90 modems. They are able to connect with no problem at speeds in the high 40's to low 50's on this line.

This is not a "Vonage" issue!

This is not an issue that dialing codes to "slow down" the modem are going to fix".

In detail, here's what's going on:

My Series II units are making their calls to TiVo and to DirecTV just fine.

My Series I units are succeeding in their calls to TiVo, but are failing in the CHAP or PAP handshake stage when calling DirecTV.

The pattern is clearly that they are getting their modems linked up with no problem, and then failing in the authentication handshake phase.

Apparently, the passwords (CHAP or PAP "secrets", in UNIX parlance) that are used by the Series I DirecTiVos have been inadvertently deleted from DirecTV's servers.

Again, this is not a modem negotiation issue, it is an authentication negotiation issue.

I'd bet actual money that all series I DirecTiVos are having this problem right now!! Since the average person doesn't keep that close tabs on their phone line usage, only a minority of owners have noticed it.

Sadly, since they are failing to connect to the DirecTV servers, our helpful friends at TiVo (like TiVoBill, and others) probably cannot help us. And since DirecTV has no ability whatsoever to track common problems reported to their CSR's, it will probably be a very long time before this gets fixed. :( :down:

[OLdDog]

I believe that Fish Man is basically correct.

Even though I have Vonage and the TiVo side of my calls are made through the internet by PPP or, on one of my TiVos, through a turbonet card the DTV side has always worked just fine and now, suddenly, the series 1s are failing on the DTV side while the series 2 is working fine.

I do not order PPV on the TiVos, I use internet ordering so the movie is mirrored on all my TiVos, so the lack of DTV calls is not a problem. The calls happening every hour cost nothing since 800 number calls are not charged,

This is not much of an issue for me as it does not effect anything I do but my call log from Vonage is rather full.

[bcronin]

I tried throttling down the modem on the T-60 from the ,#034 code to ,#019.....no dice.
Ditto

[bcronin]

As you can see from my signature, I have 2 Series I and 2 series II units.

Both of my series I units are doing this "call every hour" pattern.

My phone line is a standard analog POTS line.

My series II units are having no trouble, and I tested the line with 2 V.90 modems. They are able to connect with no problem at speeds in the high 40's to low 50's on this line.

This is not a "Vonage" issue!

This is not an issue that dialing codes to "slow down" the modem are going to fix".

In detail, here's what's going on:

My Series II units are making their calls to TiVo and to DirecTV just fine.

My Series I units are succeeding in their calls to TiVo, but are failing in the CHAP or PAP handshake stage when calling DirecTV.

The pattern is clearly that they are getting their modems linked up with no problem, and then failing in the authentication handshake phase.

Apparently, the passwords (CHAP or PAP "secrets", in UNIX parlance) that are used by the Series I DirecTiVos have been inadvertently deleted from DirecTV's servers.

Again, this is not a modem negotiation issue, it is an authentication negotiation issue.

I'd bet actual money that all series I DirecTiVos are having this problem right now!! Since the average person doesn't keep that close tabs on their phone line usage, only a minority of owners have noticed it.

Sadly, since they are failing to connect to the DirecTV servers, our helpful friends at TiVo (like TiVoBill, and others) probably cannot help us. And since DirecTV has no ability whatsoever to track common problems reported to their CSR's, it will probably be a very long time before this gets fixed. :( :down:


Have you tried calling this in? I decided yesterday that I was going to try to connect my laptop to that 866 number to see if I could see where in the negotiation the failure was happening. You've done that and narrowed it down to the authentication. Thats valuable information and very likely the root cause of the problem. Any chance you have the patience to wade thru the DTV bureaucracy to pursue this? It may save time to immediately ask to be connected to a DVR specialist and then, if they appear clueless too, immediately ask for a supervisor. Thats who I (finally) reached yesterday afternoon and even though she ultimately couldn't help me, at least she had a clue what I was talking about. Thats the sort of person you need to reach.

Oh and I wouldn't necessarily dismiss TiVoBill et al as possible sources of assistance. I bet they know key technical people on the DTV DVR team who they could notify "offline" (doing an end run around the clueless helpdesk folks).

[Sir_winealot]

Add me to the list. I too sit by the phone w/a red light indicating it's in use, and the thing's been going nuts as of late ....about once every hour.

Pretty certain it's my Series 1/T-60 unit as well.

[Fish Man]

Have you tried calling this in? I decided yesterday that I was going to try to connect my laptop to that 866 number to see if I could see where in the negotiation the failure was happening. You've done that and narrowed it down to the authentication. Thats valuable information and very likely the root cause of the problem. Any chance you have the patience to wade thru the DTV bureaucracy to pursue this? It may save time to immediately ask to be connected to a DVR specialist and then, if they appear clueless too, immediately ask for a supervisor. Thats who I (finally) reached yesterday afternoon and even though she ultimately couldn't help me, at least she had a clue what I was talking about. Thats the sort of person you need to reach.

Oh and I wouldn't necessarily dismiss TiVoBill et al as possible sources of assistance. I bet they know key technical people on the DTV DVR team who they could notify "offline" (doing an end run around the clueless helpdesk folks).

Going round in circles with a bunch of phone-support people in India, who have been provided absolutely no mechanism to track common problems or report them to anyone who might be in a position to correct the problem is an excercise in futility that I do not have the patience for.

With my luck, I'd probably get someone who was so clueless that they inadvertently de-activate one or more of my receivers as my reward for my trouble.

Actually, I think that the best way to get this fixed is this thread, and others like it that may exist on other forums. Eventually, this thread will almost certainly be called to the attention of an engineer within DirecTV who can actually take the steps necessary to correct the problem.

Indeed, perhaps TiVoBill (or someone at TiVo) can help by contacting the appropriate person at DirecTV directly.

Again, this is a problem of server configuration on their end. I don't think it's possible to reach anyone on the phone (without an "inside" connection to DirecTV) who can do anything but read a script that assumes the problem is on our end.

[bcronin]

Going round in circles with a bunch of phone-support people in India, who have been provided absolutely no mechanism to track common problems or report them to anyone who might be in a position to correct the problem is an excercise in futility that I do not have the patience for.

With my luck, I'd probably get someone who was so clueless that they inadvertently de-activate one or more of my receivers as my reward for my trouble.

Actually, I think that the best way to get this fixed is this thread, and others like it that may exist on other forums. Eventually, this thread will almost certainly be called to the attention of an engineer within DirecTV who can actually take the steps necessary to correct the problem.

Indeed, perhaps TiVoBill (or someone at TiVo) can help by contacting the appropriate person at DirecTV directly.

