Yes, it will work without an internet connection. I bought a Roamio OTA for my mother-in-law, who has no internet. I set it up at my place (it usually wants t

Yes, it will work without an internet connection. I bought a Roamio OTA for my mother-in-law, who has no internet. I set it up at my place (it usually wants to upgrade to latest firmware over wifi when you unbox it), scanned for the OTA channels, then I took it to her place and wired it up. The operation without monthly activation is bare-bones. I mean, you don't even get channel or station names. But you can tune to prescanned OTA channels and watch tv and pause it live.