I have had FIOS for 3 years now and have always been happy with the service. However, because of the nosey neighbors - who are computer geeks by profession - it has become necessary for me to add several layers of security to my home network as follows:
Level 1 - SSID Not Broadcast
Level 2 - WPA2 TKIP Hex encryption key - 64 random hex characters and digits
Level 3 - Lock down MAC ID's that can access the system
Level 4 - Assign specific IP addresses to every piece of equipment on the network
Level 5 - Change the default Router IP address to something besides 192.168.1.1 - since, pretty much any **bleep** with the slightest bit of network knowledge knows that this is the default IP address of most wireless routers and can start hacking away at the user name/password, at will.
I was very disappointed to learn from FIOS Tech Support last night that Verizon does not support Level 5 in my security setup. Austensibly this is because the set top boxes cannot be assigned static IP addresses within the router and have to connect via DHCP to the 100-150 block of the IP address. In all honesty, assigning a static IP address to a device is not technologically challenging - my Samsung TV can do it and it's 5 years old. I have the brand new Verizon DVR and it can't do it?
While I understand that Verizon does not want to fix every hyper-technical problem that comes along when people are setting up complex, partitioned networks. I even understand that they don't want to support a second router on a different subnet. However, my opinion is that - if they continue to provide the Actiontec Routers to consumers - they should be ready and willing to support all of the technical features that it provides.
If anyone else here has experience with putting the STB's on a non-default IP address (e.g., 192.168.25.117), please direct me to instructions on how to do it. My preference is to lock down static addresses for each box, rather than allowing them to randomly pick from a DHCP pool.
Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
Best regards,
Andrew