DSL to FiOS Home Infrastructure Questions

[JayInWestLA]

My wife and I are remodeling our home and would like to "future proof" it for the day that FiOS becomes available in our neighborhood. In particular, we're interested in the wiring infrastructure and Ethernet routing requirements/limitations of a FiOS installation. We currently have Verizon DSL, Time Warner Cable (analog), DirectTV, 7 TiVos (4 cable, 3 DirecTV), an 8-port Linksys router, a 16-port Linksys switch, and two Linksys wireless access points (WACs). We're currently planning on keeping the DirecTV and Time Warner subscriptions and only using FiOS for high-speed internet (trust me, we have our reasons). I haven't been able to find certain information we'll need for the wiring plan for our remodel from reading the FiOS PDFs on this site. As such, I have the following questions and would greatly appreciate any information any of you generous posters might have:

1. It seems that FiOS can be linked into your house via coax or Ethernet. Given that we're only interested in FiOS high speed internet access, I presume that we'd use the Ethernet connection to the OTN. Is that correct?
2. What kind of Ethernet cabling comes out of the OTN device and to the "high speed Ethernet" jack that the FiOS installer puts in (i.e.., CAT5, CAT6, something else)?
3. Will my current home network (i.e.., CAT5 cable, Linksys router, switch, WACs) work with the FiOS router?
4. If the answer to #3 is "yes," will that degrade the speed of the FiOS service? If so, what can I do to mitigate that?
5. If the answer to #3 is "no," what kind of cabling is required and/or what routing/switching gear can I use to support the number of wired Ethernet connections we need (over 16). 

Thanks, in advance, for your help

[mleduc35651 · Accepted solution]

Many of your answers can be found here - > http://www.dslreports.com/faq/verizonfios

[JayInWestLA]

Thanks very much for pointing me to that link. It was very helpful!

[StuffOfInterest]

Jay,

If you are doing a major remodel, look into "structured wiring" and a company called "Leviton".  Their parts are available at Home Depot.  Structured wiring will allow you to get phone, Ethernet, and two coax cables (Time Warner and DirecTV) into every room of your house while only pulling one cable through the walls.  It also gives you the ability to turn on and off any service to any room from a single point.  The cost is not much more than basic wiring and it will do a really good job of future proofing your home.

As for the router, yes you can run Cat5 from the OTN to the FiOS router and then another Cat5 from the router to your in-house switch.  If you should move from Tmie Warner to FiOS TV in the future, the router can stay on Cat5 or switch to MOCA instead.