TelstraClear T Box Thingy...

[Paul in NZ]

Look – lets face it none of us can keep up with every bit of technology under the sun can we? Some of us are absolute whizzes at ignition settings (I once knew a bloke that could set the ignition timing on a Lucas Magneto blindfolded with nothing much more than a suitable spanner and a fag paper but he could never manage to get all his shirt buttons into the matching holes) and some of us are good at carbs or experts in roman underfloor heating systems…. I'm Ok with some things (very few of them) and hopeless with others (a great great many of these)

So while I’m pretty comfortable with modern visual devices (ie flat screens and projectors n the like) and have a pretty good understanding of the ‘hinternet etc there are some things that just confuddle and confuse me. (In other words I'm a dumb as a hammer and thank goodness I'm drop dead gorgeous to make up for it).

My TelstraClear T box thingy is one of these things that I can't quite 'get' at the moment.

Basically it’s a decoder and a PVR. Marvellous thing generally, allows me to record all sorts of shows at the press of a button. I can record a series etc easily and in general its better than a good thing except – every now and then, mostly early in the morning when Miss Vicki and myself are chomping down breakfast eagerly awaiting the thrills of another day at work and the ensuing morning commute the fucking thing has a massive wobbly on power up and either refuses to show a picture or shows a picture and refuses to change channel. Sometimes a power cycle on the box and modem does the trick and sometimes it does not.

I really don’t want to spend an hour waiting on their fault line just to be given the run around by a moron who will lie through his teeth about the issue so I thought I’d ask the vastly more accessible morons on KB who never lie and often don’t have teeth…..

Does anyone else have these issues with these boxes, is it endemic to them, does their network do something around 5:30am that causes this or have we actually got a dud????

[Tigadee]

Do you have power transmission/supply issues in your area? The device could be sensitive to unstable power supply.

I'm not familiar with this T Box but is it something new in the market? Sometimes new tech has bugs and it takes a while to iron them out, with updates/solutions to be implemented in later batches out of the factory. Could be yours is one of the early batches that may have problems?

[Paul in NZ]

Do you have power transmission/supply issues in your area? The device could be sensitive to unstable power supply.

I'm not familiar with this T Box but is it something new in the market? Sometimes new tech has bugs and it takes a while to iron them out, with updates/solutions to be implemented in later batches out of the factory. Could be yours is one of the early batches that may have problems?

Hmm - good point. Its just the sky box rebranded.

[Rockbuddy]

your answer is in you title Telstra Clear :no:

[Paul in NZ]

your answer is in you title Telstra Clear :no:

Yeah but due to a curse of geography its probably our best option. They are great unless something goes wrong and you have to call them then its agony.

FWIW I see they fessed up to an issue this morning on their website..... Gah!

Seems like once or twice a week though...

[Pex Adams]

HI Guys,

I was one of the unfortunate souls who was on the alpha and beta tests for this box.
I'll start off with a couple of points.

1. Its a brand new box (not a skybox rebranded).
2. It was built by a company in Ireland, who did an ok job. But were railroaded by lack of budget, and a retarded amount of enhancements that the hardware couldn't deal with.
3. The box struggles with many things, especially Read/write functionality - brought about from the hardware spec been different from what was the Software was to be designed to work for. (Refer back to point 2).

SO what does this all mean.
TCL has to regularly perform updates to allow the system to work better (which most of the time only minontly improve things).
If you power off the system, than first thing in the morning the system will do an auto check, polling the server to see if there is any updates. This process can take up to 30 min!!!
Which I can tell you causes the devices ability to show you anything during that period one painful experience!

My advise
1. Don't turn the thing off.
2. Call the dumbarse's in Mayalsia and tell them to shove the thing up there bums
3. Call Sky and tell them you love them (hopefully that'll mean they give you free install and other stuff!)

Then you'll have to endure
1. The wait for Six months while TCL try and charge you for something that you don't have
2. Wait another six months before they'll credit you anything
3. Spend that entire year on the phone been palmed off between people who are well under-paid for what they do, and really don't care about your problems unfortunately. Because they are sick of hearing about your problems, as every single call is the same with TCL.

Atleast you'll be able to watch and record sky without issues though.

Side Note: I endured the previous bit, as I couldn't believe a company that wants to fight against the big boys can't even look after there own staff, and there own customers.

Good Luck

[Kendog]

You are not alone.

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=44&topicid=80730

Hundreds of posts from numerous very unhappy TCL customers.
We were on the verge of getting one of their T Box's but moved to a non TCL area and ended up with MySky HDi. I consider that a very very lucky move. MySky is near perfect.

[Paul in NZ]

Thanks mate - that adds up!

[Hitcher]

We've got a T-Box. The only issue we've got is that the box freezes if it starts to record when you're watching a recorded programme.

[John_H]

Pex adams above has it right. Don't power them off over night and that should clear up most issues you are talking about.

