Migrating from cable to FiOS - what to watch out for?

[Joram]

Verizon is coming in this week to switch us from DSL to fiber optic, and from cable to FiOS TV. Naturally, this will affect our Windows 7 Media Center PC.

Our setup is fairly simple: WMC using CableCARD in a Ceton InfiniTV4 PCIe. We use EPG123 for our programming information. The PC is networked via Powerline to wife's PC, but we have no WMC extenders, NAS media servers, or anything of the sort. Just a standalone WMC PC with plenty of its own storage, and a standalone Verizon DVR and STB.

I figure we will need to activate the new CableCARD and change the program guide source in EPG123 from Comcast to Verizon. Are there any pitfalls, dangers, or possible complications to keep in mind while carrying out this process? For example, do I need to re-run WMC Setup, and if I do, what do I tell it about the program guide source?

We've been using EPG123 for a couple of years, so it's been a while since I had to do anything with this. I'm especially fuzzy on the order in which the steps need to be taken, but tips/insights/warnings on any part of the process will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Space]

For the CableCard, just make sure it is paired up correctly. If not, then most of your channels will still work, but you will not be able to tune any of the Fox cable network channels (Fox News, FX, NatGeo, etc.), HBO or Cinemax. These are all copy protected and require the CableCard to be paired correctly in order to watch/record on WMC. So before the installer leaves (assuming you are having one come out), make sure you can tune those channels (if you subscribe to them, of course), as you may think everything is OK otherwise because most of the channels will still work.

I'm not sure if you are also switching to FiOS Internet, but if so, you will probably be getting their router ($10/month rental). It is possible to buy a Verizon branded router and not get charged per month. What I did was rent the router for a couple months and then bought the same model on eBay (it must be a specific model and branded Verizon FiOS). I then returned the rented router to the Verizon store and no more monthly fee. This was several years ago, but I think this still applies, although the router they use now is different than the one I have.

Also, to get yourself up running quickly, you can just plug the WAN connection from your existing router (assuming you have one) in to one of the ports on the Verizon FiOS router and it should work fine as long as the subnet addressing you are currently using is not 192.168.1.x (which is what the FiOS router uses by default). I ran like that for a couple years until my old router died. If the subnet is the same, you can change the default subnet on the FiOS router to something like 192.168.2.x and I think it should work (although I never tried this because the subnet on my old router was already different than the one on the FiOS router, 192.168.11.x).

As for EPG123, I'm not sure, but I don't think you need to run TV Setup, just need to change the lineups in EPG123, but Gary would be the best source of info on this. Hopefully he will see this post, otherwise you may want to post in the EPG123 section of these forums.

[Joram]

Thanks very much, this is great advice.

We're switching to FiOS Internet at the same time. The plan was to try out their router for a while, see how well it worked, and then maybe buy it to save on the monthly rental. But I didn't know we could keep using the old router off the new one, that's interesting as maybe I could use it to set up a separate subnet. The Verizon DSL router is an ancient Westell 6100G.

I'll look around the EPG123 section and see if anyone has posted a similar question. It would make things simpler if we didn't have to run TV Setup again.

Thanks again!

[Space]

One disadvantage of using the linked routers like that is that if you are connected to your own router (WiFi or Ethernet) rather than to the FiOS router, you can't do certain things that require you to be connected directly to the FiOS router, like some of the functions of the FiOS app (like streaming).

The main reasons I used the second router was because it was easy (just disconnect my router from the cable modem I had with the previous provider and plug it in to the FiOS router, also I had a lot of port and static DHCP mappings that I would have had to transfer to the new router, although I still had to do some port mappings on the FiOS router), and I had complete control over my router (Verizon can pretty much see everything in the FiOS router (e.g. they will know your WiFi password), and they can change the firmware any time they want).

There is also the option of connecting to your ONT via Ethernet (cat-5/6) instead of through the normal cable (you have to run your own wiring, though), in which case you don't even need the FiOS router at all, but that also has it's disadvantages in that you can no longer get on-demand programming or on-screen caller ID (caller ID window pops up on your TV) if you have FiOS Digital Voice. With their new service, I am not even sure if this is an option anymore.

In the end, like I said, the router died and I just decided to use the FiOS router by itself. It was just easier then getting a new router and while the fact that Verizon could (in theory) see everything on my local LAN (in addition to all Internet traffic which they can see regardless of what router you're using) does bother me a bit, I'm getting too old to care anymore...

[Joram]

In the end, like I said, the router died and I just decided to use the FiOS router by itself. It was just easier then getting a new router and while the fact that Verizon could (in theory) see everything on my local LAN (in addition to all Internet traffic which they can see regardless of what router you're using) does bother me a bit, I'm getting too old to care anymore...

LOL, thanks!

[Alan G]

We have had FIOS for 20 or so years (ever since our neighborhood was wired). I've always used FIOS routers and they are reasonably robust. We may have a couple of wireless problems each year but resetting the router puts everything back on line. We don't have any extenders and it's only the single router putting out the wireless signals. The routers have been of decent quality and I think we have had three replacements which is a pretty good track record given it is on 24/7. If you have FIOS TV the coax output is necessary to get video on demand and some of the other TV features.

Initially we had the Verizon cable box with DVR upstairs where my wife watches television and I had a Verizon 'slave' unit downstairs. I built a HTPC and got a Verizon cable card to go with a Hauppage dual channel tuner (I don't need anything more than that). The setup was 'almost' pretty easy. The one glitch I had was pairing up the cable card so I could get the premium channels. You can do this automatically 'if' you have the correct data. When I did this back in the day I was not aware that the Happage software assigns the Data ID that was different from the one that I thought to be correct. IIRC the cable card has the CCD ID and the Host ID imprinted on it. I could not activate on-line because of the wrong Data ID and I remember hooking up with a Verizon tech rep over on DSL Reports website who told me exactly where to find the correct Data ID (its located in the Happage Information tab that gets set up on the host computer when the software is installed). That was the only glitch and once I got the right ID the rep activated the cable card for me. I think I pay $4.99/month for the card which is cheaper than the box.

[DavidinCT]

If you were doing it in WMC with out EPG, all it would require is a re-run of TV setup after the cable card is replaced. DRM based content should not be affected as long as you didn't do any "hardware" change that might break something. Changing a cable card should not affect this.

Only advice is make sure it's pared correctly, they will need your "Host ID" to par it correctly. If after 2-3 weeks you start seeing channels falling off, it normally means they didn't pair it correctly.

Note: I do not have or use EPG123. It's been on the list of things to do but, ROVI has been working fine for the last few months for me so I was not in a rush at this time.