Connecting Verizon FIOS directly to Google Wi-fi

[peterkronenberg]

Hello all,

   I posted a message a few months ago at https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Nest-Wifi/Connecting-primary-wi-fi/m-p/371761/emcs_t/S2h8ZW1h... about switching my setup so that instead of piggy-backing off the Verizon Router, I want to connect the Ehternet directly from the ONT into Google Wi-fi

I was finally brave enough to follow the instructions, but I've run into some problems.

First, I discovered that the coax cable that was connected to the router was doing absolutely nothing for me.  Since my house long pre-dates the internet, it is already wired with coax through the house.  So the coax from the ONT is already being split and going directly to the TV's.  So all I care about is the Ethernet cable, which is definitely activated.

As an aside, one thing that's a bit confusing is almost all the instructions out there say that the Google Wifi *must* be connected to an already existing router

Following the instructions here, https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7183148?hl=en, I connected the Ethernet directly to the Google Mesh device.  It pulsed blue as it should.  Then, I opened the Google Home app.  It said to connect the Ethernet cable, which I already had.  But it said it should start pulsing white, but I was never able to get that to happen.  It tired to look for devices but couldn't find anything.  It asks me what device I'm connecting and I assume that's Google Wifi.  Not sure what the difference is between Google WiFi and Nest WiFi Router.   But mine is round like all the Google Wifi pictures show

I tried doing the factor reset, but couldn't get it to flash orange as the instructions say.  I assume it's the oval button on the back

The only other piece of information is that I did *not* follow the instructions at https://www.wikihow.com/Use-Your-Own-Router-With-Verizon-FiOS to release the DHCP Lease.  Wasn't sure if that was necessarily and that would have made it a lot hard to go back to the router when things didn't work 🙂

Can anyone help?

thanks,

Peter

[peterkronenberg]

I think I was able to get the factory reset to work, and this time, I was able to get the Google Home app find the device.  But then, nothing happened.  I continued to try several times. but not having any luck.  Also, it looks like it's still finding the old Wi-fi network, even though I did the factory reset (at least, it turned orange).  So not really sure what's going on.

I'm wondering if it would make sense to get the newer Nest Wi-fi instead of trying to connect to the legacy Google Wi-fi

[peterkronenberg]

Figured I'd keep posting until someone chimes in 🙂

I put down my phone for awhile and then I tried again in Google Home and this time, it was able to find the device.  I have no idea what changed.  It said it detected that the Ethernet cable was connected, so I went and disconnected it from the Verizon router again and connected it to the Google Wi-fi.  It then prompted me for a network name and password, which I entered.

So then, I see this screen, which seems promising

for about 30 seconds or so, followed by this one

Well, duh, obviously I'm not connected to the Internet :-).  I guess it means it's having trouble getting out to the Internet on the Ethernet cable, which works fine when connected to the Verizon router.    If I click on Next, it just goes through the same thing again.  It tries to connect and then tells mt that Something went wrong.

So I'm still stuck, although I've gotten a little further along

[peterkronenberg]

I'll continue to talk to myself until someone else chimes in.

I think I was mistaken about the coax.  I was thinking it was input to the router, but it's output.  So I *do* need a MOCA adapter, which seem to be a bit pricier than I thought.  But still, not related to my fundamental problem that the Google Wi-Fi can't seem to talk to the internet via the Ethernet

[DavidGerbino]

Peter, I got Verizon FIOS two days ago. I am leaving Comcast/Xfinity. I unplugged the ethernet cable from my cable modem and plugged it into the Verizon ONT device. The Verizon ONT device is the box the fiber goes into. 

While doing this my Google Nest Wifi router lost internet (from Comcast) and reacquired internet (from FIOS).

Everything just worked. In the image of the back of my Verizon ONT box, you see four cables. From left to right: the fiber, power, ethernet, and phone cables.

I hope this helps.

[Jeff]

Hey peterkronenberg,

I'm glad to see you got things working. Before I go ahead and mark this as resolved, I wanted to check in and see if there was anything else you might need or to see if you're all set here.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Kimy]

Hi folks,

Thanks for your help here, @DavidGerbino and @Jeff.

@peterkronenberg, I’m glad this has been sorted out. As we got our resolution here, I’ll keep this thread open for one more day. Please feel free to open up a new thread if you need assistance.

Thanks,
Kimy
 

[peterkronenberg]

Thanks.  I actually got it working.  The thing that was holding me up was even though I disconnected the Verizon router, I didn't turn it off.  So I was picking up the old network that the router was trying to put out.  I also had to get a Moca, which I attached to the output of the Google Wifi

[DavidGerbino]

I am a new subscriber to Verizon's Fios internet service. As a subscriber of their 1 GB speed tier, I get a free Verizon WiFi router.

I want to use both of these routers with their separate SSIDs. Why? I will have access to 5 separate network segments. Google Nest prices two segments, main and guest. The Verizon router provides 3 segments, main, guest, and IOT.

I initially tried to set this up with the Verizon router as router 1. Router 1 is directly connected to the Verizon ONT (the connection to the internet). I then used an ethernet cable to connect the Google Nest Pro (router 2) to the Verizon Router. This did not work. The Google Nest Pro did nothing with the signal.

I was able to successfully set this up in reverse. Google Nest WiFi Router is connected to the ONT and the Verizon Router is connected to the Nest WiFi Router. However, this is not my preferred setup based on the wired devices I need to connect to these devices. 

What I need help and advice with is how to get this to work with the Verizon WiFi router has the primary and the Google Nest WiFI as the secondary.

Thanks.

[olavrb]

This is not intended or recommended setup due to double NAT:

• https://dongknows.com/double-nat-vs-single-nat/

But what error do you get when trying to set Nest Wifi Pro up behind the Verizon router? Nest Wifi is bad at detecting changes in WAN type, so if you haven't tried it already; factory reset it ( https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/6246619?hl=en ) and try to set it up from scratch behind the Verizon router and tell us how it goes.

[LovelyM]

Hello everyone, 

@olavrb, you've been a great help!

@DavidGerbino, it seems like a main thread has already been created about this concern, so I'll merge your post into it. You can follow the main thread for updates here, so please let us know if you still need help.

Cheers,
Lovely