Tivo Series2 First Setup Without Phone Line
I just purchased a second Tivo Series2 and am happy to report that it is possible to perform the initial Guided Setup without a phone line!
My configuration:
Tivo unit’s service number: starts with 540
USB to Ethernet adapter: NetGear FA120
I have SpeakEasy VoIP for my phone service. Since I use VoIP, computer modems will not work for me. This could have presented a major hurdle since Tivo’s site is adamant that the first connection must be performed by phone. However, Tivo’s customer service site has this excellent advice for repeating the Guided Setup using an Internet connection.
First I setup the Tivo’s cabling to the cable box, television, home network, and power. Then I proceeded through the initial Guided Setup. When I got to the “Welcome!” screen (“You are about to begin Guided Setup…”), I picked up on Step 3 of the instructions from Tivo’s Customer Service site. The short of it is to go into Dialing Options > Set Dial Prefix and enter the value ,#401 (comma-pound-four-zero-one). Then proceed normally and when the Tivo attempts to connect, it will use the Internet instead of the phone line (which I never bothered to plug in anyway).
You are a lifesaver. Tivo support couldn’t tell me how to do this. After about 20 tries to connect through vonage. Hoped they could tell me a workaround, but they failed. You succeeded.
Thanks mate,
Joe
Anonymous
December 18, 2007 at 8:15 pm
I’m glad to learn that my post has been helpful!
It’s been just over two years since I first published this entry, so I’m very surprised that Tivo hasn’t made this solution official and provided an easy, non-techy way to implement it in the guided setup. I suppose the difficulty might be walking through the setup for wireless adapters on hidden and/or password-protected WiFi networks, but still…
David L Kinney
December 18, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Im just now trying to hook up a 2004 tivo system..they told us we’d have to first hook to a phone line. another girl said just the adaptor would work.
would this work, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ER5G6C/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
because you said you used a usb to ethernet..
Michelle Stasha
February 6, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Michelle,
I’ve never tried the setup with a wireless adapter, so I can’t give an authoritative answer. However, I recall thinking that wireless should work just fine, if the wireless network didn’t have security enabled (WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc.) and the network was not “hidden”. The need for no wireless security was due to the startup process not having a screen to enter the wireless network’s password — only “plug and play” wireless would work. TiVo may have expanded the setup process since I last performed this operation and may now fully support wireless setups when using their adapter — the one to which you link.
The approach I recommend is disabling security on your wireless network and running the TiVo setup. You cannot harm the TiVo by trying. As I recall, you need to provide the phone number information very early in the process, so you won’t even lose a lot of time if it doesn’t work out.
I hope this has been helpful.
Regards,
David
David L Kinney
February 7, 2008 at 8:43 am
tivo setup without phone line…
…aparently to do guided setup Tivo has to be connected to router using USB adapter and cable, can’t be done wireless !!! This note sais it all.
http://everything2.com/node/1746837?like_id=1746838&op=ilikeit
Andre
Andre
October 6, 2009 at 12:51 am