Series 3 Verizon FIOS HD compat?

[markgrogers]

Thanks for suggestions. I have run the guided set-up 2-3 times. I do get channels 2-49. Signal is strong. No other CC devices to test in, unfortunately. Its gotta be the cards. I'm going to make some calls and see what I can find-out.

I agree that there's a bit too much mystery w/ CCs in general. Its still somewhat new, and its certainly a very low priority for Verizon and other companies because its a very small market segment and they won't get rich(er) fast enough off of it to worry too much about it.

The Verizon tech that was here was a very nice, intelligent guy. Displaced from AT&T when they got out of cable, studying for CompTia and Networking certification- so no dummy. But, he barely knew cable cards existed and had only helped with one other CC install at a local electronics store (only got one card working at the store, he says). He did a great job with the regular TV set-ups and was flexible in making sure that audio & video routing via receiver, etc. was done how I wanted.

Thanks again for your suggestions- I'll keep trying here.

[markgrogers]

Well, in case anyone else needs this info, my problems were solved by a great guy at the Verizon FiOS Fiber Solutions Center in CA, together with a second FiOS installer visit, and a little help from the TiVo "Cable Card Hotline".

The culprits were a set of 2 DEFECTIVE(?) Motorola Cable Cards. The two original cards showed a persistent "161-4 error" screen and never produced the screens with the necessary information for Verizon to "activate". When swapped-out for a set of 2 new cable cards of the same make, the "MMI" screens (the "gray" screens that indicate they hold info for you cable provider) popped-up in about 3-4 minutes after the cards were installed. They "activated" the cards remotely from the Fiber Solutions Center, and we "configured" #1 (bottom) via the TiVo menu and the channels appeared within a few moments.

Card #2 (top) took much longer to show the channels. Even after it was remotely "activated", no channels appeared for about 2 hours. I'm not sure if it was necessary, but I actually completed the TiVo Guided Set-Up with only card #1 configured. After Guided Set-Up was complete, card#2 began showing the channels almost immediately. (I am not sure if card#2 was simply ready after waiting 2 hours, or if the Guided Set-Up completion was the trigger that made it work).

TiVo has never looked so good and the number of channels is staggering. FiOS TV seems like the bargain of the year for us.

Here are a few things I learned:

1-Verizon here in Eastern PA only offers single-stream cable cards. The Fiber Solutions Center tech in CA indicated that only single-stream cards are available from Verizon, nationally, so you will need 2 for dual-tuner operation.

2-Be sure to order the cards when you place your initial order for FiOS service. I did not, and as a result, trying to "add them" to my "order" was a painful process that cost me hours on hold, and many minor headaches. It seems that once the "order" is placed, it is initially somehow frozen for days afterward. When I called the first time the order was "in progress" and I could not add cards to the hardware ordered. I was advised to call back in a week or so. On the second call, I was told that adding the cards to the order would result in a delay of my installation date by almost a month. I was advised to simply ask the installer to put them in since they allegedly carry spare cards. The first installer I spoke with (installing at my neighbor's home) said he never heard of cable cards and had no idea what I was talking about. The installer who came to my house
DID have cards, but had only assisted on one other cable card install at a dealer showroom (he said they only got one card working and gave up). He was reluctant to install the cards, but he eventually gave it a half-hearted effort. When the "161-4 error" screens came up and remained for more than an hour, he said he had to leave and suggested that I return my brand-new Series 3 TiVo because it was bad. I convinced him to leave the cards, and I tried myself for hours (not knowing that it was the cards that were bad).

3- Be sure you have your TiVo updated with the newest software and humming along BEFORE the FiOS install. Even TiVo suggests this as there are tweaks related to the cable cards in the newer releases (in my case 9.2A) AND it pretty much rules out the possibility of bad TiVo hardware if the cable card install gets borked and you need to troubleshoot.

4- Follow the TiVo instructions for card installation. Do card #1 in bottom slot first. I also recommend completing the TiVo Guided Set-Up with only card #1 once its "activated" and the high channels (above 49) show up via the card. The installers seem to want to jam them both in at once, and 2 different installers did not even want to look at the TiVo instructions (the 2nd guy eventually did, but only because the Fiber Solutions Tech guy was running the show via phone and wanted to follow the TiVo installation script).

5- The "161-4 error" screens are NOT always "good errors". Other posts here indicate that getting the "161-4" error was a good thing. Indeed it is- IF- after a few minutes- the card initializes and the gray "MMI" screens that Verizon needs to activate the cards appear. In my case the "161-4" errors were persistent because the cards were defective. I suggest that if you wait 10 minutes or longer and still see no gray "MMI" screens after inserting a card that you try to convince the installer that you need to try another card (tell him he'll be on his way sooner if he forks over new cards). In my case, BOTH of the first cards supplied to me were dogs.

6- If you run into trouble, ask the tech to call the Verizon Fiber Solutions Center for help. The installers were not trained on installation of cable cards- some seem to have no knowledge of their existence. Even when they do know about cable cards they are not happy dealing with DVRs other than the Verizon models they supply. They want to give up quickly and blame it on TiVo if the cards don't work. The tech guy at the Fiber Solutions Center was stellar (he owned a TiVo himself). He pulled up TiVo's support site and this community site and read what I was takling about. He got TiVo on the line, and the first TiVo tech gave him a number for a TiVo "Cable Card Hotline" in Albuquerque. The guy in Albuquerque held the Fiber Solution Techs hand (they were on speaker phone with the installer and me) and got the job done.

Overall, I was very pleased with Verizon's support. The installers were a little iffy on the cable cards but did a great job with everything else. Once the Fiber Solution Center tech took over, things happened. He got the cards added to the order. He got another installer to come by with new cards. He got on the web and researched stuff, called TiVo, and called me back- twice when there were going to be delays. He got my TiVo humming with 2 new cards within 6 hours. No one has ever taken this much trouble in supporting an installation before, so kudos to Verizon for killer support. (Now if only the cable cards were as reliable).

[wkearney99]

Thanks for suggestions. I have run the guided set-up 2-3 times. I do get channels 2-49. Signal is strong.

If you're only getting 2-49 then you have a problem. I don't mean tune in and SEE those channels. I mean letting a channel scan work its way through the whole set. If it doesn't count up to nearly 500 then you have a cabling or tuner problem.

[edrego]

I purchased 2 Tivo HDs last weekend and got them setup with Verizon on 01/21. At first we had the issue where we the tech tried to active the cards, no channels would come through. He wanted to try and activite them all at once and I told him that we should be doing them one at a time per the Tivo instructions. After a little back and forth, he called into FSC and got a tech on the line. I told them that we should do the activations one at a time and so we did and we got one tivo up and running with both cards with all channels.

We did the 2nd tivo and channels came up and I thought everything was working, however, no channels above 50 except the rebroadcast of the local channels in HD on channels 801+

So had to make several calls into Verizon support. They tried deactivate/activate and still was the same problem. They escalated the issue to the engineering department and they worked on it for 2 days. Finally, they had a deadline to get it resolved by 5 pm yesterday. I called in at lunch time and talked to a tech and he reviewed the case notes and then performed a "cold init" and he said that this command was not performed before by the previous techs and this should resolve the problem. When I got home and checked the 2nd tivo, all the channels were working and problems resolved.

I suggest that you make sure the installer follows the directions that are from Tivo to the letter. If the cards get activated and you still only see channels 1-49, have the FSC folks do a cold init on the cards. This will essentially wipe all the settings from the cards and reset them to the default settings. Apparently an "deactivate/activate" doesnt wipe the cards settings. (which I wasn't aware)

Now, I have 2 fully functioning Tivo HDs delivering superior video to my TVs. Wow, the picture quality is amazing!!!!!

[pickanyone]

I haver a tivohd. Verizon installer came last week and tried SEVEN cards in slot 1. All of them could get 2-49 and 801-808. He put the last card he had in slot 2 and it got ALL the channels.

Another guy came and only brought 2 cards. The slot 1 card got 2-49 and 801-808, and slot 2 got ALL the channels again. He then claimed it was a box issue and not a card issue.

I called tivo and was taken to the condition access screen which showed that the slot 1 card had
authorized by CP: NO
and
missing_program_rekey

error

She said that this meant it was a card and not a tivo error. However I was then put through to a tivo superviser who did think it could be a tivo problem. So they have sent me a new box. installer about to arrive...

reading this thread makes me think it might have been a card setup error all along.

will pass on any useful info from my upcoming install

[markgrogers]

Thanks, Pickanyone.

I am curious to hear how switching in the new TiVo works. 'Here's hoping the guy they send has a whole pocketful of cards, because they seem to have a high failure rate.

My TiVo_FiOS setup is the best thing I've ever had for home entertainment. 'Hope yours gets squared-away soon.

[pmininni]

I had my TiVoHD cablecards installed with Fios yesterday. Ran into problem but the post by bkdtv witht he screenshots saved the day. Kudos for the images. Thanx!
- Install ONE at a time.
- Let the installer do the activation and initialization via their laptop.
- My cards would never show EnabledByCP: Yes. This was always no.
- Error 161-4 was common as he troubleshot. I explained to him that others were able to get it done by calling the Solutions number.
- He was working with the Tech trying all different things. Then it worked.
- The tech on the phone did a "Cold Init". This caused Connected: Yes and EnabledByCP: Yes and Auth: SUBSCRIBED to show up. Those three are a must.
Even a MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY error means they need to do the init then the Cold Init. Keep in mind that the techs on the phone need to be able to see the cablecard as well. This can take about 10 minutes.
- The second card was the same scenario but different errors in the beggining. Once zapped by their laptop tool IVAAP and then the "Cold Init" it came right up.

Hope this helps.
-Paul

Also, Standard channels and high def channels were the only ones that worked. No encoded channels were visible.

[coachtrav]

I use a series 3 with two cable cards and it works great. Only thing you can not get is the on demand channel 900. Something about nims or something. Not sure what that is but I believe they said it was a software issue. Other than that it works well. I have had an issue with HDMI. On a change of channels sometimes it goes blank. I have to unplug and then repulg to work(just the cable not the power). TIVO says its the tv or the cable or something other than their box. Guess what fios says...its the box or your tv. Anyone have this issue. Is hdmi that much better than RGB cables.

[wmcbrine]

Only thing you can not get is the on demand channel 900.It's not really on channel 900, or any channel -- Fios VOD is delivered by IP. Which the Tivo could handle, in principle, if Verizon and Tivo cooperated on the software.

I have had an issue with HDMI.It's the TV and/or the Tivo (or, yes, the cable). But Fios isn't relevant there. The issue would remain with any provider (or indeed, with none).

The reason you see it on a change of channels is probably because the output resolution is changing. You could try setting the Tivo to output a fixed resolution. (In principle, this would slightly downgrade a 720p image if you set the output to 1080i, or vice versa. In practice it's hard to see the difference. But it all depends on your set.)

Is hdmi that much better than RGB cables.Nope.

[vildi98]

Initial install of cable cards seemed to go well. I thought both cards were working. Two days later card # 2 no good. After 4 days of calling solution center I finally get someone to agree to send a tech out. Of course many problems getting tech to show up by their "commit time".

Tech came yesterday and tried to a new card no good. His support person of course says it’s the TIVO, try to reboot. OK fine did a soft boot then told to try a hard boot. Once the tivo booted back on Card one is bad!!!. Try to re run guided set up but it gets stuck at "preparing" after it asks about my premium channels. Now I have no cards working.

I ask the tech to try the cable card in TV just to be sure it’s the TIVO. He is kind enough to try and the card no good in TV. So now I am suppose to have an "expert" tech come tonight with new cable cards to try again. Who hopefully will have the cards registered in their database, as that seems to have been the problem with the two bad cards.

My question is really about the reboot wiping out the one card that worked, has this happened to anyone else? Also concerned about tivo getting hung up during guided setup.

Hopefully tonight will go smooth, but based on past experience I'm not hopeful.

[markgrogers]

So now I am suppose to have an "expert" tech come tonight with new cable cards to try again. Who hopefully will have the cards registered in their database, as that seems to have been the problem with the two bad cards.

I was initially told by the installer (the day after) that the problem was that the cards had NOT been "checked-out" of inventory and therefore would not appear as valid on the Verizon system. This turned-out to be false according to the Fiber Solutions tech, who confirmed the cards HAD been "checked-out". I think that the "check-out" thing is away to verify that the cards are Verizon's and not 3rd party or customer-supplied. Apparently it's common that cards that are not "checked-out" are floating around.

My question is really about the reboot wiping out the one card that worked, has this happened to anyone else? Also concerned about tivo getting hung up during guided setup.

Reboots did not change the status of my cards whatsoever. Based upon my experience, I'd guess that its more likely that that card was near-death or never quite fully working and the reboot just exposed the flaw. The failure rate of the cable cards seems very high.

Did you update your TiVo software prior to the install (newest versions for each model are listed on the TiVo site)? The tech on the "TiVo Cable Card Hotline" told us the newer software had tweaks for cable card compatibility. Did your TiVo work properly pre-FiOS install? If so, there is a 99% chance the problems are NOT the TiVo, but are related to buggy/defective cable cards.

Good luck tonight.

[rucka]

Just made the switch a couple days ago from Com**** to FIOS. It was a lengthy process (we did the full TV/FIOS/Phone install), but so far so good. Overall the HD pic is comparable if not better. We also tried the comparison between HDMI and component and HDMI lost in our house on both TVs (one LCD, 1 DLP) -- color me surprised!

[vildi98]

After 2.5 hours tonight and 3 cable cards later I am very happy to say both cards now work. The tech had to deactivate and reactivate cards with a tech at the solution center. Conditional access screen good on both cards. I tested all digital channels and even recorded off both tuners while tech was still here just to be sure. Hopefully my cards won't go bad in couple of days.

[dsa1971]

I have 2 tivo hd boxes with 2 scards in each. All cards appear to be currently working even though one card still lists MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY on the conditional access screen. The verizon tech today that came out to "repair" things that didn't go right on Saturday told me that if the cards need to be reinitialized then after they are reinitialized I should remove the cards and then reinsert them. Does this make any sense?

[Marc]

If you're getting the MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY message, they aren't working properly. In my case, one of the two cards was AUTHORIZED, but the other had the same message you saw. I could tune into all channels on one tuner, but the other channel could only tune in channels 2-49.

You should contact the Verizon Fiber Solutions Center (888-553-1555) and have them reinitialize the cards. They can do it over the phone.

[dsa1971]

If you're getting the MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY message, they aren't working properly. In my case, one of the two cards was AUTHORIZED, but the other had the same message you saw. I could tune into all channels on one tuner, but the other channel could only tune in channels 2-49.

You should contact the Verizon Fiber Solutions Center (888-553-1555) and have them reinitialize the cards. They can do it over the phone.


I'm receiving all the channels I am supposed to even with the MISSING_PROGRAM_REKEY message which is only on the one card. I've tested this through the Test Channels option. The other 4 cards say SUBSCRIBED. For now, I may just leave it because Verizon has already wore me out with techs who are just guessing at how to setup and troubleshoot the cablecards.

[capnkt]

Well...I am in the middle of a frustrating game of "Cable Card Lotto".

So far I have one THD with two fully functioning cable cards, and another THD with two non functioning cards.

The Verizon tech was a very good guy, and started out the install by saying "I have only done this one other time.", he basically said "You can install the cards, and I will take care of the computer details".

The first Tivo seemed to work for awhile, then stopped after a couple of hours. Two calls to Verizon, and two days later they seem to be working, with all of the channels.

The other Tivo seems to be a different story. I have been on the phone with tech support four times, with no luck yet. They have re-intialized the cards a couple of times, allegedly did a "cold init" last night, and I still do not have all of the channels.

The information provided from the conditional access screen shows that they are connected, Auth=Subscribed, encryption=conforming CSA, EnabledByCP, etc., however it does vary from time to time. Occasionally they will say "Auth:Unknown". There have been numerous "Repeat guided setup", as well as umpteen "restart system" & hard resets (pull the plug) with no apparent changes or improvements.

The other two cards have been this way for a couple of days. I receive some of the HD's and some of the analogs below CH 49, otherwise the channel lineup seems to be kind of hit or miss. Some are there, and others are "channel not available".

Both units have been upgraded to 1TB internal drives. I have considered putting the stock hard drive back in the unit to see if it made a difference, but the with the other unit running & stable for almost a week, I am a little apprehensive.

I work in the custom A/V business, and would NEVER recommend this process to one of our customers. I am much more patient with these kind of things, and would probably go broke trying to resolve these issues for a customer.

