When switching from FIOS to Optimum can I keep the FIOS modem/router for WiFi?

[JTsyo]

I currently have FIOS but now that the bundle price is over, I'll have to jump to Optimum. I had bought the FIOS modem/router. I was thinking of getting a modem from Amazon (NETGEAR CM500-1AZNAS) and still using the FIOS one for Wi-fi. Is this doable? It would save the hassle of setting up a new router and resetting all my devices. The current router is their Quantum Gateway.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

You could. The modem you're selecting it not on Optimum's approved list though.

 

[razel]

Only if that FIOS is very configurable or it has a WAN port like a typical WiFi router. I would worry more about the known fact that even if you bought your own modem, your ISP still pushes their approved, updated firmware out to it meaning they have access. Most of the time it is used to configure the WAN end, but there's no denying that they can reset WAN settings/reboot your store bought modem if it needs to.

 

[QuietDad]

OPtimum is going to push their router on you and not let you use FIOS routers. Both companies have the fact their routers make you a hotspot for them is not publicized very loudly. Optimum is not going to let you be a FIOS hotspot. Better off with your own router

 

[VirtualLarry]

OPtimum is going to push their router on you and not let you use FIOS routers. Both companies have the fact their routers make you a hotspot for them is not publicized very loudly. Optimum is not going to let you be a FIOS hotspot. Better off with your own router

FIOS customer equipment is NOT used to create hotspots, like Comcast's are. Unless you have some proof to the contrary. I'm a FIOS and a Comcast subscriber, and I can't say that I've EVER seen evidence of FIOS equipment setting up a public hotspot-type system, outside of what the user explicitly configures.

Methinks that you are un-informed.

Edit: And while I don't know much about Optimum or their equipment policies, my experience with various cable internet companies is, that you can either buy or rent a compatible modem to access their service, and then whatever router you chose to connect downstream, was up to you. (With the caveat that the cable ISP might supply a combo modem/router "gateway", that might have to be set to "bridge mode", to enable using your own router.)

Edit: OP, don't listen to QuietDad, he doesn't know what he's talking about, FIOS does not create public Hotspots with user equipment, either rented or owned. Not that I've ever seen, nor read about, and I'm a frequent visitor to some FIOS forums.

FIOS routers, CAN be re-purposed, and used just like a "regular" router, they have an ethernet WAN port (as well as a MOCA COAX WAN/LAN port). Assuming that you can just buy a compatible modem for Optimum, then you should be able to just plug in the FIOS router and go.

Edit: That said, unless you have the G1100 "Quantum Gateway" model, with the 802.11ac support, it's probably not even worth re-using the Verizon FIOS router that you have.

You would be better off in the long run, I feel, picking up an Asus router, AC66U, AC1750, AC66U B1, AC68U/R, AC1900, AC87U, AC88U, or newer, to run your network.

Or, depending on your wireless coverage needs, maybe a Google Wifi mesh setup, or an Asus AiMesh setup, or an Ubiquti EdgeRouter X and some AC-Pro APs, if you wanted to "get serious".

What speed will you have with your Optimum connection? (What rate plan?)

 

[QuietDad]

i was wrong as FIOS does not now use their routers as hot spots, but they have in the past. I know. I had one. And I'm a former Comcast AND Optimum subcontractor and can gaurantee they do make you a hotspot with their routers. All my experiences come from Central and Northern NJ.
Sad part with optimum is they now have cloud base branded BIOS and firmware on their modems so you can't even turn it off. You can always find the factory BIOS/firmware and flash the router, but once the "free" modem loses contact with OPtimum, you start getting charged for it.

 

[mnewsham]

but they have in the past

No they haven't i've been a continuous FiOS customer since 2007.

 

[QuietDad]

It was not a system wide policy. I can verify new customers, as I was one in 2010ish in Somerset County, NJ got hotspot routers. They even came later and replaced them with non hotspot routers.

 

[mnewsham]

It was not a system wide policy. I can verify new customers, as I was one in 2010ish in Somerset County, NJ got hotspot routers. They even came later and replaced them with non hotspot routers.

Would love to see literally ANY proof of this having happened, because there is no evidence I can find ANYWHERE that says they did this.

