All good things must come to an end unmetered VDSL no longer

Forums › TiVo › All good things must come to an end unmetered VDSL no longer

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#1317443 4-Jun-2015 16:11

Groucho:
MikeB4:
dclegg:
MikeB4: after reading this I wonder how many TiVo owners still use these devices in NZ, my units have been in a cupboard in the garage for over a year now.

We currently use ours in our secondary lounge, and will be moving it down to our main lounge once we finally get rid of Sky.

TiVo is a great device poorly implemented and managed in NZ however recent changes with TV's being PVR's, Streaming services, On demand viewing and Freeview Plus and PVR capability coming to Xbox One this year have rendered them mostly reduntant.

Poorly implemented is an understatement! Have a look at TiVo in the US and what features they have! Six (yes SIX) tuners, a massive HDD, inputs for terrestrial, satellite and cable (obviously the software is specifically for US services), full online monitoring via MyTiVo and administer your season passes remotely, being able to stream whatever you've recorded away from home. Oh yeah, and apps for pretty much all of the major video on demand services, not just the one we have.

Current TiVo's would be the perfect solution for the NZ market for those not wanting numerous devices plugged into their TV to watch all the various VOD services or having to watch a small tablet or sit in front of a computer. If Sky would play ball even their service could be run through TiVo.

Xbox one is moving towards that, it can do Blu Ray and 3D (if there is anyone left that watches 3D) TV throughput and One Guide heading our way, Netflix/quickflix work very well on it but unfortunately Lightbox hasn't woken up yet. Media streaming is painless
and PVR capability is heading to Xbox One later this year.

TiVo here was a disaster, I loved the device but the way it was done was just stupid and made one of the best devices of its type look amateur.

tdgeek

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#1317445 4-Jun-2015 16:22

Groucho:
MikeB4:
dclegg:
MikeB4: after reading this I wonder how many TiVo owners still use these devices in NZ, my units have been in a cupboard in the garage for over a year now.

We currently use ours in our secondary lounge, and will be moving it down to our main lounge once we finally get rid of Sky.

TiVo is a great device poorly implemented and managed in NZ however recent changes with TV's being PVR's, Streaming services, On demand viewing and Freeview Plus and PVR capability coming to Xbox One this year have rendered them mostly reduntant.

Poorly implemented is an understatement! Have a look at TiVo in the US and what features they have! Six (yes SIX) tuners, a massive HDD, inputs for terrestrial, satellite and cable (obviously the software is specifically for US services), full online monitoring via MyTiVo and administer your season passes remotely, being able to stream whatever you've recorded away from home. Oh yeah, and apps for pretty much all of the major video on demand services, not just the one we have.

Current TiVo's would be the perfect solution for the NZ market for those not wanting numerous devices plugged into their TV to watch all the various VOD services or having to watch a small tablet or sit in front of a computer. If Sky would play ball even their service could be run through TiVo.

This.

Unlike the users here who are tech literate, this feature of one box does it all is IMO, a key to mass takeup. Tivo has Quickflix on it as an app, or app-like. There are device issues across the board where each provider has to cater for a number of different tech products. Smart TV's appears to be subsets of the superset, overlapping here, and not there. My hope is the rumoured Apple TV, that will get its own App Store or hang off the iOS app store, that could then be the box that does it all. Or in fact any box that has every app, and for us in lil ol' NZ, an ability for devs to make one.

mvanwijk

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#1326063 16-Jun-2015 20:40

Got my letter too :(

Am currently on a 40Gb Fibre plan, but have no idea what my usage is like. I bought a Tivo the day it was released, so have gotten used to not worrying about usage for quite some time now - no complaints here though - was very lucky to have it so good for so long!

Would love 'one box to rule them all' too - currently flicking between Apple TV, XBMC (which was on Apple TV, now on a Raspberry Pi), Xbox one, Tivo & Samsung Smart TV (Lightbox, Netflix, tv2/3 ondemand)

I've been surprised at how good the smart tv is (it's a pretty standard model - no 3D etc) - impressed that the lightbox & netflix apps were available so quickly, and they work pretty well.