Again, this is a problem of server configuration on their end. I don't think it's possible to reach anyone on the phone (without an "inside" connection to DirecTV) who can do anything but read a script that assumes the problem is on our end.


Try this number ... 800 695 9251 ... those folks are not in India. Ask for a DVR specialist and escalate to a supervisor ASAP if the person you get doesn't seem to have a clue ...

[UR14Me]

I decided to have a lash, so I called the number. The person I'm talking to in DVR support is trying to convince me that DirecTV calls my receiver (at my home number) once a month, which then causes the receiver to call DirecTV. I'm now trying to convince the person that she's full of it. Should I be? I personally have never heard of that.

She's now telling me there are two modems in the receiver: one "low-speed" for the Tivo call, one "high-speed" for the DirecTV call. Okay...

I am now to run the "System Test" for both boxes, report any failures ("Messages & Setup->Receiver & Phone Setup->System Test"). This is an attempt to identify a problem with the "high-speed" modem. Okay...

When I told her I would of course do all that, I mentioned that mine is not an isolated problem, that several other folks were having similar problems. This of course suggests something awry at the DirecTV end, not so much my end (although I wasn't ruling out the possibility). Her reply was "I'm sorry, but I have no information on any changes having been made here. It could be that your high-speed modem is defective, which would require replacing the receiver".

So, when I get home this evening, I'll run the test. The conspiracy theorist in me, however, is now wondering whether this is A Plan by DirecTV to force the obsolescence of Series 1 boxes... :eek:

UR14Me

[bcronin]

I decided to have a lash, so I called the number. The person I'm talking to in DVR support is trying to convince me that DirecTV calls my receiver (at my home number) once a month, which then causes the receiver to call DirecTV. I'm now trying to convince the person that she's full of it. Should I be? I personally have never heard of that.

She's now telling me there are two modems in the receiver: one "low-speed" for the Tivo call, one "high-speed" for the DirecTV call. Okay...

I am now to run the "System Test" for both boxes, report any failures ("Messages & Setup->Receiver & Phone Setup->System Test"). This is an attempt to identify a problem with the "high-speed" modem. Okay...

When I told her I would of course do all that, I mentioned that mine is not an isolated problem, that several other folks were having similar problems. This of course suggests something awry at the DirecTV end, not so much my end (although I wasn't ruling out the possibility). Her reply was "I'm sorry, but I have no information on any changes having been made here. It could be that your high-speed modem is defective, which would require replacing the receiver".

So, when I get home this evening, I'll run the test. The conspiracy theorist in me, however, is now wondering whether this is A Plan by DirecTV to force the obsolescence of Series 1 boxes... :eek:

UR14Me

I know that something on their end kicks off the phone-home, but it is not a phonecall. Probably a signal sent over the sat. The rep I dealt with did that 8 or 10 times while I was on the phone with him.

I also got the two-modems story. Ok, fine. But it is happening to both my receivers and it is hard-to-swallow that the DirecTv modems in both receivers would fail in the same way at the same time (nor that a lot of other series 1 receiver owner's DirecTv modems would also fail in the same way at the same time).

They had me run the system test yesterday too. Perfect results. Both receivers.

This is so painfully obviously a problem on their end. Why can't we get access to someone with a clue?!? Grrrrr.

[Francesco]

I am sooo glad to see I'm not out of my mind. Contrary to what a new member here is trying to have me (us) believe, I've been saying all along that this is not a problem on our end.

And all the posts here on the last couple of pages sound like a direct duplicate of everything I've been through since last Tuesday night.

FWIW, in about a dozen calls to various DirecTV departments this week, I've yet to speak to anyone in an offshore call center. And only one of them was cold and blatantly unfriendly with me; after politely putting up with her for about 15 minutes, I gave up with a "whatever" and a hang-up. Only one of the reps with whom I conversed was aware that it may not be at my end, but could offer no help outside the standard, company-issue scripts. The rest all had all the same bogus mis-information on top of the Level 1 CS scripts.

Let's hope we can get this fixed somehow - I neither want to replace my S|1s with S|2s for no reason, nor have a technician come out here to tell me nothing new. And we DO watch and pay for PPV, and can't anymore until the callbacks complete.

[Fish Man]

OK, so most if not all D* CSRs are NOT in India, but are, apparently, in fact, actually in the USA.

However, as far as their proximity to actual people within D* that might have a clue about this problem, they may as well be halfway across the globe! :rolleyes:

:p

[bcronin]

I am sooo glad to see I'm not out of my mind. Contrary to what a new member here is trying to have me (us) believe, I've been saying all along that this is not a problem on our end.

And all the posts here on the last couple of pages sound like a direct duplicate of everything I've been through since last Tuesday night.

FWIW, in about a dozen calls to various DirecTV departments this week, I've yet to speak to anyone in an offshore call center. And only one of them was cold and blatantly unfriendly with me; after politely putting up with her for about 15 minutes, I gave up with a "whatever" and a hang-up. Only one of the reps with whom I conversed was aware that it may not be at my end, but could offer no help outside the standard, company-issue scripts. The rest all had all the same bogus mis-information on top of the Level 1 CS scripts.

Let's hope we can get this fixed somehow - I neither want to replace my S|1s with S|2s for no reason, nor have a technician come out here to tell me nothing new. And we DO watch and pay for PPV, and can't anymore until the callbacks complete.

Ok, well, be aware that we do not use PPV hardly at all, so beyond the annoyance of the red light flashing 4 times an hour, this is not a huge deal for me (since I discovered that I do not get charged the 9 cents a call fee for toll-free calls on my measured POTS line, only local calls). Which doesn't mean I don't want it fixed, I do, but I have been on the phone with DTV for nearly 3 hours in total over the past week, only twice having gotten someone who had a clue, was willing to listen and understood the issue but could offer no help beyond suggesting it must be some problem at my end ... so, I am not especially motivated to have another go at it just yet.

[bcronin]

I am sooo glad to see I'm not out of my mind. Contrary to what a new member here is trying to have me (us) believe, I've been saying all along that this is not a problem on our end.

And all the posts here on the last couple of pages sound like a direct duplicate of everything I've been through since last Tuesday night.

FWIW, in about a dozen calls to various DirecTV departments this week, I've yet to speak to anyone in an offshore call center. And only one of them was cold and blatantly unfriendly with me; after politely putting up with her for about 15 minutes, I gave up with a "whatever" and a hang-up. Only one of the reps with whom I conversed was aware that it may not be at my end, but could offer no help outside the standard, company-issue scripts. The rest all had all the same bogus mis-information on top of the Level 1 CS scripts.

