Force receivers to dial toll-free?

[cornflakes]

Hi everyone,

I haven't had a landline in my home for a few years now. For standard receivers, it's not a problem, I just don't order any PPV and DirecTV doesn't really care if the receiver's not connected to a phone. My Tivo boxes have been modified so they can dial out through a network connection.

I'm thinking about getting a landline again for security (911) reasons, but will only be getting a measured rate service. I also have an R15 coming, which I would like to plug in and take advantage of the NBC PPV feature.

Is it possible to force the receivers to call a toll-free 800 number instead of a local number? I would get charged for every local call under the measured rate, but toll free would be free for me.

Thank you!

[CCarncross]

Dont they already call a toll-free number?

[cornflakes]

Dont they already call a toll-free number?

Tivo, at the very least, dials a local number because I recall it asking me to pick a local number based on my zip code (or area code, I forget). I don't remember about the regular receivers though because it's been a while since I used one.

[jonaswan2]

The R15's don't dial out. Got the info from over at tivocommunity.com (could have guessed it though).

[trnsfrguy]

The R15's don't dial out. Got the info from over at tivocommunity.com (could have guessed it though).

I don't think that was established yet. The post over at Tivo Community states that it didn't need a set up call, but it does have a phone jack on the back of the unit. At the time of the last post, the unit hadn't called out yet.

[cornflakes]

Finally got the R15 hooked up today (the installer last week refused to install it because my phone service wasn't hooked up yet). And yes, the R15 doesn't call out daily like the Tivo. This was what DirecTV's DVR support told me. The R15 doesn't even ask you for your phone's area code. It does dial out for PPV and to check your receivers are at the same locations though supposedly. According to the tech, it dials a toll free number for that.

The DVR functions are activated through the satellite so there's no need for the R15 to dial out for DVR functions.

[deaconjo]

Since we can't initiate a call-in like we can with Tivo, can we call CS and ask them to do it? I recall when I setup my R15 the tech seemed to download info at the push of a button.