My Tablo is rendered useless unless because it has to have internet connectivity to work. Without internet access the TV Guide is unable to load and I am unable to select a station to obtain potentially life-saving news including evacuation orders or simply when and where clean drinking water is available.
I live in an area that has frequent internet outages due to poor provider performance and severe storms, including hurricanes and tornadoes. I purchased the Tablo specifically to access Over-the-Air content in the event of an internet outage or natural disaster. This I cannot do because the Live TV Guide must download before I can select a channel to watch. No TV Guide no TV.
This is a major design flaw that renders the Tablo, TV antenna, televisions and electrical generators useless when they are needed the most. Instead of being able to accessing life-saving information during a natural or man-made disaster, I am unable to access anything. This is precisely not what Tablo user’s need.
- Why does the TV Guide rule everything?
- Why when the Guide is out of date, and the internet not available, is the Tablo rendered useless?
As long as the Tablo has “Active Channels” and has been previously configured and used, the Tablo community should be able to select and watch available Over-the-Air channels in the absence of updated TV Guide data. But this is not the case.
This also means that if the TV Guide servers are impacted by a disaster or has simply lost internet connectivity the area serviced by those servers is unable to use their Tabols.
Without Internet connectivity the Tablo cannot be accessed to even play recorded TV movies or shows. Precisely when you need the TV to entertain and comfort children in a disaster, precisely when potentially life-saving Over-the-Air news is needed, the Tablo fails. Most of the local Over-the-Air stations maintain generators (required by their licensing requirements) to ensure they can broadcast during disasters. It is a shame we cannot receive them simply because the internet is unavailable.
The local internet provider has been known to be down for a week or more. During that time it may be critical to obtain Over-the-Air information to know when and where to evacuate to. It may be critical to simply know when and where disaster relief or even clean drinking water is available. This is exactly when the Tablo fails.
This renders the Tablo useless to me at all times. Knowing that I cannot rely on it when it is critical to obtain potentially life-saving disaster information makes owning it a determent to my family’s and neighborhood’s safety.
Updated TV Guide data is of little value when compared to the potential to save lives, entertain and comfort children and inform all, during times of crisis, when the internet is not available.
Respectfully submitted,
CraigM