Poll: Was Your VOOM Installed With Phone Line?

[vinnyv07]

Since Voom is going to be requiring a LL connection, I thought it would be nice to create a poll to see just how many installs included the phone line connection.

As for mine...the installer didnt even mention the phone line.

 

[dhukai]

We received the 50' cord, but the installer left it in its bag and did not hook it up.

 

[CraziFuzzy]

Was told from the start, on the phone, on the web, and in writing that the phone line was required. Had no problems hooking it up with the supplied box. For those who did not recieve the phone cord, did your STBs come in the original box? each box included the STB, a component video cable, a Composite/stereo cable, a 50' phone cord, and a phone line splitter. VOOM seems to have supplied everything to the installer, it would seem some installers are seedier than others, and are not giving the customer everything voom intends. Eitherway, I don't fault Voom. It DOES say it is required in the customer agreement, so even if they don't verbally tell you, you are still required to have a phone line if you want the service.

 

[TechCop]

I had no doubt...

that the phone line was required. I even ran jacks before my installer came. The CSR told me twice and I read it here several times. My installer is a membber of this forum so he knew, too.

 

[jwaltz666]

the installers ran the phone lines, but they since there was no phone jack near the stb I had to remove it shortly thereafter. I guess that i need to buy the wireless phone jack to get it hooked up cleanly.

One interesting note.. I wanted to remove the diplexer, but they didn't leave the ac adapter to hook to the antenna amp so when I removed it the signal strength dropped and 2 of the 5 OTA's failed to come in. So I put it back with the diplexer

 

[riffjim4069]

This may be off-topic, but the landline issue has been prevalent in so many posts that I have to add my opinion...

I don't see the big deal with VOOM requiring a phone line in order to authenticate their user base from time-to-time. In fact, this is a simple, yet highly effective countermeasure in keeping Scumbags from stealing our service. This policy is clearly noted in the Customer Agreement everyone signed.

"(g) Phone Connections. Your receiver must always be directly connected to a traditional land-based telephone line to receive the VOOM Service. If it is not so connected, or if it is connected to a line other than the one you tell us, or if the line is not performing according to our requirements, the VOOM Service may be deactivated. If deactivation occurs, you will still be responsible for all services purchased through the date of deactivation. Your receiver units must also be connected to the same traditional land-based telephone line in order to be eligible to pay the additional receiver fee rather than purchase a separate subscription for each additional receiver."

1. I don't recall VOOM ever stating they would install an additional phone jack free of charge....just provide the customer with a phone cable and plug it in. That is all! For those who would falsely argue this is part of the installation, I would argue your logic is flawed based on the facts (see the Customer Agreement) and common sense. Your logic indicates that VOOM should pay to install and maintain a landline for those individuals having only cell service? Heck, your logic also indicates that VOOM should pay the mortgage/rent, and other bills too, since they will impact the customer from being able to pay for their VOOM service. Yikes!!!

2. My phone jack is on an opposite wall over 30ft. away so Installer left me with a 50ft phone cable in the box. Call it osmosis, but he knew better then to ask if I wanted another phone jack installed next to the HT---I did not---and based on our installation walkthrough he knew that I was aware of VOOM policy. If you didn't get a 50ft. phone cable then contact VOOM/Installs Inc. and get one.

3. Being a diligent customer, I noticed my received failed to report back to VOOM this Friday night at 9:44pm. I've had VOOM for a month and this is the first time the STB has tried to contact the mother ship. I simply plugged in the 50ft. phone cabled and manually helped the STB phone home via the service menu. Total time: 2 minutes (1 minutes to connect/disconnect the phone cable, 30 seconds to access the service menu, 30 seconds for ET to phone home and report). That's it folks!

4. For those folks not having a nearby phone jack or having cell phone service only...what's the big deal? Really? This probably won't happen but only 3-6 times per year...I'm sure VOOM will allow you to call a CSR to authenticate your STBs. Plus, wouldn't you think VOOM would raise some sort of flag in your online account (or perhaps send an e-mail, postcard, whatever) advising you the STB has failed to report XX number of times and that you need to contact VOOM before your service is disconnected???

Yikes!!! Yikes!!! And Yikes!!!

