Wirelessly Extend Your Verizon FiOS Wi-Fi Network

The Verizon FiOS Internet service is really quite spectacular. With their Quantum service, I regularly experience direct-connected speeds of 60 Mbps download and 30 Mbps upload. However, the Actiontec MI424WR router is a weak link in their product. The wi-fi radio in this device is the source of frustration for many Verizon customers... me included.

Many FiOS users search for a way to extend the wi-fi capabilities of the Actiontec router. A simple Google search will reveal several options: tin foil reflectors, high-gain antennas, power line carrier sets, wi-fi repeater devices, and ethernet-connected remote access points. Some of these solutions work, some maybe not so much. None of them provided the answer that I was looking for.

I needed to solve three problems: (1) extend the range of my existing wireless network (and not by creating a new, separate wi-fi network); (2) provide ethernet network connections at a remote location in my home (for ethernet-connected computers, printers and console games); and (3) provide these two functions wirelessly (i.e. I did not want to install ethernet cable throughout the building for a new access point). The ideal solution would be a Repeater Bridge.

A Repeater Bridge connects two local area network segments with a wireless link. The two segments are in the same network, and to all of the computers on the network it looks like two ethernet switches connected by a cable. Since the computers are on the same network, broadcasts reach all machines. This is what I needed.

Sounds like an impossible task, right? Wrong. Fortunately, there is a rather simple and economic solution that is proven. It's not my idea, or my work, so no credit claimed here. I'm just providing you with the steps that I took, and a convenient source for all of the links to the necessary resources.

The solution is based upon the outstanding work of the very talented employees and dedicated user community at DD-WRT. The DD-WRT product is a Linux-based alternative OpenSource firmware designed for use with a variety of wi-fi routers. The idea is to load this custom firmware on the router which allows it to be more than simply an access point; to unleash the powerful device's enhanced capabilities... like the Repeater Bridge function we desired.

The DD-WRT community is probably best known for their work on enhancing the capabilities of the inexpensive Linksys WRT54G wireless router. While the WRT54G device is a real workhorse, it does not support IEEE 802.11n networks like that used by the Actiontec MI424WR. Therefore, I would need to start with another device.

The Linksys (Cisco) E2500 / N600 router is a dual-band N (2.4 and 5 GHz) device that supports transfer rates to 300 Mbps. More than sufficient for my needs. It is moderately priced, and can be found at most online and big-box retailers. It may sound funny to purchase a brand new router and essentially "hack" it. However, the hardware itself is really quite powerful, and we are just taking the steps necessary to leverage the capabilities of the DD-WRT firmware.

After installing the firmware and configuring the router as instructed, we are pleased to report that our DD-WRT powered Repeater Bridge has been working flawlessly on our network, having resolved many of our problems with the Actiontec router. If you are an advanced novice and are able to follow instructions, you can get the same results.

The actual steps we took are listed here with brief comments. Please carefully read the information at each of the provided links. While we are confident that these instructions work, we cannot be held responsible for any damage that may occur to your router, or the devices connected to your network. We are also not able to provide support for the DD-WRT firmware or instructions. Comments requesting such support will be deleted.

(1) Chose a router that you believe may meet your needs.

We chose the Linksys E2500 router since it supported 802.11n and had the dual-band and throughput capabilities that we desired.

(2) Navigate to the DD-WRT router database, and search for your chosen router to make certain that there is a current, up to-date firmware that supports the device.

Some routers are not supported by DD-WRT. Check before you buy!

(3) Acquire the router.

(4) Set-up and confirm that the router works as it was originally designed and that it performs the standard access point function.

For a brand-new router, there may be an initialization process that requires vendor-supplied software.

(5) Navigate to the DD-WRT wiki, and search for your chosen router. Carefully follow the instructions to replace the device's firmware.

The DD-WRT wiki will always have the most recent version of the firmware for your device. Do not trust other sources as installing the wrong version of the firmware may render your router useless.

I cannot stress enough to carefully follow all of the instructions. Do not skip a step regardless of how meaningless you may believe that it is.

(6) Navigate to the DD-WRT instructions on how to configure a Repeater Bridge. Carefully follow the instructions to configure the device for this specialized function.

I cannot stress enough to carefully follow all of the instructions. Do not skip a step regardless of how meaningless you may believe that it is.

(7) Enjoy the enhanced capabilities of your router, including the wireless extension of your Verizon FiOS Actiontec MI424WR router!

Verizon FiOS and an Apple Airport Extreme Network Working Together

[Editor's Note: This blog post is one of our most popular and it has prompted many excellent questions from interested readers. Please take the time to read through the comments at the end of this posting as the additional information may be very useful in your own efforts.]


