Question about Fios Installation - Coax or CAT5
EricScott
Enthusiast - Level 3

I am moving to a Fios enabled area (thank God) and am planning to have Fios TV, Internet and Verizon phone installed in a month or so.  I want to be prepared for the installation - I would like the Fios installer to have to drill as few holes in my walls (read: NONE) and run as few wires as possible.

So here is my questions:

1) When they hook the ONT (or whatever it is called) up in your garage, do they then use coax to feed the router/modem as well as all of the cable boxes?  Or for the router do they use CAT5 / ethernet? 

2) How many coax and/or CAT5 cables need to flow from the ONT to a splitter or some sort of other hub which feeds the various rooms?

I have coax running all over the house and feeding into the basement.  But I don't have CAT5 in most rooms - definitely not the garage.  So I was hoping that they can use the existing coax cable (single cable) in my garage to go from the ONT to the basement where I have all of the coax from the other rooms feeding.  Then I can tap into the splitter which feeds all the rooms for TV plus the router.

Does this make sense?

Or do I need to have multiple coax feeds going straight out of the ONT?  Or worse, do I need any CAT5 coming out of the ONT for the router.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Eric

Message Edited by EricScott on 06-28-2009 05:46 PM
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Re: Answers about Fios Installation - Coax or CAT5
Brennoko
Contributor - Level 1

EricScott,

1) Coax is used to connect all the cable boxes, it is your choice as to what is used to connect the router. Most techs will use coax because it is usually already there and no extra wires need to be run.

2) Only 1 coax cable comes out of the ONT.


EricScott wrote:

I have coax running all over the house and feeding into the basement.  But I don't have CAT5 in most rooms - definitely not the garage.  So I was hoping that they can use the existing coax cable (single cable) in my garage to go from the ONT to the basement where I have all of the coax from the other rooms feeding.  Then I can tap into the splitter which feeds all the rooms for TV plus the router.

Does this make sense?


Yes that does make sense and will work fine.

Hope this helps,

Brennoko

Re: Answers about Fios Installation - Coax or CAT5
EricScott
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks for the speedy response!

Is there any performance difference between coax vs. ethernet for the modem/router?

So just so I completely understand, the ONT sends one coax out to a splitter?  And then that splitter feeds each cable box plus the router, right?

Thanks again.

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Re: Answers about Fios Installation - Coax or CAT5
spacedebris
Master - Level 2
performance differance....No. but there are benefits and drawbacks to both designs. The benefit of using the coax design is that generally they dont have to run any additional cables because most locations already have coax in place. The speeds and bandwidth are not affected. However, a drawback to using the coax system is in flexibility and troubleshooting if you should ever have any issues. With ethernet, you could... bypass the router if you were having internet issues and wanted to check to see if it is the router or network. You could replace the verizon equipment with your own if the verizon systems didnt give you the functionality that you were looking for (i.e. needing an N class router for internal networks or gaming systems). Mostly its a personal preferance. Personally I prefer the choices that come with ethernet rather than coax. But YMMV
Re: Answers about Fios Installation - Coax or CAT5
EricScott
Enthusiast - Level 3

Very helpful.  Thanks.

Good point on the flexibility.  My guess is the VZ router will suit me just fine. In my current Time Warner setup I have a coax cable that goes to a cable modem and then I have my own router which connects to the modem via Ethernet - it's two separate devices, whereas I believe the VZ router is really a router and modem in one, correct?  Couldn't I always use VZ's router as basically just a modem with the coax feeding it and then add on a more sophisticated router of my own through one of the wired ports from the VZ router to my router - if I wanted N capability for example?

I am pretty green when it comes to networking which is why I want to plan this out ahead of time so I'm not sorry later.

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Re: Answers about Fios Installation - Coax or CAT5
BrianMcD
Specialist - Level 1

Veizon will supply a Router to connect to your ONT, no Modem is required with FIOS.

And yes you could do a Lan to Lan connection of a Wireless N Router if you needed the extra wireless speed in the future.

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Re: Answers about Fios Installation - Coax or CAT5
EricScott
Enthusiast - Level 3

So the router they give you isn't a combination modem / router?  The "modem" functionality is built into the ONT I guess?  I had just assumed that the coax connection to the Fios router worked the same way my Time Warner cable modem works but that the Fios router was an all-in-one solution.

So if I were to run ethernet from the ONT, could I plug it directly into a laptop and get an internet connection without using the router at all?  Does the router just serve as the hub for multiple wired and wireless connections.  Not that I am going to do this, just curious?

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Re: Answers about Fios Installation - Coax or CAT5
BrianMcD
Specialist - Level 1

The ONT privides you with an Ethernet Connection to the FIOS Network via COAX or CAT5.

You could run an Ethernet Cable from the ONT to a Laptop and get a connection, althought I would recommend against it.  The Router is provided to give you the protection of a hardware based firewall and to share the single Internet Connection throughout your house with both wired and wireless g connectivity.  The router is also used by the TV STBs to obtain Guide Information and VOD Content.

There is a procedure that you would need to go thru to get the ONT switched from COAX to Ethernet and also to swap out the Router with your own and/or a Laptop.  There is a good FAQ that will address many of the questions here:

http://www.dslreports.com/faq/verizonfios?

Message Edited by BrianMcD on 06-29-2009 11:20 PM
Re: Question about Fios Installation - Coax or CAT5
prisaz
Legend
One thing I did not see mentioned in all these responses regarding COAX. If you plan on using existing coax, it needs to be good quality RG-6 quad shield. Not RG59 that some older homes may have. The MOCA services run in the ghz range and RG59 will not work.
Re: Answers about Fios Installation - Coax or CAT5
EricScott
Enthusiast - Level 3

Thanks.  That makes perfect sense.  Agree that I would want the router.  Was really just asking the question about the direct connection to help me understand what was really coming out of the ONT.

Sounds like Coax is the "standard" hookup so I will probably go with that.  My father who has Fios has his router connected to the ONT via Cat5 and he said there is all of this additional equipment next to the ONT - a hub with one Cat5 wire going from the ONT to the hub, then two wires coming out of the hub - one goes to the Fios router, the other feeds some sort of Motorola box that has coax cables coming out of it which then patch into the coax splitter that feeds his various TVs.  Definitely sounds more complicated.

I am planning on going w/ the Home Media DVR - not sure if that complicates the decision at all - whether the HM DVR relies more or less on the router.

Thanks for the link.

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