[PLUG] Boxes for Internet in Garage?

[Paul Jungwirth <pj@illuminatedcomputing.com>]

Sorry if this is OT, but folks here are the best experts I know about
the phone company, so here goes:

We recently moved into a new home, and in the garage are a couple
units attached to the wall with wires coming in. They say Verizon,
although we have Frontier Internet service (via a cable, not DSL). We
don't pay for a telephone landline or cable TV or a security system or
anything else, just Internet.

A couple weeks ago we started hearing a beeping in the garage, and it
looks like in one of the boxes we need to replace a big battery like
this one:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CIC3Y24/

Okay, no problem. But my question is, why is this there at all? I
didn't know you needed a powered box to have a cable Internet
connection. (Obviously the modem needs power, but that's separate and
indoors.) I don't think I had units like these the last time I had
cable Internet, although I was just renting then. So I'm curious, what
do these two boxes do, and why are they necessary? Assuming the one
with the battery is a UPS, what is it UPSing?

Thanks!
Paul

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