How on earth do you get a client added to whole home DVR?

AT&T has been moving DirecTV accounts to a new billing system that is integrated with AT&T systems. The new system has had issues with activating boxes not ordered through DirecTV (so that the system has an activation order). This is a technical issue right now.

However that is only if you got it from an authorized 3rd party seller (Solid Signal, etc.). If you purchased from an individual (eBay, Craig's list, eBay, neighbor, etc.) then you can never have it reactivated. Boxes are leased and are required to re returned to DirecTV, not transferred between customers. As such the new system is designed to not allow the reactivation of boxes.

It's activated and working fine as long as I replace my existing client. My issue is not activation of the receiver due to being from a 3rd party. It is granting an additional client license/authorization to my account.

The account needs to remove the Client you are replacing and activate the new one in its place. Then in Manage Clients you just swap/replace the Client the Genie is paired with. So from you mention they have been unable to activate it on the account, which is most likely that technical issue I mentioned.

Through 3rd party you still get the 24 month agreement for activating it on the account. I would see about the return process for the 3rd party and to place an order for the Client through DirecTV (since you were already having a tech out there anyway). If you don't have a free upgrade from DirecTV then the one-time lease cost of a Client is $99, which should be the same as the 3rd party as they don't have free upgrades.

Though surprised you would go through a 3rd party to get such an old Client. They continued to the C51 and now the C61.

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@jamesroberts150 wrote:

It's activated and working fine as long as I replace my existing client. My issue is not activation of the receiver due to being from a 3rd party. It is granting an additional client license/authorization to my account.

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I was going over this again and a couple things don't match up. You say issue is not activation but granting an additional Client to the account. That should be the same thing as a Client cannot be activated on the account but not authorized on the account.

The only way that might make sense is if you have an absurd amount of boxes. The new account system only allows a total of 8 devices. So if between Clients and receivers, or Clients and Genie-2 (HS17) which only allows Clients, you are already at 8 then adding one more is not allowed. This is a limitation that we hope is not permanent.

If counting the new Client you are within the 8 device limit, and the box can activate but requires an existing Client to be deactivated as it cannot add another total, then the issue would be it is from 3rd party per the technical issue in the system already mentioned. They do need to get that fixed as there are still cases where someone needs to do their own install because of something custom that is beyond the scope of a DirecTV tech.

Unless there was something super custom about your home where it would be problematic for a tech, getting a Client through a 3rd party serves no benefit as you pay the lease cost with no chance of a free upgrade and still get the 24 month agreement. And in your case you got an older model of Client C41 instead of a C51 or C61.

Not sure what doesn't make sense.  I suggest re-reading if you aren't grasping as repeating on a forum is equally as bad as repeating things to the 6 people on the phone with DirecTV each time you are transferred.  The purchased 3rd party client works just fine as long as the existing client on my account is replaced thus indicating that it is an activated receiver.  Hence my account is only authorized for one client.  As far as model # or latest technology, if I cared about that I would have gone through DirecTV.  I'm perfectly fine with a C41-500 as it is identical to my current client.  Also, I'm well aware that regardless of where it comes from, you still pay a monthly leased receiver charge.  I hope that I was clear enough this time.

So you had two boxes only (Genie and 1 Client), can add the 2nd Client but only if 1st Client is removed from the account. That is a big technical issue, and one that probably stems from the fact it was not a DirecTV order so the system will not recognize one more total box. This issue with their new account system not properly activating boxes from authorized 3rd party sellers has gone on too long. You are the first that has mentioned where it got activated, but still with the problem of having the other one deactivated, as most cannot get it activated at all. Unfortunately, until they finally figure out the problem and get the new account system reprogrammed, you will not be able to have a 2nd Client active unless ordered directly through them so the system can properly process the order.

With this issue, and a few others during migration from old to new system (account type change in error, problem with those that had the legacy TiVO service, etc.), I wish they had put a halt to migrating people over until these issues were resolved.

You don't pay a monthly lease charge. That charge is for the TV. If you had a TV with a built-it client, so not DirecTV equipment at all, you still pay the $7 fee. Client is listed for clarification in system as does not have its own access card but an extension of the Genie's. In the end it is still the $7 fee, the same as people without leased equipment but owned (like myself as have had DirecTV a long time so not every box was under the lease program).

Though if you ever get another box in the future, I would recommend an HDDVR (last model made HR24) to get more turners and recording space to work with your Genie. No difference in monthly cost, plus it can work by itself because of indecent processing, so is a more reliable setup. Unless you have the Genie-2 (HS17), in which case your are forbidden from having HDDVRs. A big reason I would never suggest the Genie-2 myself as that is unnecessarily restrictive.

I appreciate the advice. I'm just going to call and place the order and get a tech out and make this headache go away.