Red Vid light on ONT, service person said on site visit will cost $99

[EChic]

I plan to call tomorrow to just cancel TV because this is taking forever to get fixed but I wanted to find out if a red VID light on the ONT box will cause problems with internet service eventually.  This has been a problem since November, and we tried all the normal troubleshooting steps with an online tech support person. I did the video chat thing so they could see me connect a coax from the ONT to the set-top box, and then try again with another short coax cable.  It still doesn't work (no splitters are in the path, just a 6' cable or a 10' cable).

But in all cases, the VID light comes up red on the ONT and the set-top box can't see a coax connection. The Verizon service rep says the red light doesn't mean anything, but he doesn't have any ideas so we have to have an in-house tech come out which could cost $99 depending on what they find.  That's a wee bit of an insult, since we did video chat for almost an hour (twice) and at this point, there isn't anything of mine in the loop, except the 2 cables I tried & I think one of those was installed by the installer to go to the router.

So I'm ready to drop TV, in the last 2.5 months I learned I don't miss it BUT if this symptom indicates future internet problems I need to know that.  

So does anyone know if an ONT box with a red VID LED is on it's way out, or is the failure only on the video portion?

[dexman]

Referencing the 211 ONT, the video light should normally be off. If it is on, it would indicate a problem either with the ONT itself or an upstream issue.

To figure which it might be, do any neighbors subscribe to FiOS television and if so, are they having issues?

It has been quite a while since my last service call (outside of having the ONT replaced to accommodate an increase in Internet speed). If there is a problem with Verizon's equipment or network does Verizon waive the dispatch charge? 🤔

[EChic]

I don't know if they waive the dispatch fee, and I don't know what constitutes a problem with their equipment vs a problem with my equipment.  When I connected a short coax from ONT to STB and the STB still did not see coax ... I thought that would clearly implicate the Verizon equipment.  But apparently not.

I can't imagine what else a homeowner can do to save Verizon troubleshooting cost.  We bought a coax tester, moved an HDMI monitor into the basement to ensure there is minimal cable loss, did the video chat thing to show them all this ... What other steps can prove it isn't in our walls? 

[dexman]

Was the ONT power cycled as a part of the troubleshooting procedure? If not, try it. If that doesn't work, I 'm pretty sure that the problem is on Verizon's end....the ONT itself, or, something further on back.

[EChic]

Thanks for the help, we did power cycle the ONT and it returned to that state (1 red LED on VID).  But, good news is that I was able to cancel TV service today. It's funny, I didn't intend to be a cord cutter (HGTV was my reason to hold on, it's great for mindless background noise) but once they kinda backed me into it, I'm actually okay.