How do i set up ethernet in my house?

babachicken · Sep 17, 2015

I recently moved into a new house, and upon some inspection I found this.
http://i.imgur.com/IjEXn7a.jpg

Looks to be some sort of network thing for phones and ethernet...

All the bedrooms have ethernet ports on the walls, and I want to be able to use them. How do i set up the ethernet so that I can have it in the bed rooms?

WyomingKnott · Sep 17, 2015

Well, you have to find where the Ethernet jacks are connected to, if anywhere. That plugboard could be Ethernet, but I'd bet phones because you can tie all the phones together electrically but you can't do that with Ethernet, and I don't see either second ports or a hub. Are those patch cables four-wire or eight?

The first thing is to find the other end of one of your ethernet ports. My first guess would be that they go to those white / tan wires that are not connected to anything.

Simplest test: attach a PC to one of the ethernet outlets and see if the link light lights up. If it does, someone installed a switch. Oh - can you just ask the seller?

Next test: Get a tone generator and probe, or borrow one. Put tone on one of the ethernet jacks. Use the probe to see if the signal is on any of the cables in that neat box. If it is, what I did in my last house was to put an Ethernet switch in the box (you'll need power), crimp an RJ-45 connector onto each cable that feeds an Ethernet outlet that you want to use, and plug them into the switch. You'll have to connect your router also, unless you use the router in the basement as the device in that box.

This requires some skills and tools that you may or may not have. You could always hire a competent data person (not an electrician) to trace and crimp for you.

punahou1 · Sep 17, 2015

Looks like someone clipped off the j45 jacks on your panel. You should open one of the wall panels to see which ethernet cable was used - in many cases the guy who installed these will number them so they could be distinguished at the main panel. If not, you are may to need to perform a process of elimination. I would start by buying an RJ45 jack and connecting it to one of the clipped cables at the panel then run a quick connectivity test.

WyomingKnott · Sep 17, 2015

I think that they were never installed, rather than clipped off. I forgot about numbering! Even if they are not numbered, some cable has distance markers printed on the sheathing and you can figure out which is which from that. I have a tone generator / banana, an RJ45 tester, and my own crimp kit, so it's fairly easy for me.

babachicken · Sep 17, 2015

punahou1 :

so you are saying that the cables that are hanging down and zip tied are the cat5e cables? If they are, i need to get rj45 jacks and crimp them on there. Once i crimp them what do i do?

babachicken · Sep 17, 2015

http://imgur.com/a/ZoZUg

here is an album of close up pictures, maybe this will be of some help

why_wolf · Sep 17, 2015

That is a telephone board re not ethernet. You are good to go if you want to put phones in every room I guess. http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ProductDetail.jsp?partnumber=47609-EMP&section=39700

babachicken · Sep 17, 2015

why_wolf :

im not talking about the leviton thing, it looks like there are ethernet cables hanging down, the ones on the right

Supermuncher85 · Sep 17, 2015

RG-6 CATV( cable tv) are coaxial cables not ethernet cables.
Can't read the red wires, but never seen red cat5 cables.

Usually there would be a patch-panel where all the cables run too, and then you connect a switch to the ports on the panel (using short leads) and that switch connects to the router. As for the box, it looks it's just a regluar "dumb" tv splitter.

Since I can see there is another splitter@the top, I assume the cable company came in and replaced it at some point. From the looks of it it is an active cable splitter.

Edit: btw that is one seriously neat setup, the pile of $%#$ that was in my house, oh my lord, what a mess.

punahou1 · Sep 17, 2015

babachicken :

Sorry the white rg6 cables are tv coaxial. I was thinking that the red cables were ethernet. Look on the side of the cable to see if it says cat5 - cat5 cables will always say cat5 on the side of the cable.

unoriginal1 · Sep 17, 2015

babachicken :

The white cables are RG6 cables. They are used for Television set ups and SOME internet. So you may be in some luck.. The pick with the 8 way splitter is made for the rg6 cabling as well.

What type of internet are you planning on getting would be the first question.

Second.. These will be located throughout the house. http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/400/88/88e2c408-49a4-45bf-9977-e2e95608e646_400.jpg
That is a face plate where the rg6 cabling will end. The cables in your box have not been terminated yet. This is what they will look like when they are.
http://litramfg.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/coaxial-cable-assemblies.jpg

Further.. Since the house has been pre wired even if your provider cannot use the existing cabling it may be very easy to run your own cat5 throughout the house. Find where the cables go, do they go in a crawl space? Attic? etc.. As long as they aren't in the walls (some houses when wiring is installed while being built will be this way) then it would be super easy to run Ethernet and bring it back to that box and make it look clean.

boosted1g · Sep 17, 2015

Ok, here is what is going on.

The two boards on the right are specifically for phones. The gray wire on board 3 is your phoneline in. The red interconnect wire daisy chains board 3 and 4 together.
Board 1 and 2 are generic rj45 boards.

So you have your wall jack port goes inot board 1 or 2, that then has one of the short gray cables to patch it into your phoneline. You just need to remove the connection from the phone system and connect it to a network switch and possibly change the wall jack.

You need to use a network tester or toner probe to figure out which wallplate has which cable (unless it is well labeled).
If the wallplate jack is not rj45 (8 pins) then you will need to remove the phone jack and put on an rj45 jack at the wallplate.
Then you just need to disconnect the short gray wire from its jack in the box (On board 1 or 2), and then connect that port to a networking switch.

If you put the cable (or dsl) modem in that box you will need 2 lines for the router (one for WAN one for LAN), if you have the modem with the router then you will just need to connect a cable from one of its LAN ports to the wallplate that goes back to your networking switch and that will distribute internet through all of the Ethernet ports.

