[eclarkso]

I got home yesterday to find my TiVo locked up. Everything seemed fine, until my wife asked why the phone line was busy--I picked up our landline and got no dial tone. After a little deduction, it seems as if my S3 modem died (no idea why--it's on a surge protector and there were no reset clocks to indicate a power blip). Anytime the phone line is plugged into Tivo, the line is off the hook.

Anyway, the real meat of this post: I called Tivo CS, who confirmed it sounds like a bad modem. But I'm 6 months post-purchase, which she said meant I had to pay $50 for an exchange. I didn't think to ask her at the time, but I assume that would mean my lifetime service would transfer to the new unit? In any case, the choices as I see them are:

+ Pay $50, lose the Tivo for a short while, and get a new-ish unit.
+ Pay $50 for the wireless adapter, keep the unit, and just use my wireless (which is what I've been wanting to do anyway).
+ Play CS roulette and see if I can get a free exchange? Or a free wireless adapter?
+ See if I can get 5000 more reward points from someone and get a free wireless (and keep my unit)?

Any other suggestions? Which of these do you think is the best choice? Is the CS roulette option a reasonable thought?

I'm a little peeved at the prospect of paying $50 for an exchange less than 6 months into it, especially this would be #2 (first was free for DOA OLED). OTOH, I don't want to keep a unit if this failure might be indicative of the future... Your thoughts?

 

[drew00001]

I would get a new unit (one way or another) and also buy a wireless adapter.

 

[coldfusionak]

Would they be willing to transfer your data from the old Tivo to the new one, that would peeve me more, losing any data in the switch.

 

[GoHokies!]

+ Pay $50 for the wireless adapter, keep the unit, and just use my wireless (which is what I've been wanting to do anyway).

You wanted to do this anyway. Think of it as a sign to go ahead and get it done.

 

[mike_camden]

New unit -- something caused the modem to go wrong. You're not sure that it's not a problem with the motherboard or power distribution that might cause additional component failure.

 

[gbrown]

I'd do both. Pay the $50 to get a new, albeit reconditioned, unit AND get the WiFi antenna. There are so many advantages to WiFi - speed being just one.

 

[wolflord11]

You have gone thru 2 "NEW" Series 3 units in less than 6 Months.......I would be beginning to wonder about the reliability of the Series 3.

I would be getting a New unit "Most probally a reconditioned return". As mike_camden has said, who knows what other damage the unit has. But I would be telling them to replace the unit for Free. Why pay them another $50?

Also, get the Wireless Adapter to, by either paying $50, or getting One for free.

 

[VanGoghLikesTivo]

Did you buy with a credit card that would double the warranty period? I'd likely buy a WiFi modem and see if it works.

 

[HomeUser]

WHAT! you are using DIAL-UP with an S3? Go with wired (adapter already included in S3) or wireless network.

Your missing The TiVo Advantage
- Unbox downloads
- Net Casts
- View Photos and play music from Network
- Online scheduling

 

[richsadams]

If it were me I'd just add the network adapter and keep all of my programming. You can always exchange it later using the same reasoning.

If you want a replacement I'd press TiVo's CSR for a free exchange based on your experience with the first two. Their customer retention folks are pretty good and have a lot of latitude.

Yes, your lifetime service would transfer and you should be able to get them to ship a replacement immediately if you provide them your credit card number. They'll make a charge and then refund it when they receive your unit. If you play it right both transactions might be on the same statement.

But...YES...networking is the way to go. Our S3 is on Ethernet and our DT S2 is wi-fi...both work perfectly. :up:

Let us know how it goes!

EDIT: Just noticed that you can get a TiVo wireless adapter at Amazon for $41.88 with free shipping!

 

[eclarkso]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Just to clarify various things people mentioned:

+ I'm aware of the advantages of networking the Tivo (my S2 is), but the way we use Tivo doesn't really gain much from networking--Unbox price points are too high IMO, I very rarely use online scheduling, tried but never seem to have used photos/music/netcasts, etc. That's not to say I don't want it/like the idea--it's just not worth $50 to me.

+ I hadn't thought about the credit card issue--I'll look into that, thanks.

+ Good points about losing my data.

So I'm thinking I'll punt--get a wireless adapter and then think about it again before the 1 year is up.

 

[sommerfeld]

Any other suggestions? Which of these do you think is the best choice? Is the CS roulette option a reasonable thought?

Wired ethernet? On the back of the S3, there's an RJ45 ethernet jack right next to the phone jack.

It probably won't work for you - I'm mentioning this only for completeness - but if you can get a phone cable to the tivo you may also be able to pull category 5 ethernet cable between your tivo and your router.

 

[richsadams]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Just to clarify various things people mentioned:

+ I'm aware of the advantages of networking the Tivo (my S2 is), but the way we use Tivo doesn't really gain much from networking--Unbox price points are too high IMO, I very rarely use online scheduling, tried but never seem to have used photos/music/netcasts, etc. That's not to say I don't want it/like the idea--it's just not worth $50 to me.

+ I hadn't thought about the credit card issue--I'll look into that, thanks.

+ Good points about losing my data.

So I'm thinking I'll punt--get a wireless adapter and then think about it again before the 1 year is up.

Sounds good...keep us posted.

Also, it's not a big deal certainly but when TiVo uses broadband it connects with Mother TiVo every 15 minutes or so, ensuring that any programming changes, etc. are always up to date.

BTW, a half-dozen or more Unbox recently released videos are usually offered at 99 cents every weekend. :up: Here's this week's:

• Rent The Pursuit of Happyness, 99 cents

• Rent Music and Lyrics, 99 cents

• Rent The Good Shepherd, 99 cents

• Rent The Sweetest Thing, 99 cents

• Rent The 24th Day, 99 cents

• Rent Happy Feet, 99 cents

 

[eclarkso]

Wired Ethernet: yeah, I've been trying to figure out how I might get that to work, but my router is soon to be on a different floor from the Tivo :/. But thanks.

Unbox: I didn't know about the $1 specials--thanks. For now, Unbox looks pretty good on my S2 and smaller TV... doesn't suffer in comparison to HD programming!

 

[mattack]

WHAT! you are using DIAL-UP with an S3? Go with wired (adapter already included in S3) or wireless network.

I'm using dialup.

1) I already have/need dialup for my S1s.. (Since of them will be unsubscribed after the free year of lifetime is up, I can't imagine paying that much for a wireless adapter..)
2) The wireless connection even for a laptop is fairly flaky upstairs.

 

[richsadams]

I'm using dialup.

1) I already have/need dialup for my S1s.. (Since of them will be unsubscribed after the free year of lifetime is up, I can't imagine paying that much for a wireless adapter..)
2) The wireless connection even for a laptop is fairly flaky upstairs.

Our DT S2 with the TiVo wireless adapter is in our basement and our 802.11n router is on the third floor. The connection reads between 65% (good) to 74% (excellent) all of the time so no problems with connections.

 

[HomeUser]

I'm using dialup.

1) I already have/need dialup for my S1s.. (Since of them will be unsubscribed after the free year of lifetime is up, I can't imagine paying that much for a wireless adapter..)
2) The wireless connection even for a laptop is fairly flaky upstairs.

see sommerfeld's post above, if you have the extra port on your router then it is just the cost of the cable. Look around I see good cat 5 cables tossed quite often when neighbors switch to wireless or upgrade to 5e.

You don't have to switch the S1 from dial-up if you switch the S3 to network.