[CosmicTruckerTiVo]

My wife and I recently did a teardown and rebuild in Fairfax, VA. Prior to building the new house we had used Tivo with cable card in the Verizon FiOS network for years. During the rebuilding process we moved to rental house just a few miles away and had to setup a new Verizon FiOS account in late 2021. Verizon provided a new Cable Card which was tied to the new account.

Last month we finally finished the new house and moved back into our old neighborhood. Since the house is new construction a new Verizon cable drop was installed and a new account was created. I've been trying for several days to convince Verizon customer service to either send me a cable card registered to the new account or allow me to transfer my old account (including the cable card) to the new address.

Verizon won't budge. They refuse to provide a new cable card, transfer the current cable card to the new account, or allow me to transfer my pre-existing account to my new address. What is messed up is that the Tivo and Cable Card are working fine in my new house but only because I haven't terminated the pre-existing account at the rental house. As soon as that pre-existing account is closed I expect the cable card to stop working. It's my understanding that each cable card is paired with the account and the specific device into which it is inserted when activated.

I filed and FCC complaint yesterday and received a call from someone at Verizon this afternoon. I was told pretty much what Verizon customer service has already told me. There is no way to keep the cable card active if there are any changes to the account such as a transfer to a new address. Obviously this is not true. The cable card is working just as it always has, and it's only Verizon's policies which prevent the cable card from being used on a new account or a transferred account.

Very frustrating. Cable Card was the creation of the Cable TV industry and while it was not perfect, it did open up cable tv equipment to some limited competition. That era appears to be over with respect to Verizon FiOS.

I'll have to see what the wife wants to do, but I'm leaning towards dropping FiOS TV and just going with over the air and limited streaming.

Your “fun” has only begun with canceling Fios. The equipment return for Verizon is a broken mess. Their system does Not understand returning Cable Cards, and will ship you a return mailer for Cable Set Top Boxes instead. Do not ship your cards back via this service because you will Not receive correct credit and Verizon will send you a Failure To Return bill for each cards.

This took me Months and many hours on the phone to correct. Absolutely horrible experience.

 

[rcoates777]

I believe it. But why would they even want the Cable Cards back if they no longer support them? If I were a cynic I'd guess for the opportunity to bill you for Failure to Return.

 

[Sparky1234]

Services near Florida area house no longer supported CCs 2 years ago. Rooftop antenna and OTA Bolt+ solved my TV issue and reduced my monthly bill by $125 per month. When verizon stops supporting CCs in my Virginia area house then I will do the same and save $135 per month. When TiVo abandons TiVo box OTA updates then I will look for alternatives. So who loses in this scenario.

 

[TrappedLikeARat]

For whatever it’s worth, a few years ago a buddy had problems with his be Bolt and VZ replaced the ONT. Problems still existed and the service guy thought it might be the card. The problem is they didn’t have any new cards, so they just brought a box of misc stuff which had cable cards tossed in there after being returned. They would just pull a card out, test it, and if it didn’t work toss it back in the box and pull out another one. Until a more senior tech came out, on the first few visits the guys didn’t really understand cable cards.

Signal strength on his TiVo was horrible. So, I brought my Roamio Pro over to his house and was getting full bars and any channel I wanted. I was not really expecting my Roamio to just plug and play like that. It might be interesting to bring it over and try it. If it works it might give you some leverage. I’m not sure how you reconcile the card in the new location, but if the card is receiving the signal it should just get whatever channel the new address is supposed to get. It’s not like you’re stealing the service. Also, if they do discover it I doubt they’ll ban you. I’ve worked in a VZ call center, and if you find a good rep they can advocate to a manager or escalate and I don’t remember any unreasonable reactions. They may follow a rule, but they’d probably work with you to keep you as a customer- maybe not the card, though.

 

[TVfromOuterSpace]

My wife and I recently did a teardown and rebuild in Fairfax, VA. Prior to building the new house we had used Tivo with cable card in the Verizon FiOS network for years. During the rebuilding process we moved to rental house just a few miles away and had to setup a new Verizon FiOS account in late 2021. Verizon provided a new Cable Card which was tied to the new account.

Last month we finally finished the new house and moved back into our old neighborhood. Since the house is new construction a new Verizon cable drop was installed and a new account was created. I've been trying for several days to convince Verizon customer service to either send me a cable card registered to the new account or allow me to transfer my old account (including the cable card) to the new address.

Verizon won't budge. They refuse to provide a new cable card, transfer the current cable card to the new account, or allow me to transfer my pre-existing account to my new address. What is messed up is that the Tivo and Cable Card are working fine in my new house but only because I haven't terminated the pre-existing account at the rental house. As soon as that pre-existing account is closed I expect the cable card to stop working. It's my understanding that each cable card is paired with the account and the specific device into which it is inserted when activated.

I filed and FCC complaint yesterday and received a call from someone at Verizon this afternoon. I was told pretty much what Verizon customer service has already told me. There is no way to keep the cable card active if there are any changes to the account such as a transfer to a new address. Obviously this is not true. The cable card is working just as it always has, and it's only Verizon's policies which prevent the cable card from being used on a new account or a transferred account.

Very frustrating. Cable Card was the creation of the Cable TV industry and while it was not perfect, it did open up cable tv equipment to some limited competition. That era appears to be over with respect to Verizon FiOS.

I'll have to see what the wife wants to do, but I'm leaning towards dropping FiOS TV and just going with over the air and limited streaming.

