Details about offer to upgrade the ONT?
Bleb1
Enthusiast - Level 3

I received a notice from Verizon (by email and regular mail) asking me to schedule an appointment so a technician can come out and upgrade "the box that delivers your Fios." The reason for doing so is explained only in vague marketing language ("highest quality services," etc.). I called for details and the rep. merely read the same notice out loud to me.  Does anyone know what this upgrade consists of? Is it just to enable services I don't need (higher speeds, more channels) for which Verizon will now try to convince me to pay a higher fee? Or is the new equipment likely to lead to an improvement I'll notice?  (The company hasn't bothered to post a web page explaining the details or even brief their CSRs so they can answer basic questions.)

0 Likes
Re: Details about offer to upgrade the ONT?
jonjones1
Legend

Verizon has been upgrading older ONT’s to be able to sustain 1 gigabyte services and beyond. They are smaller and more reliable. However since you don’t own the ONT Verizon can update their equipment as they see fit.

Re: Details about offer to upgrade the ONT?
Bleb1
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks for your reply.  Is there any disadvantage to permitting the upgrade? (I think it's my decision since I'd have to allow them into my house.) My ONT is 7 years old. Never had a problem with it, and my general inclination is to leave well enough alone - particularly since "upgrades" in both software and hardware sometimes introduce new problems.

0 Likes
Re: Details about offer to upgrade the ONT?
jonjones1
Legend

As I stated below the ONT belongs to them. It is not customer owned.

you would really have no choice if Verizon wants to upgrade their company owned equipment.

its true you could try and refuse access but Verizon could shut off your service until either you agree to allow the access, or they could terminate your connection from outside and place the new one where they please.

i am not sure of the regulations in your town, city, or village. 

The benefits are possible upgradability for better and faster speed tiers, and possible better stability overall.

Re: Details about offer to upgrade the ONT?
CRobGauth
Community Leader
Community Leader

Sometimes an older, failing ont can cause video and internet issues.

If your box fails, they wpiukd give you the new one anyway.

No reason to deny the upgrade.

Re: Details about offer to upgrade the ONT?
smith6612
Community Leader
Community Leader

There's a couple of reasons why. If you're on a plan that is 75Mbps or older, you might be on an old BPON ONT (even though it is only 7 or 8 years old) and Verizon may need to upgrade you to GPON in order to beef up network capacity in your area. Or maybe you're in some secret NGPON2 trial market that none of us know about, and Verizon's hooking you up with the good stuff.

Or, less likely, Verizon could have detected that your ONT has gone rogue, and although it is working, it is interfering with neighbors on the same Fiber splitter by taking up timeslots it's not supposed to.

Either way, no charge, and the only drawback should be the time you'll need to spend waiting for the tech to arrive to complete the swap. The only other drawback I can think of would apply if you have a home phone with Verizon and still have one of the legacy Battery Backup units with the sealed lead acid battery. The tech will probably swap that out for a D-Cell Power Reserve unit, or just a straight-up power supply. If this happens you can stick with the D-Cell unit or you can pick up a UPS if you still want the phone service to work during a power outage (with the added benefit of Internet staying up too). Many people don't have line powered phones and don't elect to use the battery backup.

Re: Details about offer to upgrade the ONT?
TechGuy2020
Newbie

When the ONT is replaced, is the Verizon router also replaced?

When Fios was installed, I purchased the router to avoid rental charges.

0 Likes
Re: Details about offer to upgrade the ONT?
jonjones1
Legend

@TechGuy2020 wrote:

When the ONT is replaced, is the Verizon router also replaced?

When Fios was installed, I purchased the router to avoid rental charges.


No you can keep using your router. If they say you have to tell them no I will use what I have and refuse the router.

0 Likes
Re: Details about offer to upgrade the ONT?
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

It’s most likely to upgrade you from BPON to GPON, which is a very good thing.  The GPON ONT is smaller, consumes less power and gives you the option of higher speeds.  They charged people $150 to do this in the past, so seize the opportunity to get something for free from Verizon.  It doesn’t happen often.

There is no risk of problems, the new ONT provides the same services as the old ones.  A side from the battery backup, no other equipment changes in your home.  This isn’t like a Windows software upgrade.

As far as the battery goes, don’t bother with the Verizon Power Reserve, even if they give it to you.  It holds a pile of D-cell batteries, which cost a few bucks.  It does not turn on automatically, you must flip a switch during an outage.  Once on, it only powers phone service.  If you expect power outages, get a UPS and plug the ONT and router into it.  Not only will it switch on automatically, it will power all services including internet.  Having internet during an outage can be more useful than phone service.

Enjoy!

0 Likes
Re: Details about offer to upgrade the ONT?
Sparegeek
Newbie

I was given this offer too. When I scheduled the appt. I was sent a “order” via email that I was supposed to click the accept button to verify the appt. I took the time to read the document I was accepting and they tried to sneak in a plan change and a 2yr contract. When I saw this I did abandoned the form and immediately told the customer service person to cancel the appointment. Be careful that they don’t try to scam you too!

0 Likes