Let's hope we can get this fixed somehow - I neither want to replace my S|1s with S|2s for no reason, nor have a technician come out here to tell me nothing new. And we DO watch and pay for PPV, and can't anymore until the callbacks complete.


A thought ... it seems clear they have hosed all series 1 receivers ability to phone-home. So, after a while, NOBODY with a series 1 receiver will be able to do a PPV. That will seriously hurt their bottom line. We know about this now. If they would just listen to us they could avoid this impending revenue disaster. Perhaps we are wasting our time with tech support. Perhaps we need to be talking to someone who cares about preserving their PPV revenue stream. Maybe a quick not to some tech-news site (e.g. a discreet post to neowin.net or somesuch, or perhaps slashdot, or whereever) ...

[OLdDog]

Folks, this absolutly does NOT prevent PPV ordering. Clearly everyone on here has access to the internet and the internet PPV ordering is NOT affected by call status at all.

I sometimes order by remote but most ordering is by internet and that has the added advantage, as others have said, of mirroring to ALL receivers on the account.

Also the internet ordering costs nothing extra. You can even order by phone but that does cost a bit extra.

This issue is simply preventing ordering by remote.

[Francesco]

Most folks do not order by internet, and here we prefer the convenience of ordering from the couch. The option is there, it is a selling feature of DirecTV, and I take advantage of it. And now it's gone. We average $100 a month in PPVs here; do I really want to go upstairs and log on to the web site every couple of hours just to order movies and events?

Regardless, it's a problem, and needs to be resolved, not glossed over with a remedy.

[Fish Man]

Most folks do not order by internet, and here we prefer the convenience of ordering from the couch. The option is there, it is a selling feature of DirecTV, and I take advantage of it. And now it's gone. We average $100 a month in PPVs here; do I really want to go upstairs and log on to the web site every couple of hours just to order movies and events?

Regardless, it's a problem, and needs to be resolved, not glossed over with a remedy.

Hear hear!! :up:

I also order PPV's from the remote, because that's by far the most convenient way, but the unit I order most PPV's on is the HR10-250 (not affected), and the second most often is the HDVR2 (also not affected).

However I'm quite annoyed at this problem and want it fixed!!

For one thing, it's hogging my phone line. 2 receivers x 2 attempts per hour. 4 wasted attempts to connect per hour!

And I know that someone is going to say, "just unplug them from the phone line".

Not acceptable either!!

There are advantages to having the units plugged into the phone line. First, they can't get TiVo software updates unless they are plugged in. (These days they download from the satellite but still get the install script over the phone line.)

Also, if I unplug the phone line, I get nag screens.

While they can work without being plugged into the phone line, they are designed to be plugged in for several reasons.

To expect us end users to have to do "workarounds" for something they can and should just friggin' FIX is ludicrous!

Fix it already!!

[telecomnut]

I have the same problem with my Series 2 SD-DVR40. Vonage call logs show 2x attempts every 2 hours to 18667092073 since 5/5/05.

[bcronin]

Folks, this absolutly does NOT prevent PPV ordering. Clearly everyone on here has access to the internet and the internet PPV ordering is NOT affected by call status at all.

I sometimes order by remote but most ordering is by internet and that has the added advantage, as others have said, of mirroring to ALL receivers on the account.

Also the internet ordering costs nothing extra. You can even order by phone but that does cost a bit extra.

This issue is simply preventing ordering by remote.
Which is fine for me but tough to explain to the rest of the family ... not that we use it much anyway, but still, going to be interesting to see what happens when the failure-to-call-in timeouts start popping and DTV begins getting barraged with support calls. If they'd only listen now they could avoid that.

[bcronin]

Hear hear!! :up:

I also order PPV's from the remote, because that's by far the most convenient way, but the unit I order most PPV's on is the HR10-250 (not affected), and the second most often is the HDVR2 (also not affected).

However I'm quite annoyed at this problem and want it fixed!!

For one thing, it's hogging my phone line. 2 receivers x 2 attempts per hour. 4 wasted attempts to connect per hour!

And I know that someone is going to say, "just unplug them from the phone line".

Not acceptable either!!

There are advantages to having the units plugged into the phone line. First, they can't get TiVo software updates unless they are plugged in. (These days they download from the satellite but still get the install script over the phone line.)

Also, if I unplug the phone line, I get nag screens.

While they can work without being plugged into the phone line, they are designed to be plugged in for several reasons.

To expect us end users to have to do "workarounds" for something they can and should just friggin' FIX is ludicrous!

Fix it already!!

Seconded.

[Rych6896]

As you can see from my signature, I have 2 Series I and 2 series II units.

Both of my series I units are doing this "call every hour" pattern.

My phone line is a standard analog POTS line.

My series II units are having no trouble, and I tested the line with 2 V.90 modems. They are able to connect with no problem at speeds in the high 40's to low 50's on this line.

This is not a "Vonage" issue!

This is not an issue that dialing codes to "slow down" the modem are going to fix".

In detail, here's what's going on:

My Series II units are making their calls to TiVo and to DirecTV just fine.

My Series I units are succeeding in their calls to TiVo, but are failing in the CHAP or PAP handshake stage when calling DirecTV.

The pattern is clearly that they are getting their modems linked up with no problem, and then failing in the authentication handshake phase.

Apparently, the passwords (CHAP or PAP "secrets", in UNIX parlance) that are used by the Series I DirecTiVos have been inadvertently deleted from DirecTV's servers.

Again, this is not a modem negotiation issue, it is an authentication negotiation issue.

I'd bet actual money that all series I DirecTiVos are having this problem right now!! Since the average person doesn't keep that close tabs on their phone line usage, only a minority of owners have noticed it.

Sadly, since they are failing to connect to the DirecTV servers, our helpful friends at TiVo (like TiVoBill, and others) probably cannot help us. And since DirecTV has no ability whatsoever to track common problems reported to their CSR's, it will probably be a very long time before this gets fixed. :( :down:

I have two series 1 tivo's, 1 hd-250, and 1 series 2 tivo. I'm only having the problem with one of the series 1 tivos, which the phone line has since been disconnected. I don't order pay per view so it will stay unplugged until DTV gets their sheeit together.

[bcronin]

I have two series 1 tivo's, 1 hd-250, and 1 series 2 tivo. I'm only having the problem with one of the series 1 tivos, which the phone line has since been disconnected. I don't order pay per view so it will stay unplugged until DTV gets their sheeit together.
If your other S1 made a successful call within the last month it may not be affected yet, as another phone-home may not have been triggered yet. They only happen once a month and always on the same day of the month (e.g. the 28th), or so said the DTV techs I spoke to about it.