Verizon's video quality & the Techs & CSRs couldn't be nicer. They have always been very patient & understanding on the phone. However, it would be great to have my other Tivo working properly.

Any suggestions?

[markgrogers]

After my own trials and tribulations, here is my humble input:

As long as your TiVos were working properly BEFORE the cable cards were inserted, and you have the TiVo software updated, THEN I would be 95% certain that the problem is bad cable cards.

We spent hours tinkering with set-ups, re-boots, switching cards from one slot to another, trying only one card, etc. The ONLY thing that worked was replacing the cable cards with new ones. When we did that, the system set-up and ran by the book (the only deviation from the TiVo instructions in my set-up was that I ran the guided set-up after the first card was recognized before the 2nd card in the unit came online).

As I and other have noted here, the cards themselves are notoriously flaky. I have never seen any other modern electronic component that has such a high DOA/failure rate. Many of the cards are DOA or die after brief usage. The Verizon people don't want to admit this, and point fingers at the TiVo, but it has been noted many times over in posts here that the problems are related to bad cable cards supplied by Verizon.

I agree that if you were in business, then recommending this process to customers would be an repeating nightmare. It is certainly not a priority for Verizon. Until they switch away from the Motorola cards, or insist that Motorola radically improve the quality, the problems will continue.

I can only suggest asking for replacement cards (again). Once mine were replaced, the unit set-up and ran quickly and has been stable now for about a month.

'Hope you draw some lucky cards next time.

[Ron Tobin]

We're both in Sarasota, and I've been through a countless number of cards in order to get my Tivo working. And it seems that for every tech visit I've had, it's the first cable card installation the guy has done. You'd think, by now, that they have has some experience with cable cards.

[mamosley]

Cable cards really arent as common for installers to deal with as you guys would like to believe. And the stock check out status mentioned by a previous poster happens with stbs some times also. I most freequently get those on self install calls but not on cable cards since those have to come out with a tech any way. Even though I work for vz I have time warner and had to go through several cards before the last tech came out with a multi stream card that worked and havent had any problems since.

[webin]

As of yesterday, the Verizon Fiber Solutions Center "doesn't know what a multi-stream cable card is". This would lend evidence that we can't expect them to become available for a while yet. The July 1st date that has been mentioned would seem like the earliest we can expect CSRs to receive training on them... and probably longer for inventory to arrive.

That's kind of annoying considering Comcast customers are getting them now.

[ah30k]

Comcast has had just a little more time to get their headends settled out than Verizon don't ya think?

Also, Verizon has their standards set a little higher than Comcast w.r.t. system up time. As a result, they are rolling out new features and systems more cautiously.

[mamosley]

As of yesterday, the Verizon Fiber Solutions Center "doesn't know what a multi-stream cable card is". This would lend evidence that we can't expect them to become available for a while yet. The July 1st date that has been mentioned would seem like the earliest we can expect CSRs to receive training on them... and probably longer for inventory to arrive.

That's kind of annoying considering Comcast customers are getting them now.

You will probably find them on verizon.com/fiostv before the average csr even knows what they are.

[fpp777]

I am about 75 days from my new house being finished and I plan on using FIOS with my THD. I have read this entire thread. I was checking to see if anyone has had a recent install and if they had any problems. I am in Keller, TX which is just north of Fort Worth.

[sescofresco]

Well, I have been a FiosTV user in the DC Area for a year now and I truely hate the Verizon DVRs. I have 3 currently and all have been replaced at least once. One has the honor of being replaced 3 times. I was a DirecTV user for 7 Years prior with Tivo. I ran across this deal from TiVo http://www.tivo.com/promo/factory_renewed_dvr.html which sparked my interest in TiVo again. I called up Verizon FiosTV and received a quote of $3.99/month for a SINGLE Stream CableCard. It still requires a tech but there is no installation fee. Also, no charge for picking up the crappy DVR. So I am heading back to Tivoland. I will start with one THD and slowly migrate.

[jmairs]

I'm living in Fairfax VA (just outside of D.C) and switched over to a Costco.com TIVOHD with FIOS

It was a painful 4 hour process using 3 cable cards. Both tuners are recording.

The Home Network Apps (i.e. streaming music and transcoding video from your PC) worked for a couple of days but now my Tivo Desktop software does not think there is a TivoHD on the network. I get a 3 number error code which when I googled shows up on the forums back in 2005.

I sure wish that Tivo had a Netflix Play it Now plugin!!!

Netflix play it now only takes 20 seconds to buffer and then plays fine. I don't understand why across my own network it takes Tivo much longer to copy and transcode an mpeg 4 avi file. Must be all that transcoding.

Is the Tivo transcoding my mpg2, mpg4 files to the internal Tivo format in order to play them?

John

[clover_kid]

[/QUOTE]It still requires a tech but there is no installation fee. Also, no charge for picking up the crappy DVR. So I am heading back to Tivoland. I will start with one THD and slowly migrate.[/QUOTE]


I'm told I have to pay an $80.00 fee to roll a truck. How do you get around this?

Thanks

C_K

[webin]

How do you get around this?


Call up and complain to customer service. There's no reason a technician site visit should cost that much. Out of curiosity... that's about what they charge for "installs" that involve moving Ethernet outlets and possibly things related to installing OTNs.

[gomets11]

Just got my TivoHD hooked up. I'm in Tampa, FL. There was a little hitch, but after the tech called the FIOS Helpline installation went smoothly.

Steps to follow:
1) Insert card one
2) Have Tech fully authorize it. I guess on normal installs, they only authorize the card/box for the analog channels and then authorize it again for the digital channels. The key is to have them fully authorize the card even though this isn't normal for them.
3) Make sure you got your channels
4) Insert card two
5) Have Tech fully authorize it.
6) Make sure you get channels on both tuners

Questions my Tech had: What is the POD ID?
I got this picture that solved that problem from another thread:
http://mysite.verizon.net/~fiosdvr/tivo/CableCardSetup.gif

[webin]

Just got my TivoHD set up with FiOS and a pair of cablecards. The installer was here for 90 minutes total. Installing the cablecards went relatively painlessly. The installer forgot to record the serial number of the first card, and had to remove it to check, but it didn't complain when it was reinserted. There is a 30 second delay after card insert before the info window pops up, and my installer was fiddling with the menus trying to find the right screen before it popped up on it's own. After being initialized, the card only produced a grey screen (which can be considered a "no video" condition), and I suggested rebooting the TiVo. After a long boot up wait, the card worked fine, and we moved on to the second card... experiencing no trouble.

In testing channels, we discovered that I didn't get anything over channel 49, and no HD over channel 810.... basically nothing in the "high end" national stuff. A call to the tech center got someone to "deactivate and reactivate" the cards, and the installer explained something about their HD boxes getting that second hit automatically. Whatever the case, both cards were up and running.

We then found macroblocking on channel 803 (CW), but no where else. The installer determined that the cable to the wall, the splitters outside, and the wall junction were all working normally, and decided to swap out my ONT box. He "upgraded me from 806 to 812" (which I assume are model numbers), which essentially meant that my Internet was now connected via coax to the router instead of Ethernet. He explained that the coax (MoCa) has more bandwidth available to work with, so while I won't ever need or use that bandwidth, I won't complain. Doing this ONT upgrade corrected the picture quality issue on channel 803, and I haven't seen any other PQ issues on ANY channel.

So now everything is set up, and I'm a pretty happy camper. The install process was easier than I had expected, and I now have HD, and a dual-tuner tivo (which I've never had). I found myself watching boxing on ESPN for no reason other than it was in HD. :)

[wmcbrine]

He explained that the coax (MoCa) has more bandwidth available to work with, so while I won't ever need or use that bandwidth, I won't complain.Did he also explain that the coax has higher latency? Left that bit out, didn't he?

As for the higher bandwidth, it's specious. In theory, yeah, you could get something like 175 Mbps via MoCA, vs. 100 Mbps via the 100 Mbps Ethernet port on the ONT. Only... a) Verizon doesn't offer any service that fast, and b) they could just make it a GigE port instead, and you'd have 1000 Mbps capability on the Ethernet line -- not possible with MoCA AFAIK.

The point of a MoCA installation is only to save the installers from having to run multiple lines -- one for data, one for video. You should not let them change an existing Ethernet installation to MoCA, and there is no reason for them to do so.

BTW, the ONT swap (and it's ONT, not OTN -- it stands for Optical Network Terminal) was probably a waste; most likely, the only reason it fixed your problem is that the newer ONTs put out a signal that's not as "hot". You could've achieved the same result with an attenuator, which the installer should've known to try. But the Verizon-supplied boxes are more tolerant of "hot" signals than the TiVos, so what the installer's meter labels as "good" sometimes isn't, for TiVo.

[acvthree]

If the Ethernet cable is still there, you can connect it yourself, call Verizon and ask to be previsioned for Ethernet.

If you are not a heavy gamer or just a tweaker (like me), I doubt you will notice a difference.

Al

[webin]

If the Ethernet cable is still there, you can connect it yourself, call Verizon and ask to be previsioned for Ethernet.

If you are not a heavy gamer or just a tweaker (like me), I doubt you will notice a difference.



Hmm... I am a gamer, but my online games are more lag tolerant (I don't play twitchy shooters). I'll take the "wait and see" approach to see how it all settles out. The Ethernet cable is still in place, just not hooked into the box.... could that be re-attached to the current box, or does that mean putting the old box back in place?

And yeah, I know it's ONT.... I can just never manage to get it straight in my brain.

[acvthree]

I don't know that particular ONT, but just open up the user door and look for an RJ45 connection. I believe all of the ONTs are capable of Ethernet.

Is this an outside setup? If the Ethernet cable is just dangling in the weather, I'd go ahead and make the hookup no matter what just to protect the cable.

You will also need to change settings on the ActionTec router. I don't remember the exact changes, but they were pretty obvious when I looked.

Al

[tivo33]

I have had Fios with my S3 for a year now and I love it. However, what I miss on my S3 is the VOD I get on my other Fios Dvr's. I am not familiar with the mcard. I guess this means multistream which would enable VOD????

[Gregor]

I have had Fios with my S3 for a year now and I love it. However, what I miss on my S3 is the VOD I get on my other Fios Dvr's. I am not familiar with the mcard. I guess this means multistream which would enable VOD????

No. Multistream means that only 1 cable card is needed. Unfortunately the only Tivo that can use M cards right now is the HD. S3 still needs 2 cards, whether they be Multistream or Singlestream.

[acvthree]

No. M-card would theoretically allow you to use a single card for multiple tuners.

That seems to work for the HDTivo, but, for now, doesn't for the S3. You would still need two m-cards and they would function as two single stream cards.

VOD would require something completely different.

ac

[tivo33]

Ok, I understand. What does the mcard actually do for me then. I don't care if it is one or two cards. The only benefit is saving $2.99 a month. Is there any hope of VOD with the a Tivo box?????

BTW I spoke to a CSR the other day. I complained about the lack of any new HD channels. He stated that Fios would be adding 200 channels of HD programming this summer. Whether that will happen or not I am not sure.

[Gregor]

Ok, I understand. What does the mcard actually do for me then. I don't care if it is one or two cards. The only benefit is saving $2.99 a month. Is there any hope of VOD with the a Tivo box?????

BTW I spoke to a CSR the other day. I complained about the lack of any new HD channels. He stated that Fios would be adding 200 channels of HD programming this summer. Whether that will happen or not I am not sure.

It just saves you $2.99 a month.

I'm not holding out hope that the current models of Tivo will get VOD.

[wmcbrine]

200 channels of HD by this summer greatly exceeds previous estimates, but they are planning a big expansion in HD this year. (It's in their press releases. Don't listen to CSRs.)

Fios VOD on TiVo could in principle be done with just a software update, but it would require TiVo and Verizon to cooperate on it. I'm not holding my breath for it, either -- although, if it's true that the YouTube feature will entail true streaming support, and do it via HME, then I think that makes a Fios VOD app more likely.

[webin]

From another thread, moved here to keep on topic:

Webin, you say you're "near Portland". Where exactly and how would you rate your overall experience w/Verizon and FIOS? TIA!

I'm out in Hillsboro. I put "near Portland" because I didn't expect anyone to know where Hillsboro is (except those in Lake Oswego, of course).

I went with Verizon for my Internet/Phone provider because when I bought my house in November, the ONT was already installed. I assumed this would make the initial install cheaper, but they still ended up sticking me with the full installation fee because I wanted the ethernet outlet in a different spot (It's presumably free for new installs). When they rolled out TV service in my area, I gave them a few months for the flurry of initial installs to die down before ordering my service.

Now that I have all my services from Verizon (TV/Phone/Internet/Cell), and have the hardware I'm sticking with (CableCards), I'd say that I'm pretty dern happy with the service. I think the TV looks better than anything I've seen, and I'm happy with their lineup and selection of HD channels (which don't cost extra). When I committed to a 2 year agreement, they gave me a free upgrade to 15mbps (download) Internet, which is 2.5x faster than what I had with Comcast (and I've tested to to verify I get that full speed). I've never experienced a service dropout like I had with Comcast. I found all the installers that I've had at my house (3 total, one for each service upgrade I did) to be very knowledgeable and friendly. I actually would have played some Guitar Hero with one of them if he wasn't on the clock.

The customer service and billing side of the experience hasn't been quite as good. I'd rate them even, or a little below what I'd expect from Comcast. Upon signing up, I asked for Double Play (TV wasn't available yet), and it took them about 6-8 weeks to actually get me enrolled. After a couple calls (and one two hour wait on hold), I stumbled on a wonderful CS rep (who happened to be in Seattle instead of Texas) that fixed the billing issues and refunded the extra money I was paying for each service separately. It took the billing department 3 months to get me properly enrolled in One Bill, which combines Cell and Triple Play bills into one statement. Finally, after 4 months now, they still haven't set up the Direct Payment which I asked for in November, and I'm told I should enter that online.

So overall, I'm a pretty happy Verizon customer. As long as you don't have to interact with the customer service department very often, it's an excellent experience. As of right now, I see no reason why I would ever want to go back to Comcast or any other service provider. In the coming years, I really think that the size of the delivery pipe will be the determining factor in the quality of services provided. Verizon just has so much room to work with there's no way Comcast can compete (in number of channels, picture quality, internet speed, etc) unless they upgrade their network to run fiber to the home like Verizon has.

[richsadams]

From another thread, moved here to keep on topic: <snip> Excellent info! Thanks! :up:

[necrotaur]

Hey guys,

Long time lurker, first time poster. I was an avid Tivo fan since my series 2 DTV boxes. I switched to FIOS this past December and finally broke down to buy a TiVoHD. Love the box and have Verizon in to do the CableCard installs today. This is the first one the installer has done, so wish me luck! I'll report back how it goes.

-- Steve

[necrotaur]

Ok,

Tech was here and install was done. Honestly, I think the installs seem to be smoother as long as the field person is willing to call in AND the support people on the other side have been dealing with TiVos more often.

Couple quick notes on the install:

- The tech hung out in his van for a while and called another tech. The "other" guy told him he shouldn't do TiVos because he heard of other guys who did installs and broke them. He suggested that my tech give me the cards and install them myself, including activation. I told him I am more than happy to put the cards in myself, but he gets a direct line to support where I would be on the line for an hour or more and I would like him to activate them. He was willing to do the entire install after that. Overall he was super friendly and was actually the same guy who did my original install.

- There have been reports of multistream cards in the field. This install was still two s-cards. Activation was fine on both cards first time around. I tested both tuners and everything looks ok.

- No line tests were done and no attenuators were installed. I'll check later, but I have my own Radioshack variable attenuator that I used for my OTA signal. I'll use that if I run into the pixelation issues others have reported.


So anyway, I am not a big poster on these boards, but I have found it to be an very valuable reference. I thought I would post my experience, in case it helps others.


Let me know if you guys have any questions that I didn't report on.

-- Steve

[lew]

The Verizon STB uses MoCA. The program information (guide data), VOD and maybe PPV is done via data not video. Log into the router, you can see the IP address assigned to your STB. No need for wireless no need to run a cat 5wire to the box.

The installer uses a splitter, one leg goes to the modem/router and the other leg goes to distribute video. MoCA doesn't save any installation time or material. Is a few feet of coax and a splitter less expensive then a few feet of cat 5? Are you be suggesting Verizon run a Cat 5 cable to each STB? That's a bigger installation issue and I'm not sure if the STB even support ethernet.

