I have had DirecTV DVR for a while and have had a land phone line forever. Thinking about getting rid of the phone line and just using my cell phone. Can anyone confirm here that DirecTV doesn't need the phone line unless you want to watch PPV or buy their stupid sport packages? From what I have read in other places it sounds like you can get rid of the phone line and it's not a problem but wanted to get some input here as well.

Thanks
Brett

Yup, you're correct. It is not needed except for the things you mentioned.

Yeah no phone line needed. I've actually never hooked up a phone line to any of my DirectTv receivers and I've had a bunch of them over the last 6 years. I think the message on one of my Direct Tivo boxes was up to 800+ days without dialing into the mother ship. I've had 2 hr20 for almost a year now with no phone line attached.

Do they charge you a fee for not having a phone line hooked up? I had Dish Network for a while and they charged ~$5/mo for no phone line.

Nope, no fee. Depending on the model that you have, it will just b*tch at you constantly because you don't have a line hooked up. On my old DVR (Tivo) any time you went to the recorded list, it would come upw ith a message about when the last time you made the call. On my new DVR (DTV branded) any time you go to a PPV channel it says you need to call, but otherwise, no annoying messages.

-JD-

Direct Tv's website says a phone line is needed for activation. Is this not true? I don't have a land-line and am interested in getting Direct Tv.

No, I can tell you 100% that you do not need a phone line, period. Most installers will ask if you have one they can hook up to, you simply tell them no, and move on. Installers are not required to hook up the phone line.

Also, soon you'll be able to use the ethernet port for ordering pay per views with the remote. At present you MUST have a phone line hooked up in order to order pay per views with the remote.

The only problem I would see is that they do firmware upgrades thru the phone line at different times. They just did a firmware upgrade to mine on Dec 7. Please correct me if I am wrong, but how else would they do upgrades? Besides I subscribe to those "Stupid" sports programs anyway.

Nope, no fee. Depending on the model that you have, it will just b*tch at you constantly because you don't have a line hooked up. On my old DVR (Tivo) any time you went to the recorded list, it would come upw ith a message about when the last time you made the call. On my new DVR (DTV branded) any time you go to a PPV channel it says you need to call, but otherwise, no annoying messages.

-JD-
To anyone w/Direct or Dish: Do you need to have a bidirectional splitter or no splitter for comm. thru the incoming coax line, or is all comm. done thru the tel. line with DirecTV (Dish too)?

The only problem I would see is that they do firmware upgrades thru the phone line at different times. They just did a firmware upgrade to mine on Dec 7. Please correct me if I am wrong, but how else would they do upgrades? Besides I subscribe to those "Stupid" sports programs anyway.
Firmware updates do not come over a phone line, they come in through the sat stream. You do not need a phone line for firmware updates.