[BenMcr]

Originally Posted by heeleybobs

I would expect that if a product is advertised to be on a particular service provider then it would be the same wherever you are in the world. Take for example the Apple iPhone, Just because it's on a UK network they haven't disabled the Facetime feature, or iMessage, or Personal Hotspot (oh wait, some providers have decided to charge you extra for the convenience of using the data package you already pay for in a way that is potentially more useful).

Not the same model at all. Apple make the iPhone and 'own' the customer, and then the networks basically sell Apple's product.

Virgin Media:TiVo is Virgin's own product. It is not US TiVo, and has never claimed to be. The hardware is Virgin's design as are the choice of who makes the hardware. TiVo supply the software only.

but to stop features such as TiVo Desktop Plus and Smartphone control over LAN is just ridiculous and customers such as myself want access to these features.

TiVo Desktop Plus is as much about content rights as anything else. US consumer rights over content are different, plus in the US TiVo is an add on box, same as a DVD, Video or Freeview recorder. So what you can do with it differs than if it's part of a direct cable provider's offering

Also VM haven't stopped Smartphone remote controls where they follow published guidelines

What has been stopped (by TiVo Inc as they keep blocking them in the US too) are those apps that hack an undocumented protocol to get them to work

I didn't see them ripping up my street and lay new cabling so this would suggest that they are using the same network infrastructure. So in response to your request, my source for fact is the lack of footpaths dug up when speeds increase. Please read my comment carefully, fibre optic cables are capable, and always have been, of carrying an immense amount of data. If you think that the Cable TV service was provided by a 1Mbps downstream then let me assure you that the first generation Pace cable boxes in the UK reported downlink speeds of 10Mbps in the engineers hidden installation menu and this speed was limited only by the parts used in the STB.

Then you don't know how cable works.

Yes, coax and fibre are capable of faster speeds, but the modems, routers, CMTS and other hardware within the network isn't/wasn't. All the customer may see is a new modem, but there is a lot of other kit that gets changed.

Even when Virgin introduced a load of new HD channels, that was only possible after the introduction of the NGTV platform - most of which was new kit at Virgin Media's end. It was why the HD channels were rolled out on a regional basis

I'll put a question out there to you all, which would you honestly prefer to have, the current Virgin Media TiVo service, or the Service currently offered in the USA?

Obviously the best service possible, which is also what Virgin Media wants. But there is a lot more to offering TiVo as a core service, rather than an add on box. Any features that are enabled have to be tested, and then agents trained to support it, documentation written, and then rolled out to customers.