MoCA is required if the customer is getting FiOS TV. A customer just getting FiOS for internet might be able to request ethernet. I think Verizon prefers MoCA so they don't have to change it if/when the customer adds video.

edited to add I don't know if you can convince an install to skip MoCA if you're not using any of Verizon's STB. They may want an install that easily allows you, or a future customer at your address, a Verizon STB. It's a shame the tivo S3 doesn't natively support MoCA. It would be nice to worry about running cat 5 or having to use a wireless adapter.



The point of a MoCA installation is only to save the installers from having to run multiple lines -- one for data, one for video. You should not let them change an existing Ethernet installation to MoCA, and there is no reason for them to do so.

[lew]

Fios VOD on TiVo could in principle be done with just a software update, but it would require TiVo and Verizon to cooperate on it. I'm not holding my breath for it, either -- although, if it's true that the YouTube feature will entail true streaming support, and do it via HME, then I think that makes a Fios VOD app more likely.

FiOS is going to go to IPTV instead of the SDV route cable companies are using. It's the same technology as VOD. I'm hoping tivo is working on a solution, othewise I wasted the money I spent on lifetime service.

[ilh]

MoCA doesn't save any installation time or material. Is a few feet of coax and a splitter less expensive then a few feet of cat 5?
Sure it does. They only need to route one cable to the STB location instead of two, and more importantly, in many cases they are likely reusing existing coax already in place.

The interesting thing with respect to TiVo is the TiVo doesn't need any additional hardware to talk to FiOS for VOD, PPV, or potential SDV since it could just use its ethernet port for the IP communication. That is, if FiOS and TiVo could work together to get the software to interoperate.

[wmcbrine]

lew: There's MoCA from the router to the STB, and there's MoCA from the router to the ONT -- two separate issues. MoCA will be used between the router and STB regardless of what's used between the router and the ONT. The connection between the router and the ONT is all I'm talking about.

My own network looks like this:

+---------+
| ONT |
+---------+
| |
|cat5 |coax
| |
| +----------+
| | splitter |
| +----------+
| | |coax
+-----------+ v
| router |
+-----------+
|cat5 |cat5
v v
My FiOS was first installed before they even offered TV, so I just got the cat5 line; later, they added a coax line. In this configuration, data travels from the STB over coax to the router, but from the router over cat5 to the ONT.

What Verizon wants to do now, for new installs, is this:

+---------+
| ONT |
+---------+
|
|coax
|
+----------+
| splitter |
+----------+
| |coax
+-----------+ v
| router |
+-----------+
|cat5 |cat5
v v...which is fine, I guess, if you don't mind the extra latency or the lock-in to the Actiontec router. You will note the savings (to Verizon) consists of one less, probably long, cat5 run -- not that expensive in itself; it's mainly the labor they're saving. But in the case where there's already a cat5 run, then there is no reason, even from Verizon's perspective, to switch the ONT <-> router data traffic over to MoCA. That's what we're talking about here. Probably the only reason it happened was poor training (i.e., "just do them all this way").

[richsadams]

Ok,

Tech was here and install was done. Honestly, I think the installs seem to be smoother as long as the field person is willing to call in AND the support people on the other side have been dealing with TiVos more often.

Hey Steve, welcome to the forum! :up: And thanks for the excellent post. We tend to focus on the horror stories and it's good to know that things can and do go well...probably most of the time...particularly with the new kids on the block (FIOS TV).

I'm getting more excited about them coming out and laying the lines now so I can jump on board. Buh-bye Comcast!

[winter]

MoCA is required if the customer is getting FiOS TV. A customer just getting FiOS for internet might be able to request ethernet. I think Verizon prefers MoCA so they don't have to change it if/when the customer adds video. I have FIOS TV and I don't have MoCA at all in my network - as you noted later you only need MoCA if you use VZ's STBs, I am using TivoHD.

I don't know if you can convince an install to skip MoCA if you're not using any of Verizon's STB. They may want an install that easily allows you, or a future customer at your address, a Verizon STB. It is definitely possible - in my case the ethernet cable from the ONT to the inside already existed so there was no extra work required for them to enable it (e.g. they didn't have to run an extra cable). Just FYI.

[aaronwt]

When I signed up for FIOS lat Summer that is what I told them I wanted. An Ethernet connection. They wrote down on the work order to bring a specific model ONT that had Ethernet capability. Otherwise they would have brought a different model which was only capable of MoCA. And I've tried the Ethernet connection with the Actiontec and my Dlink router. The Dlink router beats teh Actiontec hands down. The Actiontec might work well with a few devices, but I have 3 dozen devices connected on my Network and with the Actiontec things were't as fast as they should be. Using my Dlink, all my connections are very fast and have no bandwidth problems like with the Actiontec.

[ilh]

Bandwidth between your devices or bandwidth to the Internet?

[dforemsky]

Has anybody had any luck with having Verizon just send you the cable cards and install them yourself? It seems kind of silly to pay the truck roll fee just to install the cards. The instructions seem pretty straightforward to follow and I'd rather just make a phone call or two rather than waiting around for a tech and paying the extra fee.

[aaronwt]

Bandwidth between your devices or bandwidth to the Internet?

To the Internet. the Actiontec didn't do a good job of prioritizing the bandwidth like my Dlink router does.

[Flyinace2000]

I read through most of this thread, but was wonding if VZFIOS was sending out M cards yet? I am thinking about getting one or two TivoHD's and would rather only to have to pay for one cable card and not 2 per tivo.

[necrotaur]

I had my cablecards installed about a week and a half ago, and they were still s-cards.

-- Steve

[Flyinace2000]

That's disappointing.

[Flyinace2000]

I also lucked out and got the ethernet and coax run from my ONT to my "server room" (aka laundry room depending on who you ask in my house). Though, i had FIOS internet installed nearly a year ago and video service just 2 weeks ago.

[dpark]

I had my cablecards installed about a week and a half ago, and they were still s-cards.

-- Steve

My install was 5 days ago and they were S-cards as well.

[Flyinace2000]

I just called FIOS and they confirmed that they only have S-Cards for now and they are not self install. Its gonna cost a $80 to have a tech come out. BOOO

[richsadams]

I just called FIOS and they confirmed that they only have S-Cards for now and they are not self install. Its gonna cost a $80 to have a tech come out. BOOODid you already have FIOS...adding a TiVo to the mix or are they charging you an $80 install fee as a new customer? :eek:

[Flyinace2000]

I just had FIOS TV installed 2 weeks ago and am swapping out the HD DVR and a HD STB with 4 cable cards. Not thrilled about the $80

-Will

[TheBar1]

I just had FIOS TV installed 2 weeks ago and am swapping out the HD DVR and a HD STB with 4 cable cards. Not thrilled about the $80

-Will

Will - I don't think the truck roll should cost you that much. They may be charging you to remove your FiOS DVR, in which case you might be better off returning it to a local office. The truck roll to install your CableCards should not be costing you more than 20-25 bucks...

[Flyinace2000]

Can anyone confirm this cost?

Really? I will call them. Their local office is is only 15 or 20 minutes from my house and only 5 minutes from work.

Thanks!

-Wil

[Scyber]

Will - I don't think the truck roll should cost you that much. They may be charging you to remove your FiOS DVR, in which case you might be better off returning it to a local office. The truck roll to install your CableCards should not be costing you more than 20-25 bucks...


I think fios increased the costs of the truck roles after the new year. To $79.99 IIRC.

[Flyinace2000]

Either way, i am calling right now to see what they say.

[Flyinace2000]

$80 is what it costs. Booooo

[Flyinace2000]

Can i just buy the card's on ebay? I found a guy seling SA PKM800 for about $30?

[Gregor]

Can i just buy the card's on ebay? I found a guy seling SA PKM800 for about $30?\

Probably not. From what I've read here, no cable company will activate a card you own.

[ilh]

...and Verizon uses Motorola CableCARDs.

[Flyinace2000]

I guess thats the price i pay for not getting cable cards when i originally signed up.

[webin]

I paid for three service calls before I settled on my current TivoHD/CableCard setup:
1) Initial install, which included moving an ethernet cable and hooking up a router, but no TV
2) Install TV service once it became available, which included running coax through the side of my house to get to the router, adding a set top box, and taking out the ethernet cable from the first install.
3) Install cable cards and remove the set-top box.

This was all within the span of 3 months. It pays to get everything done right the first time, but it's not terrible to do it bit by bit.

[Flyinace2000]

At least i got my first install free

[aaronwt]

...and Verizon uses Motorola CableCARDs.


So does Comcast here. All my boxes( on Comcast and FIOS) have motorola single stream cards.

[joshablett]

Hi - apologies if this is a dup question, but I couldn't find it via search or browsing.

The only thing keeping me from signing up for FIOS is that their reps tell me that while they can install two CableCards in my Series 3 Tivo, neither of the CableCards will be able to get HD content. I'm in the Rhode Island area, so not sure if that varies regionally.

Has anyone else had that experience? Or, more importantly, is anyone getting HD content on their Series 3 over both CableCards?

Thanks in advance -- Josh

[ilh]

Yes, you can get HD with the S3 and THD. The reps are, as usual, clueless.

[TheBar1]

I think fios increased the costs of the truck roles after the new year. To $79.99 IIRC.

It's possible the prices have gone up, but I had 2 CCs installed on my new TiVo HD on 2/11. I was billed $14.50 for that service call. I was not billed for the subsequent service call later that week to swap out one of the CCs that was not working properly.

The FiOS HD DVR pick-up fee is something like $40, so surrendering it to a local office should save you some $$$. Just make sure you call FiOS Customer Service to get an Equipment Return authorization code (also called the Pick-Up Work Order #). You'll need to provide that when you fill out the paperwork at the local office. In NJ, I was able to get an authorization code by calling 908-717-5402.

One last tip - Don't forget to review your bill carefully after you return your FiOS DVR. If you're like me, FiOS is billing you a month in advance for the DVR Rental fee (common industry practice), which means that it should not only drop-off as a line item on your next bill, but that you should also get a credit based on the day of the billing month you returned the equipment. FIOS Billing being so reliable (NOT!), of course I had issues with not getting charged/credited properly for this, but a call to the number above helped me straighten that out - at least until I get next month's bill :rolleyes:

Good luck!

[richsadams]

Hi - apologies if this is a dup question, but I couldn't find it via search or browsing.

The only thing keeping me from signing up for FIOS is that their reps tell me that while they can install two CableCards in my Series 3 Tivo, neither of the CableCards will be able to get HD content. I'm in the Rhode Island area, so not sure if that varies regionally.

Has anyone else had that experience? Or, more importantly, is anyone getting HD content on their Series 3 over both CableCards?

Thanks in advance -- JoshWelcome to the forum. :up:

As ilh says, you should have no problems getting any/all channels you'd like including anything broadcast in HD. Just make sure that one of those reps isn't also an installer! :eek: ;)

[Flyinace2000]

I called the regular 800 umber and they specifically said that i would not save any money by bringing the boxes back myself. I will try calling that 908 number in the morning.

[holee]

The cable card installer should be able to pick up an deactivate the Verizon set boxes. Mine did. He even left me the remote.

[Flyinace2000]

I know he is able to do this, but i don't need to pay him $40 to do so when i work minutes from their offices. Point is to try and avoid the $80 fee for him to place cards in my Tivo.

[rocko]

I know he is able to do this, but i don't need to pay him $40 to do so when i work minutes from their offices. Point is to try and avoid the $80 fee for him to place cards in my Tivo.

No getting around that. Even if you had the cards and popped them in yourself the tech still needs to authorize them. Have him return the box while he's there and save that fee at least.

[Flyinace2000]

Well the TiVos will be delivered on thrusday but CC install won't be until the 28th.

[TheBar1]

I know he is able to do this, but i don't need to pay him $40 to do so when i work minutes from their offices. Point is to try and avoid the $80 fee for him to place cards in my Tivo.

Will - You might want to reschedule your appointment as just the install of your two new CableCards in the TiVo. This is what I did, which resulted in the $14.50 truck roll mentioned in my earlier post. Once My TiVo was running without any problems for a few days, I packed-up my FiOS HD DVR and returned it to my Verizon local office. I ended up paying for a few extra days rental on the FiOS DVR, but this may have eliminated all of the potential headaches I could have had with a Verzon CSR that might have over-charged me for the truck-roll. Just make sure they don't smack you with an "extra outlet" install fee.

If you're not in NJ, the 908 phone number I posted earlier may not work. I found out about the number because it was posted next to the phone in my FiOS Local Office (Denville, NJ). I showed up there with my FiOS HD DVR, and was told to call that number and get the return authorization code from the CSR before coming back up to the counter to fill out the paperwork. Annoying, but worth saving the money. Maybe you could do the same thing (play dumb and not call for an auth number until you walk into your FiOS office).

Again, good luck.

[Flyinace2000]

When did you have yours installed?

[TheBar1]

When did you have yours installed?

I had the CableCards installed in a new TiVo HD on 2/11/08. I turned in my FiOS HD DVR on 2/29/08.

[Flyinace2000]

Thanks. I will call them.

just curious, what part of NJ you from. I am in Oakland.

[Scyber]

I had the CableCards installed in a new TiVo HD on 2/11/08. I turned in my FiOS HD DVR on 2/29/08.

Sorry, My original post was wrong. The original plan was to increase rates at the new year, I believe it was pushed back to mid-february/early March. I think this was to coincide with the SD DVR release. I believe This is also when they increased the Cablecard rate to 3.99.

The new rate for non-repair/non-new-install for truck rolls is $80. You might be able to convince a CSR to get a cheaper rate, but $80 is the standard rate.

There was a post on dslreports.com detailing the new rates. I'll post a link later tonight when I have a faster connection for searching.

[Flyinace2000]

Thanks!

[TheBar1]

Thanks. I will call them.

just curious, what part of NJ you from. I am in Oakland.

I'm in Parsippany now, but I lived in Oakland a long time ago. Small world. :)

[TheBar1]

There was a post on dslreports.com detailing the new rates. I'll post a link later tonight when I have a faster connection for searching.

I did some digging on the DSLReports FiOS Forums and here's the thread I found:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19602630-Fees-for-service-visit-swapping-STBs

Sounds like you may be out of luck, Will. Sorry...

[monsterbucket]

I'm on the phone with Verizon right now to switch out my HD DVR box for a pair of cable cards to use on my HD Tivo which is being shipped to me as I type.

There won't be a tech visit required says the phone dude - he is mailing me the pair of cable cards and I will do a self-install. Beyond that he is mailing me a recovery kit (read: empty box) for me to mail back the HD DVR.

If someone is planning to do the same thing as me (replace their HD DVR with a pair of cable cards) request that it be a self-install and save yourself the tech visit fee.

----EDIT----

So I thought it sounded too good to be true. Phone dude came back and said this would require a tech visit. Will cost me 24.99 for the visit, but the dude will take the HD DVR with him. UBER LAME!!!!

[TheBar1]

I'm on the phone with Verizon right now to switch out my HD DVR box for a pair of cable cards to use on my HD Tivo which is being shipped to me as I type.

There won't be a tech visit required says the phone dude - he is mailing me the pair of cable cards and I will do a self-install. Beyond that he is mailing me a recovery kit (read: empty box) for me to mail back the HD DVR.

If someone is planning to do the same thing as me (replace their HD DVR with a pair of cable cards) request that it be a self-install and save yourself the tech visit fee.

If this self-install goes through as described, monsterbucket, you'll be the first person I've heard this working for. FiOS CSRs have been notorious for offering a self-install option, only to backtrack days later after they learn it's not feasible. Please let us know if you actually receive the CableCards in the mail, as promised.

[monsterbucket]

Sorry about the misleading glimmer of hope in my first post... at least the phone dude came back during the call and scheduled the appointment for me rather than leaving me to believe I was going to get the cablecards in the mail.

Install is scheduled for next Thursday - I am hoping I have the Tivo in hand by then ;-)

I'll post again once the install is complete. Hopefully it will be as smooth as my initial install was.

[cre8tor]

Just ordered my CCs today, no mention of a truck roll or install appt. CS rep said they should be here in a few working days. $3.99 each

Pics will be provided if they actually show up.

[Flyinace2000]

Where are you located.....why were you only charge $25 and i was charged 80?

[Cgrisamore]

Where are you located.....why were you only charge $25 and i was charged 80?

Been a FIOS user now for over a year and in February finally got a HD TV and decided to retire my Series 2 Tivo for a Tivo HD. Verizon came out and did my cablecard install for free! They told me that $25 was the regular price for a technician to come out but they waived the fee as I had also requested a high definition STB (for a separate TV) and they were experiencing a nationwide shortage. My reply to this was "Hmm..guess I better call DirecTV". In addition to the totally free cablecard install, they sent me a $25 Visa gift card and gave me a $10 per month credit for the next 6 months.