 

[Pete In Plano]

OK. I have Vonage voice over IP service but it gives me a real dial tone on all my phone jacks as it is wired thruout the whole house. I asked my installer if the STB would work with VOIP service and he said yes it would. With Directv, my box would never call in over the VOIP Vonage service. After talking to Vonage and D*, the problem was found to be that VOIP services can handle a fax callout with 14.4k baud but D8's STB is calling at 115k baud and the VOIP 's ATA would not handle that high data rate. I mentioned that to my installer and he said that Voom would work with Vonage just fine. Well, my box tried and failed to connect last night so I am now wondering if this is going to work. I went to the reportback and tried it manually and it failed again. I hope I can get this to work because I do not want to have to get a landline, I love my Vonage service. If the Voom box is calling at high data rates, they need to slow it down so VOIP and dirty phone lines can connect. Anyone know what the Voom STB's baud rate is on the modem???

 

[riffjim4069]

Pete,

This is great question and should be included in the STB FAQ!!!

I can't answer your modem setting question, but I am sure Wilt or an Administrator/Moderator can square this away. We can only hope the modem is capable of stepping-down as low as 9.6kb.

FYI, last night I tried several times to report-back...all to no avail. I tried it again this morning and it worked the first attempt. Have you tried it today?

Riff...<EOT.

 

[Ilya]

This is great question and should be included in the STB FAQ!!!

I would be happy to add this question to the STB FAQ, but unfortunately so far, no one has the answer...

 

[Pete In Plano]

If I get any answers, or have any luck dialing in, I will post it here. I fired of an e-mail to Vonage to see if they know anything. Thanks!!!

 

[Ilya]

Please do! Unless I missed it, so far I haven't seen a confirmed report-back over VoIP. It will be interesting to know if this works. Could be a solution for those without land-line phone...
Do you know that you can initiate a report-back manually through the menu?
There is also a hidden modem diagnostics screen, if you want to play with it:

(Do this on your own risk!)
Press the following buttons on the remote control unit:
a. VoOm
b. Green Button (To access Options and Settings screen)
c. Select "System Settings" menu option
d. Select option 8 "Installation Settings"
e. Press "9 8 8" on the remote control unit.
f. In the "System Configuration" menu press 4 to access "Modem Setup & Test"​

 

[n0qcu]

Here's a screen shot showing a successful reportback and this is using vonage.

 

[Ilya]

Here's a screen shot showing a successful reportback and this is using vonage.

You mean the one on 05/13? Great! Any idea what kind of baud rate your VoIP supports for modem connections?

 

[Pete In Plano]

Here's a screen shot showing a successful reportback and this is using vonage.

Are you connected to the regular phone line or are you using the extra fax connection? When I do the modem test, it fails.

 

[kwajr]

OK. I have Vonage voice over IP service but it gives me a real dial tone on all my phone jacks as it is wired thruout the whole house. I asked my installer if the STB would work with VOIP service and he said yes it would. With Directv, my box would never call in over the VOIP Vonage service. After talking to Vonage and D*, the problem was found to be that VOIP services can handle a fax callout with 14.4k baud but D8's STB is calling at 115k baud and the VOIP 's ATA would not handle that high data rate. I mentioned that to my installer and he said that Voom would work with Vonage just fine. Well, my box tried and failed to connect last night so I am now wondering if this is going to work. I went to the reportback and tried it manually and it failed again. I hope I can get this to work because I do not want to have to get a landline, I love my Vonage service. If the Voom box is calling at high data rates, they need to slow it down so VOIP and dirty phone lines can connect. Anyone know what the Voom STB's baud rate is on the modem???

i have vonage and dish it works fine do not know why would not work for you

 

[kwajr]

by the way witch ata or you using and there was a firmware recently released for th emotorola one i calle dvonage and he forced it through

 

[Pete In Plano]

i have the cisco. i hate it because they will not give you the password so you are stuck with DHCP. I want to assign it Static .

 

[kwajr]

i have the cisco. i hate it because they will not give you the password so you are stuck with DHCP. I want to assign it Static .

well have you tried the admin admin password mine is moto and i can set it to static

 

[dhukai]

Thank you riffjim4069 for describing your experience using the service menu to reportback. After a futile attempt yesterday, my STB finally made contact this evening.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

 

[occammd]

The D8 can't be running @ 115k baud. No way.