Relocate my Verizon ONT

[Donald]

So I was upgraded to FIOS Gigabit. Or close to a gigabit.

Connection to router must be network cable, no more coax. It was coax until today. House is wired for coax.

So ONT is on outside of garage and router is on the inside. Network cable as of this morning runs through a window cracked open. Router next to the window. Power to the ONT is via a cable through a hole in the the wall.

I absolutely hate drilling holes through my house so that will not happen. Or boat or car.

Options:
1) call Verizon and have them relocate the ONT inside. They do not like people messing with the ONT. Pay $$.
2) Run CAT6 through same hole as power cable for ONT. I would have to buy a second crimper as my good one is at church camp 6 hours away
Cannot get pre-terminated network cable through the wall.
3) Run the main outdoor fiber to the inside of my garage through the hole the power cable use to go through. Relocate the ONT inside.
4) There is already a short fiber extension between the ONT and outdoor fiber. Get a longer one and run that extension through the hole the power cable use to go through. Relocate the ONT inside.

 

[brianl703]

2) Run CAT6 through same hole as power cable for ONT. I would have to buy a second crimper as my good one is at church camp 6 hours away
Cannot get pre-terminated network cable through the wall.

Put a jack on the end of the cable, no tools needed, and use a short patch cable to connect it to the ONT. The jack and short patch cable should both fit in the customer wiring space inside the ONT.

 

[mk378]

Yes I'd take a keystone jack cut one end off of a long cable then push the whole cable through from outside, plug it into the ONT then put the jack on the inside end.

Since you have to upgrade the house to Ethernet you're going to need a crimper at some point.

 

[brianl703]

I wouldn't use a stranded patch cable, most of it is not suitable for in-wall use (it isn't rated CM/CMR/CMP).

 

[mk378]

Right, stranded cable also doesn't play well with the 110 style IDC slots of a keystone jack. Make sure the cable you use is solid core.

 

[nthach]

Get yourself a spool of Cat 6 Ethernet cable(don’t use cheap Chinese Amazon or white box cable, ideally something American made), some RJ-45 Cat 6-rated keystone jacks and stick-on wall enclosures and a punchdown tool. The jacks have a wiring schematic on them(586A/B) so pick one for both sides.

Route the Ethernet cable through the hole. Using a cable stripper, strip off enough of the outer jacket to allow you to punch down the jacks. Use the punchdown tool to “punch” each conductor down into its slot. At both the ONT and router, you need a small patch cable. This is more expensive but “cleaner” way of doing this.

 

[brianl703]

Get yourself a spool of Cat 6 Ethernet cable(don’t use cheap Chinese Amazon or white box cable, ideally something American made)

It doesn't need to be cat 6. The FIOS ONT won't do more than gigabit speed anyway. cat5e is more than sufficient for the connection from the ONT.

But I would avoid any "CCA" or "copper clad aluminum" cable, which is likely what you'll get if you buy the cheap stuff. EDIT: You won't find "CCA" cable for sale at Lowes or Home Depot. Their lawyers won't allow them to sell it.

Also, there is cable rated for outdoor UV exposure. It carries a CMX rating. It's designed for short exposed outdoor runs between the ONT and the house. Lowes and Home Depot should both have this type of cable, available by the foot. I've had other cable start to crack after a few years outside.

 

[Donald]

Yes I'd take a keystone jack cut one end off of a long cable then push the whole cable through from outside, plug it into the ONT then put the jack on the inside end.

Since you have to upgrade the house to Ethernet you're going to need a crimper at some point.

I am hoping to use the existing coax wiring to run a couple of WIfI extenders.

I have a 1000' spool of CAT6 outdoor cable with messenger wire. So I have lots of CAT6 cable.

 

[mk378]

Coax really isn't suitable for gigabit. The sooner you decide not to use coax the happier you will be.

 

[nthach]

It doesn't need to be cat 6. The FIOS ONT won't do more than gigabit speed anyway. cat5e is more than sufficient for the connection from the ONT.

But I would avoid any "CCA" or "copper clad aluminum" cable, which is likely what you'll get if you buy the cheap stuff. EDIT: You won't find "CCA" cable for sale at Lowes or Home Depot. Their lawyers won't allow them to sell it.

Also, there is cable rated for outdoor UV exposure. It carries a CMX rating. It's designed for short exposed outdoor runs between the ONT and the house. Lowes and Home Depot should both have this type of cable, available by the foot. I've had other cable start to crack after a few years outside.

In case there is a gigabit upgrade or if Verizon sells their FiOS to a local provider, chances are it will go beyond a gigabit. Better safe than sorry, Cat 5e can also handle gigabit.