No I am NOT making this up.

[monsterbucket]

Where are you located.....why were you only charge $25 and i was charged 80?

I'm located in MA, just north of Boston. Not sure why you're getting charged $80, but all I can advise is that you call up and get it either reduced or waved...

[ilh]

Anyone in the Boston FiOS area have luck with dropping of STBs without having to pay for a truck roll? I want to get rid of their HD DVR and a basic SD box, but definitely don't want to pay $80 to do it.

[Flyinace2000]

Check out this leaked Verizon docment found at the Consumerist.com
http://consumerist.com/assets/resources/2008/04/njmarketing1.jpg

Truck rolls now cost 79.99 for STB installs.

Full Article (http://consumerist.com/372921/leaks-insider-says-verizon-isnt-fulfilling-advertised-discounts-for-tens-of-thousands)

[richsadams]

Check out this leaked Verizon docment found at the Consumerist.com

Truck rolls now cost 79.99 for STB installs.Amazing...but sadly not surprising. :(

[TheBar1]

Check out this leaked Verizon docment found at the Consumerist.com

Truck rolls now cost 79.99 for STB installs.



It's cut-off, but there seems to be some language in that same bullet to suggest that self-installation may be an option to help avoid the truck roll fee. Very interesting!

[Flyinace2000]

4 CableCards installed! At first they were not locking onto any channels, but after a reboot both cards worked perfectly. The bad news was that this was the first TiVoHD (cable card) install, but he was told to do the cards ONE at a time.

[siersema]

At least i got my first install free

The cost to roll a truck may have a $80 fee. But if I follow your thread correctly you are still inside the 30 day window of customer satisfaction. Tell them that they can install the cards to keep you or you can ask them to remove everything and restore you to the previous carrier. They may rethink their motivation and want to retain customers - customer retention is high on all vendors' lists.

[Flyinace2000]

I think i am gonna ask for a credit since i had to do most of the install my self. The tech never did a cable card install before and i had to do most of the work. Or i might just send Verizon an invoice for the 1 hour professional development i gave to one of their techs.

[webin]

Or i might just send Verizon an invoice for the 1 hour professional development i gave to one of their techs.

That's hilarious... the thought of billing them for training. I was lucky in that my CC installer had "done a few tivos" before, and was able to do mine without any trouble. He actually knew how to switch the active tuner before I did (I was new to dual-tuners).

[cre8tor]

Well,

We are all set up with our CCs now. The story goes as follows - spoke with two CS reps who said repeatedly that the CCs would be sent via mail and that we would recieve them in a couple of days.

Two days go by and we receive the automated phone call about an installer appointment, we say what the hell just have the installer handle it. Installer arrives and clearly states that it's only $25.00 to do the install of which I question several times and ask "isn't it $80 for a truck roll" and he says nope it's only a $25 charge for the CC install

He's unable to complete the install because we had yet to set up our Tivo account (my fault) but he offers to leave the cards and tells us that we can activate them.

I activated the cards with one small problem - the second card had to be activated twice, no big deal all is well now.

Now we just wait and see what shows up on the bill. :) - BTW we never received the CCs in the mail

[richsadams]

Well,

We are all set up with our CCs now. The story goes as follows - spoke with two CS reps who said repeatedly that the CCs would be sent via mail and that we would recieve them in a couple of days.

Two days go by and we receive the automated phone call about an installer appointment, we say what the hell just have the installer handle it. Installer arrives and clearly states that it's only $25.00 to do the install of which I question several times and ask "isn't it $80 for a truck roll" and he says nope it's only a $25 charge for the CC install

He's unable to complete the install because we had yet to set up our Tivo account (my fault) but he offers to leave the cards and tells us that we can activate them.

I activated the cards with one small problem - the second card had to be activated twice, no big deal all is well now.

Now we just wait and see what shows up on the bill. :) - BTW we never received the CCs in the mailThanks for the post...at least there's hope. :up:

[JacksTiVo]

Amazing...but sadly not surprising. :(I am having Verizon FiOS installed next week. I had ordered two CableCards for my S3 and one digital converter box for my S2. I later realized that I needed an additional digital converter box (DCB) for another TV and called them back. A very knowledgeable CSR told me not to modify my order since it will change the install date and that she would check on the order status two days after the install date. If completed she would then have a DCB mailed to me for a "self-install".

If this works, then I would suggest that when ordering an additional CC, STB or DCB that you indicate that you want to do a "self-install" to avoid a "truck roll". Who knows it may save you the cost of a truck roll.

I may be wrong, but it seems to me that Verizon FiOS is working very hard to avoid getting a reputation that the cable companies have with respect to poor customer service. I am old enough to remember the good old days before the divestiture of AT&T, when a knowledgeable telephone company installer would arrive on schedule to fix or install telephone service at "no charge" to you. (Of course, you paid for it by other means since telephone service was expensive with long distance calls costing upwards of $1.00 per minute to to call the West Coast.)

In any event, I hoping I will have a pleasant experience with Verizon FiOs service.

[holee]

I've found that Verizon FiOS CS can be touch and go, but it's more due to their system than the people.

Everyone I've talked to genuinely cares and tries their best. But there is so much bureaucracy and miscommunication internally that mistakes get made - a lot. I've found it helps to get one or two people as your "sponsors" whenever something goes wrong.

When it gets fixed, it gets done right, but sometimes it takes a while.

[johncoyne]

I just switched from Direct TV to FIOS this past week hooking up two HD Tivo units. Everything is working great (except for that freezing problem that has occured that a lot of people have already posted about!)
John, NY:rolleyes:

[Primate]

I had FIOS installed Monday, I had ordered on the internet and didn't see anywhere to order cable cards for my Tivo HD.
When the installers got here I asked them if they happened to have any cable cards with them. They said they didn't but would check if another tech nearby had them. A little later one of them left and came back with the cards.
He said he hadn't done a TIVO install in several months but was able to reach someone on the phone to walk him through it.
The entire install including the cabling and ONT installation went great. I have no complaint about them.
The only problem I see is the installers said the fiber crew ran my fiber from the wrong node and they'll have to come back and rerun it.

[marioc21]

I just signed up for FIOS TV on Monday. I didn't see the option for cablecards either. I started a chat session with one of the online agents and they told me to put my order in and then call Verizon customer service once I had my order number. I did that and the next day I called and made the change to my order. I put two cable cards into the order since the Verizon rep told me they don't offer the multistream cards.

[monsterbucket]

Verizon is at my house right now installing the cable cards to replace my HD DVR.

I am a tad worried as my wife just called and I talked to the tech - sounds like he hasn't done this before.

First he said he would install only one cable card to which I told him I had ordered two so as to take advantage of the dual tuner Tivo.

then he asked if one cable card went into the tivo and the other went into my tv. I let him know that both go in the Tivo.

Is it that rare for someone to swap out their HD STB from Verizon for a Tivo with cable cards? After reading through this thread it sounds like there are very few technicians who have done this sort of thing before...

[richsadams]

Is it that rare for someone to swap out their HD STB from Verizon for a Tivo with cable cards? After reading through this thread it sounds like there are very few technicians who have done this sort of thing before...I'd say it's much more common for well-established cableco tech's to have swapped out generic DVR's for TiVo than for Verizon tech's only because Verizon hasn't been in the television signal delivery business very long. That said, the last Comcast tech that installed our cable cards admitted that he had only done it twice before. I've no idea how long he'd been contracting for Comcast, but I suspect that they have a revolving door problem based on various posts here and elsewhere. On the positive side he did get it right for the most part.

Now we're going to switch to FIOS so I'm a bit apprehensive as well. :o

[hmm52]

Hey Rich

I don't know how soon your FiOS installation is but I wouldn't sweat it, except for one thing. I assume it's a new territory with many green trainees, as in my case. The first tech(s) to show up might not have a clue about cablecards or TiVos but a supervisor will soon arrive who knows them inside & out. So not to worry about this as long as you've got the day. My install went from 8:00AM-8:30PM since they replaced every last piece of quad shield I had installed (too thick for their terminals) and because of card authorization difficulties. My wife wasn't real pleased to come home to 4 techs in the living room; me & the Big Boss in the bedroom trying to fire up the 4th card, cats hiding under the comforter on bed. Can't say they weren't thorough.

The green people to be wary about are the ones you won't see - at the service depot and in billing. My cards were not registered properly at the depot before they went out on the truck. Much time was consumed trying to authorize them. The Big Boss eventually was able to force all 4 through with many angry phone calls. A mistake. I don't want to think about the hours I wasted last year trying in vain each month to get the billing corrected. Eventually it came to a head in December, as I knew it would, when FSC said they couldn't setup a service call because of equipment discrepancies in their system. An inventory with FiOS tech had to be done, all cards pulled, and callbacks made to two different departments to make 1 step forward. Once an incorrect entry gets into Verizon's SYSTEM, nothing short of a nuclear weapon will dislodge it. Known issue. After all this, they still billed me incorrectly for an additional outlet, swapped out for phantom STB. As 1 time $20 charge, pointless to call. The moral of the story is to check the work order carefully. If there's anything wrong with it, I'd postpone the install. Less aggravation in the long run even if the cost consequence is not much.

[richsadams]

Thanks for the positive words hmm52...I think. ;) It does seem that there are more complaints about billing and customer service than about the Verizon techs.

They just finished installing the lines in our neighborhood (the streets and driveways are still covered with spray paint graffiti! :mad: ) but haven't sent out their offers yet. They did the same in my brother-in-law's area across town and things seem to be going well there so hopefully the local FIOS Folks have some experience under their belts by now.

Not sure when it will happen (our install), but I keep reading everyone's posts here with great interest. Thanks to all for the valuable feedback! :up:

[monsterbucket]

Even though the tech who came initially yesterday had to call for backup the install was completed in under 4 hours.

The first guy had never done a cable card install, but neither had the second guy. My wife said they were both very friendly, but said she was shocked when the techs had to call the regular service number (same as you or I) to get anywhere.

the signal looks great and both cards are working flawlessly now.

I guess I got lucky on the install, now I gotta wait to see how they handle the bill :)

[ah30k]

After getting my letter saying FiOS in my area was going all digital and I could get free digital adapters I called and ordered two adapters. Simple phone call and they are mailing them! I am guessing at this point that they are DCT700s but am not sure. With this switch from regular STBs, I can save 2x$4.99 each month. The only down-side to replacing my SD-STBs with the digital adapter is that I will likely have to move from serial cable control to IR-blaster control.

Perhaps the wrong forum since it is not S3 specific, but... WWYD?

[hmm52]

To be fair, the Verizon billing personnel were always pleasant and tried their best to straighten things out - definitely not always the case with Comcast. And they were able to waive & credit back one time charges. It was the incorrect recurring ones that they were powerless to change in the SYSTEM. It isn't only VZ. It's gotten to the point where I loathe giving up my credit card for recurring charges as it's often worth your life to cancel.

[Jamisohn]

After getting my letter saying FiOS in my area was going all digital and I could get free digital adapters I called and ordered two adapters. Simple phone call and they are mailing them! I am guessing at this point that they are DCT700s but am not sure.
I also called Verizon to get the free digital adapters. They arrived 3 days later, and they are the DCT700s.

[ilh]

I just received my free DCT700. I'm not sure it works though as I couldn't get any picture out of it over composite (didn't check RF out). I'll look into it more this evening.

BTW, when we called to request it, we also requested to return an HD STB and an SD STB. The DCT700 arrived with two RMA numbers and UPS shipping labels. Since I don't have the STB boxes, it says I can take them to a UPS Store where they will package them for free. The net result is it appears I can return the two STBs for free without a truck roll. Yea.

[webin]

I had cable cards installed about 6 weeks ago... I just reviewed my Verizon bill for that time frame and discovered I was not charged the "truck roll" fee for the site visit. :)

[hmm52]

Me neither. But was charged $20 twice for additional outlets. Once phantom. Once legit. Never have been charged for any visit back to 11/06.

[ira_l]

Me neither. But was charged $20 twice for additional outlets. Once phantom. Once legit. Never have been charged for any visit back to 11/06.

I was charged $39 in three equal installments for one additional outlet. What does this mean?

[hmm52]

How many guesses do I have? One of my add. outlet $20 charges was billed in 3 installments, the other not. Initial service order seemed really screwy so I asked for confirmation e-mail of exact numbers. I used this later to negotiate bills which didn't of course match. Best bet for you is to tell them you were misinformed of charges upfront.

First try: Verizon's billing department is very creative.

[Flyinace2000]

My first bill was all messed up. But the rep i spoke to was very helpful and credited the amounts needed. There were two charges that were being billed in 3 installments, he couldn't stop them from being charged, so he credited the entire amount up front. Lets see what happens when bill number 2 comes out.

[aaronwt]

I was charged $39 in three equal installments for one additional outlet. What does this mean?

It means they tried to screw you like everyone else. They tried that crap with me after I was told upfront the prices and had a page the sales rep wrote the prices on for me. I got them to credit my account with all that crap they charged me for that they weren't supposed to.

I still have to get them to credit me $10 every month for getting their cellphone service. The only reason I switched to Verizon was because they told me I could get $10 off every month for as long as I had the other 3 services with the cell service. But of course they don't have that in their computer system to automatically deduct it. So they have to manually credit my account every two or three months which is really becoming a PITA.

[David Platt]

I've been a FiOS TV customer since December, and this month's bill was the first one that was the amount it should have been. I have never seen such a byzantine billing system; since I was previously a FiOS internet customer, the internet department was billing the tv department for my monthly service, and there were always random charges or credits on there that neither department could explain-- last month, for example, my bill for TV and internet was $342, and nobody could explain why.

After months of complaining and being promised credits that never showed up, I *finally* got them to combine the two separate accounts into one and give me one large credit that covered everything I felt I was owed. If the FiOS TV and internet wasn't far and away the best option from a product standpoint, I would have dropped them long ago simply because their customer service is so bad.

[JediTim]

Tomorrow is my big day for a conversion from my DirecTV TiVo's to Verizon FiOS with two TiVo HD Units with Lifetime subscription. I previously posted this under a new thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=392421) but thought I should make comments here as well.

I have terminated all my connections to the units with one remaining currently as a SD TV with S-Video inputs and the other into a new LG LVD TV with a HDMI input. I have enusred the software versions were updated from the 8.1 from the boxes I received to the current 9.3a.

I am really hoping that the install tomorrow goes relatively smooth...I already have the ONT installed from the Phone & Internet connection so this should be a little quicker. My two concerns are hoping that the installer has previously dealt with CableCARDs / Tivo and the potential problems with the 9.3a software. However, in reading the posts on the 9.3a I am unsure how widespread the problem is...it doesn't appear as though everyone is having the problem.

Tim

[Jamisohn]

I will be having Verizon install CableCARDS into my new Tivo HD on Friday. The CS rep said that she would have the cards mailed to me, or that I could pick them up. From what I have read on this forum, I knew that is NOT the case, so I asked her to check with someone else if a tech install was needed. (I thank everyone here for all the invaluable info!) As expected, she came back and said that it was, and that the customer is not permitted to do their own install. So, I am hoping that the install goes well!

[JacksTiVo]

My install is scheduled for Wednesday and I will post my experiences. I have underground utility service so they are due here today or tomorrow to install the fiber cable under my lawn. There are so many utility identification flags on my lawn to avoid digging up my gas, electric, cable, telephone and water lines that it looks like a used car lot.

[richsadams]

My install is scheduled for Wednesday and I will post my experiences. I have underground utility service so they are due here today or tomorrow to install the fiber cable under my lawn. There are so many utility identification flags on my lawn to avoid digging up my gas, electric, cable, telephone and water lines that it looks like a used car lot.I think we should be in the little orange flag and spray paint business...we could retire in a week based on what's in our neighborhood! ;)

Thanks to all for posting your experiences. We're still waiting for Verizon to finish up here. I'm more apprehensive about getting the billing right from the get-go than the technical side of things now. It'll be good to hear how the installs go for everyone. :up:

BTW, Comcast has gone on a major marketing campaign here boasting about how they have fiber optics, yadda, yadda. Yeah, maybe in their systems, but the stuff that's running around the streets here has been rotting away for decades in some cases. If they actually had FIOS I might consider staying on...just can't wait for that "big pipe" now. :)

[hmm52]

The same heard from Philadelphia Comcast. And the yield from a storm drain size pipe feeding a garden hose is what exactly???

