Fios One Mini Wi-Fi Connections (Solutions, Read This Fios Technicians)
MiniWizard
Enthusiast - Level 1

Read This Post Carefully!

I spent over a week trying to connect my Fios One Mini to my Fios Quantum Gateway (G1100).  During this time I spoke to 3 different senior technicians on the phone, 2 technicians through the chat, and a physical visit from a Fios technician.  None knew what the cause of my issue was.  Fortunately, I am a savvy IT technician and did not accept any of the responses.

Short Answer:

You must be broadcasting your 5Ghz network on a Fios Quantum Gateway router for the Fios One Mini to connect using the Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) feature.

Typical Responses from the Technicians:

  • Your gateway is too far away, when it was only 18 ft from the second story to the first by line of site through a 3/4" plywood subfloor with linoleum and 1/2" sheetrock.
  • You need to put in a wireless network extender at $119 near the TV.
  • Your Fios One main box must be within 5Ghz range and must be too far away (Completely wrong information because the Mini communiciates via the Wi-Fi to the Gateway which routes to the Main over the coax [MoCA] connection).
  • The Mini setup is all automatic, you should not have to do anything.  I am doubting this.  The Wi-Fi Protected Setup (WPS) button must be pressed to open the special "Any" SSID so that a device can connect.
  • Performance over the coax is always better.  Under my configuration, I cannot see any difference in performance.

My Configuration:

  • Large 2 story brick exterior home with about 2200 sq.ft. per floor.  Main house about 62' x 34' on each floor.  9ft ceilings on the first floor.
  • Fios Quantum Gateway on second floor approximately 15' x 10' from one of the corners of the main home.
  • Fios One Main box MoCA (coax RG6 quad shield connected) about 30' from the Fios Quantum Gateway.
  • Fios One Mini on first floor at 6' x 10' from the same corner of the second floor as the Fios Quantum Gateway.  Yep, less than 20' away.
  • Hidden SSIDs for both the 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz networks.  SON (Self Organizing Network Disabled).  THE HIDDEN 5Ghz NETWORK WAS THE ISSUE!  THE 5Ghz MUST BROADCAST FOR THE Wi-Fi PROTECTED SETUP (WPS) BUTTON TO WORK.  How do you know.  You press and hold the WPS button for 4 seconds.  The Wi-Fi network symbol on your router will start flashing.  Do not hold for 10 seconds because that will cause the router to do a soft reboot.

Facts to Consider Related to Router to Fios One Mini Wi-Fi Distance:

  • The Mini communicates to the Quantum Gateway over the 5Ghz.
  • Typical reach from the Quantum Gateway over 5Ghz is about 40' to 50'.  Sometimes more or less depending on the location of the router and the structural barriers between the two points.  Note that 2.4Ghz reaches much further, but the Fios One Mini does not use that frequency.
  • I hear that the new 3100 which has 16 antennas has better coverage.  But, you probably need to place it in the center of your structure to benefit from that.  Remember, the power per antenna is controlled by FCC regulations regardless of the router.

Troubleshooting Approach:

  • Allow the technicians to do their checklist, which is painful, but they have to do it in order to escalate.  Chat Technicians, reboot router, yada, yada, yada.  The Chat Technicians are mostly poorly trained and unable to help with any serious issue.  Support Technicians at the 800 Fios number are fairly knowledgeable, but see to many times where they have non-technical customers, thus it is hard when they have to work with someone that is a peer or more knowledgeable.  None actually fully understood the WPS technology.  I mentioned several times to the technicians that nothing happened when I pressed the WPS button.  That should have been a red flag. 
  • Behavior of the Fios One Mini is a timeout and a screen that tells you to press the WPS button for 2 seconds.  According to my technician it needs to be 4 seconds.  I have not validated, but if the Wi-Fi symbol is flashing, it is working.  If not, then you have the 5Ghz network not broadcasting.
  • Figured out the actual Arris/Motorola model number of the equipment and read those manuals.  That was helpful to figure out exactly how the technology worked. 
  • Convinced my first 800 call technician to replace the Fios One Mini.  Picked it up the next day and replaced it, no change to the behavior.
  • To disspell all the crazy issues regarding the Wi-Fi distance, I brought the Fios Quantum Gateway down to where the Fios One Mini was and at 3ft apart, they still would not work.  Fortunately, I had a coax there already, so it made this test easy.  That triggered the 800 technician after factory resetting the Fios Quantum Gateway router, rebooting the main box, and reboot the mini to send out an onsite technician.  What we did not know was that the Fios network would reload my configuration back into the router with the broadcasting turned off, so the router reset was useless.
  • The onsite technician knew the WPS button was supposed to trigger the Wi-Fi symbol and determined my router was not working correctly.  What he did not know was that the 5Ghz network broadcast must be on.  By default, the issue was resolved, but not quite.
  • With the new router, I had to reconfigure.  The second that I change the 5Ghz to not broadcast, the Fios One Mini connection died.  Turned it back on and it worked.

Follow-Up with Verizon:

  • I contacted the Verizon senior technicians and explained what I had discovered/learned.  The technician agreed to escalate this documentation to management.

Observations:

  • There is now a security flaw bad practice that you have to commit to if you want to use the Fios One Mini, i.e. broadcasting your SSID for your 5Ghz Wi-Fi.
  • I turned on SON.  It works well for me, but some people apparently have issues on some devices, so it might not work for you.  It should have no bearing on the Fios One Mini operation.
  • Fios 800 number and onsite technicians seem to be knowledgeable and very helpful, but something like this issue is difficult for them to troubleshoot.  They need to see the full configuration of the router.

Typical Questions:

  • What if I am not using a Fios Quantum Gateway G1100 router?  If you have a router with the WPS feature and configure it with the 5Ghz broadcasting, I see no reason why it would not work, but would validate.
  • What if I have an issue on the distance?  Unfortunately, you will need an additional access point that is connected to the same network as the Fios One Main box.  And, it must have the WPS feature.
  • Should I just use Verizon equipment?  I would as the support team is much more familiar with and trained on the technology and the Verizon network keeps the firmware updated.  That helps when security issues show up.

Good Luck!  The technology seems solid, if you can ever achieve connectivity.

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Fiosproblems11

Trying to figure this out. I just got the Fios TV one and 4 Fios TV Minis. I have my G3100 router in a place with no Coax, so I attached Coax to my A3200 wifi extender. That did the trick for getting my Fios TV one up and runnig, and it seems to work as advertised. I am however unable to get my Fios TV minis to connect. I have tried both Wifi and Coax, but the units (all four of them), stops with error code 8205-1.  Message says, please check for coax cable is connected to Fios TV one (which it is). Looking at my G3100 setup, it reports no COAX (which is correct), but since the Extender being hooked up worked for the One, i figured it would work for the minis as well. Suggestion for how to go about this.  I really do not want to move my extender vs my main unit since I finally figure a place for their location after years of bad wifi.

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Jcpuskar
Enthusiast - Level 1

Actually there are no security flaws in the equipment if they are set up properly. After the setup using WPS and 5 GHz, turn on SON and the 5 GHz network will then be hidden and everything will work just fine.