Setting up pre-wired home help.

Bran187

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Dec 26, 2011
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My parents asked me to look into a better home networking solution for them, because their current wireless setup is not cutting it. They want a wired solution and thought that it would require a lengthy installation and be very expensive. I was going to suggest powerline adapters, but on a hunch decided to see if their home was prewired (thier home is only a few years old).

So I went over to their house, and popped one of the phone jacks off the wall and sure enough their was a Cat5 cable staring me in the face.

I even found this box in their furnace room with a diagram showing what section corresponds to the jack in each room of the house.

WP_000041.jpg


So a year or two ago when their ISP installed their internet they simply drilled a hole in the wall and ran a cable to a router (not a very elegant solution).

So now my question, how would I go about 'plugging in' their current network solution to their pre wired solution? Also all the jacks in the home are phone jacks, would it be as simple as 'plugging in' their current network and then changing out the jacks? Or would this be something that they would need to contact their ISP about?

Thanks in advance guys!
 
Solution
Lets assume those wires are at least cat3 which means you can run 100m...likely they are cat5 though. You have 4 pair to each room so you stand a good chance you can get these to run at 1g if it is cat5.

Hard to say exactly what that punch down panel does. Most I have seen are used to splice the cable between the wires on the left and the ones on the right.

So first thing to do is get a cheap cable tracer like
http://www.harborfreight.com/cable-tracker-94181.html

Mark all your cables.

Next you will likely have to replace the keystones in the rooms they likely have rj11. Pretty much you just go to home depot and buy different keystones and punch the wires into them.

Now in this closet you have a couple choices.
You can get a...

Bran187

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Dec 26, 2011
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That's a shame to hear. Though this brings up a new question, could this existing wiring be re purposed for a home network? They don't have a land-line/home phone so its essentially going unused.

If not I guess I will go with what I was originally going to suggest and have them try some powerline adapters, i just wanted to check this out before going down that route due to the inconsistent user experience with powerline.

Thanks for the answer also!
 
Lets assume those wires are at least cat3 which means you can run 100m...likely they are cat5 though. You have 4 pair to each room so you stand a good chance you can get these to run at 1g if it is cat5.

Hard to say exactly what that punch down panel does. Most I have seen are used to splice the cable between the wires on the left and the ones on the right.

So first thing to do is get a cheap cable tracer like
http://www.harborfreight.com/cable-tracker-94181.html

Mark all your cables.

Next you will likely have to replace the keystones in the rooms they likely have rj11. Pretty much you just go to home depot and buy different keystones and punch the wires into them.

Now in this closet you have a couple choices.
You can get a real patch panel and put all these wires on the back. This makes them into normal rj45 connections (like you put in all your rooms just all in a long row) Again home depot sells patch panels too if you are not too concerned about the price. You would then run normal ethernet patch cords from this panel to a switch located nearby.
The other option if there is room to mount a switch in the panel is to just put RJ45 cable end on those cables and plug them directly into a switch. You in effect use your switch as a patch panel. The advantage of a patch panel is you could if you needed plug a phone wire into the panel and use it for phone but if you use a switch then you cannot connect telephone.
 
Solution

allennnn

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I think that label says cat 5E, the cable looks a little short so maby fit a shelf for the switch to sit on if you don't go for a panel.

Hopefully you may be able to use 1 cable to run the internet from router to the switch, or the phone line down there and put the router in there as well.

Or use the wire for both ethernet and phone. guide.. http://www.instructables.com/id/Hack-your-House-Run-both-ethernet-and-phone-over-/
 

4745454b

Titan
Moderator
The other option if there is room to mount a switch in the panel is to just put RJ45 cable end on those cables and plug them directly into a switch. You in effect use your switch as a patch panel. The advantage of a patch panel is you could if you needed plug a phone wire into the panel and use it for phone but if you use a switch then you cannot connect telephone.

I'd go this route. Take the RJ11 plugs off and put on the RJ45s. Wire a router with switch down there. Problem solved.