Can you beat Verizon?

[glatt]

Got the FIOS installed on Tuesday. Went very smoothly. The installation looks neat and professional. I must say, the bump up in speed from our temporary dial-up to fiber optic speed leaves me breathless. My parents were visiting, and had their laptop. With the wireless transmitter located in the basement, they had an extremely strong signal everywhere in the entire house. I'm quite pleased.

I've been on vacation the last week, and haven't checked the Cellar. There are 179 threads with new posts, and today promises to be busy at work. It will take a week to catch up.

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

Got the FIOS installed on Tuesday. Went very smoothly.

Describe what boxes you got and where they are installled? Was any of this installation outside? How was it mounted? Does the internet modem have Wifi, ethernet wires, and a connection to other boxes with a coax cable? Or does the wifi and ethernet router get connected by ethernet (RJ-45) connection? What did they provide as a UPS? Something separate?

As noted before, I have seen many variations of FIOS. Just wondering how many more are out there?

[glatt]

The fiber optic cable goes from the telephone pole at the end of my driveway through the air to the side of my house. It uses the same wall anchor that the original copper phone service uses. It drops down next to the original service box outside, and comes into the basement through the original service hole (which had been cleared of the original copper wires.) Inside, there is one large box mounted to the wall. The fiber terminates in there. There is a battery backup in that box. Coming out of that box are a phone line, a coaxial internet cable, a ground wire, and a power cord. The phone line goes to the original phone mounting junction located at a nearby joist and connects to all the phones in the house. The coaxial cable goes to a separate wireless router supplied by Verizon. This router has 4 Ethernet ports, and I've got two of them used by cat5 and cat6 I fished upstairs for the current computer location and also a future computer location. My father tested the wireless signal with his laptop, and it's very strong throughout the entire house. The power cord plugs into a compact surge protector that is plugged into a new GFCI outlet I installed. The previously mentioned ground wire is clamped to a nearby pipe that goes from our boiler to an upstairs radiator. (I think, but am not certain, that this constitutes a good ground, because metal pipes appear to be used continuously from the water service entrance to the boiler and then to this radiator pipe. They are also tied in to the gas pipes and the electrical panel ground.)

I can post a picture if you are interested.

I find the ground wire curious. I'm not sure what they are grounding. It must be the phones in the house, but I think that system is already grounded from the phone junction on the joist. The electrical system is already grounded. And the fiber optic cable is not conductive.

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

The coaxial cable goes to a separate wireless router supplied by Verizon. ... The previously mentioned ground wire is clamped to a nearby pipe that goes from our boiler to an upstairs radiator.

That seems to be the more common installations. Earlier installations put that FIOS to copper interface box outside the house.

That ground wire is improperly connected. Grounding to any pipes is no longer acceptable - a code violation. A ground wire must attach to the same rod that also services or served the AC electric box, cable, and old phone ground.

No longer acceptable is dumping electricity into any pipe. Any ground connection to pipes is only to remove fault currents from those pipes. The connection to existing AC electric ground must be via a dedicated wire; not through pipes.

Anything that can conduct electricity must be safety grounded which is one reason why FIOS boxes have a dedicated safety ground wire.

No cable TV on the FIOS installation?

For convenience, write the WiFi broadcast name and WEP code on a sticky label located near the assembly where that information is easily read without moving any boxes.

This sounds like the new FIOS standard hardware. No longer see new installations with the FIOS interface modem outside the house.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by tw

No cable TV on the FIOS installation?

Nope. Not for us. We have a rooftop antenna.

[glatt]

Originally Posted by tw

No cable TV on the FIOS installation?

Originally Posted by glatt

Nope. Not for us. We have a rooftop antenna.

We are seriously contemplating getting the FIOS TV now. We've had just internet and phone for a few years, and the low price has crept up over time, and they are now charging as much for that bundle of two as they would for the bundle of three, including the TV. They have an offer now where if we sign up for TV too, they will send us a $300 gift card. Just have to sign a 2 year contract. I assume this is to keep us from looking at Xfinity/Comcast's low prices.

Anyway, we're inclined to go for it, except I don't know exactly what it will mean. Do they just run a coaxial cable from the router (which has a coaxial tv output) and flip a switch at their home base to send us the TV, or is there already a scrambled signal coming from that coaxial output, and they will just give us a set top box to descramble it?

I'm not too keen on a set top box and yet another remote. We've also got a subscription-free DVR that records content from our rooftop antenna while also passing a signal through to the TV. I wonder if that will work with the FIOS TV. If there is a set top box, I imagine the DVR won't work any more to record one show while we watch another. Actually, I imagine the DVR won't work at all for programming shows. We would have to be there to tune the set top box to the show and then start the DVR. And that misses the point of a DVR entirely.

We don't really want the FIOS TV so much, although it will be nice to have for the winter Olympics. It's just hard to turn down $300. I also don't want to get tricked into paying extra for a Verizon DVR or set top box. I'd only do this if we can switch over for free and also get the $300 gift card.

What's the FIOS TV setup like at the TV end?

[glatt]

Originally Posted by tw

Grounding to any pipes is no longer acceptable - a code violation. A ground wire must attach to the same rod that also services or served the AC electric box, cable, and old phone ground.

Yeah. It's weird. I need to take another look at it. I'm not sure why it's grounded in the first place. It's also plugged into a grounded outlet with (I think) a 3 prong plug.

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

I'm not sure why it's grounded in the first place. It's also plugged into a grounded outlet with (I think) a 3 prong plug.

If AC plug is removed, the box has no safety ground. A failure in TV isolation (for example) could result in a hot box. The earth ground may also serve other functions such as RFI reduction, transient protection, etc. Devices that are not moveable traditionally also have dedicated safety grounds. One could argue it both ways. But simpler and safer is to dedicate that ground - that may also be earthing a ground separate from the receptacle safety ground.