At this point you know to setup an 1.5" hanging folder in file cabinet for VZ correspondence/notes/bills/offers. Done that yet?

[richsadams]

A special Verizon folder? Good idea! Of course that's the wife's domain. ;) We have Verizon cell phones, so she may be able to expand that one. The cell phone folks have been pretty good about billing, etc. Hopefully that will hold true with FIOS. :rolleyes:

[ah30k]

We have Verizon cell phones, so she may be able to expand that one. The cell phone folks have been pretty good about billing, etc. Hopefully that will hold true with FIOS. :rolleyes:I think I got a one-time credit (maybe $25 or so) for switching to combined billing.

[richsadams]

I think I got a one-time credit (maybe $25 or so) for switching to combined billing.Cool. :up: Always worth a try!

[hmm52]

Extra brownie points to your wife if she makes the billing error calls as well as filing chores. Cellular is by far the largest contributor to VZ's revenue stream. The goose that lays the golden eggs in that realm?... SMS messaging.Go figure.

Spoken as a stockholder - Come on kids, your buddies haven't heard from you in over 10 minutes. Being in class is no excuse. We're not Ma Bell anymore.

[richsadams]

Ha! If only. No, I'm the bad guy when it comes to making calls about errors on our billing, car repairs, home improvements, etc., etc. But I'll take that over filing and accounting any day! :)

[JediTim]

Posted in another thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=6253064#post6253064)but wanted to keep it here as well
Well the install is already completed...here is a summary.

The FiOS installer (Nick) arrived around 9:05AM for an afternoon appointment...I was still at work when my wife called me.:eek: He said that he had a repair job he could go to first...I was able to come home before he arrived.

He came back at 10:20 and stated he had never done a CableCARD install previously...this was his first but he spoke with some other people and could call someone if he needed help. I explained to him that I knew from reading the forums how to get through the install and he was pleased.

He first went to the ONT that had been previously installed for the internet / phone and connected it along with a new ground wire. He then went checked where the line came into my home...determined that the original installer had utilized a splitter in my basement with the with the -3Db line going into the router. The -7Db line then went into another splitter in a Leviton Structured Media Center where I had installed a 1x4 2 GHz Passive Video splitter. He wasn't sure if he would need to switch the lines for the video distribution but decided to check the lines first to see what the signal was at the end of the run. He checked each line and determined that the strength of the signal was within the range required for each of my lines.:)

His first install was for their set top box which installed in less than five minutes. he then went to my LG HD LCD TV...I gave him the instructions for the CableCARD installer...he didn't realize that he needed to install one card at a time...he installed the first card and followed the on screen instructions...the fault 161-4 appeared and I let him know that this is normal and should only occur once per car...within three minutes the CableCARD screen appeared and he needed to contact his office...the first card was activated within five minutes and the second card was completed after about thirty minutes. He was then off to the other TV in the family room...I re-ran the guided setup while he was on the second TV.

The second TV, currently a Sony tube TV, took about the same amount of time...he appeared to be a little more at ease and stayed on the line with the home office throughout the activation process. After he completed this I re-ran the guided setup on this HD unit as well.

Observations
I must say the process went a lot smoother than I expected since he had no experience. He has worked for Verizon since he graduated High School and is there for twenty years...he said that they were initially very busy at the beginning installing FiOS w9ith the free TV offer...he doesn't believe they expected the overwhelming response early on...this is why not everyone had received their TV. He also indicated that they were circulating around the "garage" the new HD channels and other channels that would be available by what he believed would be mid to late July...he also said that the entire network would be digital before the end of the year.

The whole process took about two hours for two TiVo HD units and a Verizon set top box. I am currently running version 9.3a and in this short time (1.5 hours) have not had any issues with the software: cool: This installation was a replacement for me from DirecTV; I didn't want Cablevision and live in Plainview, New York (Long Island).

As a side note...I have been using FiOS Internet for four months and have experienced on average 45Mbs upload / 4.5Mbs download for a 20/5 service...even though I am not getting a great upload speed I can live with considering the excellent download speeds I have experienced.

Tim

[richsadams]

Tim - thanks very much for the detailed write-up. It gives me a greater comfort level that they'll get it right when they tackle our system (which is much like yours). Enjoy! :up:

[JacksTiVo]

So far my experience with Verizon Fios has been impressive in that they are working very hard to avoid getting a reputation that the cable companies have developed, i.e. missed appointments and arriving late ("waiting for the cable guy").

Their contractor arrived promptly at 8Am this morning to install the fiber underground from the service box to the side of my house. They buried 100 feet of fiber cable in less than 1/2 hour. In the meantime, I have received reminder emails to expect them tomorrow and at 4PM today a real person called to state that the tech would arrive between 9 & 10 AM for the 8 to 12PM appointment window they gave me.

More to follow tomorrow after the installation.

[aaronwt]

Just wait until the lines start getting cut. I've had my FIOS line cut by the Comcast contractor 3 times. And the FIOS contractor has cut the Comcast line 3 times.
If FIOS would just bury the fiber going to the units in my area in conduit it would save them some money. I'm dreading when Comcast comes back to bury the next line. FIOS cut it back in November and a temporary line has been there for 6 months now.
I know for sure two cuts were done on purpose, and who knows maybe all of them. There is definitely something going on when Miss Utility marks where the cables are yet the contractor still digs there when they don't need to.

The next time it happens I'm going to try to make sure the contractor gets in some serious trouble for purposely ignoring the markings, because this is just ridiculous.

[JacksTiVo]

As promised here is a summary of how my install went yesterday.

Tech called to let me know he was on his way and arrived about 9AM. (He reminds me of the telephone company installers who used to provide in home service prior to the break-up of the former AT&T in the early 1980's, i.e professional, friendly, etc.)

We spotted a location for the ONT in my garage and he informed me that the cat. 5e wiring I had installed per the Verizon Web site was no longer needed since they have combined the router with the modem. That means you will have to discard your wireless router for theirs.
He had the hardware and fiber optic cable connected into the services boxes in about 2 hours and he told me that he had to drive about 1/2 mi. away to make a pole top connection to energize my fiber since I was the first on my block. Of course his bucket truck wouldn't start and he had to wait for a tow back to the garage to get another truck. That wasted almost 2 hours between waiting for the tow truck, him having lunch and returning. (BTW, the 2nd truck's bucket would not work so he climbed a ladder to make the pole connection. He violated some Verizon safety rules using a ladder, but he wanted to get the install done.)

I ordered all three services so the first thing he did was transfer my telephone over to Verizon. It was effortless.

The connection of the modem router was somewhat troublesome in that my old router was set with an IP address of 192.168.2.1 while Verizon's uses 192.168.1.1 and all of my Tivo's and PC's and network storage units had static IP addresses. I spent a good deal of time changing over to the new IP address format, but the FiOS router works very well in assigning IP addresses via DHCP. Both my S2 using ethernet and S3 using wireless had absolutely no difficulty in connecting to the Internet via FiOS. BTW, the wireless router default is WEP 64 bit, but I changed it today to 128 bit security.

For TV he first installed the DCT700 on the S2. I went through guided setup and it worked flawless with the S2. You tune the DCT700 with the IR blaster which I had not used in several years.

Finally we tackle the CableCards on the S3. My first problem was that the eject button for card 2 did not work, so I used a needle nose pliers to eject it. The S3 did its thing in recognizing the new card and the tech used his laptop to enter the information to pair it. He must have entered a wrong number since after about 1/2 hour of waiting, I suggested he call-in to pair it. The person on the other end knew what she was doing because she had it up and running in 5 minutes. I told the tech to keep her on the phone to pair the 2nd card and that took another 5 minutes. The S3 is working like a charm.
Note, the Motorola CableCards did not need any firmware updates as compared to my experience with SA cards.

Because of the truck breakdown he left my house at about 6PM, a long, but successful day.

Now the unhappy experience, I called Cablevision to cancel my services. It was a very unpleasant experience since the CS representative kept asking why I was leaving, bad mouth FiOS, offering free basic TV service for one month and not listening to my only reason for leaving. That is, they are switching to SDV and are thus discriminating against CableCard and TiVo users.

I repeated to him the conversation I had with a representative of Cablevision who had called me after I complained about the SDV move. She stated that SDV is a business decision Cablevision has decided to implement and I had then told her that I would then make my own "business" decision to consider FiOS.

The bad part of FiOS TV, there are too many channels and I have to memorize all new channel numbers. The good part, beautiful sharp video, so I'll have to live with the bad.(LOL)

BTW, I have had no sign of an overpowering signal affecting the S3.

I hope this is of use to some of you.

[richsadams]

As promised here is a summary of how my install went yesterday. <snip> I hope this is of use to some of you.Awesome write-up Jack! :up: I'm a little apprehensive about having to reconfigure all of my network settings...but hey, if that's what it takes. Thanks again for that, it was very helpful! :)

[JediTim]

Jack,
I had the same issue with Cablevision...FiOS isn't good, we can offer a better deal, stay with us etc. I aksed why they would offer a better deal prior to my move and all I received was a blank stare:eek:

I am glad that I made the move and have everything under one account...so far so good and none of the frozen picture issues.

Good luck,
Tim

[ah30k]

I'm a little apprehensive about having to reconfigure all of my network settings...but hey, if that's what it takes. Thanks again for that, it was very helpful! :)If everything uses DHCP then you should not have any problems at all. Just set your wireless security key on the new Verizon router to the same as it was before and you're off an running. I did use static IPs for my TiVos since I sometimes use Orb over the internet to access my NPLs and static IPs let me know which one is which at all times.

I agree about too many channels. I wish TiVo would allow me to say I do not subscribe to the spanish tier and the premium tiers then automatically un-check all of those 100 channels.

[richsadams]

If everything uses DHCP then you should not have any problems at all. Just set your wireless security key on the new Verizon router to the same as it was before and you're off an running. I did use static IPs for my TiVos since I sometimes use Orb over the internet to access my NPLs and static IPs let me know which one is which at all times.Good to hear. I do use DHCP w/WPA security and just hate entering those mile-long alphabet soup keys. :eek: Guess I can use my router as a bridge eventually...I feel the need for speed! ;)

[wmcbrine]

The connection of the modem router was somewhat troublesome in that my old router was set with an IP address of 192.168.2.1 while Verizon's uses 192.168.1.1The Fios router doesn't have to use 192.168.1.x. That's just the default. You can change the address in the router.

Also, while they'll definitely want to install their router (to support video on demand), you can get it set up to use Cat5 for the network connection, especially if you already have a line run, as it sounds like you did. You should insist on this. (Unfortunately, I think the newly-trained installers may not even be told about this option, so they may not be prepared to do it. I'm not certain that all models of ONT support it, either, although I think they do.) If you get a Cat5 network connection, then you can use the router of your choice, and piggyback the Actiontec just for the STBs.

I agree about too many channels. I wish TiVo would allow me to say I do not subscribe to the spanish tier and the premium tiers then automatically un-check all of those 100 channels.Hey, be glad that you can uncheck them at all -- you can't on the Verizon-supplied boxes. (You can take them out of Favorites, but in the case of the La Connexion channels, not without simultaneously removing the Premiere package equivalents; and the Favorites list can't be set as the default guide anyway, which is really, really lame.)

[rifleman69]

I agree about too many channels. I wish TiVo would allow me to say I do not subscribe to the spanish tier and the premium tiers then automatically un-check all of those 100 channels.


You had the option in the guided setup to do this. If you haven't already unchecked those channels, run it again.

[BruceShultes]

If everything uses DHCP then you should not have any problems at all. Just set your wireless security key on the new Verizon router to the same as it was before and you're off an running. I did use static IPs for my TiVos since I sometimes use Orb over the internet to access my NPLs and static IPs let me know which one is which at all times.

I used another method so I did not need to change my Static IP addresses.

After the Verizon router was installed and we checked that the connection worked using a direct Ethernet cable connection to one of my PC's, I connected my original router running an ethernet cable from one of the output ports on the Verizon router to the input port on my router.

After doing this, everything that I originally had set up for a wireless connection worked fine without any changes to the settings.

[JacksTiVo]

Thanks for the useful information about using my old router. I have one of those OLPC XO laptops and it is having difficulty with the security settings on the Verizon router. I am also having problems with my S1 with the turbonet card accessing the Internet either via ethernet or a wireless bridge. Does anyone know how to delete static IP addresses for devices stored in the Verizon router database?

BTW, the wireless performance of the Verizon router is excellent. The signal strength from my old Belkin router to the S3 was generally in the 40-50% range. Now with the Verizon router it is in the high 70-80% range.

[dalesd]

I had my Fios install today. Two motorola S-cards in my THD.

Things seemed to go well. The installer checked a couple of channels, low numbers and high numbers, and things looked good.

Later, however, some channels were working, and others weren't. It took me quite a while to figure out that one of my cable cards was Not Authorized.

I followed the steps in bkdtv's instructions, and clearly Cable Card 1 is Not Authorized.

For each CableCard, it should say Connected: yes, EnabledByCP: yes and Auth: Subscribed on an encrypted digital cable channel.

If it doesn't say all of that, then it means your card is not authorized and will not work. If the installer already left, and the cards were not activated, you should be able to activate them over the phone by calling Fiber Solutions @ 888-553-1555; when you call, say your CableCards were not activated properly.

So I know the rule is, do one card at a time, and do slot 1 before slot 2. Does this still apply if I need to reauthorize the card? I ask because I just got off the phone with Fiber Solutions and they couldn't get that card to "initialize".

They've promised me that they'll get it resolved in 72 hours. (quite a promise, considering it's Friday night on Memorial Day Weekend.)

So the THD has a card that doesn't work, but it doesn't seem to know that it doesn't work. It will try to record stuff on the bad tuner. Is there a workaround for that? I suppose I could pull the CableCard, but I think Verizon will need it installed to get it working. (right?)


Anyway, the rest of the install was pretty easy. I already had Fiber to the house, the ONT, and all that stuff; they were just adding TV (it was just approved by my town).

My ONT was already provisioned to use Ethernet to my Linksys router. (Not MoCA to the Verizon Actiontec router.) They left that alone and just ran the coax from the ONT direct to the TiVoHD.

I am glad they didn't put the Actiontec back in the loop. First, as a NAT router, its major flaw is that it can't handle lots of connections (i.e. BT). Second, I don't like having something with a backdoor in it on my network.

Here's a "before" picture: (I don't have an "after" yet.)
Flickr picture (http://flickr.com/photos/dalesd/1346376109/in/set-72157601681871557/)
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1162/1346376109_825ba301cb_b.jpg

[Joe Q]

The Dlink router beats teh Actiontec hands down. The Actiontec might work well with a few devices, but I have 3 dozen devices connected on my Network and with the Actiontec things were't as fast as they should be. Using my Dlink, all my connections are very fast and have no bandwidth problems like with the Actiontec.

My setup is like yours in that I have I have a lot of stuff to connect together.


I have the 15 Mbit Verizon Internet speed and no complaints there.

I had to add a network switch to one of the 4 ports on the Actiontec so I could have a wired connection for these devices on the network:
5 PC's,XBOX 360/Hdhomerun/Vonage/AV Receiver/HTPC/DVD player and other stuff I am sure I have forgotten.


So when you say bandwidth problems with the Actiontec, are you referring to it's 100 mbit wired connections or it's internet connections?

I ask because I need to be sure that I am getting the most out of my 100 mbit network.
For instance, Sometimes, my Xbox as a Media Extender will say "Network Problem" when the picture gets all pixelated.

Also,I have the Homerun on one PC writing it's data to the media Center PC's RAID. The Media Center 'sometimes' has trouble recording 4 things all at once(2 Cable card tuners/Homerun)
Notice the 'sometimes' - your post makes me wonder if the Actiontec is a bottleneck

[dalesd]

Regarding the Backdoor on the Actiontec router, Port 4567 is wide open.
More info here: http://www.compu-help.us/205.htm
and a possible fix here: http://www.fiosfaq.com/content.php?contentid=79

BTW, my installation (Verizon Premiere (TV), 20/5 internet, phone) doesn't use the Actiontec router at all. The installer ran a new RG6 cable from the ONT directly to the TiVo. No splitter, no router.

[Joe Q]

BTW, my installation (Verizon Premiere (TV), 20/5 internet, phone) doesn't use the Actiontec router at all. The installer ran a new RG6 cable from the ONT directly to the TiVo. No splitter, no router.

Interesting.

Where does the split occur to go to a router?

