FiOS: On Premise Cable & Connectors

[dexman]

Sorry for the long post 😞

I've been a FiOS subscriber since May 2007. At that time, Verizon's contractor installed a Tellabs 611 ONT in our basement and used a combination of Commscope RG6 coax cable and DS6Q - 04-06 compression connectors to connect the set top box and televisions.

Fast forward to 2021. Is Verizon still using Commscope/Digicon products for on-premise installations?

How "rigid" is the company when it comes to seeing other brands of cable and connectors in use after the fact?

The reason for these questions is that my church recently switched from Verizon DSL to Comcast XFinity for Internet service (I was hoping that Verizon would bite the bullet and make FiOS available to the building, but, Verizon continously refuses).

Comcast had me do the church pre-wire with the RG6 cable they provided (PPC riser rated/white jacketed RG6). I terminated the inside cables with Klein Tools RG6 compression connectors, mounted a grounding block and hooked everything up in preparation for the delivery of the Xfinity equipment.

On the day of the Internet activation, the Comcast technician replaced the grounding block, chopped off the connectors and replaced them with PPC EX6XLs.

When the time comes for me to upgrade my Internet service here at home to something faster than 75/75, will Verizon require me to replace my present cabling (Belden 1189A with PPC EX6XL connectors) before the company will swap out the Tellabs 611 with the Alcatel-Lucent/Nokia equivalent? 🤔

[dexman]

I need to make a quick correction. The manufacturer of the RG6 cable used for the initial installation is/was Times Fiber Communications. That company was acquired by Amphenol a while back.

[Cang_Household · Accepted solution]

I think all coaxial connectors should be compatible as long as they are for the same cable type, that is RG6.

Coax cables and connectors are sort of irrelevant for Fios installation unless you have ordered TV service and/or you need MoCA adapters to distribute the network via coax. As long as you have RG6 coaxial wiring, a field technician will reterminate the coaxial cables if necessary and provide MoCA-compatible splitters free of charge.

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@dexman wrote:

The manufacturer of the RG6 cable used for the initial installation is/was Times Fiber Communications. That company was acquired by Amphenol a while back.

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Amphenol Broadband Solutions remains one of Verizon's coaxial accessories provider.

[dexman]

Hi Cang,

We do have all three service here @ the house. Everything is working well. My experience with the Comcast installer is what prompted my to see if Verizon's technicians would take the same approach as Comcast's.

I ran loss calculations for all video branches and everyone is less than -10db. If I were to make any further cabling changes, it might be to replace the RG6 between the ONT and the first splitter with RG11...which is around 40'.

[Cang_Household]

As long as the existing connectors can be screwed onto the devices, I would not expect a field technician to re-terminate all the connectors. For signal attenuation, I don't think it would make a perceivable difference if you were to add a splitter here and there.

[gs0b]

I'll 2nd Cang_Household's comments.  As long as the connectors and cables work and have no obvious issues, no Verizon tech is going to touch them.  The RF signals out of the ONT are very strong, so you can add lots of splitters before you have to worry about anything.

Comcast techs may have been concerned about connector quality because their signal enters the premise at lower power levels than the what an ONT puts out.  With the ONT, you basically have the head-end transmitter right in your home, so there is no issue with signal attenuation on the outside plant.  Grounding isn't as big an issue, either, as there is no outside plant cable shield to worry about.  But that's just a guess as to why a Comcast installer replaced the connectors.

[dexman]

An online friend of mine who has worked in telecommunications for decades said that Comcast technicians are required by policy to use only the brands/hardware that are provided by the company.

Had the technician been upfront about this I would have understood. Instead he said "No disrespect intended" while removing the hardware I had installed and mumbled something about him seeing Comcast's units not coming online if non-Comcast authorized connectors are used. 🤔