Manage your DVR via Internet

[LongTimeClient1]

I received SPOTLIGHT Magazine from Verizon in the mail today. Why I don't receive this via email, I'll never know. Regardless, I actually found a feature that I didn't have to pay for, entitled HOT TO: GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR FiOS DVR. I attempted to activate Remote DVR and received the following message: Remote DVR Activation Failure. Remote DVR is not supported on non-Verizon routers. Remote DVR service works only with the Verizon supplied routers and with no changes to the original setup. Since you are using your own router and/or firewall setup we cannot enable Remote DVR on your account.

Two concerns:

1) Verizon Support helped me configure my WIRELESS ROUTER to work on the network, so I do not accept your AUTOMATED ANSWER of "Since you are using your own router and/or firewall setup we cannot enable Remote DVR on your account." Get over this and fix it!

2) It's amazing in this day and age that I can download software, update my Banking accounts, Security Accounts, Credit Card accounts, without altering my FIREWALL SETUP. Are you a Technology Company or what? If CITIBANK, CHASE, MY COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION, FIDELITY INVESTMENTS, MICROSOFT, QUICKEN, and HUNDREDS OF NON-TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES can get around my FIREWALL, why can't you?

This is unacceptable, and needs to get escalated. Please have someone in your Customer Satisfaction Management Team contact me by email or via phone..... there's no FIREWALL on my phone, so you should be able to get through! 

[ElizabethS]

Just a friendly reminder, this is a forum where users help other users. It looks like your issue may require a Verizon representative to review your account details. Please contact our customer service team via live chat or email at:
http://www.verizon.com/contactus

[LongTimeClient1]

Thanks for the "Friendly reminder", and the moving of my entry to this Forum. I have already used http://www.verizon.com/contactus to contact Customer Service. So far, you are the only person to respond to my entry. I believe that when there is a problem the more visibility the better. 

Since my entry requested a call back from the Customer Satisfaction Managemet Team, I think it would have been more appropriate for you to forward my entry to someone in that capacity who could influence the appropriate people to resolve my concern.... or did you? 

[ElizabethS]

Unfortunately, a forum moderator’s job is to maintain the forum itself, so we are typically unable to access accounts or provide support information on an individual basis. Since this is a peer to peer forum, you might ask for support from your fellow members if what you received/heard from support was not satisfactory.

[LongTimeClient1]

I disagree. As a Forum Moderator, you should make sure that entries are routed to the Responsible area(s), not just another Forum. I see a lot of Customer Satisfaction issues in the Forums. Is there a Customer Satisfaction group that reviews the Forums for issues? Maybe there should be a separate Forum for Customer Satisfaction?

I tried to locate an email address for ANY Verizon Executive, or even an email address for the person or Team that published the article in SPOTLIGHT, to NO satisfaction. Does Verizon Management care what their Clients think of their goods and services?      

Rather than ask my peers, I believe this needs to be escalated to, and ultimately resolved by Verizon Management.  

[ElizabethS]

The forum is separate from Verizon technical support and services. You need to contact Verizon through the page which you have used, and request an address to send such feedback.

[Justin46]

As Elizabeth has tried very nicely to tell you, this is a user-helping-user forum. It is NOT a place for you to demand Verizon take action, or contact you, etc. It IS a place where you can ask questions and hope other users can help you (and you of course can help other users).

Based on your post, I can't tell for sure whether you are using a Verizon-provided router or not, despite the message. Are you?

If yes, then of course you should not be getting that error message, and the Remote DVR service should work.

If no, then that is your choice, you made a decision to use your own device, and Verizon cannot or will not (their choice) be able to provide some services, like Remote DVR. I do not know for sure why Verizon limits the Remote DVR function to their routers, but my guess would be that they cannot get network access to your router to set the proper values in the router for the Remote DVR function to work. I don't believe it has anything to do with your Firewall.

You should be able to fix this problem by replacing your router with a Verizon-provided router. I have been using Remote DVR through my Verizon router for several years, works just fine.

Your choice.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248

[fan21yanks]

So, I'll take some peer-to-peer technical assistance. I'm having some difficulty managing my DVR via the Internet. When I try to set up a recording, it says my set top box is not responding. What do you think I should do?

[fan21yanks]

Nevermind. The In-home Agent helped me. For the record, you need to do the following using your remote:

Menu > Settings > Remote DVR Access > Web Access > Push "Ok" and then enter your 4 digit pin.

[fan21yanks]

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@fan21yanks wrote:

Nevermind. The In-home Agent helped me. For the record, you need to do the following using your remote:

Menu > Settings > Remote DVR Access > Web Access > Push "Ok" and then enter your 4 digit pin.

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Posted too soon! It says it's enabled on the set top box, but now when I try to record something from the listings online, it says "Bad Gateway." Anyone know what to do? Help please!

[Justin46]

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@fan21yanks wrote:

So, I'll take some peer-to-peer technical assistance. I'm having some difficulty managing my DVR via the Internet. When I try to set up a recording, it says my set top box is not responding. What do you think I should do?

---

I'll give it a shot, and hopefully others will chime in. But first, has it ever worked and just quit, or never worked? If never, I would do step 1 and try again.

1) Make sure Remote DVR web access is enabled:

    Menu ==> Settings ==> FiOS TV Remote DVR ==> Web Access ==> enter your PIN ==> Status (should be Enabled)

If it is not enabled, do so, then try from the web. If it is enabled, I suggest you do the following:

2) Go into the Menu on the DVR and make sure it is online:

    Menu ==> Settings ==> System Information ==> IP Address (should be 192.168.1.10x) and Network Status (should be Online)

3) Log into the router and make sure it sees the DVR. All of the devices on your network should show in the middle of the initial page you see. Verify that the IP Address shown here matches the one the DVR shows.

