How well does DirecTV work with cable phone services?

5420 Views 21 Replies 17 Participants Last post by jwd45244, Aug 26, 2008

Tom Servo

Discussion Starter · Aug 23, 2008

Just wondering how many of you hook up multiple receivers will cable-provided phone service and how well it works.

I've been trying to convince my family to drop AT&T phone and DSL service for the local cable provider, who offers much faster internet.

My main concern is having multiple receivers (non-DVR)--I used to have them disconnected from the phone lines but then they'd all get shut off once in a blue moon and I DON'T want that to happen if we ditch AT&T.

After a sour experience with a cold-calling AT&T rep today, I'm considering having the family vote with our wallets and move to an alternate provider -- IF -- it won't cause issues with the DirecTV boxes.

1 - 20 of 22 Posts

lostman72

· #2 · Aug 23, 2008

I have Comcast. It works great. My TiVo’s and all my boxes have no trouble at all. I had other VoIP’s like Vonage and it was not great for analog modems. Also my home alarm has no trouble dialing out. What cable Co. do you have? One more note the modem and VoIP from Comcast is one box that does it all.

carl6

· #3 · Aug 23, 2008

It may or may not work - VOIP and analog modem functions are inherently incompatible. Some work while others don't.

However, you can use all of the newer DirecTV equipment without a phone line attached, except that you won't be able to order pay per view using the remote (you can still order on-line).

Carl

MIAMI1683

· #4 · Aug 23, 2008

My cable phone is not VOIP. It's just a "digital" phone. It works flawlessly with all of my IRD's. Caller ID works too. The updates come from the satellites now though. If you want caller id function cable's digital phone works fine

rudeney

· #5 · Aug 23, 2008

Some VoIP services have a prefix code you can dial to put it into “fax mode”. It gives that call more bandwidth and thus better analog sound quality. That often works, but also, I have hear of people claiming that placing a DSL filter between the modem and jack helps, too. Of course with the newer receivers having Ethernet ports that can be used for the “phone home”, this will become less of an issue.

Tom Servo

Discussion Starter · #6 · Aug 23, 2008

lostman72 said:
I have Comcast. It works great. My TiVo's and all my boxes have no trouble at all. I had other VoIP's like Vonage and it was not great for analog modems. Also my home alarm has no trouble dialing out. What cable Co. do you have? One more note the modem and VoIP from Comcast is one box that does it all.

Cable out here is Cabe One. Their website is pretty sparse on specifics regarding the phone service.

One of our receivers is a D10 which doesn't have an ethernet port, but as far as I know our non-DVR units' ethernet ports are inactive anyway. I'm pretty sure they have dialled out several times in the two years we've had service at this address because I've managed to interrupt the dial outs twice now in the middle o' the night.

Which I find odd since we've got no sports packs and no one here has ever ordered a pay per view in years and years!

curt8403

· #7 · Aug 23, 2008

the trick (Everyone) is the sampling rate for the VOIP service. The higher the rate, the more likely it is that it will work with directv.

Grentz

· #8 · Aug 23, 2008

Tom Servo said:
Cable out here is Cabe One. Their website is pretty sparse on specifics regarding the phone service.

One of our receivers is a D10 which doesn't have an ethernet port, but as far as I know our non-DVR units' ethernet ports are inactive anyway. I'm pretty sure they have dialled out several times in the two years we've had service at this address because I've managed to interrupt the dial outs twice now in the middle o' the night.

Which I find odd since we've got no sports packs and no one here has ever ordered a pay per view in years and years!

They still dial back to Directv now and then to send bits of info and check in.

carl6

· #9 · Aug 23, 2008

MIAMI1683 said:
My cable phone is not VOIP. It's just a "digital" phone.

If it uses your internet connection (cable modem) to operate, it is most certainly VOIP. The only way you would have a "digital" phone that wasn't IP is if you were behind a PBX that had digital extensions, and even then the voice is normally analog (unless it's a VOIP phone system).

Carl

davring

· #10 · Aug 23, 2008

Regarding your change over to cable from your telco, cable in not always faster internet. It will have much higher burst speeds but likely will drop off during peak times. I know a few people down here who were very disappointed, a couple even switched back. Some cable companies also are starting to put caps on downloads, AT&T has not made that move as yet. Just my own observations, FWIW.

FHSPSU67

· #11 · Aug 24, 2008

I've had VOIP over AtlanticBroadband for almost a year and my 4 Directv receivers have never failed a phone test other than when a phone is active.

bobnielsen

· #12 · Aug 24, 2008

I have had my DVRs connected to Vonage VOIP for a year with zero issues. Caller ID works fine with this also.

Drew2k

· #13 · Aug 24, 2008

I have Cablevision's Optimum Voice service - working great with DIRECTV HDVR2, HR10-250, and HR2x DVRs...

