Use Coax instead of Cat5

A few months ago a fios technician came to our building to install fios tv and internet. It seemed like he didn't know what he was doing and managed to screw things up for me a little bit. Essentially, I wanna connect the router (I think MI424 WR) to coax instead of cat5. That way I can connect it to the same coax outlet that my tv is connected to. I live in a brand new apartment building, and I have no idea where the actual modem is located. There is a "cable box" instead one of the closets next to the enterance door and thats where the router is located at the moment. Is there any way of accomplishing this without having to pay the technician 80 dollars?

Accepted answers

prisaz

Good you have an ONT. Yes all LAN ports would be active, you would just get MOCA (IP over Coax). Many people prefer CAT5 so you are the exception. The default install is now MOCA, so it is odd that they would do CAT5 unless your ONT model is the AFC 610 which does not support MOCA. If perhaps you just moved in to the apartment, and your ONT was existing, it could be the older model. If it was just installed it should be the 611 or 612 that supports MOCA. If your ONT supports MOCA they can do the change without a truck roll. They just need a repair ticket so it is recorded. The fiber solutions office would just change the provisioning in minutes. They used to do it while you wait on the phone, but somewhere the policy changed to require an order so it could be tracked.

All comments

prisaz

@Soorena wrote:
A few months ago a fios technician came to our building to install fios tv and internet. It seemed like he didn't know what he was doing and managed to screw things up for me a little bit. Essentially, I wanna connect the router (I think MI424 WR) to coax instead of cat5. That way I can connect it to the same coax outlet that my tv is connected to. I live in a brand new apartment building, and I have no idea where the actual modem is located. There is a "cable box" instead one of the closets next to the enterance door and thats where the router is located at the moment. Is there any way of accomplishing this without having to pay the technician 80 dollars?

Many people prefer to have cat5 instead of coax. But the default install now should be coax, unless you are in an appartment that does not have fiber to each unit.

If you are in an appartment that does not have fiber to your unit, with an ONT installed in your unit, you will have VDSL and a Zytel modem with a Router connected to that. It will need to be cat5.

But if you have an ONT for your unit, a call to tech support could put in a repair order to have it switched without a visit. At one time this could be done while you wait on the phone. Tech support should be able to tell exactly what setup you have.

Soorena

A coax cable is connected to the router and the router's configuration page shows it as "Connected," but it's using the signal from the cat5 cable.

What do you exactly mean by "a call to tech support could put in a repair order to have it switched without a visit. At one time this could be done while you wait on the phone" ?

Can they switch the signal right away without sending a technician or would they send a technician to switch the signal from the outside of the apartment? Because I've already talked to 5 verizon "Specialists" and they are not that helpful. They pick up the phone, verify name, number, and address and then they pass me to someone else. They kept me on hold for more than an hour yesterday. The tech support people say they have to put in a work order like you mentioned, and then they transfer me to the customer service that wants to charge me 80 dollars to fix something that they shouldn't have messed up in the first place.

Thanks a lot.

prisaz

@Soorena wrote:
A coax cable is connected to the router and the router's configuration page shows it as "Connected," but it's using the signal from the cat5 cable.
What do you exactly mean by "a call to tech support could put in a repair order to have it switched without a visit. At one time this could be done while you wait on the phone" ?
Can they switch the signal right away without sending a technician or would they send a technician to switch the signal from the outside of the apartment? Because I've already talked to 5 verizon "Specialists" and they are not that helpful. They pick up the phone, verify name, number, and address and then they pass me to someone else. They kept me on hold for more than an hour yesterday. The tech support people say they have to put in a work order like you mentioned, and then they transfer me to the customer service that wants to charge me 80 dollars to fix something that they shouldn't have messed up in the first place.
Thanks a lot.

It all depends on how things are wired. They do not need to visit your residence to make the switch on your line, depending on how it is wired. If you have an ONT in your apartment, then it is just a simple change for them. If you are on a MDU multi dwelling unit, being an ONT that has multiple units connected, they may need to come out to the apartment.

Do you have a Zytel VDSL modem and an Actionetc Router?

If your FIOS is over VDSL, it may need to stay on CAT5 because your internet comes from the virtual DSL circuit that originated at the MDU location. The VDSL from the Zytel modem is CAT 5 and you Actiontec is what converts it to MOCA for the STBs and coax.

Depending on your configuration and how it was installed, it may be that the technician knew exactly what was being done, and that was the way it needed to be installed.

Again. Do you have a Zytel VDSL modem and an Actionetc Router? If so it may need to stay the way it is, unless you can get Fiber directly to your unit.

http://www22.verizon.com/dslmembersonly/contents.jsp?show=fttpinstalloptn

Soorena

I get fiber directly in my unit, and I don't see a vdsl modem or anything. I guess I'll have to call them again and see what my options are. One more question though, the 4 lan ports on the actiontec router would work whether it's connected to coax or cat5, correct?

prisaz