If the above isn't correct, that needs to be fixed first, usually by rebooting the router and the DVR, then waiting a little while. And even if it is correct, it won't hurt to reboot them both, other than a brief internet outage.

4) Reboot the router:

    Advanced icon ==> Yes ==> Reboot Router (3rd item in left hand box). go through the boot, wait until it is back up and iternet works.

5) Reboot the DVR:

     Menu ==> Customer Support ==> In-Home Agent ==> Reboot STB

     There are some tools here in In-Home Agent that might help first if you want to try them. 

6) After doing the above I would go back and make sure the DVR is online and the IP Addresses match in the router and DVR.

I would do the above just to make sure all is good in the home part of the issue.

7) Log into MyVerizon, then:

    My Services ==> TV ==> My TV

😎 Now click on the Set Top Boxes link. Does the DVR show up in the list of STBs with the usage bar? If so, you should be able to click on the Manage this DVR button to schedule recordings, etc. If not, then I think there is a problem with your account definition that you are going to have to contact Verizon to get fixed. You might try the Chat option under Contact Us at the bottom of this page, some people have reported good results using the Chat vs. going through the phone system. Of course others here might have some better ideas....

Hope the above helps. If it works, great. If it doesn't, and you want to pursue further with someone here, tell us exactly where you get the failure, with error message, etc.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248

[fan21yanks]

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@Justin wrote:

3) Log into the router and make sure it sees the DVR. All of the devices on your network should show in the middle of the initial page you see. Verify that the IP Address shown here matches the one the DVR shows.

If the above isn't correct, that needs to be fixed first, usually by rebooting the router and the DVR, then waiting a little while. And even if it is correct, it won't hurt to reboot them both, other than a brief internet outage.

4) Reboot the router:

    Advanced icon ==> Yes ==> Reboot Router (3rd item in left hand box). go through the boot, wait until it is back up and iternet works.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248

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Thanks, Justin! I completed steps 1 and 2, but I'm stuck on steps 3 and 4. How do I "log into the router?" Is that something you do with the remote on the set top box (as with steps 1 and 2)? Or do I "log into the router" through My Verizon online?

[Justin46]

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@fan21yanks wrote:

Thanks, Justin! I completed steps 1 and 2, but I'm stuck on steps 3 and 4. How do I "log into the router?" Is that something you do with the remote on the set top box (as with steps 1 and 2)? Or do I "log into the router" through My Verizon online?

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You use your browser (IE, Google Chrome, Firefox, whatever). You enter 192.168.1.1 into the address bar. When the router responds, the user name you enter should be "admin" and the password should be the serial number of the router, which you can find on the label on the router. (by the way, just ignore the extra asterisks that are generated when you type in the password, just don't look at the screen, type it in as you know it to be).

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248

[fan21yanks]

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@Justin wrote:

You use your browser (IE, Google Chrome, Firefox, whatever). You enter 192.168.1.1 into the address bar. When the router responds, the user name you enter should be "admin" and the password should be the serial number of the router, which you can find on the label on the router. (by the way, just ignore the extra asterisks that are generated when you type in the password, just don't look at the screen, type it in as you know it to be).

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248

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There are several numbers on the router label. The one I entered is the last one. The one that doesn't have a name. It didn't work. The other numbers on the router are labeled:

• ESSID
• WEP KEY
• WPS PIN
• WAN MAC

[fan21yanks]

I just tried all the number--including the "unit address" that I found under "System Info"--and none of them worked. Not sure what to do now.

[fan21yanks]

My router has been configured to be a different name than the factory default settings. So, I need to reset the router to the factory default. Ugh. Who knew this would be so difficult. Everything is a hassle, it seems. I simply want to manage my DVR from my laptop when I'm away from home. Geez!

[Justin46]

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@fan21yanks wrote:

My router has been configured to be a different name than the factory default settings. So, I need to reset the router to the factory default. Ugh. Who knew this would be so difficult. Everything is a hassle, it seems. I simply want to manage my DVR from my laptop when I'm away from home. Geez!

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Well, if the login has been changed and you don't know what it is, then yes, you will need to do a reset.

What kind of router do you have? I have an Actiontec, the serial number on mine is below the bar code on the label, and starts with CSJDxxxxxxxxxx. (Note: just an FYI, within 10 minutes of getting my router I went in and changed the login name and password to something only I know).

Of course it may not really be necessary to reset the router. I am just trying to go through a (hopefully) logical process to identify where the problem is. You can certainly skip that step and see what else you can find. But, really, you should know how to log into the router anyway in case you want to make changes in the future. And for example, if you are using any wireless connections to the router, I highly recommend you change the encryption from WEP to WPA or even better WPA2. WEP is apparently very easy for someone to break, WPA2 is apparently very difficult.

Anyway, good luck.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248

[fan21yanks]

Everything's all fixed now. I didn't need to reset my router. It was my first time accessing DVR from online, so it just took a while for the activation to activate. Thanks again for your help!

[Justin46]

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@fan21yanks wrote:

Everything's all fixed now. I didn't need to reset my router. It was my first time accessing DVR from online, so it just took a while for the activation to activate. Thanks again for your help!

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You are welcome, glad it is working now. You know, I almost suggested you sit back and wait a while after you posted that you did not have the remote web service activated in the DVR. But I didn't......stupid, stupid, stupid me. Sorry about that......

I still suggest you try to figure out how to log into the router, you may really need to do so some time in the future.

__________________________________
Justin
FiOS TV, Internet, and phone user
QIP7232, QIP7100-P2, IMG 1.9A
Keller, TX 76248