Lee Schierer
USNA '71
Go Navy!
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VZ no longer uses COAX between the ONT and the router for installs, but for speeds under 100 mpbs, COAX via MOCA is supported for existing customers with older setups. The black box you mention, which they call a gateway, is a layer 3 router with an integrated wireless access point. I've never heard or seen VZ personnel refer to it as a "modem"...only consumers because that's what they are used to from DSL or cable Internet services. There are heated arguments about this very thing in the communication focused forums. But no matter...the device in question can be rented or owned. Folks with Internet-only FiOS can pretty much use any router they choose to use. The VZ gateway is only required for TV subscribers who want to use set top boxes and have access to the guide as well as for certain specific mobility features. There are a few people with extensive networking experience who have found ways around some of that, but not all, especially with FiOS One.
I personally just use an older Actiontec Rev-I for the primary router and a Velops mesh system with four nodes to provide wireless to our property. No set top boxes, but we do have Local TV because there are issues with a few stations for OTA reception including the one I watch in the morning for news. We still have a phone number, but its value is deprecated since we all have wireless numbers...and now that I've switched alarm companies, the "land line" will go away in a month or three once I renegotiate our FiOS service.
Not everyone has a spankin' new ONT, and those older ones use the batteries. Who knows what the OP has.
True. While there are indeed some of the older ONTs still out there and in use, the number has dwindled considerably due to failure replacements as well as replacements when accounts turn over or when someone requests conversion to higher speeds. The last one I had with the battery backup feature) went bye-bye about three years ago and it was actually the second ONT. The first one was BPON and also fried itself one day. For that older one, the BBU was a completely separate component. The second one was the Alcatel/Lucent unit with the internal battery. I went through three batteries but already had everything on a UPS because the VZ provided backup only supported phone; not Internet or TV. For a short period of time a few years ago, they were providing battery backup with a pack of D-cell batteries, believe it or not, rather than the nice rechargeable setups that came before it.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
A FiOS subscriber needs more than just a "wireless access point". They need a router to connect to the service (layer 3). If it also has an integrated wireless access point, as many do, great. But the router is not optional. The source of the router, however, is. It can be rented from VZ or purchased by the consumer. For long term use, purchase is more cost effective for sure.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
I hope someone understands some of the comments in this thread but they are above me and many. Some want relatively easy solutions that we can implement.
The OP said that he is not good with computers. Some of us need a translator for the replies.
Here's the simplest answer to the OP's question: No, you are not required to rent the VZ gateway. You can purchase your own, either new from Verizon or used from a third party, but one must be careful when buying used to insure that the software is Verizons and not Frontier's. If you don't have TV, you can buy any router you want. If you do have TV, you generally need the VZ gateway, new or used, because it's require for certain TV functions and features.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
True about the VZN/Frontier firmware. I bought a router off Ebay like that, was able to return it zero cost. The seller claimed Verizon firmware therefore misrepresented. Another possible source of confusion in this thread - Verizon offers 2 services, FiOS and DSL. They're very different beasties.
You wouldn't likely need to do it with a DSL modem, since it is a Dedicated Service Line, they know that internet is supposed to go down that phone line and it is controlled at the switching station. On a cable modem, all the modems hook up to the main cable line, and the cable company needs to know the modem's address to allow traffic to go through it.
Also note that a modem and a router aren't the same thing, even though they frequently are packaged together. The modem allows you to access the interweb via cable, DSL, phone line, satellite, etc, It allows your Local Area Network (LAN) to talk to the service provider's Wide Area Network (WAN). A router gives the devices on your side unique (to you) addresses so that more than one device can talk to your modem. It is often (but not always) combined with a switch (hard wired and or wifi) that allows the devices to physically or wifi-edly talk to the router.
In my home network, the modem, router, switches, and wifi transmitter are all separate devices. My security-paranoid computer-nerd brother-in-law designed it. The additional non-security benefit is that it allowed me to use better and faster components than the all-in-one device from the cable company, which quickly got overwhelmed by 3 kids and a Netflix addicted wife
Nothing technical here to confuse anyone......
Just be sure to get it in writing if/when you turn back the Verizon equipment & put that written proof somewhere you can lay your hands on it in years to come.
my cable modem went out once & rather than wait a week for Roadrunner to generate a service call to come out and tell me it was fried & order up a new one, I went out and bought my own Toshiba. Years later when I dumped Roadrunner, they billed me $199 for the cable modem I failed to return. (the fried one they said they didn't want at the time). I had to give them the Toshiba I'd paid for to shut them up.
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon
I am in the same situation as the OP. We have Fios for internet and phone, no TV. My adult grand daughter just ordered that Nighthawk to replace the Verizon/Frontier router, and we have been trying to find where the modem is. Apparently we don't have one, which sounds good to me.
We do have the battery backup thingie in the garage behind some shelving. It has been beeping for a couple years now, and Frontier came out and said it needed a new battery, and ordered one for us, with no charge. Naturally it was on our bill the next month, and we got them to remove it because it never came. After much discussion they removed the charge. It came the next day, and is still sitting in the box waiting for them to install it. Waiting over two years so far.
They told us the battery was a backup, in case the power goes out. The longest the power has gone out in the 14 years we have lived here is a couple hours, and I figure we can do without fios for that long. It still beeps occasionally though.
We are supposed to have a speed of 200+ here, yesterday the GD checked and it was 82. Hope the Nighthawk helps, because both the Daughter and grand daughter tutor dyslexic kids both here and on line.
Rick Potter
DIY journeyman,
FWW wannabe.
AKA Village Idiot.
Whenever my speed seems to drop, I just power cycle the equipment and that seems to help. although I just did a speedtest and was getting speeds that I am paying for. And that was on WiFi, not ethernet cable. 180 down, 23 up. But I have Comcast over copper. https://www.speedtest.net/result/8623666379.png
NOW you tell me...
Rick, the battery backup uint for the ONT (optical network termination box) only provides power to the phone line, anyway. If you want the beeping to go away, just install the battery. It doesn't take a technician to do that and is normally considered a customer maintenance item.
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The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...
Thanks, Jim
Good info, as I did not know it was for the phone only, and not the computer. They installed it in a ridiculous location, behind some large shelving units, and when they wanted to check it the first time, the whole mess had to be moved.
I know I can replace it, but so far I have had no need to go to all the trouble. I would get rid of the land line, but need a phone number to use that does not go to my cell phone. Telemarketers, etc.
Rick Potter
DIY journeyman,
FWW wannabe.
AKA Village Idiot.