Verizon Router vs Purchased Router

[VanishingHope]

I have just had conduit and RJ-45 Cat6 throughout my home.  The last piece I need to buy is a Gigabit switch or router.  My patch panel is near the ONT in the basement.  I have Fios Internet 35/35 and Fios TV.

Must I use the provided Verizon router?  It appears to be a cable modem using Coax as the main connection and then has RJ45 ports (it's the Antiontec router most users seem to have).

I would prefer to buy my own router with sufficient ports to connect to my patch panel instead of Verizon's router to a switch to the patch panel.  I do understand that Verizon's router is sufficient for the speed coming into the house, and for serving that speed to an attached switch.  I just like the idea of having a single point of administration using a router with enough gigabit ports for all of the drops in my house.

I see an Ethernet port on the ONT.  Can I connect a router to this?

Anything in particular I should take note of such as features that won't work on a non-Verizon router, etc?

Thanks in advance for reading this.

--Aaron

[Anti-Phish1]

Yes, it possible to run your own router.  There are a number of ways to do so.

What are the tradeoffs between the various router configurations

You will need to keep the Actiontec to provide the MOCA LAN bridge for the STBs.

[viafax999]

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@VanishingHope wrote:

Must I use the provided Verizon router?  It appears to be a cable modem using Coax as the main connection and then has RJ45 ports (it's the Antiontec router most users seem to have).

I would prefer to buy my own router with sufficient ports to connect to my patch panel instead of Verizon's router to a switch to the patch panel.  I do understand that Verizon's router is sufficient for the speed coming into the house, and for serving that speed to an attached switch.  I just like the idea of having a single point of administration using a router with enough gigabit ports for all of the drops in my house.

I see an Ethernet port on the ONT.  Can I connect a router to this?

Anything in particular I should take note of such as features that won't work on a non-Verizon router, etc?

Thanks in advance for reading this.

--Aaron

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Yes you have to use the VZ router else the TV guide, VOD etc. will cease working.

It's not a cable modem, it's a router that is using IP over coax (MOCA) from the ONT.  The ONT can be provisoned, on request to VZ, to provied an ethernet connection to the internet side.

You could just get your own router and connect it from a LAN port on the VZ router to the WAN port on your router - before doing this configure your router to be using a subnet other than 192.168.1   Once that is done connect all your internal rj45 wiring from the new router, and possibly attached switches, to your patch panel.  Between your internal devices you would then be able to use gig speed on the rj45 connections an wireless-n on the wireless connections and administer everything from your router.  Be aware that if you do it by this method of connection and want to use port forwarding you would have to enter port forwarding rules in both routers - at the VZ router you'd port forward to the 192.168.1.x address of your Routers WAN coonection - of course you could just port forward everything to your router onece and then just set up individual rules at your router.

[tns]

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Note the Verizon router for FIOS is only a router and MOCA bridge.  There is no modem at all.  The ONT changes the Optical signals to MOCA (or if your connected that way to ethernet).

[lasagna]

As others have mentioned, with FiOS TV it is essentially that you keep the ActionTec router in the picture because it provides a bridge between the MoCA LAN (ethernet over coax) which is utilized by the STB's to talk to one another and to the internet for guide data, etc.

There was a link posted showing a number of different ways to configure this.  My suggestion would be that you purchase either just a gigabit switch (not router) to mange the patch panel and utilize the wireless on the ActionTec, or purchases a wireless access point (or use a router in access point mode connecting to the ActionTec in LAN-to-LAN mode) to bridge between the patch panel location and the ActionTec.

[VanishingHope]

Thanks everyone for your feedback.

I appreciate the clarification on the router and how it handles MoCA.  Also on the explanation of what the ONT actually does.

My goal for removing the ActionTec was for simplicity sake.  However, due to the MoCA requirements, I'll always need 2 devices -- my router/switch and either the ActionTec or a MoCA bridge.  I'm going spend some time with the link provided discussing the tradeoff on how to use the ActionTec router or a stand alone MoCA bridge.

I'm still open to any suggestions/info but I'll let everyone know what I choose over the next 2 weeks and how my setup eventually works out.

Thanks again,

--Aaron

[mstuart]

If I use this type if connection (gigabit switch) will my wireless connection speed improve

[Anti-Phish1]

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@mstuart wrote:

If I use this type if connection (gigabit switch) will my wireless connection speed improve

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No.  See the reply to your other post.

[mstuart]

Thanks