Upgrade letter from Verizon

I just received a letter from Verizon saying that at no cost they are "enhancing Fios with new equipment and even more reliable service." It's not clear what exactly they are offering to come into my house to upgrade.

One phrase in the letter concerned me: "...the technology that delivers your Fios service is no longer supported." I have a Quantum Gateway router that I purchased two years ago. Does this refer to internet support, in particular does it mean they are no longer doing security updates for my equipment?

Thanks.

Accepted answers

gs0b

It's likely an ONT upgrade to switch you from BPON to GPON. If you're on a speed of 100/100 or slower, that's definitely the case. And you should happily take this offer, as they would have charged you $150 for the same service a few years ago. If you're not sure what you have, post your speed tier and a picture of your ONT (open the enclosure if it's in one.)

Once your ONT is upgraded, you'll be able to subscribe to faster speed tiers. Depending on your current package, you may find you can get faster service for less money than you're paying now. But they won't go out of their way to tell you that - you'll have to check their web site.

As for the G1100, it remains a supported router. While it is not receiving any new feature updates, it still gets security updates. This may change in the near future as Verizon currently supports three routers (G1100, G3100 and CR1000A.) When that happens, they may offer G1100 owners an upgrade path, like they did when the EOL'd the Actiontec Rev I many years ago. Or they may not - we won't know until it happens.

All comments

gs0b

XYZ27

Thank you for confirming the continued support of the router, which was my main concern. As for the upgrade, I am currently at something like 80/80. It was only a couple of months ago that Verizon said I could upgrade the equipment for $150 to get faster speeds, which I declined at the time.

One other question please - when support for the router ends, you say Verizon may or may not offer an upgrade path, but will they at least notify me?

dexman

I would contact Verizon about the $150 fee.

The charge was waived when I upgraded from 75/75 with a Tellabs 611 to 400/400 with an Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia) 211.

Verizon didn't upgrade my rented 1100 proactively. I don't remember if it was done in conjunction with a technician dispatch or it was due to a telephone call I made to Verizon....(it was a long time ago).

gs0b

@abcdefghij wrote:
Thank you for confirming the continued support of the router, which was my main concern. As for the upgrade, I am currently at something like 80/80. It was only a couple of months ago that Verizon said I could upgrade the equipment for $150 to get faster speeds, which I declined at the time.

One other question please - when support for the router ends, you say Verizon may or may not offer an upgrade path, but will they at least notify me?

Then that's the answer, they are offering to upgrade your ONT for free. If I were you, I'd jump on that right away.

I expect Verizon will let G1100 users know when support ends. They did that when support ended for the Actiontec Rev I., and may have offered some customers free or discounted upgrades (I don't remember the details.) Of course, the way they did this before may be different than what they decide to do in the future. Since we're all just users here, we have no inside information.

If you want to stay on top of what's going on, stick around these forums or the Fios one over on DSLreports. There are a number of users here and there who pay close attention to Fios and someone will likely post about the G1100 when it's EOL'd.

XYZ27

Will be contacting Verizon soon to schedule the upgrade. One other question please (in a recent attempt to call Verizon I got disconnected after going through all the voice prompts so it's easier to post here). I only ask because there's a lot of clutter in the room the equipment is in and I need to know what to move for the technician when he comes.

I assume the box the outside wires connect to will be replaced. From that box there are two wires - ethernet and coax - that go to the Quantum Gateway router and these are run along a wall. Will those also need to be replaced? Thanks.

dexman

I would try to provide unobstructed access to areas where the technician would/will be.

If the ONT is going to be moved inside, clear out storage boxes and the like that would impede access.

If possible, tag/label cables so they can be easily identified in the event of a problem and for future reference.

The easier the better. 🙂

[Deleted User]

I would like to thank everyone for taking the time to post your comments and opinions related to this topic. This topic has been thoroughly discussed and will now be closed. Please feel free to open a new thread for further discussion. Thank you.