FIOS and Upgrade from 100/100 to Gigabit

[dgross208321]

I currently have FIOS for our home Internet, Home Phone and Television.  I am currently at 100/100 and would like to upgrade to 1 GIG.  My current setup is COAX from the ONT to a 8 Port Splitter in my basement with 1 line going to the router in my den 2 flights up he other ports go to various TV's in the house.  I know if I upgrade a  tech will need to come out and install a new ONT (I currently own a G3100) and it is to have Ethernet to my Router.  Can I use a MOCA inside my house at the ONT directly to another MOCA at the front end of my 8 port splitter and have everything work okay?

I should mention that at the router in my den I also have a D-Link switch with 9 Ethernet lines coming out to very parts of the house.

Thanks for any help I may receive.

[gs0b]

In short, no.

As a TV subscriber, you already have a MoCA network used to communicate between the Verizon set-top-boxes and the router.  It's rather difficult to add a second MoCA network for the ONT to router (WAN) connection in this setup.

Your best bet is to run an Ethernet cable from the ONT to the router.  If you don't want to do it yourself, know you don't have Verizon run the cable.  Verizon does not fish cables inside walls, so to go between your basement and den will likely result in them leaving the cable exposed in several places.  Instead of paying them to do the work, you could hire a contractor who will fish walls.  Look for someone with networking and/or home-theater experience.

Note that the G3100 is the router, not the ONT.  It's currently the highest performance router Verizon sells/rents.  If you have the current model ONT it, you can upgrade to gigabit without having Verizon visit if you can run an Ethernet cable.  The current model ONT is a black box about 2" thick and maybe 12x5" (guessing.)  If you're not sure, find the model number and post it, or post a picture.

[dgross208321]

Thanks much unfortunately I think I have the older version of the ONT.  😞

I think I can probably get my brother to help me with installing the Ethernet cable.

Appreciate your help,

[dgross208321]

I already own the 3100 router, would it buy me anything to swap out my old router for this while I wait for my gigabit connection to get installed and up and running?

Thanks Much,

Doug

[gs0b · Accepted solution]

You didn't mention your current router model, so it's hard to say how it compares to the G3100.  Here are some things installing the G3100 now will (may) get you:

• Improved WiFi coverage.  The G3100 is a WiFi-6 router with improved range and speed over other Verizon routers.
• Parental controls, guest networks, IoT networks and more are supported by the G3100.  Some of these features exist in the G1100, so if you have that one, you may not notice much improvement.
• You can reconfigure all your devices to use the G3100 now.  When gigabit is installed, no changes will be needed to your devices.  You can pick a time to do this work that is convenient to you and your users, instead of having to do it all when the ONT is upgraded.

[Cang_Household]

You can have multiple MoCA networks on the same coaxial medium. You just need to setup two sets of privacy passwords and should be good to go.

I am not sure whether this setup would incur performance issues.

Regardless, if you want to use the existing coax line to carry WAN Ethernet from the ONT to your distant G3100, you need two at least bonded 2.0 MoCA adapters. (MoCA 2.5 is fine too.) Do not buy Actiontec ECB6200 or WCB6200Q. Those adapters have EOL chips and should not be used in new installations.

[gs0b]

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@Cang_Household wrote:

You can have multiple MoCA networks on the same coaxial medium. You just need to setup two sets of privacy passwords and should be good to go.

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I know you can run two MoCA networks on the same coax by using different channels; that's how Verizon did it in the early installs.  The ONT and router use a completely separate channel for WAN over MoCA.

As you've seen with your engagements with other posters, not all consumer MoCA gear easily supports different channels, creating confusion and difficulty in setting it up.  People end up getting confused over how to seperate the LAN and WAN traffic and buy gear that doesn't allow it.  This is why I suggest folk avoid dual MoCA networks.  Ethernet is always best if you can run it; simpler, higher performance and lower cost.

I've not heard of using two separate privacy passwords to create different networks on the same MoCA channel.  Are you sure that works?  If it does, that's a game changer for folks like the OP.

[Cang_Household]

I got that suggestion from an Actiontec tech. When I asked about possible performance degradation, the tech says there would not be any. I don't have enough gigabit MoCA bridges at hand to test the setup.

[gs0b]

Interesting!  That would be a game changer if it works.

OP: Do you want to try and report back?