[Paul in NZ]

ANOTHER major outage with the fucking thing.....

Christ - how he hell do they get away with it? If it was telecom they would be getting whipped from pillar to post by now

[riffer]

Our TBOX seems to work okay. We have to reboot is maybe once in a month, and I can't remember the last time it locked up.

Sorry to be the odd one out.

[Paul in NZ]

Wierd.....

They told me it was a system outage but I guess its maybe just a Kapiti one...

Feck.... What really pisses me off is that I want to watch some stuff ive recorded. its all right there on the box which is plugged into the telly and yet I can't watch it???? Thats screwed UP!

[gsxr]

BUT

Telstra TBox thingy is FREE for first 2 years and then after that only about $15.00 a month.
You dont get much for nothing nowadays and what do you actually expect for $3.50 a week ????
If it is so much of a concern and really really important to you pay for MY SKY.

[Paul in NZ]

BUT

Telstra TBox thingy is FREE for first 2 years and then after that only about $15.00 a month.
You dont get much for nothing nowadays and what do you actually expect for $3.50 a week ????
If it is so much of a concern and really really important to you pay for MY SKY.


its hardly free OR $3.50 a week.

IF you pay for the triple play service with a high data cap and then its free with a $99 instal charge. Thats a 3rd of the price of a basic DVR.....

Problem is I can't watch ANY tv while its down because we are in a little shadow from the transmitter and the main beef is it does not do what was promised and they have fuck all intention of fixing it (or are unable to do so). I'm paying them shit loads every month and that includes a television delivery service which does not fucking work. I think our basic service delivery charge is like $150 per month so free? piss off its free and now we very often can't watch anything at all.

But what really pisses me off is we went through all this with their internet services a few years back and while its good now they never ever once appologised for their crap service....

I guess I'm too placid or lazy to change

anyway - once I know I can ditch the fuckin thing I'll call sky like I should have done on day 1

[Pussy]

At least your puter connection is working, Paul! :)

[gsxr]

Sorry Paul
I assumed you were on cable but obviously you are relying on a transmitter which is different.
You are obviously on the Homeplan as opposed to the InHome plan
My bad :(

[BMWST?]

Wierd.....

They told me it was a system outage but I guess its maybe just a Kapiti one...

Feck.... What really pisses me off is that I want to watch some stuff ive recorded. its all right there on the box which is plugged into the telly and yet I can't watch it???? Thats screwed UP!..sky was off for long periods last night....rain fade they call it.

[Kendog]

..sky was off for long periods last night....rain fade they call it.
Not for us.

[Paul in NZ]

RIGHT - grumpy old man hat today!!!!


FFS - this just gets worse and worse... How do these guys get away without being pinged by fair go or something???

Ever since we 'upgraded' to a T box there has not been a week that it has not failed and as a result we have had zero television. We can't even watch programes we have recorded and are stored locally on the box! Last friday (23rd March) we were without it all day and most of saturday morning before it managed to reset itself. No worries we hired some movies... (more expense although they were all bloody good)

Last friday our internet access also failed. It was off most saturday (came back briefly sat evening), died again sunday morning, came back sunday afternoon and was dead again this morning.

We ring the 0508 number to enquire - we get repeatedly cut off (as in disconnected). I finally get through sat morning (30min wait time) and get a message that some customers are experiencing slow access to overseas sites... Fuck off - I can't even get onto the net so I press on and eventually get told it is a problem with my network??? (um really???) I apparently need a visit from a technician and after a minute or two I'm told he will come on thursday 29th... What??? A week without internet???? Seriously??? I could swap providers in less time than that!!! And then I need to take a day off work for a visit I probably don't need because it will be sometime on thursday? (note that the call centre tech didn't look at our line or do anything ie he already knew they were having network issues but wasn't going to admit it) The modem was sending and not getting an acknowledgement.

Typically our mothly bill is $150 to $180. On top of that we now need to hire movies if we want to be sure we can watch something on our TV on a friday night (typically our retreat to the cave night) Thats a LOT of money and surely we can expect better than being disconnected and palmed off with weak excuses and inaction.

Seriously? Do they actually want us as a customer?????

[Kendog]

Seriously? Do they actually want us as a customer?????

I was a loyal TCL customer for 10+ years.
Only reason we switched was a result of moving to a non cable area over a year ago.

But since then MySky and Vodafone ADSL Internet have been a perfect faultless experience.

I think the time has come to provide them the ultimate feedback and leave.

p.s. When I left TCL, they continued to charge every month for the next 3 months. Each month I rang they said they had now disconnected the service and I would not get charged anymore. Once they finally stopped charging I also had to convince them to refund the overcharged costs :facepalm:
The trick is to ring them as soon as the call center hours start in the morning, that way someone in NZ answers as the overseas call center has not opened yet.

[Paul in NZ]

I just emailed them from work.... Its less stressful than actually talking to them.

I just can't figure out how they get away with it.....