I ask that because you said that you had Internet service as well as phone,which I asume is an IP based phone like Vonage or AT&T.

Therefore, You need something,like a router, that acts as a DHCP server to dole out the IP addresses as well as having several ports on it.
That would allow you to connect a PC(s) to the 'router' and the Vonage/AT&T phone adaptor


Unless I am missing something here?

Does the TIVO have a built in router that allows all this to happen?

Sorry for all the questions but I am battling problems due to low signal strength thanks to all the splitters needed to connect all this gear and it seems as though you may have an approach I should look into

Thanks

[willettg]

The coax carries the broadcast video directly to the Tivo. The Tivo still needs an ethernet connection to get TV guide info and software updates.

[dalesd]

The ONT has an Ethernet jack on it. That's where I connect the WAN port of my Linksys. The yellow wire on the picture above.

Likewise, the ONT has a separate set of terminals for the phone. Look just to the right of the lights on the ONT.

http://flickr.com/photos/dalesd/1346376109/in/set-72157601681871557/

[acvthree]

You only need the ActionTec if you are doing VOD or PPV. Since the Tivo doesn't do that, it is not needed.

Did they put an attenuator on the cable feed? I would have guessed that it would be too hot for the Tivo without a splitter in there somewhere.

Al

[dalesd]

You only need the ActionTec if you are doing VOD or PPV. Since the Tivo doesn't do that, it is not needed.
That's what I told the installer. Well, that's what he told me when I explained how I wanted things hooked up. "But you need that to get guide data and VOD." I explained that was fine with me, because TiVo has its own guide data and doesn't do VOD. He was kinda new, but when the "TiVo expert" installer showed up, he went along with it.
Did they put an attenuator on the cable feed? I would have guessed that it would be too hot for the Tivo without a splitter in there somewhere.

Al
There isn't one on the ONT. I haven't checked the back of the TiVo. Lemme go look now...
Yes, 8db.

[acvthree]

Sounds like a good install and setup. Enjoy!

Al

[webin]

You only need the ActionTec if you are doing VOD or PPV. Since the Tivo doesn't do that, it is not needed.

You know, that's a good point. I started with a Fios STB, so I needed the ActionTec, but always had the desire to put my linksys router back into the network, probably as a sub router running to my computers. I never got around to it because the ActionTec doesn't seem like too bad a piece of hardware (albiet, one Verizon can access remotely). Now that I'm using TivoHD, I may just take it out and use just my trusty old linksys.

[dalesd]

You know, that's a good point. I started with a Fios STB, so I needed the ActionTec, but always had the desire to put my linksys router back into the network, probably as a sub router running to my computers. I never got around to it because the ActionTec doesn't seem like too bad a piece of hardware (albiet, one Verizon can access remotely). Now that I'm using TivoHD, I may just take it out and use just my trusty old linksys.
I ran in to difficulty with this at first. When you swap your router for the Actiontec you'll need to do one of the following:
(A) call Verizon Fiber Solutions and ask them to break the lease of your IP address,
(B) clone the WAN MAC address of the Actiontec to your Linksys,
(C) release the WAN IP address from the Actiontec (through the web interface, then immediately disconnect it from the ONT)
(D) wait about an hour (with no router plugged in to the ONT).

Long story short, I can confirm that A, B, and C work. Guy on the phone at Fiber Solutions said that D works, but I haven't tested it.

[acvthree]

You know, that's a good point. I started with a Fios STB, so I needed the ActionTec, but always had the desire to put my linksys router back into the network, probably as a sub router running to my computers. I never got around to it because the ActionTec doesn't seem like too bad a piece of hardware (albiet, one Verizon can access remotely). Now that I'm using TivoHD, I may just take it out and use just my trusty old linksys.

The Verizon STB still works. You just can't do VOD or PPV.

Several months ago my ActionTec router died on a Friday afternoon.

I unplugged the ActionTec. Installed a NetGear router I was not using. Called Verizon and had them break the link. Everything works great.

Eventually I'll get the ActionTec repaired/replaced, but I think I'll leave the my own router as the primary. At least I can replace it quickly if it breaks.

Al

[Scyber]

I ran in to difficulty with this at first. When you swap your router for the Actiontec you'll need to do one of the following:
(A) call Verizon Fiber Solutions and ask them to break the lease of your IP address,
(B) clone the WAN MAC address of the Actiontec to your Linksys,
(C) release the WAN IP address from the Actiontec (through the web interface, then immediately disconnect it from the ONT)
(D) wait about an hour (with no router plugged in to the ONT).

Long story short, I can confirm that A, B, and C work. Guy on the phone at Fiber Solutions said that D works, but I haven't tested it.

You should only need to do C. That is how I did it before (no call, no mac clone). A call shouldn't be necessary unless you can't get to the web interface on the actiontec. Of course it probably doesn't hurt to get someone from Verizon on the phone just in case it doesn't work right. :)

[richsadams]

The ONT has an Ethernet jack on it. That's where I connect the WAN port of my Linksys. The yellow wire on the picture above.

Likewise, the ONT has a separate set of terminals for the phone. Look just to the right of the lights on the ONT.

http://flickr.com/photos/dalesd/1346376109/in/set-72157601681871557/Nice job highlighting each item on your picture. :up: Nice setup as well.

[Joe Q]

My equipment does not look anything like yours.

I have enclosed a picture of the ONT which is mounted outside

The Battery backup that the coax from the ONT goes to is the next picture along with a small powerd device next to it that I am not totally sure what it does.
I am guessing that it is the trickle charger for the battery

Those 2 devices are in the basement and the coax cable is split there,in the basement.
One coax run goes to my Actiontec router and the other coax goes to my DVR. All of which are upstairs.

The third picture is the amplifier that I put on a 3 foot long coax cable that comes out of the battery backup.
It is BEFORE the 2 way splitter and I needed that because I have too many splitters upstairs for all the stuff hooked to the cable

Please ignore the romex cable. To try and eliminate the pixelation/"No TV signal message" propblems I have been fighting, I did so much experimenting with various spliiters and brands of amplifiers that it is merely 'stuffed' into the area where it would fit.


There are NO ethernet ports/jacks on anything except the Actiontec router which is where I plug in my PC's and my ethernet switch (for expansion)


http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/4154/dsc5754ie2.th.jpg (http://img48.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc5754ie2.jpg)

http://img103.imageshack.us/img103/6867/dsc5756ni3.th.jpg (http://img103.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc5756ni3.jpg)


http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/8206/dsc5757pa2.th.jpg (http://img528.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc5757pa2.jpg)

Any ideas?

Thanks

[Scyber]

There are NO ethernet ports/jacks on anything except the Actiontec router which is where I plug in my PC's and my ethernet switch (for expansion)


Actually, if you open up the ONT, you should see an ethernet port there. With newer installs, Verizon is using COAX for both the TV and the ethernet connection to the Actiontec router. This works fine, but it prevents you from using a 3rd party router. They will (on request) run ethernet to the actiontec, but it will cost you a truck roll post install. Most likely you can't run the ethernet yourself b/c the port is disabled in the ONT.

[Joe Q]

Actually, if you open up the ONT, you should see an ethernet port there. With newer installs, Verizon is using COAX for both the TV and the ethernet connection to the Actiontec router. This works fine, but it prevents you from using a 3rd party router. They will (on request) run ethernet to the actiontec, but it will cost you a truck roll post install. Most likely you can't run the ethernet yourself b/c the port is disabled in the ONT.

Great info!!

It can not hurt to open the thing up and try it out.

Even though it is outside, I should be able to see if it works by connecting up one of my spare routers and then hook my laptop to it.
I will post back my results later this evening

Thanks

[acvthree]

Actually, if you open up the ONT, you should see an ethernet port there. With newer installs, Verizon is using COAX for both the TV and the ethernet connection to the Actiontec router. This works fine, but it prevents you from using a 3rd party router. They will (on request) run ethernet to the actiontec, but it will cost you a truck roll post install. Most likely you can't run the ethernet yourself b/c the port is disabled in the ONT.

A number of people have run the Ethernet themselves and then just called Verizon to have them enable the Ethernet remotely. Mainly, Verizon just doesn't want to spend the extra time running the Ethernet. Most people don't care (or know) one way or the other.

Al

[acvthree]

Great info!!

It can not hurt to open the thing up and try it out.

Even though it is outside, I should be able to see if it works by connecting up one of my spare routers and then hook my laptop to it.
I will post back my results later this evening

Thanks

You will have to make a call to Verizon to have them enable the Ethernet on the ONT. It is a simple procedure and is done remotely. Just tell them you want to use your own router and please enable the Ethernet (you may have to make a second call to have them release the address). I haven't heard of anyone getting push back.

Al

[rocko]

The ethernet is there on the coax. You can (I have) hook up a NIM-100 which will provide your network connection. I used one to replace my wireless NIC on my S3. Run the output to a cheapo switch and have room for the Wii and XBox (plus 4 more devices). MRV runs like a raped ape.

Only thing is I think the Actiontec is still serving up the IP addresses. I haven't tried the NIM-100 without the Actiontec yet.

[rcji]

I've been reading some of the previous post and just wanted a few things clear. I just got my tivo hd and I currently have verizon fios. 1) Do they have to come to your house and install it for you or can you pick up your own card and do it yourself? When I called up twice 1 person said someone has to come to your house and the other person said you can do it yourself.
2) Are all the verizon fios cards now multi stream that let you use one card for the dual tuner to work?
thanks!

[webin]

1) No, an installer MUST come to your house to install cable cards. Many CS Reps get confused by something in their system and will tell you that you can do it yourself, but no one has ever actually been allowed to do that.
2) Verizon still uses S-Cards, and probably will for a while. The M-Cards have to get "certified" on the Verizon system, and they aren't really moving fast on that. You will need 2 S-Cards in your TivoHD to get dual tuner functionality.

[JediTim]

I had FiOS installed several weeks ago and the installer needed to come to the house and install two S cards...he contacted the office and activated the cards during the install.

I have two Tivo HD units and four S cards. I am charged $3.99 per card per month.
Tim

[dalesd]

1) No, an installer MUST come to your house to install cable cards. Many CS Reps get confused by something in their system and will tell you that you can do it yourself, but no one has ever actually been allowed to do that.
That "must" is purely from Verizon's point of view.
Anyone savvy enough to buy and hook up a TiVo HD is savvy enough to read a few numbers off the screen into the telephone to the Verizon home office.
Other than the act of delivering the card(s), there's no particular reason for tech must come to your house.

[webin]

That "must" is purely from Verizon's point of view.
Anyone savvy enough to buy and hook up a TiVo HD is savvy enough to read a few numbers off the screen into the telephone to the Verizon home office.
Other than the act of delivering the card(s), there's no particular reason for tech must come to your house.

I agree completely. I am more than competent to install the cards... though the installer had a sweet web app they use to do the activation (come to think of it, how was he connected to the Internet? My wireless router is locked down pretty good). The installer was useful in swapping my ONT with a newer model and verifying the system was functioning correctly.

I think the "must" boils down to company policy. If an installer is on site to do the work and verify functionality, they are more guaranteed to have a properly configured system that is less likely to cause service calls and tech support later.

[pilotbob]

(come to think of it, how was he connected to the Internet? My wireless router is locked down pretty good).

I'm sure they have Verizon EVDO/HDSPA cell phone broadband cards in their laptops.

BOb

[rcji]

Thanks! I thought too it was a little ridiculous that they "have" to come and do it just to pop in a card and activate it. I would of done it myself but be my guest if thats what I have to do. I think I'll just stick with one card for now if it's still the single stream. I can live without the dual tuner. Thanks again for the help!

[ilh]

Verizon could easily supply customers with a web site to type in the numbers. When I recently received a DCT700 from them, it came unactivated, and it was a self-activation over the web. Within a few minutes of activating online, it came alive. I can't see why they couldn't do exactly the same thing with CableCARDs.

[rocko]

I'm sure they have Verizon EVDO/HDSPA cell phone broadband cards in their laptops.

BOb

Correct - Panasonic Toughbooks with cellular connection, actually. BTW, the Verizon tech that installed the cards in my THD got a "successful" activation using his laptop but, in reality, was unsuccessful. After scratching our heads wondering why no premium channels were working he ended up calling the FSC to have them authorize the cards :rolleyes:

[webin]

My installer had a similar experience. More or less successful activating both cards on his laptop, but in testing, determined that he needed to call someone to re-initialize one of the cards.

[jcostom]

FiOS guys just arrived. 2 of them, one in training. The other guy's never done a TiVo. BUT, they're thrilled that I've been reading and know a thing or two about what they need to do to get it done.

Fingers crossed.

Fortunately, they're not monkeying with the existing FiOS Internet already in the house. They only need to plug the crappy Actiontec router into the coax loop for the TVs, or so they say, and can leave the Cat 5 connection to my (much better) router alone & working.

[jcostom]

FiOS guys just arrived. 2 of them, one in training.
Fortunately, they're not monkeying with the existing FiOS Internet already in the house. They only need to plug the crappy Actiontec router into the coax loop for the TVs, or so they say, and can leave the Cat 5 connection to my (much better) router alone & working.

Well, they're still here. Internet stayed up the whole time. Because my ONT is an older non-MoCa compatible one, they did need to install the Actiontec connected to both the coax as well as to Ethernet, though they were ok with plugging the WAN side of their router into a port on mine, so as not to disrupt anything I had already setup.

CC's are both activated, but currently reporting NOT_SUBSCRIBED. They're outside taking 15 for lunch. We get 2-49 and the HD Locals, but nothing else on either tuner on the THD. Afterward, we call the fiber solutions center.

The Standard Def STB they installed downstairs in the kids playroom is working fine on all appropriate channels at least, so they're happy.

These guys were sure glad I was here to help them walk through this stuff, and I in return are grateful for the wisdom of the gang here. Hopefully all will be righted shortly..

[webin]

I wouldn't fret too much about the NOT_Subscribed yet... I'm sure they'll be able to call headquarters, get them to reinit it or something, and you'll be up and running soon. It's interesting that they are leaving both Coax and Cat-5 connected to the router.... you could remove the cat-5 and just get your internet through the coax (as I currently do).

[acvthree]

And be locked into the Verizon actiontec as your router? There are downsides to MoCA only.

Al

[jcostom]

And be locked into the Verizon actiontec as your router? There are downsides to MoCA only.

Al

Right on!

My regular router is a Juniper SSG 5 (one of the perks of working there), and does all kinds of amazing stuff the Actiontec couldn't even dream of doing...

Anyhow, long story short, the guys just left. It's all working 100% now.

They called in, got the cards re-initialized and blammo, working like a champ.

[acvthree]

Nice feature set!

Is there a gigabit version of that router?

[jcostom]

Nice feature set!

Is there a gigabit version of that router?

Not today, but gigabit router/firewalls on the scale of an ssg 5 are mostly a solution looking for a problem.. Really, how many of us have > 100 Mbps for our Internet connection?

Besides, it's a product that's really targeted at the enterprise market.. But, I digress..

Holy crap, FiOS tv on the THD is unbelievable. Even the VZ installer guys thought it was better than their dvr..

[webin]

Holy crap, FiOS tv on the THD is unbelievable.

Welcome to the club :)

[rocko]

Welcome to the club :)

+1 :up:

[richsadams]

Really, how many of us have > 100 Mbps for our Internet connection?Well, after reading this Verizon press release (http://newscenter.verizon.com/press-releases/verizon/2008/verizon-extends.html) it would seem it may be closer than we think.

"The appetite for bandwidth shows no signs of slowing down. Neither will we. We've already had successful trials of the 100-megabit home, which will be a reality faster than anybody thinks."

Woo hoo!

Enjoy your new HD PQ! :up: Can't wait to see VZ FIOS on our Series3 and THD too.

[guitarded]

Fios will work but youll need cable cards or a box, the tivo guide still will work, remember it connect through the phone line or internet to get that info, it doesnt get it from the cable company, plenty of tivo lovers have fios

[dalesd]

Fios will work but youll need cable cards or a box, the tivo guide still will work, remember it connect through the phone line or internet to get that info, it doesnt get it from the cable company, plenty of tivo lovers have fios

Is this a 942-post deep smeek? Is that a record?

[richsadams]

Is this a 942-post deep smeek? Is that a record?Ha! Good one! :up: :D

[Gerhard]

Hey, anyone in the DC / VA / MD area notice any changes or issues with their S3 / Verizon service on Friday?

Gerhard

[wmcbrine]

Hey, anyone in the DC / VA / MD area notice any changes or issues with their S3 / Verizon service on Friday?Friday? Nope.

