Problem Series 1 Tivo using MagicJack for Phone Line

[ron2010]

I just bought MagicJack with high hopes of being able cancel my $55 monthly LAN line phone, but Tivo Series 1 doesn't like it. It will dial in, but it won't connect. I heard about using a dsl filter, tried it forward and backwards, No Luck. MagicJack, (it works great for talking) but not Tivo Series 1. Changed all kinds of phone settings on the Tivo and the MagicJack, again No Luck. I just read about The TurboNET Ethernet Adapter Card that plugs on to the Series 1 motherboard that hooks to a wired network for internet downloads of guide Info, but I have four Series 1 Tivo's with Lifetime Service I am not willing to give up yet and dont want to buy four TurboNET Ethernet Adapter Cards. Anybody out there have a lower-tech solution. Any Help would be appreciated.
ron2010

http://www.9thtee.com/turbonet.htm

[ciper]

I found the solution. Read about it here http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/0...eula-says.html

[scandia101]

Originally Posted by ron2010

I just bought MagicJack with high hopes of being able cancel my $55 monthly LAN line phone,

The V in VOIP stand for voice for a reason.
It may be possible that your land (not LAN btw) line phone company could offer a low rate fax/data only line.
If that's not possible, the good news is that you'll only have to pay $280 for four turbonet cards and maybe an additional $24 for four connect kits to get your Tivos back in business.

[classicsat]

You can look into Serial PPP. Easy to do for one TiVo, but a bit of doing for four.

[scandia101]

You could try slowing down the connection speed. It may not help at all, but it's worth a try.
From: http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb...d.php?t=122090

8. Dialing codes
Want to change the way your Tivo calls home? Read on. All these codes are inserted into the dialing prefix space in the Phone Setup stuff.

,#034 - This will limit the speed of the modem to v.34 (28.8k) which may improve your connections if you have poor lines. If you have a lot of failed calls, this might help. Makes the call take about twice as long, in theory.

,#019 - Same concept as above, but slower. If the above won't work, try this. But beware that it will seriously slow down the connection and make the call that much longer. Like 4 times longer than normal, approximately.

Don't forget the comma.

[ron2010]

I greatly appreciate all of the Info Thank You.
Oh by the way, I really did not know that (The V in VOIP stand for voice)
This internet calling stuff is new to me. Thanks again.

ron2010

[ochophosphate]

I'm having a similar issue. It Prepares, and I can see MJ dialing, but I never connect or update.

Luckily I only have one series 1 Tivo... so a fix for me will be a lot easier. Just wanted to check.

[nedflanders]

Anybody have any luck with this, if not me and my tivo 1 are sol.

[classicsat]

Consider serial PPP.

[lonewoolf47]

Any recent updates to this thread?

[CKarpa]

I have been researching many blogs and community forums....I also have 4 Tivo's - from series 1 - to HD....
Recently I switched to VOIP with Time Warner NYC. Most of the people moving from analog to digital voice in the forums were Vonnage customers. I tried many things - not wishing to have the added expense of turbonet. And this worked for me.
I purchased a RCA Wireless Portable Phone Jack RC940 at Radio shack for about $60. They also have them at Best Buy.
Then I adjusted the phone calling settings using ,#034
Called my local cable number
Takes a while to update. But it works....
Hope this saves you the trial and error I had.
Enjoy!
Carol

[jfcannon]

CKarpa,

Let me make sure I understand your post correctly. You plugged your Tivo directly into your new VoIP with Time Warner and the Tivo couldn't connect to update its TV schedule, even if you used the ,#034 prefix. Then you plugged your Tivo into the wireless portable phone jack which connected via that jack to your VoIP with Time Warner, used the ,#034 prefix and the Tivo was able to update OK. In other words the only difference between failure and success is you sent the signal via the wireless portable phone jack? Have I got it right?

I don't see why it should make any difference whether you go through a wireless phone jack or not, but if you confirm that's what happened, I'll give it a try. Has anyone tried this with magicJack?

[bosanci28]

so will this "RCA Wireless Portable Phone Jack RC940"
work for tivo series 1 with magicjack?

thanks!

[unitron]

Originally Posted by bosanci28

so will this "RCA Wireless Portable Phone Jack RC940"
work for tivo series 1 with magicjack?

thanks!

I'm guessing that the wireless phone jack slowed down the connection enough for it to work.

If your Series 1's internal modem is still working (they're notorious for getting fried by the least little spike on the phone line*), then if you can find a way to make it slow down you can save yourself the cost of the wireless jack system.

Or you could research "tivo external modem", and learn how to use the TiVo's serial port to connect to an external modem and how to put in a dial prefix in the telephone settings of the TiVo that will make it use the external modem at the speed you specify. That way you don't have to worry about the internal modem going bad.

Of course, that's assuming that slowing down the connection is what allowed that guy's TiVo to work with Voice Over Internet Protocol.

As someone who lives where we get hurricanes, I like having a "regular" telephone fed by an underground line from a central office with its own power supply so that when the electricity, and the nearest cell phone towers, and the cable (and therefore the internet) are out, I can still pick up the house phone and make a call.


*You should tie a knot in each end of the phone line plugged into the back of the TiVo. At the extremely high frequencies of a voltage spike induced on the phone line it has enough inductance to act as a filter and reduce the level of the spike.