TiVo on a Broadband connection
Just about everyone I know now has a DVR of some type. Be it a DVR from the cable or satellite company they subscribe to, a TiVo or a Media Center PC. Most DVR boxes that a customer gets from the cable or satellite company they subscribe to work great with minimal bandwidth usage, if any at all (as most cable company leased DVR Receivers don't even need to be connected to a phone line or broadband connection). However, with a TiVo, you usually have to have it connected to either a broadband or phone connection. This is where TiVo starts to fail.
When you have your TiVo connected to a broadband connection, it is almost constantly sending packages back and forth between itself and TiVo's servers. This would not be a problem if TiVo did it right. However, TiVo does not do it right. At any given time, when connected to a broadband connection, a TiVo can be using up to 2 Mbps (Mega bites per second) of your bandwidth. That means that if you are on a 3 Mbps connection, TiVo can be taking up to two-thirds of your allotted bandwidth.
For some users that subscribe to uber high bandwidth packages, this isn't a problem, due to the fact that they usually have a package that is over 10 Mbps. But for the average user, who usually subscribes to a package between 1 Mbps and 3 Mbps, this presents a real issue. They can no longer successfully surf the internet without extreme slowdowns, and bandwidth problems causing pages to load slow, online video to have so much latency it is unbelievable, and make online video games virtually unplayable.
TiVo on a Phone connection
For some people, a simple fix to this is to connect the TiVo on a phone line. But what about people living in areas where TiVo has no local phone numbers? The TiVo then dials a long distance phone number. Now the customer ends up needing to pay more for the same service, due to long distance charges. This can get very expensive, very quickly depending on who the customer's phone provider is.
Alternatives to TiVo
In most areas, there are options for DVR service that are cheaper than TiVo, and does not use near the amount of bandwidth that TiVo uses. One example would be getting a set top DVR Receiver from a local cable service provider. These DVR Receivers usually do not need to be connected to a phone line or broadband connection, as the authorization for them usually comes directly through the cable line. The customer also does not usually have to purchase them. The customer can usually choose to pay around a $5 per month lease fee for the box, plus around $9 per month for DVR service, or purchase the box and just pay $9 per month for the DVR service. The same usually goes for most Satellite TV providers.
