Fios w/ my own router and MoCA adapters

[tscloud]

I am a past customer of Verizon Fios and am thinking of coming back.  I was and would be an Internet/TV/phone customer.  I had the old Actiontec router and it worked fine.  In the meantime however, I have aquired an ASUS RT-AC1900P which I have really come to enjoy and would like to continue using.  I also have a couple of Actiontec MoCA adapters that I currently use to extend network over existing coax running throughout the house.

My question is whether I can use my router and the MoCA adapters to get STB functions like on demand, guide, etc. working?  Could I ditch the Verizon router (G1100 or Actiontec) altogether and still get the full experience?  I would assume of course that I would have to have Ethernet provisioned from the ONT.  With the MoCA adapters, is this even a requirement?  It would be fine if it were.  I'm really just curious as to my options and the network configurations around them.

[smith6612]

So there are two different sides to MoCa with FiOS. The MoCa WAN and MoCa LAN. The G1100 or MI424WR Router will be needed if you want to use Coax to deliver your WAN connection, as most MoCa adapters are not designed to tune into the frequency broadcast by the ONT for WAN.

Additionally, new FiOS installs today are all Ethernet for Internet, then Coax is run to the router for STB Data as well as any MoCa bridges you might want to use on the network. This is because the speed tiers are becoming too fast for MoCa to keep up with.

If you have at least one MoCa adapter you used previously for LAN connections, connecting that up to your ASUS router will be all that is needed if you were to order TV Service. Just be warned that sometimes the Set Top Boxes may have trouble activating with the FiOS router missing. I'd get a FiOS router off of eBay if you plan to use TV, should you not already have one, to swap in temporarily until all services are active. Get at least an ActionTec MI424WR Rev. I if you are getting a VMS-based set top box.

There are reports that stuff like Caller ID and Remote DVR will not work without the FiOS router in place. There's ways you can get them working, but many have encountered trouble with this. So determine if these features matter to you.

[PeterGats]

I just posted this in another thread below and am copying pasting it below this message again in this thread; the short answer is yes, best place to get an indepth how to is over at the DSL reports site under teh Verizon Fios most FAQ section which describes 10 methods of achieving this, methods 6, 7 & 8 are most suited to what you want to do i think. method 6 being easisest you simply move the Verizon supplied router which acts as the MOCA bridge behind your router and plug it into one of your router's LAN ports, but pls read the entire how to FAQ guide first.

You do retain most usefull functionality like your GUIDE and Video on demand, but again refer to the FAQ guide first, you do loose the ability to see your calls you missed on your phone on your TV (caller id on screen feature) which isnt terribly usefull anyways and the Verizon support people if you had any problems woudl make you reverse your connection back to your main router being their Verizon supplied one, should you have any problems., but this is a small price to pay to get you 99% of what is usefull anyways. 

I just returned my Verizon Cisco Set Top Boxes (bcs i just went all streaming with Roku & Amazon Fire TV boxes instead) and i noticed that the latest Cisco branded STB's have an ethernet port on them, so i am wondering if you even need coax (as a MOCA bridge) and can plug these into teh Verizon Router itself as a diffrent subnet into your own network and not use coax at all between the STB's and the Verizon Router.

cut-paste of my post-reply in other thread in this same forum:

You can completely replace the Verizon supplied router with your own. Immediately after getting my 750/750  installation completed 2 days ago and while the tech was still here, and after teh ONT was activated i plugged in my laptop directly into the ONT ethernet port and did some surfing and extensive speedtests. Right after that, i started using my own router, a Netgear R7000 and i just replaced that with a Ubiquiti ER-8pro to get much closer to GigEthernet switching speeds off of the LAN port. altho the R7000 is highly rated itself by Tim Higgins at SmallNetBuilder as a very close to GigEthernet switchng  wired performance winner. In case you did want to use your own router with television Set Top Boxes there is an indepth and extensive guide over at DSL Reports in the Verizon FIOS Most FAQ section about that topic with 10 diffrent ways to do this, i favor methods 6,7 &8, altho method 6 described therein is the easiest and just involves relegating the Verizon Router as a second router behind  your own router. Ussing yourown router is best in most cases of power users where a lot of traffic will take place and you dont want NAT table problems and want to maintain top speeds and especially with VLANs and VPN performance, as long as your own router is able to handle that. Refer to SmallNetbuilder for appropriate top performing store bought routers, or use a Vyatta OS based Ubiquiti router which are incredible values, or a build your own with OPNsense or VyOS downloadable install CD's and some X550-T2 Intel cards which are rated with the new N-BAse standard so you can sync with present and future emerging speed tiers, the X550-T2 cards will sync at 100 or GigE or 2.5Gbps or 5 Gbps or 10GBE (10GE), so it gives you quite a bit of flexibility for future growth.