[Francesco]

My monthly trigger date is the 22nd...

[super dave]

Looking at my Vonage account I see that since my billing cycle has started (April 28th) I have over 220 minutes to 18667092073 (DTV)! It is 2 calls, 1 minute apart, every other hour, every day. I only have a Series 1 box. I am moving in 2 months and I am not committed to DTV, haven't been for years. I will seriously look at my options since DTV doesn't care about this. Vonage finally fixed the call in issue and now DTV pulls this! :down: :down: :down:

[zeroday]

hey everyone, noob here!

well, community noob, though i've had my series 1 SAT-60 for many years now.. has it been that long?! wow.. anyhow.. i found this thread doing a web search for a phone number that was on my phone bill many many many times this month (8667092073) and i can confirm all of the details you guys have already figured out.. i have the problem with a series 1, completely un-hacked un-touched (yes, poor 30 hour me) using both a traditional copper line and also a vonage line.. as you vonage users know, that's not the issue.. although since it's currently on a vonage line it did help me pinpoint the time my line died this morning :)

so, there you have it, another complainer.. :) i'm going to give one of those numbers mentioned a call now to see if i can have any luck (now that my vonage line is back up).. this answers a big question of mine - for a little while now when i'm on the phone that distinct "someone just picked up an extension" sound has been happening.. now i know why!

executive summary: Series 1 Sony SAT-60, online continuously since Sept, '01, never upgraded, never modded, on vonage and POTS, calling 1-866-709-2073 in two-call bursts all the freaking time..

[bcronin]

Looking at my Vonage account I see that since my billing cycle has started (April 28th) I have over 220 minutes to 18667092073 (DTV)! It is 2 calls, 1 minute apart, every other hour, every day. I only have a Series 1 box. I am moving in 2 months and I am not committed to DTV, haven't been for years. I will seriously look at my options since DTV doesn't care about this. Vonage finally fixed the call in issue and now DTV pulls this! :down: :down: :down:
I wouldn't say that nobody at DTV cares, they're going to care big time (I think) once the PPV capability of all the S1 owners starts to expire because of this and people start calling en masse. Right now they don't care because not enough people have called and their tech's are all mind-numbed drones who follow scripts. The challenge is going to be to get enough people calling and demanding to escalate the issue to a supervisor. At this point the best bet is to provide evidence to those supervisors that the real problem is that they somehow screwed up the authentication process (perhaps by changing the password and updating it in the new sw release sent to all but the S1 receivers, or somesuch bonehead move). Most helpful would be a real trace of the activity during a failed authentication but I don't have any idea how you'd do that.

[bcronin]

Looking at my Vonage account I see that since my billing cycle has started (April 28th) I have over 220 minutes to 18667092073 (DTV)! It is 2 calls, 1 minute apart, every other hour, every day. I only have a Series 1 box. I am moving in 2 months and I am not committed to DTV, haven't been for years. I will seriously look at my options since DTV doesn't care about this. Vonage finally fixed the call in issue and now DTV pulls this! :down: :down: :down:
Oh and if you're the same super dave of V710 fame, let me add that you are a God and I worship at your feet :-)

[wrf]

Hmmm. Maybe somebody will notice when there are enough Series I machines calling in twice an hour to completely overwhelm the DTV modem banks. Some bean counter is also likely to notice the charges for all the "toll free" calls into DTV.

Patience. They will figure this out.

[bcronin]

Hmmm. Maybe somebody will notice when there are enough Series I machines calling in twice an hour to completely overwhelm the DTV modem banks. Some bean counter is also likely to notice the charges for all the "toll free" calls into DTV.

Patience. They will figure this out.
Seems somewhat unlikely ...

[Sir_winealot]

Has anybody emailed DTV w/this complaint.....and included this thread?

[bcronin]

Has anybody emailed DTV w/this complaint.....and included this thread?
This all started when I emailed DTV customer support about this issue (though that was before I posted here). The email rsp to me was to call tech support. Might be a good idea to email them again pointing to this thread (although I don't know if this forum is taken seriously by anyone at DTV, so am not sure if it would help or hurt).

[UR14Me]

Today's kinda slow, so I called DTV again regarding this issue. After several minutes of friendly discussion, the DVR rep' offered to transfer me to a supervisor. The supervisor, like her subordinate, was initially more interested in selling me a new receiver than recognizing there may indeed be a systemic problem.

I believe I've now impressed upon her that if it were just me having this problem, I would of course consider the two replacement units for $49 plus shipping DTV is offering. But the truth appears to be that it's not just me, and that 40-odd 2-minute calls each day for over 45 days from what appears to be dozens of people adds up to real money after a while.

The super' is now creating a "research ticket" for the "back office" to investigate the matter further. This is apparently a separate path from a "normal" case/ticket opened in the "front office". She was unable to provide me a case number.

I urge everyone with this issue to contact DTV again. Be polite, be explicit and ask for a supervisor to research the matter further.

UR14Me

[bcronin]

Today's kinda slow, so I called DTV again regarding this issue. After several minutes of friendly discussion, the DVR rep' offered to transfer me to a supervisor. The supervisor, like her subordinate, was initially more interested in selling me a new receiver than recognizing there may indeed be a systemic problem.

I believe I've now impressed upon her that if it were just me having this problem, I would of course consider the two replacement units for $49 plus shipping DTV is offering. But the truth appears to be that it's not just me, and that 40-odd 2-minute calls each day for over 45 days from what appears to be dozens of people adds up to real money after a while.

The super' is now creating a "research ticket" for the "back office" to investigate the matter further. This is apparently a separate path from a "normal" case/ticket opened in the "front office". She was unable to provide me a case number.

I urge everyone with this issue to contact DTV again. Be polite, be explicit and ask for a supervisor to research the matter further.

UR14Me

I would not consider replacements as both my S1's have upgraded hard disks (one 120GB, one 240GB) and I would prefer not to make any new hw investments until DTV comes out with a reasonably priced HD DVR solution. Pity you could not get a case number or the number of that research ticket so we could all call in referencing it. Without that, it is still going to be hit or miss when calling it back in (and I am not sure I am quite ready to run that gauntlet again so soon after the last painful episode on Monday).

[UR14Me]

Pity you could not get a case number or the number of that research ticket so we could all call in referencing it.

Yep. I asked for one, and she told me she would give it to me. When the case was submitted, however, she said no case number was available at that moment (something about the case number being assigned once the ticket was "accepted" - apparently, "submitted" != "accepted").

