Tivo in Montreal, QC question

[dabrat76]

Hi,

I tried doing a search but I couldn't find what I was looking for. I've found a deal on 2 Series 2 boxes that are prepaid and the person I'm buying from needs an address for activation before sending them to me. I'm in Montreal, QC where the service isn't officially available yet. So should I give a U.S. addy that I have or just my home address in Montreal?

Thanks for your help!

Tara :)

[jjberger2134]

Why do you think TiVo Service is not available in Canada? I thought the service was available throughout the country.

http://www.tivo.com/promo/canada.html

Be careful what you are doing in your above post. I do not understand why someone else would be activating a unit for you.

[dabrat76]

lol I know it doesn't specify in that link, but TRUST ME, it's not available in Quebec. Google Tivo in Quebec and just about every link will say "Tivo in Canada - except Quebec" (frustrates me to no end).

It's an ebay listing, 1 year prepaid, they send it out activated. Is that really unusual? I checked their feedback and it's not the 1st one they are selling, they had 100% on their Tivos.

[jjberger2134]

Ok, I did not know about TiVo's aversion to Quebec. Interesting.

I guess in your case an eBay purchase, combined with the fact that you cannot buy the TiVo locally, it kind of makes sense. Just make sure that the TiVo will be able to download and receive your local channels. As far as the address goes, I would have the eBay seller try your Quebec address first. If that does not work try Plan B.

[dabrat76]

I think it's more Quebec having an aversion to English only products than Tivo's aversion to Quebec lol. Last I heard we should be getting official service in May. The seller said as long as I had service from a company that provides service to elsewhere in Canada it wouldn't be a problem. I have Expressvu (national satellite service) so I should be fine.

If worse comes to absolute worse, I know it will work at our camper in the U.S. for sure (Dish network) so it won't be completely wasted money... lol

[jjberger2134]

or it will work in May in Quebec (if that is true). I have done some digging on this site, and it seems that the service may work in Quebec, although I did not read every thread.

[dabrat76]

I did try and do some digging but I must not have worded my search thread properly b/c I couldn't seem to find much. I'm fairly certain it works in Quebec as I did find a local dial-in number (well before service was available in Canada) I was just concerned more about the account address, but it seems you've answered my question. Thank you SO much for your help, it's truly appreciated :)

[RonDawg]

Someone posted a while back that he bought a TiVo for a relative in Quebec and that it does work, but that guide data is a bit sparse.

[lallyloo]

Hi,

Just wanted to assure you that the Tivo service is available in Quebec, it is just that the units aren't available to buy at retail stores (presumably because the manuals are not available in French). (There is a (514) dial in number to get the local guide data).

We have a Series2 that we bought two years ago in the states, brought up to Vancouver, where it worked fine (with Shaw cable). We moved to Montreal this summer and right now it works with videotron digital cable (with IR blaster).

As for the activation address, I believe at the time we activated it we gave the fake WY zip code because didn't accept postal codes. Whether or not the units now available in Canada have new software to accept postal codes I don't know. Perhaps someone else can answer this?

I don't know how much a deal you have on ebay, but you might want to check if Future Shop would ship to Quebec, or drive to Cornwall and pick one up there.

Good Luck, (its well worth the effort)!

[lallyloo]

Okay, just a clarification on the address thing.

I remember now, that when we input the address on the unit for set up we had to input LEO WY, 82327. However, we input our real Canadian address when we activated the account online. On the online account it now shows our Quebec address followed by the the above fake us address. So tivo.com will accept a Quebec address for online activation.

hope this helps!

[dabrat76]

Thanks for the info! I was pretty sure it wouldn't be an issue, but nice to hear for sure :)