I would suggest SATELLITE DirecTV. I love it. Everything is stored on a local hard drive. I can zip through commercials seamlessly. If I were to move, DirecTV would not even be aware of it because my bill goes to a post office box.

Also, on shows that I really like, it's easy to transfer them to DVD or Blu-ray for PERMANENT storage.

 

[SprintDrive]

I closed out a Verizon account for a deceased relative a couple months ago and was required to return the cable card. When I switched them from xfinity to verizon several years ago, xfinity didn't require me to return the cable card.

 

[SprintDrive]

My wife and I recently did a teardown and rebuild in Fairfax, VA. Prior to building the new house we had used Tivo with cable card in the Verizon FiOS network for years. During the rebuilding process we moved to rental house just a few miles away and had to setup a new Verizon FiOS account in late 2021. Verizon provided a new Cable Card which was tied to the new account.

Last month we finally finished the new house and moved back into our old neighborhood. Since the house is new construction a new Verizon cable drop was installed and a new account was created. I've been trying for several days to convince Verizon customer service to either send me a cable card registered to the new account or allow me to transfer my old account (including the cable card) to the new address.

Verizon won't budge. They refuse to provide a new cable card, transfer the current cable card to the new account, or allow me to transfer my pre-existing account to my new address. What is messed up is that the Tivo and Cable Card are working fine in my new house but only because I haven't terminated the pre-existing account at the rental house. As soon as that pre-existing account is closed I expect the cable card to stop working. It's my understanding that each cable card is paired with the account and the specific device into which it is inserted when activated.

I filed and FCC complaint yesterday and received a call from someone at Verizon this afternoon. I was told pretty much what Verizon customer service has already told me. There is no way to keep the cable card active if there are any changes to the account such as a transfer to a new address. Obviously this is not true. The cable card is working just as it always has, and it's only Verizon's policies which prevent the cable card from being used on a new account or a transferred account.

Very frustrating. Cable Card was the creation of the Cable TV industry and while it was not perfect, it did open up cable tv equipment to some limited competition. That era appears to be over with respect to Verizon FiOS.

I'll have to see what the wife wants to do, but I'm leaning towards dropping FiOS TV and just going with over the air and limited streaming.

If you have a 4 tuner bolt, you can create one passes for OTA and streaming and streaming shows will present themselves in my shows like recordings and will start streaming the show like a recording. A roamio will also work, but streaming is far less responsive than a bolt. You can subscribe to Netflix, amazon and tubi and get the ad free subscription on Netflix and amazon, but you have to watch ads on tubi.

 

[cwoody222]

If you have a 4 tuner bolt, you can create one passes for OTA and streaming and streaming shows will present themselves in my shows like recordings and will start streaming the show like a recording. A roamio will also work, but streaming is far less responsive than a bolt. You can subscribe to Netflix, amazon and tubi and get the ad free subscription on Netflix and amazon, but you have to watch ads on tubi.

And if he wants to watch streaming shows on Hulu, or Disney+, or Paramount+, or HBO Max, or Peacock, or any host of others, a TiVo is worthless.

He’d be better off using any other device for streaming.

 

[rcoates777]

Yup, not a great assortment of streaming apps - at least on my Bolt. Combine dwindling support of cable cards and few apps and you wonder what willl keep TiVo above water. I am not sure if the streaming providers write the apps or if it's TiVo. Nobody's UI is as good as TiVo's. And their full screen fast forward is the best!

 

[cwoody222]

TiVo’s non retail business will keep them above water. The retail business has never been very profitable.

Streaming providers write the apps. No one is going to provide new apps for TiVo’s OS any more, it’s not worth their time.

 

[rcoates777]

What is TiVo's non-retail business? Maybe providing UI to other DVR providers? Thx!

 

[cwoody222]

What is TiVo's non-retail business? Maybe providing UI to other DVR providers? Thx!

TiVo for Business

TiVo brings entertainment together, making it easy to find, watch and enjoy. We serve up the best movies, shows and videos from across live TV, on-demand, streaming services and countless apps, helping people to watch on their terms. For studios, networks and advertisers, TiVo delivers a...

business.tivo.com

 

[JoeFloyd]

Here is the Verizon page for installing CableCard that contains the CableCard end of support notice. Great use of fine print.

 

[JoeFloyd]

I have been using AppleTV 4K boxes for a streaming. I tried out the YouTube TV app on the AppleTV 4K and it's responsive. OTA local sub-channels are limited, but otherwise the service is similar enough. Recording is unlimited (cloud) but the "library" of recordings is not well organized. Trick play features are pretty similar on "recordings", but it is not always easy to know if something being shown in the library is a recording or a VOD stream. VOD streams have unskippable ads.

I set the wife up with an AppleTV 4K and YouTube TV to see if she would be happy with using that service vs. cable and Tivo. She is OK with YouTube TV so far.

I'm going to track down the Tivo Roamio with OTA tuners and see if it still works. I'm pretty sure that Roamio requires the separate streaming box (which I have), but that box was never all that reliable.

 

[PL1]

Recording is unlimited (cloud) but the "library" of recordings is not well organized.

Stored for 9 Months.

FAQ: Are there really no DVR storage space limits?

There really aren’t – we promise! Record as much as you want at the same time, without ever running out of storage space. We keep each recording for 9 months. Build your dream Library, and stream it anywhere you have internet access in the US.