UR14Me

[Sir_winealot]

Guess you could always call back and have them get it from yer file? I'm gonna shoot them an email referencing this thread and see what happens. Wonder if I could 'send' the entire thread...

[judson_west]

Just wanted to add my situation. While I have 2 series 1 DirecTiVo's (both T-60's), only one is connected to a phone line. That one is making some sort of call (need to check the system information screen) 2 times per hour -- at least. Fortunately, I am not charged for the call, and the call doesn't last long.

[bcronin]

Just wanted to add my situation. While I have 2 series 1 DirecTiVo's (both T-60's), only one is connected to a phone line. That one is making some sort of call (need to check the system information screen) 2 times per hour -- at least. Fortunately, I am not charged for the call, and the call doesn't last long.
Join the club!

P.S. Don't I know you from somewhere?

[judson_west]

P.S. Don't I know you from somewhere?I dunno. You been anywhere I've been?

[OLdDog]

Judson,

The system info screen will have no information avout the call as it is the DTV call which does not get logged to that screen.

[bcronin]

I dunno. You been anywhere I've been?
You have any association with AT&T (other than as a customer)?

[judson_west]

You have any association with AT&T (other than as a customer)?Yes I did and still do -- now called NCR. Did you have an association with IBM?

[bcronin]

Yes I did and still do -- now called NCR. Did you have an association with IBM?
Indeed.

[scottt]

I didn't want to say anything until it was in my hands, but DTV sent me a new Phillips DSR708R/17 to use in place of my T-60. Now I've got 70 hours to play with. I'm a happy camper.

I realize this is no help for those of you who hacked your S1 boxes.

[zeroday]

ahh, what? details! details!

[bcronin]

I didn't want to say anything until it was in my hands, but DTV sent me a new Phillips DSR708R/17 to use in place of my T-60. Now I've got 70 hours to play with. I'm a happy camper.

I realize this is no help for those of you who hacked your S1 boxes.
Sigh. Thats distressing. They'd rather swap out the S1 receiver than fix the problem!?!

I upgraded the hd's in both mine, plus I have lifetime DVR service that I have no doubt they'd somehow conveniently lose off my account again if I opted to replace the receivers (I could possibly deal with "only" 70 hours, I suppose, but I wouldn't be happy about it). Or I suppose I could just live with the 4 calls per hour until they come out with a reasonably prived HD DVR offering (or maybe I should investigate CableVision's HD DVR service a bit more thoroughly ... I had decided not to do that because I was essentially happy with DTV, but now maybe not quite so much as before).

[jjz]

I'm having exactly the same problems with my phillips dsr6000R- its been averaging 2 calls/hour for the last 2 weeks! I found this thread by googling that same 866 number. I just got off the phone with directv support and as expected they were not helpful- their advice is to reset the reciever and leave the phone line unplugged for a while! Mabye if enough of us call the message will ger through
JZ

[Fish Man]

I'm having exactly the same problems with my phillips dsr6000R- its been averaging 2 calls/hour for the last 2 weeks! I found this thread by googling that same 866 number. I just got off the phone with directv support and as expected they were not helpful- their advice is to reset the reciever and leave the phone line unplugged for a while! Mabye if enough of us call the message will ger through
JZ

While I am sure that DirecTV has some good, competent CSRs (hopefully, a majority fall into this category)...

They apparently have at least a few CSR's who choose to launch flaming personal attacks in these forums (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=2864489&&#post2864489) against people attempting to report this problem, rather than simply doing their job and make a report of the problem to engineering.

I am fairly confident that this problem will be fixed fairly soon.

However, seeing as how simply reporting this problem in these forums can cause a person claiming to be a DirecTV CSR in their profile to flame me (see above link), does anyone wonder why I'm squeamish about even calling them?!

Of course, the inflammatory person in that other thread may simply be a 12 year old troll with bogus information in his profile...

EDIT: Actually the advice to leave your DirecTiVo unplugged from the phone line for awhile is reasonable. It will keep it from tying up your line twice per hour until the problem is fixed on DirecTV's end. When you see a post in this thread indicating that the problem appears to be fixed, plug it back in! :)

[schnej2]

Folks, I have had a frustrating smile on my face as I have read this thread. I am having the same problems with both my T-60's (also ATT Callvantage) calling that 866 numbers numerous freaking times a day. Thank you all for your efforts!

[schnej2]

:rolleyes:

Also went back in the Callvantage phone log and found the 4/3 successfull calls to 800-7139274, and a 888-3629704.
Ever since 5/3 - have been dialing that 866-7092073 frickin constantly!

[Francesco]

Yup. 1-800-713 is the last one that works. In April it connected on the first try, with this same Vonage line. The Vonage is not the issue - I've had successful monthly DirecTV calls on it for more than two years.

[Derow]

I've been having the same problem for weeks now. Is anyone making any progress finding a solution, or at least getting Tivo to acknowledge that there is a problem?

[dkaleita]

I spent nearly an hour on the phone with a DirecTV Technical Service person on this topic yesterday. Here are just a few quotes from her:

"You are going to have to reformat your hard drive. You will lose everything on your TiVo. Are you prepared to do that?"

"I think 866-709-2073 is a TiVo phone number, not DirecTV. Try forcing a daily call".

"How old is your Sony SAT-T60? I think you may need a new unit."

"You are the only person to have ever reported this problem".

As you can probably detect, I got nowhere with DirecTV during that call. I told her about this thread in the tivocommunity forum as my proof that I am not the only person on the planet with this problem. Because of language/accent differences, she just couldn't understand me well enough to get the URL exactly right as I read it to her, character-by-character, over the phone. I offered to e-mail the link to her directly, but she said she doesn't have e-mail.

After this long and frustrating experience, I finally had to cut our call short because I was late for a meeting.

I'll be gratified if/when I hear on this forum that somebody meaningful at DirecTV or TiVo has acknowledged that this is a real problem at their end. At this point, it sounds like nobody's working on a solution. :(

[bcronin]

I've been having the same problem for weeks now. Is anyone making any progress finding a solution, or at least getting Tivo to acknowledge that there is a problem?
In a word, no, and DirecTv is clearly totally clueless. I fear the only thing that is going to bring this to a head is to just sit back and let everyone's S1 time out so that eventually we get to the point that NOBODY who has an S1 will be able to order PPV and everyone's box will be making two phonecalls per hour forever. Maybe then they'll notice.

It is like we're all on the Titanic and we all see the iceberg, but can't convince the captain of the impending disaster. Sigh ...