Tom Servo

Discussion Starter · #14 · Aug 25, 2008

davring said:
Regarding your change over to cable from your telco, cable in not always faster internet. It will have much higher burst speeds but likely will drop off during peak times. I know a few people down here who were very disappointed, a couple even switched back. Some cable companies also are starting to put caps on downloads, AT&T has not made that move as yet. Just my own observations, FWIW.

I understand that and it's one reason I haven't pushed harder to go cable.

I had cable service through Charter when I lived in Alabama; the first three or four years of service was iffy until I convinced them the problem was at the junction box in my front yard. After that it went out maybe three times in three years.

They also upgraded from 3 to 6 Mbps in my area and everyone got it for free. Here, AT&T had someone from India call up and tell us an upgrade was available and acted as if it were a free upgrade when in reality it's going to cost more. Sadly I wasn't the one to get the call or I coulda figured out the marketing ploy instead of having an uninformed family member okay the "upgrade".

And so far, the service isn't anywhere near the target rate of 3 Mbps. It hovers around 1.8 Mbps, which isn't much better than the 1.2 Mbps we had before (listed at 1.5). And it goes out for 10-60 minutes at a time at least three times a week when I need it most (evenings, weekends and overnights). I've had service techs out here two or three times now over staticy phones, too, but that problem also persists. It's stupid because this is a pretty new house in a brand new neighborhood.

Since I'm an off-peak user, the cable slowdown never really affected me unless I was using it on holidays or weekends... Then it was pretty noticeable.

I'm the only heavy user in the house and most of that activity is after 10pm, so cable (hopefully) wouldn't be so bad. Then again it's a small company out here so who knows how reliable it is.

*sigh* decisions, decisions... I appreciate everyone's feedback, though. At least I know now there's a good chance the receivers can be hooked up and dial out if needed.

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Alebob911

· #15 · Aug 25, 2008

I have Charter phone service and the tech that installed said he was a tech from Comcast out here to help Charter techs get up to speed on the phone installs. I asked how Charters phone service differed from Vonage and others and he said that both Charter and Comcast (in our area) use a system that is not connected to their internet but a dedicated service to their phone system. He said that if the internet goes down, you will still have phone service because it does not rely on the internet connection, it uses its own connection. I have experienced this as the internet went down for a couple of hours and I still had phone service. It was like I was still using ATT.

To answer the original question, all of my receivers work fine with cable telephone service

carl6 said:
If it uses your internet connection (cable modem) to operate, it is most certainly VOIP. The only way you would have a "digital" phone that wasn't IP is if you were behind a PBX that had digital extensions, and even then the voice is normally analog (unless it's a VOIP phone system).

Carl

NYSmoker

· #16 · Aug 25, 2008

I have FIOS phone service. I don't exactly know how it works, but I do know there is no copper going to my home anymore, so I doubt it is POTS.

My HR20 displays Caller ID just fine. I am also networked so I do not know if the receiver calls home or internets home.

techrep

· #17 · Aug 25, 2008

NYSmoker said:
I have FIOS phone service. I don't exactly know how it works, but I do know there is no copper going to my home anymore, so I doubt it is POTS.

My HR20 displays Caller ID just fine. I am also networked so I do not know if the receiver calls home or internets home.

It will use the one selected.

curt8403

· #18 · Aug 25, 2008

NYSmoker said:
I have FIOS phone service. I don't exactly know how it works, but I do know there is no copper going to my home anymore, so I doubt it is POTS.

My HR20 displays Caller ID just fine. I am also networked so I do not know if the receiver calls home or internets home.

I believe FIOS is a Fiber Optic (Light) line, and most likely a form of VOIP.

Matt9876

· #19 · Aug 25, 2008

Have tested both Vonage and MagicJack with DirecTV receiver units.

R-10 never worked on either service tried everything.

H20 unit connected 80-90% of the time with Vonage.
only about 50% of the time with Magicjack "My last PPV was billed correctly with MJ connection"

Caller ID works for both services.

If DirecTV would give you a 2400-4800 baud rate option in the settings menu for the modem it would connect 100% of the time. "Please from your VoIP users."

Good Luck with yours.

curt8403

· #20 · Aug 25, 2008

Matt9876 said:
Have tested both Vonage and MagicJack with DirecTV receiver units.

R-10 never worked or either service tried everything.

H20 unit connected 80-90% of the time with Vonage.
only about 50% of the time with Magicjack "My last PPV was billed correctly with MJ connection"

Caller ID works for both services.

If DirecTV would give you a 2400-4800 baud rate option in the settings menu for the modem it would connect 100% of the time. "Please from your VoIP users."

Good Luck with yours.

try adding #034, to the dial prefix

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