Yesterday? TiVo bungled a few channels in their Fios lineup, changing the guide data for 10, 11, 16, 811, and 866 to some Richmond affiliates. But they fixed it within a few hours.

Today? Recordings of D.C. United game mysteriously did not happen.

Other than that, nothing. What exactly were you looking for?

[Gerhard]

Friday? Nope.

Yesterday? TiVo bungled a few channels in their Fios lineup, changing the guide data for 10, 11, 16, 811, and 866 to some Richmond affiliates. But they fixed it within a few hours.

Today? Recordings of D.C. United game mysteriously did not happen.

Other than that, nothing. What exactly were you looking for?

That was basically it... I wasn't sure if they removed FOX or put it somewhere else. I was primarily annoyed that FOX-HD seemed to go away... and I was thinking that maybe FIOS did something to the channel lineup without any forewarning.

[NSPhillips]

For a while my Series 2 thought there was a Fox channel on 10 and a MyNetwork TV on 11. But then it got fixed. Didn't have the same issue with the Series 3.

[Hilltop Sailor]

I know this is a repeat question, but I cannot find it with the search engine. Can someone post (again) the answer to the problem of TiVo not working correctly on only some FiOS channels? My TiVo works great on everything but the Comedy and Fox News channels. On those two channels, the signal often breaks-up. The non-TiVo, FiOS-supplied HD STB's elsewhere in my house get these two channels fine. Neither FiOS's nor TiVo's phone CSR's will discuss the problem with me because there is no mutual support agreement in place between the two of them.

[wrp]

I know this is a repeat question, but I cannot find it with the search engine. Can someone post (again) the answer to the problem of TiVo not working correctly on only some FiOS channels? My TiVo works great on everything but the Comedy and Fox News channels. On those two channels, the signal often breaks-up. The non-TiVo, FiOS-supplied HD STB's elsewhere in my house get these two channels fine. Neither FiOS's nor TiVo's phone CSR's will discuss the problem with me because there is no mutual support agreement in place between the two of them.

There are probably thousands of posts here about this problem. Basically, the Tivo HD tuner is very sensitive to a signal that is too strong, and you need to put attenuators in the coax cable going into the Tivo box. It's also difficult to get this right, since if you put too much attenuation your signal will be too weak and you'll also get pixelation.

And signal level reported by Tivo also changes by the hour - there's either a problem with the Tivo not reporting this signal level correctly, or the Fios Ont boxes are actually putting out different signal levels for different channels at different times of the day.

This is a mess, and Tivo still has no solution for it.

[Hilltop Sailor]

There are probably thousands of posts here about this problem. Basically, the Tivo HD tuner is very sensitive to a signal that is too strong, and you need to put attenuators in the coax cable going into the Tivo box. It's also difficult to get this right, since if you put too much attenuation your signal will be too weak and you'll also get pixelation.

And signal level reported by Tivo also changes by the hour - there's either a problem with the Tivo not reporting this signal level correctly, or the Fios Ont boxes are actually putting out different signal levels for different channels at different times of the day.

This is a mess, and Tivo still has no solution for it.
Thanks for the answer and not flaming me. You are a saint. :)

[riffjim4069]

I just signed up for FIOS TV on Monday. I didn't see the option for cablecards either. I started a chat session with one of the online agents and they told me to put my order in and then call Verizon customer service once I had my order number. I did that and the next day I called and made the change to my order. I put two cable cards into the order since the Verizon rep told me they don't offer the multistream cards.I was installed on April 2nd and passed on TiVo because of the multistream cablecard issue...cablecard fees alone to support 3 TiVo HD boxes (6 x $3.99) would be more than $28 per month after franchise fees and a slew of taxes. I love FiOS TV and Internet, but their CableCard pricing is excessive and, in my opinion, limits consumer choice. Before I moved, Comcast offered the M-Card at $2 per month: Comcast $6 per month plus fees/taxes vice Verizon $24 per month plus fees/taxes to support 3 TiVo HD boxes.

I called Verizon this morning and they STILL only offer the S-Card. I am sorry, but Comcast has been offering the M-Card in my former area since Oct/Nov 2007. There is no reason, other than to limit consumer choice, for Verizon to still be pushing the S-Card at $3.99 per. Anyway, I filed a complaint with the FCC and suggest others do the same. Cut and paste if you wish, it's up to you.

http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm

Limit 1000 characters:

I am not sure how to categorize my complain with Verizon (V*), but their CableCard (CC) policy regarding FiOS TV indicates they are not fairly supporting a consumers reasonable access to use 3rd party set-top-boxes (i.e. TiVo, etc.)

V* does not support multistream (M-Card) CC with FiOS TV, while competitors, such as Comcast, have been doing so since Aug 2007. I haven't purchased TiVO because V* does not offer the M-Card (dual-tuner)...only the singlesteam (old S-Card). Verizon's rental fee for the CC was $1.99 last year, but it was raised to $3.99 as of 1 Feb. In order to use a dual-tuner TiVo HD DVR, I would need to rent two S-Card type CCs at $7.98 per unit. Yikes! That's over $28 just in CC fees alone if you include fees and taxes for 3 TiVos. I would much rather rent a single M-Card at $3.99 insteads since it will do the same thing as two S-Cards.

I believe V*'s CC practice limits consumer choice and violates the spirit of FCC initiatives directing more consumer choice

[bcaslis]

Are you sure Verizon doesn't support M cards? I called yesterday to schedule an installation on Saturday for a Tivo HD with FIOS. After much discussion I was told that their cable cards are M cards, so I only ordered one. If that's not true then it's a real problem for me.

[ah30k]

Are you sure Verizon doesn't support M cards? I called yesterday to schedule an installation on Saturday for a Tivo HD with FIOS. After much discussion I was told that their cable cards are M cards, so I only ordered one. If that's not true then it's a real problem for me.Many employees see the Motorola M logo and assume M-Card. I don't think they support M-Cards yet.

[webin]

Are you sure Verizon doesn't support M cards? I called yesterday to schedule an installation on Saturday for a Tivo HD with FIOS. After much discussion I was told that their cable cards are M cards, so I only ordered one. If that's not true then it's a real problem for me.

To date, there are no Verizon customers with M-Cards. I wouldn't bank on you randomly being the first.

[bcaslis]

To date, there are no Verizon customers with M-Cards. I wouldn't bank on you randomly being the first.

You're probably right. Called them again and can't get a definite answer one way or another. Tech support sounded like they think they are s-cards but they weren't sure. Of course now they can't change the order for one card. $3.99 for a single s-card? Really makes me wonder if it's worth getting a Tivo HD for FIOS.

[jb1677]

After reading over the past year or so all the horror stories of people having cablecard installs attempted I waited, and waited..... and waited. Finally I decided to give it a try, and sure enough it turned into a disaster.

Somehow after a complete day, 3 technicians, 4 CableCards and a false promise that the tech would come back after grabbing a bite to eat I find myself left with just locals - in HD and non HD - but nothing else. No other channels at all. Both cards still display Auth: NOT_SUBSCRIBED and HOST Validation: Unknown 00.

I thought after all this time things would be better. A call to FSC gave me nothing but a promise of a callback within 24 hours. If its anything like the last tech's promise to come back after getting some food then I imagine I will never hear from the FSC. The person also suggested that I be at home for the call, I am sure my work will understand (NOT)

O well, just venting.... but wow, the support and tech staff sure is bottom of the barrel these days. When I have FIOS internet installed way back when the tech was great, a true pro, now no so much.

[aaronwt]

Like other service providers it's a crap shoot on what type of technician you get. Some are knowledgeable and some aren't. But from my experience, the Verizon techs generally seem better trained than the Comcast and DirecTV techs.

[hmm52]

After reading over the past year or so all the horror stories of people having cablecard installs attempted I waited, and waited..... and waited. Finally I decided to give it a try, and sure enough it turned into a disaster.

Somehow after a complete day, 3 technicians, 4 CableCards and a false promise that the tech would come back after grabbing a bite to eat I find myself left with just locals - in HD and non HD - but nothing else. No other channels at all. Both cards still display Auth: NOT_SUBSCRIBED and HOST Validation: Unknown 00.

I thought after all this time things would be better. A call to FSC gave me nothing but a promise of a callback within 24 hours. If its anything like the last tech's promise to come back after getting some food then I imagine I will never hear from the FSC. The person also suggested that I be at home for the call, I am sure my work will understand (NOT)

O well, just venting.... but wow, the support and tech staff sure is bottom of the barrel these days. When I have FIOS internet installed way back when the tech was great, a true pro, now no so much.

You've heard of the power of positive thinking? I've never had an experience with Verizon like yours. The closest would be the initial Internet only install, in '05 I think, when the tech was cursing his employer 5 ways to Sunday for not providing additional personnel to direct traffic while he was up on a pole - on a very quiet road. The problem in PA is shortage of techs, not training. With cablecard installs, a good tech can compensate for a deficit on the other end of the line. Tell VZ that the only reliable way to reach you is your cell phone #. That's worked for me. What area of the country are you in?

Host Validation:Unknown 00 is normal with VZ. Auth: Not Subscribed is not.

Once a card is authorized and intialized (properly), it will take 3 minutes or less for all channels including premiums to come up. 2 cards X 3 techs X all day with no success = 0 productivity.

[hmm52]

Yesterday I had a Verizon cablecard fall asleep or die again, the 2nd since 11/06. Normally I say "Agent" when the automated self test prompt begins but let it run this time. Despite the chatter about "your STBs", it woke up the card and all channels returned in a minute. A power cycle of Toshiba TV might have served the same purpose but I didn't think of it. First card actually was dead. Also after use in the Toshiba. - A cablecard killer? 5 cards in 4 CC devices. Random chance of only 2 failures in same single CC device is 4 percent. Prior to call, just the local HDs and analogs were being tuned. Analogs still around one + week after "shutoff" with periodic red warning screens, mostly in prime time. Good PR?

[jb1677]

You've heard of the power of positive thinking? I've never had an experience with Verizon like yours. The closest would be the initial Internet only install, in '05 I think, when the tech was cursing his employer 5 ways to Sunday for not providing additional personnel to direct traffic while he was up on a pole - on a very quiet road. The problem in PA is shortage of techs, not training. With cablecard installs, a good tech can compensate for a deficit on the other end of the line. Tell VZ that the only reliable way to reach you is your cell phone #. That's worked for me. What area of the country are you in?

Host Validation:Unknown 00 is normal with VZ. Auth: Not Subscribed is not.

Once a card is authorized and intialized (properly), it will take 3 minutes or less for all channels including premiums to come up. 2 cards X 3 techs X all day with no success = 0 productivity.

I have 2 hours left on my promised callback time from the FSC. I still haven't heard from the installer that left for lunch, I suppose he still may come back :-)

I am located in MD, outside of Baltimore. My previous experience with the FIOS tech's was excellent, my Internet installer was great and did a professional job down to minor details like zip tieing the routers ac adapter power cord and affixing it neatly to a panel where everything was mounted.

[hmm52]

That would be a pretty leisurely lunch in Philadelphia. Maybe not for Baltimore. I'd call Verizon back, open a trouble ticket and note it. Give your cell # as only contact #. If you don't get call confirming appointment by evening before, don't bother clearing time in the following day. Get tech's name and cell phone # when he shows. You're probably getting rid of all your cablecard problems in one shot, the initial one.

[jb1677]

Called back to the FSC, gave a quick synopsis of my issue, the tech sounded confused and said something to the effect of "I think we just need to reset the cards". 30 seconds later I had my channels.

I guess the long and short of it is:
1) Just let the installers put the cards in and kick them out!!!
2) Keep calling the FSC until you get someone who can help :-)

O well, thanks for leting me vent in this thread, hopefully it will give some other lost soul hope one day.

[aaronwt]

Shouldn't be any need to kick them out. They should have a laptop with them, and they can enter the info right there. If done properly it only takes a few minutes. And never let the tech use the TiVo remote. Use it yourself to navigate the menus. That will also speed things up.

[webin]

My tech made good use of the Tivo remote... he had done a CC install once before, but actually knew what he was doing (but still had to call FSC once to get a re-init like you did).

If I had had my way, I woulda had the tech hand me the cards, and told him to go home and let me handle the install.

[acvthree]

I agree, my tech went through the menus faster than I could follow. I thought I was a "tivo wizard" and I was humbled.

It really depends on the tech.

[richsadams]

If I had had my way, I woulda had the tech hand me the cards, and told him to go home and let me handle the install.+1 :up:

[hmm52]

I guess the long and short of it is:
1) Just let the installers put the cards in and kick them out!!!
2) Keep calling the FSC until you get someone who can help :-)

I agree with your second point but not with the first.

There are 3 things that need to be done correctly for cablecards to work - for all channels in your package:

1) Cards need to be checked out of inventory and entered into system for install before they leave on truck in the morning.
2) Authorization of cards is first step done by tech upon arrival at house. On other end is billing and channel package info for your service.
3) Initialization of cards in your device

My install in '06 stumbled on the first step. It required major arm twisting by "Big Boss" over the phone to allow sequential progress for 4 cards. Full function occurred 12.5 hours after arrival of first tech. (related billing errors followed for 1 year) While reinitialization can be requested anytime by phone, it won't do much good unless first 2 steps were done properly by VZ personnel. It's the cableco's responsibility to get everything working. The techs shouldn't leave (quick lunch excepted) until you see all the channels you're paying for, and they've given you some VZ attenuators.

[bcaslis]

I got two cable cards installed in a Tivo HD yesterday by Verizon (second appointment for this, on the first one nobody ever showed up). I wasn't home, but it seemed to go fairly smoothly. It seems to be operating fine except for severe pixelization on some channels at times. When I first tried it at about 7pm there was severe breakup on channel 855, but two hours later when I went back to do more testing, I wasn't seeing any problems. As far as I can tell the tech didn't put in a low-pass filter or any attenuators. Has anyone seen any difference with the low-pass filter than Tivo seems to recommend from their support note?

[hmm52]

When testing in and out, the low pass filter, originally installed 11/07, has made no difference with pixelation in my setup. If I had a lot of MOCA activity, perhaps it would. But I don't. Attenuators make a huge and immediate difference. Anybody with a THD or S3 should get an assortment of them from VZ tech during initial install. Funny that you're having problems with 855. It was one of 2 premium HDs that regularly troubled my S3; the other was Comcast Sports Net. That figures. During rough patches, signal will vary hour to hour. Not unusual. Call the install tech for attenuators if he left his card.

[nemein]

I just got an HD Tivo last weekend. So far getting the Cox Communications (Northern Va) cable cards to work w/ it has been a pain. One installer tried two cards on Monday, another was out last night and tried a third card but w/ all of them so far all I get is the basic channels and basic HD, nothing in the so called "digitial tier" (SD or HD). I posted this in the Cox cable card thread, but I also thought I would ask here since so far it looks like there are fewer problems w/ the FIOS cable cards than w/ those from Cox. Is that the case? Has anyone else in the NOVA area switched from Cox to FIOS? What was your experience? Have people had fewer problems w/ FIOS in general?

I'm just trying to decide whether to keep the Tivo in general (which so far I think is a definite improvement over the Cox DVR), or switch to FIOS or ???

TIA

[RossoNeri]

You're probably right. Called them again and can't get a definite answer one way or another. Tech support sounded like they think they are s-cards but they weren't sure. Of course now they can't change the order for one card. $3.99 for a single s-card? Really makes me wonder if it's worth getting a Tivo HD for FIOS.

If you've used their DVR, you'd feel it was worth it. I used home grown system for 8 months and just finally had it. Getting a TiVo is definitely worth it for me, even if it;s more expansive than the crap they give. Reinforces teh adage that you get what you pay for.

[riffjim4069]

If you've used their DVR, you'd feel it was worth it. I used home grown system for 8 months and just finally had it. Getting a TiVo is definitely worth it for me, even if it;s more expansive than the crap they give. Reinforces teh adage that you get what you pay for.I tend to agree...to a point. We have given the FiOS Motorola HD DVR 3-months and, while it's not horrible, it is certainly not living up to our expectations. However, paying Verizon $8 in CableCARD fees per each unit, plus fees and taxes, leaves a bad-taste-in-my-mouth considering Comcast was only charging $2 per multistream CableCARD.:(

Anyway, I contacted Verizon Executive Customer Advocacy at 800-483-7988, option 3, and filed a complaint. I later received a call from a customer relations representative from the Dallas tech support center who said: the multistream cards are currently being tested; the cards will be deployed as soon as testing is completed; customers may or may not receive notification when the new CableCARDS are available; the M-Card will be available before the end of the year, but she suspects they will be available starting in August; no idea if they would be leased at the same rate as the S-Card.