Unless my paranoid alter-ego is correct and this is DTV's way of obsoleting all the S1 boxes (i.e. that this is a deliberate plot and that they will simply not acknowledge the issue so that everyone will replace their S1 receivers, thinking that they're the only ones with the problem and it must be that *their* receiver is "bad") ...

[zeroday]

i'm willing to put cash on something like this:

someone implemented a system that the S1 units use to dial home, using an embedded, unchangable authentication system.. years pass and everyone with familiarity with this system go to new jobs or get promoted out of hands-on work.. the system finally breaks, and is so old and undocumented and nobody remembers that it's there and all the people with the knowledge to help us are either no longer with dtv/tivo or are outside of any problem escalation paths..

at least, this exact scenario has happened at every company *i've* worked for, so it sounds like a possibility here.. :)

[bcronin]

i'm willing to put cash on something like this:

someone implemented a system that the S1 units use to dial home, using an embedded, unchangable authentication system.. years pass and everyone with familiarity with this system go to new jobs or get promoted out of hands-on work.. the system finally breaks, and is so old and undocumented and nobody remembers that it's there and all the people with the knowledge to help us are either no longer with dtv/tivo or are outside of any problem escalation paths..

at least, this exact scenario has happened at every company *i've* worked for, so it sounds like a possibility here.. :)
I essentially agree, but I think its slightly more likely they were making a bunch of changes in that area for all the new receivers and simply forgot that the old S1's had hardcoded passwords that did not match the new one they decided to use (and, since they have no plans to update the old S1 software, we're screwed).

[dkaleita]

My TiVo seems to have stopped making this call at 11:52 PM EDT last night.

Here is my most recent call log up until that point:

May 19, 2005 11:52 PM 18005315602 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 11:51 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 08:05 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 08:04 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 05:58 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 05:58 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 03:52 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 03:51 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 12:04 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 12:04 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 09:58 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 09:58 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 07:52 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 07:51 AM 18667092073 00:01:00

It seems that, at 11:52 PM my SAT-T60 dialed a different number. All's been silent since then.

Perhaps somebody is listening after all?

Has anyone else experienced this miraculous recovery?

[UR14Me]

Same old, same old until roughly 9:30 ET this morning. Then, alternating calls to 866-709-2073 and 800-531-5602 until roughly 3pm ET (same frequency as before).

Since roughly 3pm ET, no calls to either number.

Waiting and watching,
UR14Me

[bcronin]

My TiVo seems to have stopped making this call at 11:52 PM EDT last night.

Here is my most recent call log up until that point:

May 19, 2005 11:52 PM 18005315602 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 11:51 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 08:05 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 08:04 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 05:58 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 05:58 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 03:52 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 03:51 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 12:04 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 12:04 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 09:58 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 09:58 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 07:52 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 19, 2005 07:51 AM 18667092073 00:01:00

It seems that, at 11:52 PM my SAT-T60 dialed a different number. All's been silent since then.

Perhaps somebody is listening after all?

Has anyone else experienced this miraculous recovery?


Haven't been watching this afternoon. I'll check in the morning. Wonderful news if so. It would be interesting when all is said and done if someone somewhere could explain what happened (and perhaps also why it took so long to convince someone there was a real problem, it'd be nice if we didn't have to suffer through that in the future).

[Fish Man]

It looks like mine have stopped the twice every hour pattern too.

They appear to have been silent the last 12 - 24 hours or so.

Could it actually be fixed?

<Fish Man crosses fingers>

[zeroday]

similar here, but still calling:

May 20, 2005 10:53 PM 18005315602 00:01:00
May 20, 2005 10:53 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 20, 2005 08:47 PM 18005315602 00:01:00
May 20, 2005 08:47 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 20, 2005 06:41 PM 18005315602 00:01:00
May 20, 2005 06:40 PM 18667092073 00:01:00

crossing fingers... right... now..

[super dave]

Mine is still making 2 calls every other hour, just alternating numbers now.


May 21, 2005 06:50 AM 18005315602 00:01:00

May 21, 2005 06:50 AM 18667092073 00:01:00

May 21, 2005 04:44 AM 18005315602 00:01:00

May 21, 2005 04:43 AM 18667092073 00:01:00

May 21, 2005 02:38 AM 18005315602 00:01:00

May 21, 2005 02:27 AM 18667092073 00:01:00

May 20, 2005 10:53 PM 18667092073 00:01:00

May 20, 2005 08:47 PM 18005315602 00:01:00

[gpg]

My dial-in worked because a PPV charge that had been sitting on my series 1 for weeks now appears when online when I check account activity on the DirecTV site.

[zeroday]

yeah, same with me with the alternation now:

May 21, 2005 02:55 PM 18005315602 00:01:00
May 21, 2005 02:54 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 21, 2005 12:48 PM 18005315602 00:01:00
May 21, 2005 12:47 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 21, 2005 10:41 AM 18005315602 00:01:00
May 21, 2005 10:40 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
May 21, 2005 06:55 AM 18005315602 00:01:00
May 21, 2005 06:54 AM 18667092073 00:01:00

[allenw]

I wonder if someone at DirecTV will notice that their phone bill is significantly higher this month. :) Of course, I'm sure they'll pass the bill onto us, eventually...

[super dave]

Checking my Vonage account I see my DTiVo is no longer calling DTV every other hour. Stopped yesterday morning, yeah! I also noticed 531 minutes listed in the free call section. That is all DTV calling itself last month, but there wasn't any problem, no, none.

[dbett]

Sigh. Thats distressing. They'd rather swap out the S1 receiver than fix the problem!?!

I upgraded the hd's in both mine, plus I have lifetime DVR service that I have no doubt they'd somehow conveniently lose off my account again if I opted to replace the receivers (I could possibly deal with "only" 70 hours, I suppose, but I wouldn't be happy about it). Or I suppose I could just live with the 4 calls per hour until they come out with a reasonably prived HD DVR offering (or maybe I should investigate CableVision's HD DVR service a bit more thoroughly ... I had decided not to do that because I was essentially happy with DTV, but now maybe not quite so much as before).


I don't know. In hindsight I'm glad DTv replaced my T60 with a (free after service credits) Series 2. That was after the 3.1.0c upgrade bug. (http://news.com.com/Glitch+hits+DirecTV+TiVo+boxes/2100-1041_3-5287815.html?part=rss&tag=5287815&subj=news.1041.20)

I had to pull the 120Gb drive from the T60 and put it in the Series 2, which was a pain. But since I was able to keep the T60, I set up the new box and let it record new stuff while I caught up on the stuff on the T60.