The ONLY thing I can find is from ~2011/12 where they had Verizon hotspots that you could access with your verizon account, but these were NOT hotspots using customer routers, they were specifically set up hotspots for public use, Verizon has NEVER used private routers for public wifi access.


Again, if you have anything resembling proof, feel free to post it. But looking through several dozen old forum posts, there is NOTHING that fits what you're saying, whereas with comcast I can go find dozens of examples with just a simple google search showing tons of people complaining about their router being used for public Wifi without their permission.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Verizon has NEVER used private routers for public wifi access.

whereas with comcast I can go find dozens of examples with just a simple google search showing tons of people complaining about their router being used for public Wifi without their permission.

This!

Verizon routers do come pre-configured for *private* wifi usage, with pre-configured SSIDs and passwords, but other than that, I've NEVER seen ANY evidence, and I've been a FIOS subscriber for like 10 years in the NE, that they ever used private gear for public hotspots.

Edit: It's quite possible, that back in the "early days" of FIOS and wifi, that their routers came pre-configured, with the wifi *active*, but not *password-protected*. I think that this might have been an issue pre-2007-ish. But that wasn't a Verizon-branded open-access hotspot, that was just poor wifi security. (I remember, some of the early FIOS routers didn't even support WPA.)

 

[QuietDad]

I did some research to make sure I wasn't going crazy. I remember FIOS here as a service and having and issue with Wifi hotspots showing up on my device that disappeared when the ActionTek modem/routerucombo was turned off. At that time I was subcontraction with Comcast and Optimum (then owned by CableVision but now Altic) and know for a fact Xfinity (Comcast's internet offering) and Optimum's routers where hotspots, and still are.
After calling old friends I worked with and Googling alll afternoon, FIOS, While never offering routers making you public hotspots, they offered routers that made you a private hotspot in an attempt to try to give techs access for whatever reason and expand infrastructure in rural areas which we have in Northern NJ (https://superuser.com/questions/842...-called-hidden-network-everywhere-why-is-this)

 

[VirtualLarry]

answered Jun 28 '16 at 23:46

Constantine Firme

New routers from Verizon and Xfinity have a "Hidden Network" as part of a new initiative to boost speeds without installing actual infrastructure. It's a new way to extend signal to hard to reach places like the rural midwest where 1 tower is enough to supply a whole zip code by bouncing signal off routers in the neighborhood. To get rid of this "HIdden Network" you have to log into your Verizon, or Comcast account and Opt Out. You can do so in your account or call customer service. Someone from technical support will access your router, stop the Hidden Network, and you should see a small boost of 30mb in performance from your router.

Here are some additional information about what's happening.

http://uproxx.com/technology/comcast-makes-customer-routers-public-wifi-points/

http://www.cnet.com/news/comcast-expands-wi-fi-network-with-new-neighborhood-initiative/

That's the relevant post, and I fail to see the point, you don't send Wifi signals from "towers", and "bounce off" routers. Totally internet BS. (Unless you're talking about Verizon Fixed Wireless, see below.)

If that's the strongest evidence that you could find, QuietDad, that's pretty weaksauce.

And if people were actually LOSING 30Mbit/sec of their service, you had better believe that there would have been a widespread outcry.

Note that the only supporting articles linked, were in reference to Comcast. Which HAS, and IS KNOWN, to set up PUBLIC hotspots on user's equipment

Edit: Possibly, this was something in relation to Verizon's "Fixed Wireless" routers, which they distributed to one island after Hurricane Sandy devastated it, in NJ? VZ wanted to do that, rather than re-wire the whole island.

Fixed Wireless is a whole nother ball of wax, and IS NOT FIOS.

https://www.publicknowledge.org/news-blog/blogs/verizon-sandy-victims-should-be-customers-not

 

[JTsyo]

You could. The modem you're selecting it not on Optimum's approved list though.

Got a link to the approved list?

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Got a link to the approved list?

Here ya go

http://optimum.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3832/~/optimum-online-provided-modem

 

[JTsyo]

Here ya go

http://optimum.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3832/~/optimum-online-provided-modem

Thanks. Not much of a choice on that list.