Lowe’s or Home Depot network cable is actually pretty decent stuff. It’s not Belden/Commscope(who also is Comcast/Charter/Verizon’s preferred brand of RG-6 coax)/ADC Krone(TE Electronics) or similar, but far better than the white box Chinese stuff I had to deal with at a shop.

 

[brianl703]

Lowe’s or Home Depot network cable is actually pretty decent stuff. It’s not Belden/Commscope(who also is Comcast/Charter/Verizon’s preferred brand of RG-6 coax)/ADC Krone(TE Electronics) or similar, but far better than the white box Chinese stuff I had to deal with at a shop.

In years past it's been General Cable and Southwire. Both are well-known companies.

 

[Donald]

So for $12 I can buy a 1m fiber patch cable with the right connectors and replace the existing Verizon patch cable and move the ONT inside.

The connectors (SC/APC) are small enough so they should fit through the existing hole in the wall. I hope.

 

[brianl703]

So for $12 I can buy a 1m fiber patch cable with the right connectors and replace the existing Verizon patch cable and move the ONT inside.

The connectors (SC/APC) are small enough so they should fit through the existing hole in the wall. I hope.

I once relocated (no, actually, relocated AND REPLACED) a Verizon 25 pair demarc. Peeled the numbers off the old one and stuck them on the new one. They never noticed or cared. The old demarc had RJ11 jacks for all the lines, the new one had a 66 block punchdown.

Part of cleaning up the wiring in a phone closet in an old building.

 

[Donald]

So I relocated the Verizon ONT from outside to inside. Ran the fiber jumper through the wall replacing the power wire to the ONT that previously ran through the wall.

The ONT had been held in the outside enclosure with a Velcro strap. And the power connector leaves something to be desired. The ONT has no ears to use to screw to the wall.

I am thinking they have a slightly different ONT that mounts inside with a decent power cord.

The black power wire goes to a connector as shown in first picture.

 

[brianl703]

Hmm, if a Verizon tech sees that, it's going to be real obvious what you did. I would have moved the outdoor enclosure inside if possible.

 

[Donald]

Hmm, if a Verizon tech sees that, it's going to be real obvious what you did. I would have moved the outdoor enclosure inside if possible.

Maybe. Unsure if Version installed it indoors themselves would they have placed the outdoor enclosure inside?

Pushing just the jumper through the wall I think is a better idea or safer at least. If the jumper gets messed up getting pushed through the wall I have a spare jumper. If the outdoor fiber gets messed up then Verizon will be really upset as they seem to deal in pre-terminated fiber. Not sure every Verizon tech has a splicing tool. But the cost and complexity of splicing fiber has dropped significantly over the past 5 years.

If you are curious I did put a cap on the fiber along with some duct tape before pushing it through the wall.

 

[Donald]

Hmm, if a Verizon tech sees that, it's going to be real obvious what you did. I would have moved the outdoor enclosure inside if possible.

Verizon wants to keep me as a customer. As far as I can tell they did not ground the ONT when then installed it. And there is a screw on the ONT to use for grounding. But with fiber vs copper I thought grounding was no longer an issue.

 

[brianl703]

Verizon wants to keep me as a customer. As far as I can tell they did not ground the ONT when then installed it. And there is a screw on the ONT to use for grounding. But with fiber vs copper I thought grounding was no longer an issue.

Verizon got into trouble for that in NY some years back because they weren't grounding the ONT. The issue is that, even if it's fed by fiber, the copper wiring connected to it (specifically the RG6 coax shield) has to be grounded. I believe that this is an electrical code requirement. (A faulty TV or set top box could energize the coax shield; grounding it ensures that a breaker or fuse will trip).

And I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there was some surge protection on the POTS (RJ11) ports which would require a ground to work properly.

 

[Donald]

Verizon got into trouble for that in NY some years back because they weren't grounding the ONT. The issue is that, even if it's fed by fiber, the copper wiring connected to it (specifically the RG6 coax shield) has to be grounded. I believe that this is an electrical code requirement. (A faulty TV or set top box could energize the coax shield; grounding it ensures that a breaker or fuse will trip).

And I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there was some surge protection on the POTS (RJ11) ports which would require a ground to work properly.

No coax connected to the ONT. MoCA only goes to 75 Mb from the ONT. No phones off the ONT either.

 

[JHZR2]

Options:
1) call Verizon and have them relocate the ONT inside. They do not like people messing with the ONT. Pay $$.

We had some giant FIOS ONT on the outside of our house. Complete with another unit with battery on the inside. It was too big, and I wanted ethernet instead of coax to their proprietary router. I called them, and they installed a very tiny black box ONT on one of the floor joists. No battery backup, but I put it on an UPS down there.

Didnt cost us anything. AFAIK the black fios cable comes from the pole to our house, in some old hole that the old ONT used, and then into the black box. My CAT6 connects to the box, as does something for POTS.