OTA, FIOS and COAX
Mike0129
Enthusiast - Level 2

I’m moving to FIOS but not all my TV receivers (actually they are PCs) will be attached to desktop units.  Right now, I have Directv and through all sorts of jury-rigged switches, my house coax carries both the satellite and OTA signals.  OTA reception comes from my rooftop antenna. 

Can FIOS support a mix of Verizon provided signals and OTA over the same coax?  If it can’t, this maybe a deal-breaker. 

Thanks

Mike

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Re: OTA, FIOS and COAX
lacticacidtrip
Specialist - Level 1

Lucky guy. Wish I were set up the same. Yes, Verizon FiOS only uses one coaxial cable input. Now you'll just have to re-arrange how your cables are connected to run your OTA and "cable" separately.

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Re: OTA, FIOS and COAX
gs0b
Community Leader
Community Leader

No.

You'll find this with any terrestrial cable provider.  While satellite receiving antennas use an LNB/LNA to feed the coax with intermediate frequencies above 1GHz, cable providers use sub GHz frequencies.  This is the same range used by OTA. (modulation is different, but that's another story).

Further, FiOS uses a few channels above 1Ghz for the MoCA link.

Good Luck

Re: OTA, FIOS and COAX
Mike0129
Enthusiast - Level 2

Thanks for the advice and the good luck wishes. SInce I'm still new to FIOS I might actually have a way to make this work. 

But first a naive question. 

For Directv, it takes two cables per box to record or watch two programs. And I have two cables at each needed outlet.

For a FIOS DVR or desk top box, it appears that only one coax input in necessary to record or watch two programs or some combination at the same time.  One cable per box solves my problem since my home has structured wiring and can send OTA over the spare COAX.

One cable per FIOS box?

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Re: OTA, FIOS and COAX
lacticacidtrip
Specialist - Level 1

Lucky guy. Wish I were set up the same. Yes, Verizon FiOS only uses one coaxial cable input. Now you'll just have to re-arrange how your cables are connected to run your OTA and "cable" separately.

Re: OTA, FIOS and COAX
PJL
Master - Level 3

@Mike0129 wrote:

Thanks for the advice and the good luck wishes. SInce I'm still new to FIOS I might actually have a way to make this work. 

But first a naive question. 

For Directv, it takes two cables per box to record or watch two programs. And I have two cables at each needed outlet.

For a FIOS DVR or desk top box, it appears that only one coax input in necessary to record or watch two programs or some combination at the same time.  One cable per box solves my problem since my home has structured wiring and can send OTA over the spare COAX.

One cable per FIOS box?


Yes, a single coax is used.  DirecTV use two to carry each polarity of the LNB.

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Re: OTA, FIOS and COAX
Mike0129
Enthusiast - Level 2

Well, that's one less problem. 

My home is 9 years old and I've been in IT for quite a while.  So when we built the house I put in structured wiring and have 10 drops throughout the house with phone, internet and two coax ports.  However, I still managed to mess some of it up with limited forward thinking. 

Since I wasn't bundled, the phone box is in the back of the house, the internet entry on the side and, since I currently have Directv, the dish and cabling is in the roof.  So,  the ONT will have to be outside and not in the room with the distribution frame.  Luckily I do have an outside three-prong plug but its only near the phone jacks.  So there will be lots of outside cables attached to the house. 

I think I'll stop whining now. 

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