Changing TV/Internet Bundle service to just internet. Verizon Instructions unclear. Help Please.
Afi1
Enthusiast - Level 1

Hello all,

I recently moved to my wife's house, whose internet service is Fios. I totally love the service. It's stable and utterly fast. However, I found that my wife has the cable and internet bundle. We never watch any cable TV so I know that we are paying extra for nothing. So after talking with Fios reps online and on phone for 2.5 hours, I finally got them to grant us a new plan once the current plan expires. The new plan is $79.99 for internet and $10+ for router rental. With other fees and taxes, it came out to about $110. But right now, I don't want to keep renting the router and instead want to use my own. Due to my lack of knowledge, I don't even know what I shall do. So allow me to just show you my current situation:

I have an ONT box (I think it is an ONT) outside my house, which looks like this:

imageONT outside house.

I can't seem to open it now. 

We have 3 floors in our house. On our first floor we have the Verizon Quantum Router, but it was connected via a coax cable AND an ethernet cable:

imageRouter 1imageRouter 2

On our 2nd floor, we have a cable box. The back is also connected via coax cable:

imageTVboximageTVbox_back

And then on the 3rd floor I have a Verizon Fios extender, which is again connected by a coax cable:

image

image

According to the email from Fios, I need to return my device but it didn't specify which one I shall return. I'm sure that I need to return the TV box, but if I need to return my router and extender as well, I would want to make sure my own router works before I do that. I talked to 2 reps on the phone, one said I need to return all 3 devices while the other said merely returning the cable box shall suffice.

I also went to my local Microcenter, but they told me that if all my devices are connected by coax cable instead of ethernet, I can't simply unplug from Verizon Fios device and plug in my router to make it work. But I see my router is connected by both ethernet and coax so I am wondering if it I can switch to another router. My speculation is that ONT connects to my router using ethernet, and the router connects to the TV and extender via coax cable. I am not sure though. 

I've never used Fios before. I am wondering if you guys can tell me, under this circumstance, whether I can buy my own router and start using it right now. Which router is the best to replace Verizon quantum router? And since my extender is connected by a coax cable right now, shall I just buy an extender that supports coax connection?

Thank you for your time in advance.

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Re: Changing TV/Internet Bundle service to just internet. Verizon Instructions unclear. Help Please.
Edg1
Community Leader
Community Leader

To answer the first question the FiOS extender can be wired with ethernet or coax from the router.

As far as mesh routers, Orbi has multiple ethernet ports to hardwire devices. Google has only one ethernet port so it will need to wire to an unmanaged 5 port gigabit ethernet switch to add more ports. 

In your white panel all the wires are probably homeruns. Which means it runs from the panel to the jack on each floor. In your setup you will have to put the main router in your basement with the panel. Plug all your ethernet wires into you LAN ports of your router. That will make all the jacks live on each floor. You will still need to buy female RJ45 ethernet jacks for the unterminated wires up in the rooms. You will also need a 110 punchdown tool to terminate the jacks on each floor. 

It might be easier to call Verizon to come out but just remember it will be billable work. 

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Re: Changing TV/Internet Bundle service to just internet. Verizon Instructions unclear. Help Please.
Edg1
Community Leader
Community Leader

The cable box definitely needs be returned. You will have to look on your wifie’s bill. It should sayif there is a rental fee for Quantum router and Network Extender. If that is the case then that have to be returned as well. 

You can definitely use your own router connected to the ONT via ethernet. If purchasing your own router make sure is dual band 2.4/5 GHz AC. The newest wifi standard AX is also out now but will be more expensive than an AC router. 

The coax that is connected to the Quantum router provides data via MoCA to the STB and your FiOS Network extender. If your FiOS Network Extender is on the 3rd floor you also need to get an extender too. You should maybe look into mesh router like Netgear Orbi or Google wifi. 

I noticed that you have a white panel down with the router. There might be other ethernet wiring in there going to all the rooms in your house. If not you will either have to get a pair of MoCA adapters to feed the 3rd floor or go the mesh route. 

Re: Changing TV/Internet Bundle service to just internet. Verizon Instructions unclear. Help Please.
Afi1
Enthusiast - Level 1


Thanks a lot for your reply. Since I've never dealt much with home networking, this has been bugging me the whole weekend. 


@Edg1 wrote:

The cable box definitely needs be returned. You will have to look on your wifie’s bill. It should sayif there is a rental fee for Quantum router and Network Extender. If that is the case then that have to be returned as well. 

It is indeed the case. They will charge me for the router and Network extender router. That's why I'm trying to figure out how to use my own router and extender.


@Edg1 wrote:

The coax that is connected to the Quantum router provides data via MoCA to the STB and your FiOS Network extender. If your FiOS Network Extender is on the 3rd floor you also need to get an extender too.


Yes, the FiOS Network Extender is indeed on the 3rd floor. I was planning to buy an extender that can be connected via coax cable so that it will be plug in and switch. But all the extenders I see online only have ethernet ports. Is it only the Fios Extender that uses coax cable?


@Edg1 wrote:

You should maybe look into mesh router like Netgear Orbi or Google wifi. 


I was considering using mesh router. But I'm under the impression that if I use it, I won't have the option to run an ethernet cable to my desktop. Isn't wireless internet speed always slower? I have the gigabyte connection now. What kind of speed can I expect from a mesh network? 


@Edg1 wrote:

I noticed that you have a white panel down with the router. There might be other ethernet wiring in there going to all the rooms in your house. If not you will either have to get a pair of MoCA adapters to feed the 3rd floor or go the mesh route. 


Thanks for noticing that. I took out the panel and checked inside. There were a lot of cables. And I also checked my 2nd floor and 3rd floor. Here are what I found:

image2nd floor ethernet next to STBimage3rd floor cable(yellow) next to extenderimageEnd of the ethernet cable on 3rd floor.

So this is where I become utterly flummoxed: I plug the ethernet cable on the 2nd floor into my laptop and got nothing. Then I thought "Oh it makes sense since it's not connected to the router. So I went to the 1st floor and took down the panel and saw these:

imageEthernet cable behind while panelimageConnected to what looks like an ethernet extenderimage

You can see that there is an ethernet cable with a complete port plugged in what looks like an ethernet extender. So I unplugged it and plug it in the router as I thought it must be the same ethernet cable that comes out of the wall on my 2nd floor. But it didn't work.

As for 3rd floor, the ethernet cable doesn't even have a plug-in ready port at the end. What is that about? I can't even test if it works.

What shall I do now to make the ethernet cables on 2nd and 3rd floor work? Is it necessary now to get a Verizon technician? Thanks.

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Re: Changing TV/Internet Bundle service to just internet. Verizon Instructions unclear. Help Please.
Edg1
Community Leader
Community Leader

To answer the first question the FiOS extender can be wired with ethernet or coax from the router.

As far as mesh routers, Orbi has multiple ethernet ports to hardwire devices. Google has only one ethernet port so it will need to wire to an unmanaged 5 port gigabit ethernet switch to add more ports. 

In your white panel all the wires are probably homeruns. Which means it runs from the panel to the jack on each floor. In your setup you will have to put the main router in your basement with the panel. Plug all your ethernet wires into you LAN ports of your router. That will make all the jacks live on each floor. You will still need to buy female RJ45 ethernet jacks for the unterminated wires up in the rooms. You will also need a 110 punchdown tool to terminate the jacks on each floor. 

It might be easier to call Verizon to come out but just remember it will be billable work.