USAFRet · Sep 17, 2015

Just like in a circuit breaker panel...all that stuff should be labeled.
I know cb panels often aren't, but they started that way. This is pretty new construction...it should be, by code, labeled.

babachicken · Sep 17, 2015

thanks for the input everyone. these are the ports that are on the walls
http://i.imgur.com/9z6jDYZ.jpg

it says cat5... what does this mean, is it phone or ethernet?

also those red cables might just be the cables i need, they say cat 5e on them. They are also labeled to what wall outlets they go to (whether it be phone or not)
http://i.imgur.com/snqQ3So.jpg

babachicken · Sep 17, 2015

boosted1g :

thanks for the input everyone. these are the ports that are on the walls
http://i.imgur.com/9z6jDYZ.jpg

it says cat5... what does this mean, is it phone or ethernet?

also those red cables might just be the cables i need, they say cat 5e on them. They are also labeled to what wall outlets they go to (whether it be phone or not)
http://i.imgur.com/snqQ3So.jpg

WyomingKnott · Sep 17, 2015

Then they are your network cables.

There are probably a dozen folks on the forums who would set up your house in exchange for a decent barbecue!

babachicken · Sep 17, 2015

WyomingKnott :

wow thats great... so, how would i go about hooking up my router there

Supermuncher85 · Sep 17, 2015

So if it's just cables you can either connect these to a patch panel -> switch ->(my prefered method)http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=105&cp_id=10514&cs_id=1051402&p_id=7310&seq=1&format=2#reviews or you can terminate the ends correctly and connect directly to a switch -> router

babachicken · Sep 17, 2015

Supermuncher85 :

could u send me a tutorial? i cant really understand all this patch panel and switch stuff

Supermuncher85 · Sep 17, 2015

So this will depend on: how many cables of cat5 are there? Where is your router now (do you have internet now?). How many Ethernet ports are on your router?

So you have a router in your office, and there's an Ethernet jack righter there and you want to wire up two rooms, all you need to do is run a wire from an Ethernet port on your router to the outlet, put a switch where the other cables are (where the phone and catv is), and crimp the cables. Connect the other rooms with said switch and the crimped cables. Done.

The reason most use patchpanels instead of going straight to a switch is cost. Most of the time you have more wires than you actual want to connect so you use the panel as an interim. If you ever change your computer room to another room for example you can swap cables around between them quickly. A panel costs $15 where as a switch with 12 ports is gonna be around ~$150.

You could just have a dangling mess of wires of course if you don't care. As for a diagram, the panel comes with it's own punchdown tool and instructions. You just split the wire apart, put them over the right sockets and press down with the provided tools.

As for the ethernet cables https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=482VtesZwZ8 you will need, as said previously, a crimper (as cheap as $15 but for a little more you can get full kits with correct end pieces etc.), preferable borrow a tester to make sure the cables work,
and if you go with a panel of course a spool of bulk Ethernet cable ~$50 otherwise you don't need it.

babachicken · Sep 17, 2015

Supermuncher85 :

So this will depend on: how many cables of cat5 are there? Where is your router now (do you have internet now?). How many Ethernet ports are on your router?

So you have a router in your office, and there's an Ethernet jack righter there and you want to wire up two rooms, all you need to do is run a wire from an Ethernet port on your router to the outlet, put a switch where the other cables are (where the phone and catv is), and crimp the cables. Connect the other rooms with said switch and the crimped cables. Done.

The reason most use patchpanels instead of going straight to a switch is cost. Most of the time you have more wires than you actual want to connect so you use the panel as an interim. If you ever change your computer room to another room for example you can swap cables around between them quickly. A panel costs $15 where as a switch with 12 ports is gonna be around ~$150.

You could just have a dangling mess of wires of course if you don't care. As for a diagram, the panel comes with it's own punchdown tool and instructions. You just split the wire apart, put them over the right sockets and press down with the provided tools.

As for the ethernet cables https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=482VtesZwZ8 you will need, as said previously, a crimper (as cheap as $15 but for a little more you can get full kits with correct end pieces etc.), preferable borrow a tester to make sure the cables work,
and if you go with a panel of course a spool of bulk Ethernet cable ~$50 otherwise you don't need it.

hmm. so what i want to do is just wire up two bed rooms and the study room. the verizon router is in the study room, and i want to move it to the basement by the network thingy. can u explain how i use a patch panel or a switch

Supermuncher85 · Sep 17, 2015

Again I don't know your house two story with basement?

So if you are getting a good wifi reception upstairs in the study I would leave it where it is, connect a 1.)Ethernet cord from your router to the wall socket.
2.) Find the wire in that bunch you have downstairs, crimp it like in the video.
3.) Buy a switch (i've used this one a bunch of times http://www.staples.com/NETGEAR-ProSAFE-GS105NA-5-Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-Desktop-Switch/product_565423?externalize=certona but others can chime in here)
4.) connect it to the switch
5.) crimp and connect the other two bedrooms cables to the switch.

Reason I don't want your router in the basement is concrete walls that will really diminish your wifi signals.

If you REALLY want to put the router down there then just crimp the wires and plug them into the router. Job done.

babachicken · Sep 17, 2015

Supermuncher85 :

my house is 2 story with basement, this network panel is in the basement.

so basically if i hook up my router to the wall, then hook that corresponding study room cable to the switch, then i can use the other ports in the switch and send those out to the bed rooms?

Supermuncher85 · Sep 17, 2015

Yes should be that easy. So basically you'd have 3 cables on the switch, one coming from the study, one going to bedroom 1, one going bedroom 2.

babachicken · Sep 17, 2015

Supermuncher85 :

which port in the switch do i plug the ethernet connected to the router to? number 5 ?

How do i set up ethernet in my house?

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