[Lou Cetrangelo]

I need some help with a new TIVO Bolt setup using FIOS with a Cable Card.

I am currently using a Tivo Bolt and two mini boxes I have FIOS for internet only. Out of the ONT (optical network terminal) I have an Ethernet cable going to the WAN port on my router. Then a Ethernet cable from my router to the Bolt's Ethernet port. I have a coax antenna cable coming in from my OTA antenna to a splitter that goes to the Bolt coax port and two mini boxes. It all works fine (except for now poor reception on most channels). See first attached diagram.

I want to add FIOS cable TV service using a cable card in my Bolt. I am a little unclear here how to connect it all up. After pairing the cable card and installing it in the Bolt do I connect a coax cable from the ONT to a three way splitter. Next connect three coax cables from the other side of the splitter to my Bolt and two mini boxes. In this setup I will leave the Ethernet cable from the ONT to my router and then to the network port on the Bolt. See second attached diagram.

Or do connect the coax cable as above and disconnect the Ethernet cable from the ONT and then use a moca bridge before the splitter to provide internet to my router along with a network cable from the router to the bolt. See third attached diagram.

Thanks in advance

 

[BigJimOutlaw]

Diagram #2, 100%. No moca bridge necessary.

The ethernet cable coming out of a moca bridge only connects to a router's LAN to create a moca network, it can't be used to connect the WAN. In any event, #2 is what you want.

Also to be clear, the cablecard can be activated and paired after the coax is connected, not before.

 

[jay_man2]

I have FiOS triple play with a Premiere and a Bolt, and get internet connectivity with just the coax. FiOS supports MoCa which gives me internet connectivity for guide data and "connection" between the two TiVos.

 

[BigJimOutlaw]

I have FiOS triple play with a Premiere and a Bolt, and get internet connectivity with just the coax. FiOS supports MoCa which gives me internet connectivity for guide data and "connection" between the two TiVos.

He's already connected by ethernet. No reason to change it. All modern Fios installations will use ethernet since coax speeds don't exceed 75mbps (some markets claim 100mbps).

 

[Lou Cetrangelo]

Great. Thanks. I didn't realize that the ethernet and coax will both work at the same time out of the FIOS ONT. Waiting for hardware in the mail now. I ordered their router just in case but will be sending it back.

 

[jay_man2]

He's already connected by ethernet. No reason to change it. All modern Fios installations will use ethernet since coax speeds don't exceed 75mbps (some markets claim 100mbps).

I can't easily run Ethernet to those boxes. When I had Comcast I was using wireless adapters on the TiVos. I'm happy with the FiOS setup I have and not needing those wireless adapters.

 

[jay_man2]

Great. Thanks. I didn't realize that the ethernet and coax will both work at the same time out of the FIOS ONT. Waiting for hardware in the mail now. I ordered their router just in case but will be sending it back.

Before you send the router back make sure you don't need it for TV. I seem to recall it being required for TV, but I'm not certain.

 

[BigJimOutlaw]

Before you send the router back make sure you don't need it for TV. I seem to recall it being required for TV, but I'm not certain.

It's required for their STBs (the built-in moca network lets them get guide data, order on demand, etc), won't be technically necessary with Tivo gear.

 

[MrDell]

It's required for their STBs (the built-in moca network lets them get guide data, order on demand, etc), won't be technically necessary with Tivo gear.

That's 100% correct.. I have Fios with my Bolt and don't use their router... just need to rent their cable card.

 

[Lou Cetrangelo]

I got my cablecard today and did the self install over the internet to activate. That went smooth and it was activated. I did the guided setup. There were two Verizon FIOS choices (for the channel guide I suppose). One was "Verizon FIOS Queens, Massapequa NY Standard Cable" and "Verizon FIOS New York Digital" I called Verizon and they said to use the first one (I actually tried it again using the second as well.

Everything looks good with all the channels showing when I do "Guide" but nothing plays. When I do settings >channel settings> channel signal strength. I get "0" no digital signal.

I later called the Verizon activation phone number and gave my activation code and zip code. It was an automated service but they came back and said it was all activated and ready to go.

I have the coax coming out of the ONT through a three way splitter into my Bolt and the ethernet network cable is the way it was. That is working by the way.

 

[Lou Cetrangelo]

Is there a difference between pairing and activation? Once the cablecard is activated does it also need to be paired?

