The Actiontec acts as a modem/router, and I am installing a E2500 router for N-wireless and faster Ethernet ports. How do I turn off the router portion of the Actiontec? I just want the Linsys to do all of the routing and the Actiontec to just be a modem. Support refuses to help me with it. One of many recent number of reasons to regret switching to FioS. Unfortunately, they have me by the stones cause I'm a video snob, and can't go back to Comcast for cable without wanting to rip my eyes out. But Verizon needs a HUGE lesson in Customer service. They seem to follow "The Customer is Always Wrong!"
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This is the best method, you can always bridge the actiontec, but if you have TV then it's not a terribly good idea to do. FiOS is very data centric, and if you bridge the actiontec it can cause all kindsa issues.
If you wanted to pursue that route then you can take a look at this FAQ, and it also has bridging instructions as well.
My recommendation is to simply piggy back the router
This is the best method, you can always bridge the actiontec, but if you have TV then it's not a terribly good idea to do. FiOS is very data centric, and if you bridge the actiontec it can cause all kindsa issues.
If you wanted to pursue that route then you can take a look at this FAQ, and it also has bridging instructions as well.
My recommendation is to simply piggy back the router
I'm accepting your solution, but I'm not happy about it. Sigh.. It seems like every time I get it in my head to do something to make my Verizon experience better, they find some way to show that either it can't be done that way, or it comes with another trade off that really sucks. I really wanted their modem to be just a modem..but that means I have to lose my VOD and Guide? Who thought THAT up? Sigh.. I am so frustrated right now. I looked forwad to doing this for months, and now that I am finally getting a paycheck and went ahead and picked up the router, they hit me with this. I really have a love/HATE relationship with FioS right now!
The router is just that -- a router. What you're calling a "modem" is part of the ONT where the fiber terminates -- essentially converting the optic signal into an ethernet handoff.
Where you're getting confused is the use of the coax portion of the connection which is how Vz typically connects back from the router to the ONT (MoCA WAN) and how the STB's communicate with the internet (MoCA LAN). MoCA is a method of handling ethernet over coax.
You can't remove the ActionTec from the picture becuase it acts as a bridge between the MoCA LAN, local ethernet LAN, and wireless. While you can have your ONT provisioned to handoff to you via ethernet, the STB's must have a way to get to the local LAN in order to get their guide data, etc. This feature also allows the use of MoCA bridges which utilize the coax to extend the ethernet network to other locations where coax is present without needing to run additional ethernet cable. I use a MoCA bridge to connect my second floor to the basement where the FiOS router is locate utilizing the in place coax in my home with no additional cabling and giving me a full speed connection from the upstairs to the basement.
If you know what you're doing and don't need any of the enhanced features such as remote DVR, you can place the ActionTec behind a different router and reprovision your ONT handoff to ethernet. Not recommended however.
The typical approach is to use the secondary router (Linksys) as an access point connecting LAN to LAN thereby getting any local speed improvements port to port (it's does nothing towards the internet because all ports -- even on the ActionTec are still faster than your up/down speed and capable of running at or beyond those speeds).
If for some reason you want to use the Linksys in router mode, you can also do that as well -- simply assign a local LAN address to the Linksys other than 192.168.1.x (say 192.168.2.x) and then assign a WAN address to the Linksys in the 192.168.1.x range, connect it to the ActionTec router and configure the ActionTec to place the WAN address you selected "into the DMZ" thereby making the Linksys router directly addressable from the internet. This method of operation has an impact on UPnP functionality because of the "double NAT" scenario, but in reality no one should ever be using UPnP regardless of what various gaming vendors say -- because it's a huge security hole which essentially allows any device on the local network to alter the firewall configuration -- which means any piece of malware on a PC can essentially reconfigure a router to allow the bad guys into your local network.
I use the access point mode (with an Apple TimeCapsule providing my wireless-N and local ethernet in bridge mode at one spot in my home and a Belkin router in access point mode -- it's an actual configuration option -- in another) and both work fine.
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