Re: Desperate need for FIOS installation info
Edg1
Community Leader
Community Leader

If ONT is installed in the basement yes a data wire can be ran back outside to Family room. Verizon now runs cat5e or cat6 to router from ONT. So if you do run the wire just make sure you are using CMX Outdoor rated cable with solid conductors not stranded. Basically the kind you buy with pre-terminated end is not outdoor rated and will usually have stranded conductors. And it won't last, the sheath will rot over time alot faster that outdoor rated. I would also run RG6 75 Ohm since you will need it if you ever get TV service.

They will also tie in you phone line either back at the NID if need be and will also use outdoor rated cable to do so if in the basement.

You can run fiber into the Family room although I would recommend against it because if anything happens to your fiber they will typically have to run the whole thing over because when splicing fiber you normally need a foot of cable from both sides.

My ONT is about 9 inches by 6 inches and an inch thick. About the size of a router. Power supply is even smaller. My ONT is inside the garage and is Alcatel 211ML is you want to look at it online. Hopefully that is the one they will use for your house.

From what I see from all your previous posts I think I would probably be easier to put the ONT outside and run short piece of cable to nid. Then run cat6 exterior to Family room and run power to unfinished part of basement. But if you do want ONT in the basement then you would just need to run the cable to nid and Family room. ONT also supposed to be grounded with 10 gauge wire which also will need to be ran out if ONT goes inside. I saw on previous posts that Verizon does prefer ONT installations inside as first choice.

I also have a question for you. You say you have data and phone jacks at every location. Are both ran with cat5e and homeran back to a termination point. If so you could convert the phone jack to data and use that to feed to the other data lines and install a data switch.

Re: Desperate need for FIOS installation info
need_fios_info
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks for the detailed response.

I don't have data jacks. With DSL I had hardwired access to Internet from any room in house that has phone jack. With FIOS now I have hardwired access in only one room.

Installation was today, here is brief summary:

They said that normally cable is buried prior to installation day. However, cable had not yet been buried, so they ran a temporary cable above ground across a couple of neighbor's driveways. This was fortunate because once they saw my below grade finished basement they realized that it would not be easy to bring fiber through the wall there without opening drywall. They mentioned that outdoor installation was possible, but it would have to be located quite distant from both NID and family room where router is.

They went with my "plan C" and brought fiber into family room. They mounted a "transition box" on the exterior wall near where cable penetrates wall. This terminates the sturdy underground cable and feeds the thin stuff that is fed into house. They wanted to run fiber across to other side of room to my desk, but I was concerned about exposing the fiber to damage. I had them put ONT inside cabinets that are right next to where fiber comes through exterior wall.

The ONT is the Alcatel I-211M-L. I requested in advance the "desktop" ONT (https://www.dslreports.com/faq/16637) since I thought there was good chance it would get installed in family room. They gave me two cat6 cables to fish through my cabinets and route to other side of room while they worked outside. One cable for data, one for POTS. I was surprised that they did not have POTS cable or RJ11 termination tool. They spliced a short RJ11 jumper to the cat6 cable at each end. They said they had never backfed POTS into modular jack inside of house, only to NID. I got the impression that they are either replacing POTS at the NID, or putting in data to wherever the customer wants, but rarely both.

The cat6 to RJ11 jumper seems fragile and does look professional, I think I will replace it with a normal POTS cable with RJ11 at each end. POTS cables are much thinner as well.

My next step, in addition to replacing POTS cable, is to figure out how to dress cables along wall. I have light brown carpet, dark brown wood panel walls, dark brown molding and white cat6 cables. Seems like choices are:

1 - cables under edge of carpet. I'm not sure how to lift carpet and get it back onto tack strip. Also, is there risk that tack strips can damage cables?

2 - cables under molding, I'm not sure how much room there is behind molding

3 - cables stapled to outside of molding.

Anyone know which of these is the more professional method.

Thanks

Re: Desperate need for FIOS installation info
need_fios_info
Enthusiast - Level 3

Meant to say they normally bury fiber cable *up to location of NID* prior to install day (and without customer involvement). They would have had to run a long piece of the thin stuff around exterior and into the family room if this had been done in advance.

Re: Desperate need for FIOS installation info
need_fios_info
Enthusiast - Level 3

T + 1 month update:

I am still running over temporary fiber cable, neighbors are getting a little impatient, someone strung part of it up into tree branches so they could mow their grass.

The day after the install, a team arrived and buried a cable up to house to the transfer box, but it has not been swapped in the transfer box yet.

Received letter today saying that my service has been suspended because I did not provide Verizon with access to the house to update to fiber. Called customer service and was told that I was still on copper and needed to move over to fiber (along with the typical sales pitch, "its more reliable" etc.) which is strange since DSL modem went out with the trash 3 weeks ago.

For anyone replacing DSL and wanting to keep traditional phone service here are some takeaways from this:

If customer service tells you that equipment cannot be installed outside, and must go in basement or garage, don't believe them. Fiber can come into your house anywere you what, but you have to plan. The installers also said that they can install ONT outside if that makes the most sense.

Don't necessarily let them decide where to terminate the exterior cable and bring cable into house. They use a *very* heavy duty cable underground (my temporary cable has been driven over by cars for a month). But it gets transitioned to a very thin, fragile cable before entering the house. Typically this transition is at the old NID location and is hidden inside of box.  If they install ONT in basement at the NID location you will only have access to the Internet in the rest of the house via their wireless ONT located underground in your basement, the worst possible location from RF propagation perspective. If they run fiber from NID location around the exterior of the house to have it enter elsewhere, they are running a very thin, fragile cable which can be damaged.  This thin cable looks like it should be kept very short and away from anything that may damage it. If it is running around the exterior of the house it could be damaged by a frisbee.

Don't assume that you need to provide access via old NID if you want to keep traditional dial tone service. The same phone jack that your DSL modem was connected to can be backfed with phone connection from ONT (but you will have to buy and fish your own RJ-11 cable).

Don't necessarily pre-cable inside your house. Verizon tech support insisted that coax was required for 50Mbps service. I almost pre-installed it but decided to wait. Sure enough installers said that they only use CAT6 even for 50Mbps.

0 Likes
Re: Desperate need for FIOS installation info
need_fios_info
Enthusiast - Level 3

Some additional info for those being forced from copper into fiber:

After fiber upgrade two things you should be aware of:

1 - If you have been using an answering machine, and want to continue with this for call screening etc., it will no longer work after this upgrade.

Verizon hijacks calls unanswered after a few rings and directs them to a Verizon voicemail. They do not notify customer in advance that they will be doing this, and it is up to the customer to call repair to have this remedied.

2 - After this "upgrade", don't expect previous services that you had over copper to be enabled. For example international calls are blocked until you call a special department that is responsible for enabling this.

In both cases, I would recommend that you insist that these be handled by the folks that are in your house doing the install. Once they leave, it will be up to you to spend the countless hours at 1-800-VERIZON getting these things fixed, and you may be charged.

Hope this helps someone.

0 Likes
Re: Desperate need for FIOS installation info
Norrin_Radd
Newbie

Thanks.  Big help.

0 Likes