Fios Installation Pre Setup

[Kenndoubleu12]

 this is my electrical panel in my new home. I had cat 6 ran throughout house that will all have a central location in my basement. I am placing an order for fios gigabit internet, no tv. What I am trying to figure out is best course of action prior or post install. Equipment will include the ONT, a network switch, and a google wifi router. Where will the tech likely install the ONT? Should I put another backboard on the wall below or adjacent to the electrical panel to mount everything? Wondering if anyone has done something similar and has photos or advice. 

[smith6612]

I don't know if the techs still carry Plywood on them. It wouldn't hurt to mount a secondary piece of plywood for Verizon and other utility companies to use. The ONTs Verizon installs today are approximately the size of a Cable Gateway or Cable box.

[Cang_Household]

Now days the ONT does not come with an enclosure any more, and its size is similar to a 8-port unmanaged switch. I am wondering where would you put your network gears? If you decide to buy a small wooden or metal cabinet, the ONT can reside in the same place as well. The ONT does not need to be mounted vertically and can be even placed on a table.

[gs0b · Accepted solution]

Utilities often enter homes near each other, with the exception of water and sewer.  Verizon usually installs fiber near the same location used for telephone and cable.  Often this is close to the electrical service line.   If that's the case, you can expect the tech will be thrilled to install the ONT near the panel, especially if you mount a backboard for them.  Anything that makes their job faster and easier will be well received.

As others have noted, today's ONTs are small.  They can be wall mounted, if you like.  Otherwise, you could put them on a shelf or a table.  Since you'll be installing a switch and some type of patch panel, you'll want to decide if those will be wall or shelf mounted.  That will impact the size of the backboard.

In my home, I installed a backboard and Verizon happily mounted the ONT to it.  This was a long time ago, back when they used enclosures for the ONT and it's power supply, but the devices can be wall mounted without an enclosure.  I've a 110 block mounted to the backboard that terminates my CAT-5e runs, and a homemade patch panel using RJ45 jacks I scrounged from an office cubical demolition job.  Phone lines and my alarm panel are all handled through the 110 block, too.

I've two shelves attached to the backboard, one is my "network shelf" with my switches and NAS.  The other is my "power shelf" with power strips, power supplies and UPS.  A whole home surge protector on my electrical panel provides protection for everything.  (FYI, power strip surge protectors are almost useless, go with a panel mount if you can.)  I ran a dedicated line from the electrical panel to the network backboard and installed a surface mount power outlet.  This made it easy to power everything.

While the 110 block has been very useful as it's allowed me to mix 100Mbps Ethernet with phone lines, power some of my phone sets (my own version of PoE) and easily make other changes, if I were doing it now I wouldn't use a 110 block as I don't care about running phone lines.  Ethernet is all I'd worry about.  I'd get one of those 12 or 24 port patch panels that make it easy to terminate CAT-5e/6/7 to an Ethernet jack.  Then, it's just standard patch cables from the panel to the switch.

So yea, if you can confirm that your utility entrance is near the electrical panel, put up a backboard!

[dexman]

Recently, I helped a friend move into a new apartment. Verizon had two Alcatel-Lucent/Nokia ONTs installed on site.

Both units were mounted on backboards that had been treated with fire retardant paint. I'll add a picture of one of the ONTs mounted on a backboard with an easily seen label.

Prior to my signing up for FiOS back in 2007, we mounted a fairy decently sized backboard in the basement underneath the entry point for the copper drops. This gave the Verizon contractor plenty of space to neatly mount the Tellabs 611 ONT (including an external enclosure).

I also mounted a 66/50 block on the far end of the backboard, terminated the runs to the various telephone jacks and ran a single 4 pair CAT6 cable for our three telephone lines. (I'll post a picture of that as well).

Lastly, I would suggest having an electrical outlet installed nearby for the Verizon technician to power the ONT. 🙂

 

 

[dexman]