 

[Lou Cetrangelo]

I see now that Pairing and activation are the same thing.

I was on the phone with Verizon Tech Support for 2 hours. They tried everything with the same results. They now are sending me a new cable card. If that doesn't work he asked me to contact TIVO support.

One other question. Do I need a moca filter on the splitter where it connects to the ONT

 

[JOSHSKORN]

I haven't been to these forums for awhile and just happened to see this discussion.

When I have FIOS installed, i had a COAX cable lead installed to each room where I wanted to have TV. Initially, I had a STB in every room connected via COAX. I then discovered TiVo (Bolt/Bolt+)

• Long story short, I started with a Bolt, then went to a Bolt+. Don't bother trying a DIY job to upgrade the hard drive.
• I have one TiVo Bolt+ and two TiVo Minis connected via Coax. Three cables are coming out of each device: Power, HDMI and Coax. No Ethernet. It's unnecessary, as Coax will handle it. Therefore, use the MOCA option when setting it up.
• For each COAX point of entry, I split my connection into two: TV/TiVo and either Router or Extender. For router, I have the G1100 Quantum FIOS Router. Originally, I had the one before that which supports a lesser version of MOCA, and I wanted a better speed out of it. Now, they have the G3100 which features an upgraded version of MOCA, however it's newer and I don't know how reliable it is in comparison. For Network extenders, I have two WCB6200Q devices. One is labeled Actiontec and the other is labeled Verizon. I'm not sure why. For whatever reason, the one labeled Verizon is more reliable and in fact, I just unplugged the other one and stopped relying on it.
• PROBLEM: My Bolt+ Overheating - Buy a USB Laptop Cooler, plug it into the Bolt+. It would cool it down by about 5 degrees if I remember correctly - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NNMB3KS
• PROBLEM: If my power went out, it would destroy the hard drive on my Bolt+. Finally, I bought a CyberPower 1500 VA UPS after losing three Bolt+ machines and having to pay whatever for replacement Bolt+ and losing existing recordings three times. Sorry I don't have the link for it, I could swear I ordered it on Amazon, though.
• PROBLEM: My TiVo Bolt+ would work just fine, but the connection to the Minis was funky. I forgot the error message. Basically, I replaced all of my COAX Splitters with these: https://www.amazon.com/RCA-DH24SPF-Two-Way-Splitter/dp/B0018BQR84
• PROBLEM: I couldn't see all of my channels in the guide, specifically Music Choice. By default for whatever reason, they are set not to display. Search around the menus to see if you can find a list of channels and check the appropriate ones so they will display.

Off the top of my head, those are all the problems I had. Now, your comment about getting "0" digital signal, I'm wondering about that. Are you currently using your MOCA connection at all? Is it even turned on? If I remember correctly, I believe Verizon (or in my case, Frontier) has the ability to turn on and off either the Enternet Port or the Coax port. I've never seen a connection signal "0", and that is literally just a guess.

Good luck!

 

[cwerdna]

I see now that Pairing and activation are the same thing.

I was on the phone with Verizon Tech Support for 2 hours. They tried everything with the same results. They now are sending me a new cable card. If that doesn't work he asked me to contact TIVO support.

One other question. Do I need a moca filter on the splitter where it connects to the ONT

i had Verizon (later became Frontier) FiOS from 2009 to 2011 when I lived in WA.

No, they aren't not the same. For ages, VZ didn't pair. The installer had to activate. VZ didn't have copy protection on for YEARS. Then, they suddenly decided to turn on CP for various random channels and I think more, causing what seemed like an outage on almost all my channels except the ones there were available OTA. (There are several threads of FiOS customers running into this.)

I literally had to take a day off from work and spend hours on the phone w/them to resolve this. Finally, we realized that they turned on CP but our cards weren't paired, causing all the whacky error messages, so we got them to pair the card. VZ support didn't seem to realize this at first, either.

No, I've never ever had ANY MoCA filters. Never needed them. I don't think I've ever seen one in my life.

Coax was run from the ONT. Comcast feed to apartment was disconnected and the coax from ONT was connected to my apartment's coax. One of those was plugged into the VZ provided gateway/router (has coax in for MoCA). Was a Westell 9100EM. Another coax out went straight into my TiVo HD.

If there were any filters installed, I wasn't aware of it. But, they the gateway was in a bedroom while the TiVo was in the living room.

