Tivo and call costs

[masada31]

I have been out of the country for a few months so my Tivo is stored away but have been keeping an eye on the new Alt project for Tivo since in started my question is what call plans will cover the cost of Tivo using dial up and does Tivo with it's alt EPG have all the same functions "season pass" "Wish List" as before just curios to hear people's view now it been running for a while.Thanks

[johnscott99]

I have just checked my online phone bill.

My phone company charges me between 11p and 20p per 0845 call. = 80p-£1.40 a week

If I could be bothered to put my network card it'd be free.

If I could be bothered to use the latest image I could set it to make a call twice a week = 22p to 40p a week.

Some phone companies offer free 0845 calls.

[mrtickle]

I have just checked my online phone bill.
My phone company charges me between 11p and 20p per 0845 call. = 80p-£1.40 a week

Nice stats. Out of interest, how long (minutes/seconds) are those calls on the bill roughly?

[18MM]

0161 dial up number included in BT anytime package. If it dials off peak presumably also in evening and weekends.

[ByTheCringe]

My phone company charges me between 11p and 20p per 0845 call. = 80p-£1.40 a week

If I could be bothered to use the latest image I could set it to make a call twice a week = 22p to 40p a week.

Some phone companies offer free 0845 calls.

Calling twice a week will cost about the same each week, because each call will take longer. Most people are saying that a daily call is about 5 minutes, whereas I do a weekly call, and that takes 35 minutes.

By the way, my telco charges less for an 0845 number after 6 pm. But so far, the 0161 number is free, so I'm using that. It does still tend to lock up my TiVo occasionally though. So I have to watch the screen while downloading (if the clouds stop moving, it needs a power recycle). You can check by pressing Select.

[johnscott99]

I have just checked my online phone bill.
My phone company charges me between 11p and 20p per 0845 call. = 80p-£1.40 a week

Nice stats. Out of interest, how long (minutes/seconds) are those calls on the bill roughly?

I can't get the columns to line up, but it shows calls. In the example below the longest call was 29m43s minute at 48p on 22nd June -set up call. My next phone bill will cover July - now.

Code: Select all

Date       Time     Number Dialled    Destination  Duration   Cost
Wed 22 Jun 00:40:01 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 29:43 0.480
Thu 23 Jun 02:54:32 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 4:47 0.160
Fri 24 Jun 03:23:57 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 0:40 0.110
Sat 25 Jun 03:27:58 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 0:35 0.110
Sun 26 Jun 03:32:10 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 0:36 0.110
Mon 27 Jun 03:37:00 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 0:41 0.110
Tue 28 Jun 03:41:10 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 2:22 0.140
06:51:47 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 7:09 0.200
Wed 29 Jun 00:19:40 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 10:08 0.240
Thu 30 Jun 01:17:28 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 7:29 0.200
Fri 01 Jul 02:11:15 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 0:37 0.110
Sat 02 Jul 02:16:00 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 2:01 0.120
Sun 03 Jul 02:36:32 08450800300 Services at A1 Rate 3:13 0.130

all this depends on your phone company. I'm with KC in Hull.

[mrtickle]

Interesting, thanks! I'm quite surprised there is such a variation in length (sometimes 30 seconds, sometimes 10 minutes) when we have the same amount of new guide data each day. Perhaps the tivo modem is getting quite a wide range of different baud rates, but you'd have to keep copies of your tclient logfile (if the info gets saved at all - can't check on mine!) and cross-reference them to find that out.

[abarthman]

I am on BT Basic. I really just use my landline for broadband and TiVo.

I physically connect the telephone lead to the TiVo once a week to download the EPG. I'm not aware of missing much by not allowing the TiVo to dial out every day.

Just realised very recently that 0845 internet calls are far cheaper between 7pm and 7am.

Here's an extract from my recent calls to AltEPG 0845 number to give an idea of call durations and cost:

Code: Select all

Sun 11 Sep 11    19:56 AltEPG 0845 charged    12:01    £0.093
Sat 03 Sep 11    20:15 AltEPG 0845 charged    7:56            £0.072
Mon 29 Aug 11    04:09 AltEPG 0845 charged    1:52            £0.041 (forgot to disconnect telephone lead on Sunday! )
Sun 28 Aug 11    02:47 AltEPG 0845 charged    15:17    £0.110
Sat 20 Aug 11    12:18 AltEPG 0845 charged    11:36    £0.269
Sat 13 Aug 11    11:38 AltEPG 0845 charged    11:27    £0.266
Sat 13 Aug 11    11:27 AltEPG 0845 charged    0:58            £0.052
Sat 13 Aug 11    11:14 AltEPG 0845 charged    0:08           £0.035
Sat 06 Aug 11    15:27 AltEPG 0845 charged    10:10    £0.239
Sat 06 Aug 11    07:43 AltEPG 0845 charged    0:58           £0.052
Sat 30 Jul 11    09:54 AltEPG 0845 charged    12:41    £0.291
Sat 23 Jul 11    12:38 AltEPG 0845 charged    11:58    £0.276
Sat 16 Jul 11    08:45 AltEPG 0845 Numbers    12:39    £0.289
Sat 09 Jul 11    12:59 AltEPG 0845 Numbers    29:14    £0.628
Sat 02 Jul 11    08:03 AltEPG 0845 Numbers    14:34    £0.328
Sat 25 Jun 11    10:31 AltEPG 0845 Numbers    17:48    £0.394 (initial set-up call)
Sat 25 Jun 11    09:31 AltEPG 0845 Numbers    0:41             £0.045 (initial set-up call)