Verizon ONT battery

[m289]

On the Verizon ONT (or is this not the ONT, and only the battery for the ONT which is outside the house?), the "Replace Battery" light is on, and the unit beeps periodically.

During power outages and whenever I've had to switch off the circuit breaker feeding the ONT, I've lost internet, so I assume the battery isn't intended to provide power to keep internet connection alive. So is it just for the phone service? I have phone, cable, internet through Verizon. If battery is just to power phone service during a power outage, can I simply remove the battery? Or is the unit going to continue beeping?

I assume Verizon doesn't provide a free battery replacement?

[gs0b · Accepted solution]

Correct, the battery is for phone only.  Not as critical in these days of cell-phones everywhere.

Verizon charges for replacement batteries.   You can also find them cheaper online or at hardware stores.

Depending on the specific model of BBU, it may stop beeping without a battery, or it may not.  Try the silence button.

Verizon does not deploy these BBUs (battery backup units) anymore.  If you contact them, they may come out and replace it with a power supply at no charge.  They will offer you a product called the "Power Reserve," which holds a pile of D-cell batteries.  Not rechargeable, manually activated it's basically worthless, don't get it.

If  you want to keep internet and phone active during outages, buy a UPS and plug the ONT into it.  A small UPS will keep it up for 15-60 minutes.

Enjoy.

[m289]

Tried unplugging the battery and it beeped within a few seconds, so I think this is one of those models that requires a battery to stop the beeping. Plugged it back in and the Replace Battery light went out, and hasn't beeped since. So I'll see how long this lasts. 

I assume this unit supplies power to the ONT, so I can't unplug this unit? If not, if it starts beeping again, I guess I'll buy a replacement battery on Amazon.

[gs0b]

Correct, it powers the ONT.  You can't unplug it.

If you don't care about phone only backup, contact Verizon and ask if they will remove the BBU at no charge as you can't stand the beeping.

Good Luck.