I have done this exact thing. We had a client with a block of public ips and they needed the actiontec router to stay connected for the cable boxes. Just put the switch between the ONT ethernet port and the actiontec WAN port and you should be fine. Just make sure the ethernet port is active on the ONT and that they dont just have the MoCA port active as I have seen this. If that's the case a simple phonecall to verizon should solve this... Assuming you get a capable tech on the line. Good luck. - Ed -----Original Message----- From: Chris Burwell <cburwell@gmail.com> Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:56:15 To: NANOG<nanog@nanog.org> Subject: Verizon FiOS Distribution Switch I have a question about a Verizon FiOS business connection with an ethernet hand off and I am hoping that someone out there has done the same thing. We have a FiOS business connection coming into our building. This includes an Ethernet hand off into the usual Actiontec router as well as a block of 13 public IP addresses. The Actiontec router needs to remain in place with its current Public IP address. We have some devices from a vendor plugged into it for Internet access, as well as numerous cable boxes across the building that get their guide information through the coax interface on the router. What we want to do is take the ethernet hand off out of the WAN (RJ-45) interface on the Actiontec router and plug it into a hardened Cisco switch such as a 2950. Our goal here is to use the Cisco switch as a Internet distribution switch since we will have numerous test devices that will need to have a direct connection to the Internet. Our preference is also not to have all of the traffic from these other devices traverse the Actiontec router. I have a few concerns with this setup: Some articles I have read indicate that the hand off from the Verizon ONT may not be a direct Ethernet hand off so the interface it connects to may require a different config (Dialer or something). I am also concerned about any issues if the ONT or some down stream Verizon device may cause if it sees multiple MAC addresses coming across our link. We're not trying to cheat the system or anything, just to modify the Verizon setup to better suit our needs. Any advice or tips would be helpful. - Chris