• PROBLEM: If my power went out, it would destroy the hard drive on my Bolt+. Finally, I bought a CyberPower 1500 VA UPS after losing three Bolt+ machines and having to pay whatever for replacement Bolt+ and losing existing recordings three times. Sorry I don't have the link for it, I could swear I ordered it on Amazon, though.

That's insane. I've never heard of that before. My Bolt+ is on a UPS but I've had it since April 2017. I sometimes have to unplug it to move it, do something on it or if the power outage is long enough that I have no more battery.

I still have recordings on my stock 3 TB drive that I transferred from my retired TiVo HD due to their 2017 "once in a lifetime" offer.

I do cool my Bolt+, formerly w/various laptop coolers and now two AC Infinity Multifans. One a 140 mm fan blowing into the CableCARD area and another a blower to pull air out the weak fan outlet. ODTs seems to stay below 50 C while watching TV even when it's warm (77+ F) in the room. ODT in the summer morning might be like low 42 or 43 C.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

No, I've never ever had ANY MoCA filters. Never needed them.

That's insane. I've never heard of that before. My Bolt+ is on a UPS but I've had it since April 2017. I sometimes have to unplug it to move it, do something on it or if the power outage is long enough that I have no more battery.

• MOCA Filter - I second this. No need for it. I can't remember what condition made it necessary to have one, but for my particular setup, I didn't need it.
• Yep, whenever SoCal Edison would cut the power or someone ran into a powerbox and knocked out power to the neighborhood, it usually killed my Bolt+'s hard drive. I would get the notorious "4 flashing lights", which is also exactly what you get eventually when you attempt to replace the hard drive with something bigger. It might work at first, but eventually, it'll stop working.

 

[cwerdna]

• Yep, whenever SoCal Edison would cut the power or someone ran into a powerbox and knocked out power to the neighborhood, it usually killed my Bolt+'s hard drive. I would get the notorious "4 flashing lights", which is also exactly what you get eventually when you attempt to replace the hard drive with something bigger. It might work at first, but eventually, it'll stop working.

Crazy! (Assuming you were using a surge protector before) I wonder if you hit some sort of power surge that may not have been high enough for a surge protector to clamp it and it was sustained (e.g. for a few seconds or minutes before the outage). Ones I've seen often don't stop voltage unless it's somewhere above 300ish volts.

I'm looking at an APC P7T near me and it seems to let thru up to 400 volts per the label on the bottom.

 

[BigJimOutlaw]

I see now that Pairing and activation are the same thing.

I was on the phone with Verizon Tech Support for 2 hours. They tried everything with the same results. They now are sending me a new cable card. If that doesn't work he asked me to contact TIVO support.

One other question. Do I need a moca filter on the splitter where it connects to the ONT

There is a difference between activation and pairing. An activated card will allow cable channels to show. A paired card will allow copy-protected cable channels to show, like premiums and Fox cable channels.

To tell if a card is paired on Fios, go to channel 131 or something like Fox News. If you get video, it's paired.

No filter is necessary on a Fios connection.

For your problem specifically, I suppose it would be a good idea to be absolutely sure the coax going to the Bolt is connected properly to the splitters and coax leading to the ONT, and yes is may just be a bad card too.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

For your problem specifically, I suppose it would be a good idea to be absolutely sure the coax going to the Bolt is connected properly to the splitters and coax leading to the ONT, and yes is may just be a bad card too.

That or even a bad cable is possible. I don't know enough about coax cables, if there is such thing as an incorrect coax cable (if they're rated differently etc.).

 

[dslunceford]

FWIW you may need to ask them to "Manually Revalidate the CableCard". Should be no more than a 10 min call: Hbo don't work on fios

 

[Lou Cetrangelo]

Using diagram #2, I got it all working except there are some pixilated lines across many channels. Especially most of the HD channels. A service tech is coming on Saturday to check it out.

I'm using the new cable card but I don't think there was anything wrong with the first one. I started moving cables around trying different setups and very slowly I started to see a real poor image. After a while it improved. Before that TIVO tech support said the card was activated but not yet paired. She said wait an hour or so. I actually waited overnight.

It seams strange that when. I ran a new coax on the floor between the splitter in the garage and the bolt it was much worse. Running this cable directly from the ont to the bolt (bypassing the splitter in the garage) none of the channels worked. It almost seams like the signal is too strong.