And now, I will be able to get 6.2 on the replacement box.

All in all, a pretty good deal.

And I didn't lose lifetime, even though the T60 was the box I initially purchased it on.

[scerruti]

I am still suffering from the problem covered in this thread (733 message on PPV channels and repeated attempts to phone home).
Jun 04, 2005 01:12 PM 18005315602 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 01:11 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 11:05 AM 18005315602 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 11:04 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 08:58 AM 18005315602 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 08:57 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 04:58 AM 18005315602 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 04:58 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 01:12 AM 18005315602 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 01:11 AM 18667092073 00:01:00DirecTV customer support told me that it is a known issue. Since some people have reported that their problems have been resolved I am curious if there are still others experiencing this problem. Is there any point in calling DirecTV again?

a) I *AM* a Vonage customer
b) My TiVo calls work
c) Sony SAT-T60

[dkaleita]

My Sony SAT-T60 still had the problem until I changed my default area code to 212 and the dial-in number to 1-212-277-3895. Try it. It's still a free call under Vonage. ;)

[scerruti]

I just want to make sure I understand what you are saying,

Changing your TiVo dial in code fixed your DirecTV dialing problems?

[bcronin]

I just want to make sure I understand what you are saying,

Changing your TiVo dial in code fixed your DirecTV dialing problems?
Hard to imagine, frmo what I understand the DTV call is totally separate from the TiVo call and changing TiVo call-in parms has no effect whatsoever on the DTV call. The DTV techs even tried to tell me it was a totally separate modem. Not sure thats true, though. Anyway, my problems went away around the time everyone else's did, so I consider the matter closed.

[scerruti]

My Sony SAT-T60 still had the problem until I changed my default area code to 212 and the dial-in number to 1-212-277-3895. Try it. It's still a free call under Vonage. ;)

I didn't believe it would work, but I tried it anyway because I didn't see how it could hurt.Jun 05, 2005 01:12 AM 18005315602 00:01:00
Jun 05, 2005 01:11 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 11:05 PM 18005315602 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 11:04 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 08:58 PM 18005315602 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 08:57 PM 18667092073 00:01:00
Jun 04, 2005 04:55 PM 18667092073 00:01:00 (DirecTV Call)
Jun 04, 2005 04:52 PM 18006959251 00:04:00 (manual call to DirecTV CS to request DirecTV call)
Jun 04, 2005 04:48 PM 12122773895 00:01:00 (Successful TiVo test call)

Can anybody tell me the number called when their system started working again?
Did anyone who had the problem get a ticket opened and get the number?
What about software version (3.1.0c2-1-01-011)?

EDIT: DirecTV wants me to reformat my hard drive.

Jun 05, 2005 07:05 AM 18005315602 00:01:00
Jun 05, 2005 07:04 AM 18667092073 00:01:00
Jun 05, 2005 04:58 AM 18005315602 00:01:00
Jun 05, 2005 04:57 AM 18667092073 00:01:00

[OLdDog]

I didn't believe it would work, but I tried it anyway because I didn't see how it could hurt.

Can anybody tell me the number called when their system started working again?
Did anyone who had the problem get a ticket opened and get the number?
What about software version (3.1.0c2-1-01-011)?

EDIT: DirecTV wants me to reformat my hard drive.SInce the DTV call is an 8xx number changing the TiVo call in number has no effect.

When my TiVos started working they called these two numbers a few times:
18667092073
18005315602
With the second number being the last one called.

Of course I am no longer connected to ANY regular land line and the TiVo calls are by PPP. I will order any PPV over the web.

I dropped my Vonage line a am using Skype for receiving calls and international.

A Skype incoming line in my area code, which Vonage does not have, costs about $12 for 3 months or $36 for a year. This is a HUGE savings for me so well worth the extra trouble of ordering PPV over the internet and using my cell for most outgoing calls. BTW: I have to have a cell phone for other reasons but the Skype line is a great supliment.

EDIT: A clear an delete will NOT fix the problem. It is just a way to make the customer shut up for a while. I would flat refuse and tell the CSR that they have no clue how a DTiVo opperates.

[scerruti]

EDIT: A clear an delete will NOT fix the problem. It is just a way to make the customer shut up for a while. I would flat refuse and tell the CSR that they have no clue how a DTiVo opperates.

Yeah, I told her nicely that I wasn't about to reformat the hard drive since others who had reported the problem did not need to do that for the issue to be resolved. She said that there was no problem because if there was a problem they, the group she was in, would have gotten the calls. She then hung up on me.

I will probably unplug the phone line except to do TiVo calls and let DirecTV eat the two PPV on the machine unless DirecTV has a better solution.

[dkaleita]

I just want to make sure I understand what you are saying,

Changing your TiVo dial in code fixed your DirecTV dialing problems?
Not necessarily. I made the change to the TiVo dial-in number (because TiVo calls were failing too) and the very next DirecTV call worked. Most likely a cooincidence, but like I say, it's an easy thing to try.

The DirecTV number on which my SAT-T60 (on Vonage) finally connected was 18005315602.

[Francesco]

That's one of the older numbers that my receivers used to connect on. But I gave in and let Retention send me a new R10 free of charge... who knows if it (the Series 1) won't conk out again this dialing cycle, and we're back to square one. I've gone more than two months without watching remote-ordered PPVs. Send me an S|2, I'll move the hacked/expanded S|1 to other duties, and use the new one for PPVs. Cripes. Now I have seven DTiVos on my account, of which only three get regular use.

[gorwell]

Just wanted to add my two cents ...

I have a home automation system that logs all off hook/on hook and call activity. I found this thread (through the magic of Google) after seeing numerous attempts in my phone log that seems to have started a few days ago.

I have a Series 2 TiVO and a separate DTV receiver (an older Sony model) that TiVo controls through a serial connection. Since TiVO is set to use my DSL connection for updates, it must be the DTV receiver. The log shows numerous calls to 866-709-2073 and 800-531-5602 in quick succession.

[ibleedblue]

Was there ever any resolution on this? I had a R10 installed last week and since that time it's been making appx 16 calls per day. I called D* about it, but the tech person said he had never heard of the problem. He asked if I would be using PPV. I told him if I did I'd order online, so he said he would send a command to make the receiver not dial out for PPV. That did nothing. It's still dialing out like crazy. Any other suggestions?

[Hodaka]

I don't believe this should have affected the R10s at all.. this was something that appeared to only be affecting people with series 1 directivos.. (old stuff)..

