Verizon has selected two home gateways from Westell and Actiontec for use with its FiOS service. 
The new broadband routers, designed to Verizon's specifications by Actiontec and Westell, will use MoCA 1.1 technology to boost in-home speeds over coaxial cable to up to 175 Mbps from 75 Mbps and allow operation of multiple simultaneous Wi-Fi networks. For example, customers will be able to modify security settings on each network, allowing a Wi-Fi network for guests and visitors, one with parental controls for young users, one for computers holding secure documents, or one for teleworking only. The new routers will be ready for deployment in the third quarter. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The new equipment includes the MI424-WR by Actiontec and the UltraLine Series 3 model 9100 by Westell, both custom-built for FiOS to Verizon specifications. Both vendors have supported other Verizon broadband services with modems, gateways and routers designed for Verizon.
Verizon said key design features of the new routers include:
- Higher bandwidth, offering 175 Mbps total data flow in the home.
- Support for up to four Wi-Fi networks, enabling more than one Wi-Fi network to operate simultaneously within the home.
- Quality of service controls to give traffic preference to critical services like voice or security devices.
- Remote management of Verizon devices and services beyond the router by Verizon technicians, improving the service and support experience for customers.
- Integrated dual-core processor to allow simultaneous networked data services, possibly including home security, home monitoring, network security and other applications.
- Support for media sharing between home devices, such as between TVs and PCs, media servers, and other consumer electronics, using DLNA and Universal Plug and Play standards now being adopted by hardware manufacturers to support connectivity and service integration.
- USB expandability for shared storage servers, printers, peripherals and other devices
- In addition, the MoCA 1.1 distribution technology increases to 15 from seven the number of set-top boxes or other devices that can operate simultaneously on the coax portion of the FiOS home network.