JAYJAY

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#1337268 5-Jul-2015 11:35

Just received an email advising "This is to let you know that you have used 80% of your monthly data allowance"

First I'd known that the unmetered usage was ending. I'm on Fibre30 (40GB) and have had TiVo since launch. I'm not annoyed that it is coming to an end. I would have liked it if someone at Spark had emailed or mailed us to advise us that it was coming to an end. I could have made plan changes ahead of time.

Batman

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#1337274 5-Jul-2015 12:01

7gb in 2 days. And I don't even torrent or stream anything or play games! Looks like unlimited it shall become

JAYJAY

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#1337425 5-Jul-2015 18:46

And just like that, I am throttled.
Really quite annoyed that I find out this way that my plan has been changed.
As I was saying, I don't mind it being changed. It was flawed for so long. But come on Spark, at least tell me before you go and do it.
Poor form.

tdgeek

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#1337428 5-Jul-2015 18:53

JAYJAY: And just like that, I am throttled.
Really quite annoyed that I find out this way that my plan has been changed.
As I was saying, I don't mind it being changed. It was flawed for so long. But come on Spark, at least tell me before you go and do it.
Poor form.

I'm sure we did. I work there, I was on 40GB, TIVO, I got an email advising of plan options

Wise

Send money globally for less with Wise - one free transfer up to NZ$900 (affiliate link).

JAYJAY

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#1337430 5-Jul-2015 19:02

No letter recieved, as some have mentioned they'd received, and no emails beyond my monthly bill, bb helpdesk, and becounted. So, while you may be sure they have... I assure you, nothing has been recieved.

rugrat

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#1337794 6-Jul-2015 12:46

JAYJAY: And just like that, I am throttled.
Really quite annoyed that I find out this way that my plan has been changed.
As I was saying, I don't mind it being changed. It was flawed for so long. But come on Spark, at least tell me before you go and do it.
Poor form.

I changed to unlimited naked yesterday. Checked at 2am this mourning and on unlimited, so if put in plan change it'll be done by next day.

Saw I was using over a gig a day, and that was on work days, so guessing 40g or 80g wouldn't cut it.

I did get letter by snail mail, plus I knew by the forums on here. Maybe letter got lost.

JAYJAY

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#1337798 6-Jul-2015 12:48

I have been in touch with Spark this morning. They were very helpful. I have completed the application to transition to Voice over Fibre. In the meantime, I've been switched to an unlimited plan.

GregV

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#1338231 7-Jul-2015 07:36

I got the letter a while back, so knew the free ride was over. I checked MySpark just yesterday, and in the usage section it said "You are on an unlimited plan". So I figured they hadn't hit the switch just yet.

Wake up this morning to "you have used 100% of your plan, welcome to throttlesville".

Little bit annoyed. I was monitoring usage, appeared to still be unlimited, and suddenly find this isn't the case. Now to see how fast I can switch plans.

Batman

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#1338306 7-Jul-2015 09:19

At least they didn't gleefully defaulted to bill you for the extras!

Batman

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#1338307 7-Jul-2015 09:21

I really can't find any reason to complain, they gave away the tivo for free and the gave the data for free.

GregV

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#1338309 7-Jul-2015 09:24

Agree that it was a good ride while it lasted. However, knowing that I was going to have to monitor my traffic, the tools to do this were broken.

JAYJAY

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#1338312 7-Jul-2015 09:34

It's been amazing. Unlimited traffic. It's been a great ride. As someone put it to me "It'd be good to have been told the ride was over, and we had to get off" -- All good things must come to an end.
My plan change is in the works. Didn't happen overnight unfortunately, but should be sorted overnight tonight.

Interestingly, I think someone else I know was on the same plan, and either had no advice that the plan was changing or they were simply oblivious to what they were getting already.

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