[Fish Man]

Was there ever any resolution on this? I had a R10 installed last week and since that time it's been making appx 16 calls per day. I called D* about it, but the tech person said he had never heard of the problem. He asked if I would be using PPV. I told him if I did I'd order online, so he said he would send a command to make the receiver not dial out for PPV. That did nothing. It's still dialing out like crazy. Any other suggestions?

As Hodaka said, this problem only affected series I units, never series II.

For that matter, my series I units are now successfully dialing out about every 8 days, not trying any more often than that, and rarely if ever, failing to connect. So for me, the issue is solved.

Your problem is probably inability to connect.

Are you using VOIP? If so, you may have to put in a dialing prefix to "slow down" the baud rate the modem goes for.

If you're not using VOIP, slowing down the modem may help anyway.

Also, you might try running phone line setup again to make sure the number it is dialing out on is still valid for your area (has not been changed).

[scottt]

Slow down codes have no effect on the Series II models.

[Fish Man]

Slow down codes have no effect on the Series II models.

Sorry, but wrong.

Link to many pages of discussion about this. (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=135715&page=1&pp=30&highlight=vonage)

[doellg]

I found this forum by googling. I do not have a TIVO DVR, just a plain old bottom of the lien DirecTV receiver and an RCA HD receiver. I've been having the same dial out problems from both receivers for months. DirecTV sent a replacement for one of the receivers but of course there was no rationale for that and it made no difference.

More evidence that the problem is on their end and not restricted to a particular receiver type. I do have Vonage and wondered about that so was glad to see the other posters with POTS.

My receivers are about 6 months old and this problem has been happening since April. Any new news?

[g-berg]

Mine is doing this as well. I have a DVR-R10 which i think is a series II. HOwever mine in making 20 or so calls to the # that is my prefix dialing code. I have Vonage and am using the NY number to call in. When I test mine lets say 6 out of 10 times it will connect. It is telling me that my next call is in about a week but it is still calling our about 20 or so times a day. Directv said that for the first couple of days of service this is normal, i do not think that is correct. i am not really worried because Vonage calls are free but for those of you that have to pay...i would be really mad. here is my most recent call log.
Aug 14, 2005 08:39 AM 12122773895 00:01:00
Aug 14, 2005 08:38 AM 12122773895 00:01:00
Aug 14, 2005 06:33 AM 12122773895 00:01:00
Aug 14, 2005 06:32 AM 12122773895 00:01:00
Aug 14, 2005 02:46 AM 12122773895 00:01:00
Aug 14, 2005 12:39 AM 12122773895 00:01:00
Aug 14, 2005 12:38 AM 12122773895 00:01:00
Aug 13, 2005 10:33 PM 12122773895 00:01:00
Aug 13, 2005 10:32 PM 12122773895 00:01:00

[g-berg]

Slow down codes have no effect on the Series II models.


Well that is a bummer than because Directv told me this is what I need to use with Vonage...it does seem to be working for me.

[taylor2767]

Anyone find a solution to this problem? I've noticed my units are calling twice every hour on the hour. DTV tech.support pretends to know nothing of this problem.

[doellg]

Just tried again with DirecTV tech support. Level 1 tech support person didn't even know Vonage or Voice over IP! Can you believe it, this is a tech support person?

Level 2 tech support said that since I have Verizon DSL as my broadband provider, I had to have DSL filters or the DirecTV receiver modems would be damaged. I tried to explain that my phone lines are NOT connected to the DSL line, they are connected to the Vonage adapter which is connected to the DSL modem; filters are not needed. They didn't get it or understand; clearly level 2 tech support is not that familiar with VOIP. Another hour wasted and I had to give up, again.

[doellg]

Well, I'm getting frustrated spending time on the phone, so am trying email again. Not too hopeful, though. This sums up my situation:

------

Hi,

I spent another hour on the phone with tech support tonight with no resolution; thought I'd give email a try again. Tech support didn't know what Vonage or VOIP was! Perhaps someone could forward this message along to a DirecTV technical guru because it appears there is a real DirecTV system problem affecting many users. I find it hard to believe someone in the DirecTV technical staff is not aware of this.

Here is what I've learned:

- Both of my DirecTV receivers seem unable to make phone connections to your toll free callback numbers; obviously I cannot order PPV from my remote.
- My phone logs show multiple calls every hour to 18005315602 and 18667092073; these calls stop if I unplug the phone line from both DirecTV receivers
- Phone lines to both receivers work fine with regular telephones
- The replacement receiver provided by DirecTV a while back made no improvement.
- My phone service is VOIP provided by Vonage; this worked fine with my DirecTV receivers before about April 9, 2005.
- By Googling, I found that many other DirecTV subscribers are having this same problem with both VOIP and standard telephone service.
- In many cases with many users, it seems that this problem began sometime in early April.
- Some TIVO DVR DirecTV customers seem to have had success by programming their receivers to slow down the modem when calling back to DirecTV. This doesn't help my because with my non-DVR receiver, I don't have the option to slow my receiver modems.

All of this seems to strongly suggest a change in the DirecTV system sometime in April. This is not a huge issue for me, but I know many DirecTV customers are very unhappy with this problem. It will at least make me look at cable and other satellite providers when my committment is up.

[jlbrum]

Big problem!

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=254878

[gatorbait]

Hi,

HR10-250 here. Seeing this issue calling the 18667092073 number every four hours.

Did anyone ever get any satisifaction on this issue, or did everyone just give up? Just curious as this thread just seems to trail off

thanks

[ahawthorn]

Well, it was resolved. Now it looks like the problem has come back.

[doellg]

I have never seen a resolution; I just gave up after spending hours and becoming totally frustrated with DirecTV tech support - they didn't have a clue. Main effect for me is I am unable to use my remote to order PPV, I have to go to the DirecTV web site. It's a hassle. Also, not sure if I am missing firmware updates etc since there apparently has never been a successful connection.

[scerruti]

I gave up. My machine calls repeatedly and eventually completes a call. Until my phone company complains about call volume I am willing to let DirecTV eat the bill for the toll free calls.

I am able to order PPV normally and they show up on my bill.

[szvers]

I finally figured out how to get the Directivo to work with vonage and now I am getting the calls every hour. I have picked up the phone and heard the directivo "talking" during one of it's hourly calls.

This is ridiculous. Did it always do this when I had a POTS line and I just didn't know it?

Thanks

I think I'll unplug.

[pudge44]

I've just discovered this problem on my Series1 DSR6000. I thought it was becuase of a switch to SunRocket VOIP (I noticed all the calls on my call log), but after reading this thread, I guess it's just a problem with the DTV calls, period.

Am I correct that there are users who had their SI DTivo's replaced free of charge over this issue?