Patience does have its rewards. After waiting years for Verizon's FiOS ("Fiber Optic Service") to become available in our area, we have recently been able to finally rid ourselves of various combinations of DSL ("Digital Subscriber Line"), cable, and satellite television services. Our FiOS service has been installed for several weeks; long enough for me to declare it a far superior television and Internet service than anything we have used in the past.


Internet speeds have been amazingly fast and rock-solid, especially when compared to the time-of-day variability we experienced with cable. We subscribe to Verizon's 25/15 Internet service, which is supposed to provide approximately 25 Mbps download and 15 Mbps upload speeds. According to the results from Speedtest.net, our actual speeds over the past few months have been closer to 25.94 Mbps download and 14.16 Mbps upload. That's close enough to advertised for me, and incredibly faster than what was supposed to be provided by the Comcast Blast service previously installed (16 Mbps download and 2 Mbps upload advertised speeds... but rarely, if ever, achieved).

The FiOS 25/15 service includes the use of an Actiontec MI424WR wireless broadband router. The use of this router is not optional. This device is the fiber modem (actually, coax cable from the fiber interface outside of the house to the modem inside of the house) and it is required to manage the distribution of the FiOS television signal to the set-top boxes at your location. The router has four (4) Ethernet outputs as well as Wi-Fi capability. However, the wireless function of the router is not needed if you prefer to use another device to provide a Wi-Fi access point.

We use an Apple Airport Extreme base station in our home to provide wireless Internet access for notebook computers and other devices (i.e. Nintendo Wii, iPod Touch, iPhone and AppleTV). The Apple wireless network is extended throughout the house and is also used for wireless access to physically distributed printers via a WDS ("Wireless Distribution System") configuration using a pair of Apple Airport Express devices.

With no desire to give-up the Apple wireless network, we chose to ignore the wireless capability of the FiOS router. That can be done simply enough by just connecting the Ethernet input of the Airport Extreme to one of the MI424WR's Ethernet outputs. That by itself will have you up and running as soon as the FiOS service has been activated, although it does not address the potential wireless interference between the Airport Extreme and the MI424WR or the assignment of your network's IP ("Internet Protocol") addresses to the 192.168.1.xxx range used by the MI424WR by default.

We found that deactivating the MI424WR's wireless capability and reassigning the network IP addresses to Apple's familiar 10.0.1.xxx range was easy enough, but admittedly a bit confusing if you are not familiar with changing router attributes. With the following instructions, anyone should be able to complete this task in just a few minutes time. It's as simple as 1-2-3.

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1) Log-in to the MI424WR router as the administrator.

Using a computer that is connected to the local network, direct your web browser to the MI424WR's default administrator log-on screen at http://192.168.1.1

The default User Name is admin and the Password is typically either password or password1 (depending upon the Verizon technician that set-up the device).

This will bring you to the overview screen. Don't be overwhelmed by all of the information that is displayed. You do not need to be concerned with it to make the following changes.

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2) Deactivate the MI424WR's Wi-Fi radio.

Click on the Wireless Settings icon in the banner menu, then click on Basic Security Settings from the vertical menu on the left-hand side of the page. This will display the Basic Security Settings dialog.

In the first section of the Basic Security Settings dialog, you have the choice of turning the wireless radio on or off. Click on the Off button and scroll to the bottom of the page and select Apply.

This will disable the wireless access point and prevent the MI424WR's Wi-Fi radio from interfering with the Apple Airport Extreme's signal.

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3) Change the network's IP addresses to the 10.0.1.xxx range.

Click on the My Network icon in the banner menu, then click on Network Connections from the vertical menu on the left-hand side of the page. This will display the Network Connections dialog.

Click the active hyperlink for Network (Home/Office) at the top of the table in the Network Connections dialog. This will display the Network (Home/Office) Properties dialog. Click on the Settings button at the bottom on this dialog. This will display a more detailed Network (Home/Office) dialog.

Change the IP Address of the router to your choice (e.g. 10.0.1.1), and change the Start IP Address and End IP Address to your choices (e.g. 10.0.1.2 and 10.0.1.254 respectively). Do not change any other entries in this dialog. Scroll to the bottom of the page and select Apply.

Click on Logout from the vertical menu on the left-hand side of the page to exit the router administration session.

If you ever need to access the router's administrator application again, you will need to use the router address you assigned in the steps above (e.g. http://10.0.1.1).

After you have finished making these changes and logged-out of the administrator session, you will need to reboot all of the devices connected to your Apple wireless network and to the MI424WR, including the set-top boxes. This step is required to make certain that the correct IP addresses are assigned to each of the devices.

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That's it! After following these steps, your Verizon FiOS service will work flawlessly with your Apple wireless network; there will be no wireless interference from the MI424WR Wi-Fi access point and your network IP addresses will be reassigned to the familiar 10.0.1.xxx range.