Already have FIOS Internet & Phone - how difficult to add TV?

[nhl66pens]

We are supposed to have someone add TV to our existing FIOS Internet & Phone. How much work do they have to do to switch from DirecTv to FIOS TV? They aren't going to run new cable right? Don't they just have to take the outside cable wires off the DirecTv dish and connect them to the FIOS box? The box is inside the house in a basement closet so do they have to run them inside? My wife wants me to take off so she doesn't have to watch them but I hate to waste a vacation day on something that should be simple. Is there more to it than I think?

Thanks for any info.

Rob

 

[JPL]

I guess it depends on your particular set up, but you've pretty much gotten it. I went through the same thing you're doing - I had DirecTV, and FiOS internet and phone. When I moved to FiOS TV, the TV installer took about 2 hours to get the job done. One reason it even took that long is because of one 'issue' he hit. He didn't realize that one of my STBs wasn't plugged in fully when he did the activation of the boxes. The activation can take a while (I think mine took close to 20 minutes), which he had to redo because of that issue.

Anway, yeah, they just need to run coax from the ONT to feed your TVs. If you already have DirecTV cable coming from your dish that they can use, then they'll reuse that. For me, I wasn't sure about FiOS TV so I asked that he leave my DirecTV setup as intact as possible. As a result, he reused an old Comcast cable I still had snaked into my house.

Also, if you currently have a multi-switch, that will need to go. The installer will replace it with a cable splitter. And there may be one more thing he needs to do, depending on how your internet is currently set up. Do you know if you're currently hooked up with ethernet, or with MoCA? MoCA basically means that they're running your internet connection over coax (coax from your ONT to your router). If that's the case, then the install is actually easier - there's nothing else they would need to do with your router.

However, I was installed with ethernet. Because FiOS TV feeds some video data into your system via the IP feed (guide data, e.g.) they have to connect your router to your cable splitter. Agian, if you're hooked up with MoCA for internet, then they have nothing else to do on that front - you already would have a connection from your router to the cable splitter. If you're hooked up with ethernet, then they'll have to run an additional coax from the router to your cable splitter.

Overall, you're right - the hardest part of getting FiOS is getting the initial install, which you already had done with their internet service. Adding TV is much easier. One final point - make sure the installer gives you any cables that you would need. I went from SD only service with DirecTV to HD service with FiOS (that's the reason I made the switch). The installer, who in all other respects was great, was just going to reuse my S-video cable for the HD hookup. I had to stop him and request an HDMI cable, which he gave me without issue after that.

 

[cebbigh]

If you have any coax that is in the right place and passes the test they will use it. Used the old cable coax that feeds into my garage to the connection in the living room in my case. Took them about 30 min from arrival to initial box set up. If the Directv coax is in the right place and you aren't using it anymore I'm sure they would use it. They want to get in and out as soon a possible.

 

[nhl66pens]

Thanks for that awesome response JPL. I am switching to all HD from having 2 HD and 2 SD boxes so I will make sure to inquire about the HDMI. Did they provide the HDMI wire for free as part of the installation?

Our DirecTv is connected from the dish to a multi-switch then to the various receivers in the house. Does that mean they have to put the cable splitter after the outside feed to the ONT box? I think this is the case which means they are going to have to run the cables from outside (the reason I'm asking is one is run up the side of the house, along the roof and then into an upper level bedroom) into the closet where the ONT box resides in order to put the splitter on after the feed to the ONT. I'm not sure all of the cables have enough extra to run that far back into the house. I guess they could run the wire for FIOS TV into the house, connect to the ONT and then run a wire back out to put the splitter on and connect the existing cable lines.

As for the internet setup, I had them run a coax from the ONT box to a router in my kitchen. This was done because I have a 3 level house and had been told the wireless signal may not be strong enough if it were left in the basement. So I ran a string from the closet where the box was installed to a hole I had drilled in the pantry closet on the middle level and this is where the router is located.

 

[JPL]

This isn't like DirecTV - you don't need individual cables for every tuner. There will only be a single coax coming out of your ONT. That coax will go to a splitter. From there, you'll haev separate cable runs to all your TVs. Again, you only need one cable run to each TV. For me, I just had an old-fashioned dual-lnb circular dish. There were (and still are) two lines from the dish going into my crawlspace. From there, they had both cables going to a multi-switch, and from the multi-switch they had 4 lines coming out - 2 each to my living room and family room TVs.

When I got FiOS, the installer cut the comcast cable, fed that into the ONT (it was already going into my crawlspace). He disconnected, totally, the multi-switch. For the two cables coming from the dish, he put caps on the cables, to prevent any leaking of the signal which could affect the FiOS signal. He hooked the other end of the comcast cable up to a splitter that they brought. For hooking up the cables going to each TV, the installer actually took the easy way out. I already had 2 cables going to each TV, but instead of only running a single one to each TV (requiring that he isolate one cable going to each location) he just put in a big enough splitter to handle all 4 lines coming out of it. So the splitter had 4 lines coming out of it, 2 each for the living room and family room (he just totally reused the cable that DirecTV put there).

When he hooked up my TVs, he just only used one of the cables in each location. So, I had two cables going to the wall outlet in my living room. He left both cables going to the wall plate from my splitter. But then, he only ran one cable from the wall outlet to my DVR, and he capped the other outlet (again, to avoid signal leaks).

For you, and this is tough to determine without actually seeing your setup, but if they already have cable going to your router, then I can pretty much figure out what they're going to do. They're going to cut the cable that's coming from your ONT to your router, and just use that. So they'll cut the cable, once inside your house. They'll put a connector on each of the newly cut ends. They'll then connect the two ends with a splitter. So you'll now have ONT -> splitter and splitter -> router.

Next, is your multiswitch already inside your home? If so, then it should be easy. They'll likely just disconnect the output cables from the multi-switch (those going to your TVs) and plug those into the other ports on the splitter. At the end you'll have a single coax going from ONT -> splitter, and multiple cables going from the splitter on out - one to your router, and one or two each to each TV location.

As for the HDMI cable, if you already have one in place, since you already have HD, they'll likely just reuse it. I didn't have one, so I requested one. For the TVs that don't have HDMI cables that can use them, I'd request that they provide them.