I want to use my own router and keep tv guide
johng128
Enthusiast - Level 1

Just had fios installed TV and internet. 

ONT has coax and cat5 running to verizon router and coax also running to cable box

I would like to use my own router instead of the verizon router. I have a netgear nighthawk and I need it to get wifi throughout my house. 

I also have a buch of ports forwarded for a surveillance system. 

I tried plugging the cat5 from the ONT directly into my router but it wouldnt connect to the internet. 

Is this possible

Thanks

1 Solution

Correct answers
Re: I want to use my own router and keep tv guide
JustinG1
Community Leader
Community Leader

I have a good idea of whats up here. Just to re-confirm, your nighthawk is connected, and you can access the internet from it?

I believe the problem is that your Nighthawk is handing out LAN IPs in the range of 192.168.1.X, which is also what the G1100 hands out, so the G1100 and Nighthawk network are overlapping.

You'll need to change the IP range that the G1100 uses for the set top boxes. To do this, please login to the G1100 (Easiest way to do this would be to plug an ethernet cable from the G1100 into your computer). Go to http://192.168.1.1/ and enter the username and password listed on the side of the router.

Once you've logged in follow these steps:

Click My Network at the top of the screen. Then click Network Connections on the sidebar of the page that will appear.

Click on Network (Home/Office).

Click the Settings button at the bottom of the page.

Look for the portion of the settings page which says Use the following IP address:, you should see 192.168.1.1. This is what you have to change.

Change the address to 192.168.5.1.

You just need to change two more settings before moving on. Scroll down a bit to the IP Address Distribution section. You'll see a "Start IP address" and "End IP address" section. Change these from 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.254 to 192.168.5.2 and 192.168.5.254.

Your configuration should look like this (images may not always show up due to them needing moderated manually): image

Lastly, click Apply at the bottom of the page. The Verizon router will reboot. Reboot your set top boxes, and check for connectivity.

I'm 99% sure this should solve your issue Smiley Happy

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Re: I want to use my own router and keep tv guide
JustinG1
Community Leader
Community Leader

Hey!

This is certainly possible.

You need to login to the Verizon router initially and change a few things before you plug in your router. Which router model do you have? Since its a newer install, I assume you have the G1100, but just to confirm, which router looks like yours:

image

Assuming its the one on the left, continue to follow these directions (The interfaces are different, but the steps are generally the same for both devices.)

Step 1: Log into the router at http://192.168.1.1 (username and password is on the router itself). Then navigate to My Network > Network Connections > Broadband Connection (Ethernet / Coax)

From here, click the "Release DHCP Lease" button. Doing this will allow your own router to get a new IP from Verizon and start working over Ethernet. This is what was holding you up when you were plugging in your own router.

Optional:

Not required but highly suggested, turn off the WiFi of the Verizon router if you plan to be using your own router. You can disable wifi by navigating to Wireless > Basic Security Settings > Turning 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz to "Off"

Step 2: Plug in your Netgear router into the WAN Ethernet from the ONT. Give it a minute to get an IP, then check internet connectivity.

Step 3: In order to keep on demand and video guide service, plug your old Verizon router's white WAN port into the LAN port of your netgear router. This allows your Verizon set top box's to still have a data connection.

You should be good to go!

Re: I want to use my own router and keep tv guide
CRobGauth
Community Leader
Community Leader

Are you using Verizon STB for TV?

If so, it would be best to use Verizon router.

They have all of the correct ports open that the STs need for guide as well as VOD and remote DVR viewing.

To use your own router, you would not only have to get the right ports open, you would need to have a MOCA bridge as STBs use coax for Internet.

You could use the Netgear as an Access Point (put in bridge mode) if you like its WIFI performance better.

Re: I want to use my own router and keep tv guide
JustinG1
Community Leader
Community Leader

CRobGauth,

Just out of curiousity, is the open ports for the STBs a requirement?

For my job I've setup at least 7-8 locations where we replaced the Verizon router, and followed my method above to provide the STBs with internet access. Each time the STBs still got VOD, Guide and DVR access. 

Doing a TCPDump on all of the activity from the STBs I also notice that they are always sending outgoing connections to Verizon servers for VOD, Guide and DVR access, and I haven't seen any incoming traffic. 

I'm aware of the remote access port that prompts for login on the STBs, and I assume this is for Verizon to troubleshoot, but again at 7 different locations we have yet to run into issues with this. 

Again, I don't mean to sound rude, I'm just purely curious.

Re: I want to use my own router and keep tv guide
CRobGauth
Community Leader
Community Leader

May depend on model.

If it is the older legacy STB, you may be able to get away with it.

But I believe the new Quantum devices require it.
Esepcially if you want to be able to use the FIOS app to control DVR and remotely view recorded content.

I can't say for 100% as I have never tried it, but I have seen other posts where people have tried it and have had issues.

Re: I want to use my own router and keep tv guide
PaBlum
Enthusiast - Level 2

Hi,

I just switched to Verizon and I miss my Nighthawk router. I followed your directions but couldn't get my Nighthawk to connect to the Verizon Internet. Yes, I did a DHCP lease release before turning off the G1100. I even tried to renew the DHCP lease but that didn't change things. At least I'm able to go back to the G1100.

Is there something else I need to do?

Thx,

Paul

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Re: I want to use my own router and keep tv guide
CRobGauth
Community Leader
Community Leader

How does your g1100 get internet? Coax or Ethernet.

If you don't have Ethernet from ont to router, then you are not provisioned for Ethernet.

Most routers do not support coax internet.

Which you will need some sort of moca gateway to provide guide to stbs.

Re: I want to use my own router and keep tv guide
PaBlum
Enthusiast - Level 2
Ethernet
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Re: I want to use my own router and keep tv guide
CRobGauth
Community Leader
Community Leader

Release should have worked.

Can you try turning of Verizon router for 2-3 hours and retry?

Re: I want to use my own router and keep tv guide
Capricorn1
Community Leader
Community Leader

@CRobGauth wrote:

Release should have worked.

Can you try turning of Verizon router for 2-3 hours and retry?


I think this might be the key. When I was switching from business to residential FiOS (and therefore, lost my fixed IP address), the tech told me I could continue to use my Linux router after using the Actiontec router to register and activate my service. (He said he used his own router, too.) The key was to wait 2-3 hours until the lease had expired for at least two hours. (I think the leases expire every hour.) I tried hooking my Linux box up right away and got no IP address. Disconnected until the next morning, and it got one right away. (It was not the same IP address that the Actiontec got.)

I believe that Verizon associates an IP address to a MAC address and won't give that (or any) IP address to a new device (with a new MAC address) originating from the same FiOS circuit.) It's done that way so Verizon can have the licenses expire every hour, but not have any ongoing services interrupted when the lease expires. The same IP address is given to the same MAC address many times over. (I've had the same one for months, now, but it has changed occasionally.) That way, if you have a short power outage, disconnected cable, etc., when you are back online, you get the same IP address and have at least some chance of just being able to pick up where you left off.