I'm thinking of upgrading my Verizon DSL service to the FIOS Triple Play bundle, but have concerns about any surprises I might encounter during initial installation, especially additional charges I might incur on top of the supposedly "free" installation.
Here's a description of my current situation:
Seems like this should be a fairly straightforward installation, but given this configuration to work with, are there any "gotchas" that I can expect to encounter during installation?
Ok, well here's the skinny.
Double check that you qualify, I am sure you do if they are aggressively marketing like that.
verizon.com/fios
Verizon FiOS installers normally tie directly into existing Coax runs unless they are of poor quality and need to be replaced, they will run FiOS upto 3 rooms as part of the installation, and then additional coax runs or rooms will cost extra, double check with customer service.
Cat 5/6 not needed unless you have a special application that requires a direct connect vs a Wireless connection. All FiOS routers are wifi capable (ones being installed today) so the installer will be looking to wire the router close to the network terminal (ONT) and then distribute wireless out to the rest of the house.
They will likely mimic the current dish set up, and everything else looks pretty straight forward.
the only thing you want to be aware of is the location of the router, the installers will likely put this in your basement or garage, which may be different than where you have the DSL modem today, so locations that get wireless today, may be further away from the garage/basement than your current DSL modem locale today.
That may impact your wireless performance but other than that, you should be good
I had no problems having everything installed where I wanted it. I had the ONT installed inside my basement, and my router installed in my 2nd floor office, which wasn't even wired for cable tv. They asked me where I wanted each, and put them there no problem.
the router can easily be located anywhere that you have TV service. So router placement should not be an issue. The only concern that I would have from your description is the location of the splitter in your attic. If it is truely hard to access, it will depend on the tech you get as to how hard he will work to get to it. If you can be prepared ahead of time and make it easier for the tech to access that location, then the rest of the install should be fairly straight forward. Dish uses the same cables as Verizon so there should be no compatibilty issues, but Verizon will have to replace the Dish splitter with a Verizon splitter so access to that point is going to be critical.
Thanks for the replies ... very helpful!
The location of the ONT is one of my concerns. I don't have a basement, and my garage is detached, so either outside the house (which seems to be rare) or inside in an inconspicuous location seem to be my only options. The attic would be great, but as I said before, my existing coax cables are difficult to get to from inside the attic (though very easy to get to where they enter the house). The splitter itself is located outside near the satellite dish.
The router will need to be inside the house, but could be in another room (e.g., the room with the primary TV). For easy access to existing coax, it would make the most sense to put the router in the cabinet that houses my A/V components. I've seen a lot in this forum about RF interference, absorption, etc. -- is placing the router in the same cabinet with my A/V components (or near it) a bad idea?
have they already run your fios from the street to your house? Where is your phone box? That's where they put my ONT except it's inside my garage and the phone box is outside.
I don't know where you have your router now; my verizon dsl router was in my office wired to my desktop computer and that is exactly where they put my fios router. My wireless works the same (only faster) as it previously did.
Reba
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