I also asked about CableCARD self-installation. The rep said that some areas in Maryland, Virginia, and New Jersey were doing this (I am not sure how accurate this statement is), and they are evaluating allowing customer to install their own CableCARDS in North Texas.

[bcaslis]

If you've used their DVR, you'd feel it was worth it. I used home grown system for 8 months and just finally had it. Getting a TiVo is definitely worth it for me, even if it;s more expansive than the crap they give. Reinforces teh adage that you get what you pay for.

Well I think it depends. I've had the Pioneer Series 2 with DVD burner for four years so I'm familiar with Tivo. I'v also used the FiOS DVR for the past three weeks or so.

I think if you use the Tivo primarly for recording and transfering or archiving programs to a computer, then the Tivo wins. But if you are primarily just viewing live TV and occassionally recording programs (and have no need for DVD burning or copying to computer) then the FiOS DVR wins. Why? Well, honestly I really like the FiOS UI better for watching TV. For recording programs, the Tivo wins but not by much. It's certainly not enough of a difference to justify paying for the Tivo, paying a Tivo subscription or lifetime fee, and then paying $8 a month in Verizon cable card costs. The only thing to me that the Tivo wins resoundingly on is the ability to transfer programs to a computer for viewing, archiving, or burning to DVD. If I could do this on the FiOS DVR, I honestly would have no need for the Tivo.

The FiOS UI is much better than the earlier version they had (which I've seen but not had). I really think it's better than the Tivo UI. I could give examples but it's not really my intention to bash the Tivo. But I have no need for the things Tivo seems to be adding lately like Amazon and Rhapsody. I use iTunes for my digital content and no amount of "new" features from Tivo is going to get me to change that. I'd like to see improvements to the box for making viewing better rather than this peripheral junk. For viewing TV, the provider boxes have surpassed Tivo (IMHO), and for recording they are getting close.

[wmcbrine]

The FiOS UI is much better than the earlier version they had (which I've seen but not had).It's not. It looks better, but it doesn't work as well. They broke basic functionality, like the ability to select which channels you view in the guide... something they've improved since the introduction of the new software, but it's still not where it was.

I don't really see how anyone could rate this as superior to the TiVo interface, either, except (again) in terms of pure appearance rather than function. However, I only have a standard STB from Fios rather than a DVR, so perhaps I'm missing something.

[bcaslis]

It's not. It looks better, but it doesn't work as well. They broke basic functionality, like the ability to select which channels you view in the guide... something they've improved since the introduction of the new software, but it's still not where it was.

I don't really see how anyone could rate this as superior to the TiVo interface, either, except (again) in terms of pure appearance rather than function. However, I only have a standard STB from Fios rather than a DVR, so perhaps I'm missing something.

To each their own. The guide in the FIOS devices just works better for me than the Tivo's. As for selecting which channels, I can make a favorites list. The only thing the Tivo offers missing is to select channels you get versus all channels. But with so many channels, I'm just going to use favorites, or if I'm just looking around I might use all channels. The missing feature in the FIOS is a complete don't care for me.

Another case is when I change a channel, I get the big Tivo display with information that either hangs around way too long or I set an option where it disappears immediately. Neither work well for me. The FIOS one gets me the info I want, is only around for a couple of seconds and is just faster than the Tivo display. From my view, I couldn't see how anyone could prefer how the Tivo UI works in this case. Additionally just typing in a channel or changing the channel is clearly faster on either FIOS box than on the Tivo HD.

On the other hand, I do think the Tivo UI is better for looking through a list of recorded programs. But for live TV, my personal opinion is that the FIOS boxes are better. Given that Tivo's subscription numbers are still going down (in the last report I saw), I think they need to pay attention to this stuff. You're not going to be gaining subscribers if first impressions by buyers is that your product doesn't look as good as one that is cheaper from your TV service provider.

[wmcbrine]

Another case is when I change a channel, I get the big Tivo display with information that either hangs around way too long or I set an option where it disappears immediately. Neither work well for me.Just hit "Clear" to clear it when you want. Also, if you don't want the full banner every time (I don't either), set it to use one of the smaller banners -- just press the right arrow key when the info banner is up. I prefer the bar that includes the title, but not the full info. Unfortunately I find that this setting comes unstuck fairly often.

[bcaslis]

Just hit "Clear" to clear it when you want. Also, if you don't want the full banner every time (I don't either), set it to use one of the smaller banners -- just press the right arrow key when the info banner is up. I prefer the bar that includes the title, but not the full info. Unfortunately I find that this setting comes unstuck fairly often.

Thanks, those are good suggestions. I've have to try the different banners tonight, I had forgotten that was possible.

[ericlhyman]

Tomorrow is my big day for a conversion from my DirecTV TiVo's to Verizon FiOS with two TiVo HD Units with Lifetime subscription. I previously posted this under a new thread (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=392421) but thought I should make comments here as well.

I have terminated all my connections to the units with one remaining currently as a SD TV with S-Video inputs and the other into a new LG LVD TV with a HDMI input. I have enusred the software versions were updated from the 8.1 from the boxes I received to the current 9.3a.

I am really hoping that the install tomorrow goes relatively smooth...I already have the ONT installed from the Phone & Internet connection so this should be a little quicker. My two concerns are hoping that the installer has previously dealt with CableCARDs / Tivo and the potential problems with the 9.3a software. However, in reading the posts on the 9.3a I am unsure how widespread the problem is...it doesn't appear as though everyone is having the problem.

Tim

Did you notice much improvement in your SD and HD picture quality after the switch? I am considering a switch.

[TheBar1]

Did you notice much improvement in your SD and HD picture quality after the switch? I am considering a switch.

I switched from DirecTV to FiOS last year, and there is a very obvious improvement on the SD channels I'm now getting with FiOS. I never had HD with DirecTV, so I can't offer an opinion there.

[thegeek]

I switched from DirecTV to FiOS last year, and there is a very obvious improvement on the SD channels I'm now getting with FiOS. I never had HD with DirecTV, so I can't offer an opinion there.

I too have been remarkably impressed in the difference between FiOS SD and DirecTV. With DirecTV I had forgotten how good even SD can look.

To the best of my knowledge, HD and everything else on FiOS goes out untouched from the video provider. No recompression or tinkering of that sort. Just google for "HD lite" and DirecTV to get your answer on what DirecTV does with their HD feeds.

[webin]

You are correct that Verizon doesn't recompress the video like Comcast and DirectTV do (and probably others). The reason is that there's no need. The delivery technology Verizon is using (fiber optic to the home) means they have a MASSIVE capacity compared to other content providers. Comcast and DirecTV use a soda straw, and Verizon has a fire hose (or maybe a couple fire hoses).

[riffjim4069]

I ordered a $179 refurished TiVO HD from yesterday. I decided that I could no longer live with the FiOS HD DVR...especially since Verizon cannot tell me when, or if, eSATA will ever be enabled, and I have a WD My DVR that is currently not being used. Earlier that day, I called Verizon's Fiber Solutions Center and they told me a couple things: the M-Card will only be available in the new receivers (FCC's requirement for separable security), and I would have to schedule an appointment for installation since they don't permit self-install. Ugh!...continue to get a different story each time I call. Anyway, I elected to order a free digital set-top-box (due to the upcoming analog to all digital conversion), and take care of the Cablecard issue another day.

This morning I decided to order Cablecards and was told that a Verizon Tech could install the cards at $74.99, or they could mail the cards, install it myself, and save the installation fee, plus taxes, fees, etc. Needless to say, I opted to install it install it myself and save $80 for ten minutes of work. As it turns out, I cannot order Cablecards until my previous order (free digital STB) is completed (received, activated, plus one business day for processing). I love the FiOS broadband and TV, but their billing and ordering systems is terrible.

Oh well, at least their CSRs are always friendly and speak english!

[crapmaster]

The FiosTV is being rolled out in the Seattle area where I leave and I'm thinking to jump into wagon. I currently have the Fios internet service, connected via coax from ONT to the Actiontec router. A couple of questions (I apologize if this has been addressed already, I spent 10-15 minutes searching around the forums and did not find the answer).

1) Does the Actiontec router support NAT forwarding, meaning can I hook up my own router to one of the ports to add ports ? The Actiontec is in the upstairs closet where the communications panel is, and I need ethernet hook-ups for Tivo S3 and PS3 in the downstairs living room, and have only single ethernet port there.

2) Even more basic question, if Verizon provides multicast cable cards in the future, will that mean that the TiVo S3 will have 4 tuners, if populated with 2 cards ? I suspect no, that you can only use a single card, but would like to get a confirmation.

Thanks in advance.

[wmcbrine]

1. Yes, but that's not what you want to do. What you want is a network switch, not a second router. (Or a hub, but hubs have been largely phased out since switches are so cheap now.)

2. There are only two tuners usable at a time, regardless of card type. ISTR that multistream CableCards actually support up to six simultaneous streams, but the TiVo can only use two of them.

Also, the S3 (as opposed to the THD) doesn't, as yet, support the multistream feature -- multistream cards operate in single-stream mode. And it's rumored that this may never be fixed. :(

[crapmaster]

1. Yes, but that's not what you want to do. What you want is a network switch, not a second router. (Or a hub, but hubs have been largely phased out since switches are so cheap now.)

2. There are only two tuners usable at a time, regardless of card type. ISTR that multistream CableCards actually support up to six simultaneous streams, but the TiVo can only use two of them.

Also, the S3 (as opposed to the THD) doesn't, as yet, support the multistream feature -- multistream cards operate in single-stream mode. And it's rumored that this may never be fixed. :(


Thanks for the quick response wmcbrine. Can you please elaborate your first anwser, I thought all routers have a built-in switch ? I would not use the wireless portion of the box (and would disable that, if there is an option to do that), I just need more 100MB ethernet ports.

[webin]

If you already have the second router, yes, you could hook it up. Some people put their own router behind the actiontec so that verizon can ping the verizon router and install their firmware updates (through the unclosable back door open port), and then use their own more secure router to feed their LAN. What wmcbrine was referring to was a dedicated switch such as http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1175243248569&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper&lid=4856933028B08 that would happily direct traffic on your network without trying to be the traffic cop.

[wmcbrine]

Can you please elaborate your first anwser, I thought all routers have a built-in switch ?They do, but that's the only part you need, so you're wasting your money and making your setup unnecessarily complicated by buying and installing a full router when only a switch is required.

webin, your link points to a router. Here are some plain switches:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=3697306&type=product&id=1051384141038
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7169244&type=product&id=1110266457435
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7650357&type=product&id=1134699430298

Apart from the price, the advantage of these is that you just plug them in and go. There is no setup. You take your one port, connect it to the "uplink" port on the switch (if it has one -- modern switches tend to be autosensing), and hook up your various devices to the other ports on the switch. That's it; you're done.

[webin]

webin, your link points to a router. Here are some plain switches:


That's what I get for posting instead of sleeping.

[crapmaster]

Thanks guys, I got it. The reason I was looking to use a wireless router is that I have one of those lying around, I'm not looking to buy anything new. So your reasoning makes perfect sense, I will give it a try with my existing router. Thanks again, case closed I hope.

[crapmaster]

Allrights, I hooked my Netgear WGT624v3 router into the port 1 of the Actiontec. While I get an IP address on the PC connected to Netgear, I don't have internet connection on that PC. I'm guessing the problem is the firewall on the Actiontec. When browsing to the Actiontec configuration page, I see the Netgear as IP 192.168.1.2 connected to Actiontec. I tried to muck around with the firewall settings (I tried port forwarding with all ports open, I tried making static NAT for 192.168.1.2, and I tried making Netgear as DMZ, but nothing seems to work. I cannot (apparently) completely disable the firewall on the Actiontec, but I did that on the Netgear to remove that from the equation.

I need some help, any tips or links to other forums would be greatly appreciated to resolve this.

[wmcbrine]

My tip is to use a switch. If there's a way to set the Netgear to operate as a simple switch, use that. Otherwise, you're just causing yourself unnecessary grief.

Still, it should work (after a fashion) if you just plug in the WAN port on the Netgear to a regular port on the Actiontec. You don't have the Netgear set up for PPPoE, do you? It needs to be set for DHCP. And no, you shouldn't have to mess with firewalls and DMZs.

[aaronwt]

Once you setup a DMZ, the Actiontec shouldn't be a factor. I have mine set this way, and the firewall on the Actiontec set on the lowest setting. My Actiontec does nothing when you check the log except renew it's IP address every two hours. My Dlink router plugged in to one of the Actiontec ports that is on a DMZ is the device that blocks things with the firewall and hands out IP addresses using DHCP.

I find this setup easiest, since the Actiontec is still conneted to the ONT, that way, if Verizon needs to do anything remotely, I don't have to change things around. With my Dlink being on a DMZ, everything is just as fast as if I had the Dlink connected directly to my ONT.

[rocko]

Allrights, I hooked my Netgear WGT624v3 router into the port 1 of the Actiontec. While I get an IP address on the PC connected to Netgear, I don't have internet connection on that PC. I'm guessing the problem is the firewall on the Actiontec. When browsing to the Actiontec configuration page, I see the Netgear as IP 192.168.1.2 connected to Actiontec. I tried to muck around with the firewall settings (I tried port forwarding with all ports open, I tried making static NAT for 192.168.1.2, and I tried making Netgear as DMZ, but nothing seems to work. I cannot (apparently) completely disable the firewall on the Actiontec, but I did that on the Netgear to remove that from the equation.

I need some help, any tips or links to other forums would be greatly appreciated to resolve this.

Did you disable the DHCP server on the Netgear? If the attached device thinks the Netgear is the gateway it's going to be disappointed.

The Actiontec should still be the boss - that's how I have it set up on my network anyway.

[crapmaster]

Thanks guys, I got it working. The key indeed was to disable the DHCP on Netgear, and also not to use the WAN port of the Netgear, but any of the LAN ports. So the set-up works now as expected. Thanks again all.

[dbphotos]

I've read through a lot of these posts and am thinking it's tme for me to switch from DTV to FIOS and the new Series 3 HD TIVO with M-Card. I'm in North Texas. Does anyone know of any continuing issues with FIOS an TIVO?

I'm a hug TIVO fan and can't stand the DTV HD DVR. I have TIVO on 2 non-HD t.v.'s in my house and just think they do a far superior job of what they are designed to do and they allo me to listen and watch podcasts.

Anything I should be aware of or concerned with if I switch to FIOS/TIVO setup?

Thanks!

[webin]

... Series 3 HD TIVO with M-Card.
Anything I should be aware of or concerned with if I switch to FIOS/TIVO setup?

Thanks!


Good choice. The only thing I notice from your comments... Verizon doesn't offer M-Cards. You can only get 2 S-Cards, which will cost you $7.98 a month.

[FiosUser]

I've read through a lot of these posts and am thinking it's tme for me to switch from DTV to FIOS and the new Series 3 HD TIVO with M-Card. I'm in North Texas. Does anyone know of any continuing issues with FIOS an TIVO?

I'm a hug TIVO fan and can't stand the DTV HD DVR. I have TIVO on 2 non-HD t.v.'s in my house and just think they do a far superior job of what they are designed to do and they allo me to listen and watch podcasts.

Anything I should be aware of or concerned with if I switch to FIOS/TIVO setup?

Thanks!


I have FIOS and a Tivo S3. The problem you will have is pixelation. You have to keep updating your connections every few months or so with attenuation, etc.

I got my pixelation fixed, but after a handful of months the pixelation returned. It has been a few weeks since it returned and I'm still going through combinations of different amounts of attenuation (a few weeks because it is hard to find time in between recordings to reboot the Tivo--since the Tivo reboot takes so dang long).

[dalesd]

I have FIOS and a Tivo S3. The problem you will have is pixelation. You have to keep updating your connections every few months or so with attenuation, etc.

I got my pixelation fixed, but after a handful of months the pixelation returned. It has been a few weeks since it returned and I'm still going through combinations of different amounts of attenuation (a few weeks because it is hard to find time in between recordings to reboot the Tivo--since the Tivo reboot takes so dang long).
I'm a recent FiOS TV customer (just a few months now) and I haven't had a single problem with pixelation. My installer included an attenuator on the cable that goes into the TiVo.

I had an initial problem with getting the S-cards activated. The install was Friday of Memorial Day Weekend. They still weren't working right Sunday morning, and I had a tech there Sunday morning of Memorial Day weekend. (He got them working.)