12/5/2025 - the long wait is over. Finally have FiOS. Cutover from the copper loop/5ESS POTS to FiOS HSI/FDV complete! I was the first customer in my subdivision and off of my FDH, pretty cool! Tech was shocked I was the very first, there was some concern about if the plant was really ready or not but testing light levels revealed it was perfect.
The install went smooth. Already had a dedicated Cat5e home run from the NID to my server closet, so we just re-terminated that for Ethernet. It was used for DSL in the past. Power was fed through a small conduit I have into the adjoining room, encased in an Amphenol house box I installed for my outdoor Unifi ethernet switch.
Tech left the copper NID in place for use as a voice junction box to avoid messing with some old inside wire from 1994. I probably have enough slack to run it into the ONT box and could then remove the NID entirely. I’ll save that for summertime, it’s COLD out 🙂
FDT’s are just plopped in the hand hole, look ma no bracket:
New outdoor Nokia I-211-M-C ONT in TII Enclosure:
Full wall of infrastructure boxes:
Wireless speedtest with the VZ 10G Cube:
I’ll be switching back to my Unifi gear eventually, running Comcast in parallel for a few days. Honestly the VZ CR1000A is pretty good for ISP-supplied gear in my opinion. Wireless coverage is strong in a 3 level home, the speed is solid, and they expose some advanced settings.
Looks like Verizon’s modern Ethernet network still generally follows the old ATM/Ethernet hybrid topology they had on DSL. All traffic from PCVLVAPV gets hauled to the CLPPVACU tandem, then back up north to the Ashburn peering exchange. Verizon’s modern FiOS network seems to be well designed with only 2 visible hops between my router and the public internet. Comcast’s network has many more hops before you ever get to a peering point.
