Ethernet wall jack bottlenecking speeds?

scoopstv · Sep 26, 2017

So we recently bought a house. It was built in 2004. The house has ethernet in every room, and they all drop down to a closet on the first floor with male cable ends where they connect to my router. Verizon installed a new fiber outside and a new terminal in the garage, and the terminal feeds the closet via ethernet. We have the 150/150 Fios package.

Speeds to the router are 150/150.
Speeds from the router to the various wall jacks are 100/100.
Speeds from router to PC are 150/150 (bypassing wall jacks with a cable across the floor)

I suspect either the wall jacks are limiting the speeds, or the length of the cables in the walls is too long to support over 100mb/s? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

scout_03 · Sep 26, 2017

on a new cable directly to router you have full speed you might have to rewire all the wall plug but i would start first to unplug all of them and test them for speed connecthing them one at the time to routeur .

kanewolf · Sep 26, 2017

You will only get 100Mbit if they only used 4 wires, rather than all 8. They could have used a single cable for ethernet and phone. Two wires for phone (or 4 for two lines) and 4 wires for ethernet.
If all 8 wires are connected to the wall jack, then you would have to look at the actual cable to see if there is any certifications (cat5, cat5e, tia, etc) on it.

Snipergod87 · Sep 26, 2017

kanewolf :

Couldn't have said it better myself.

kanewolf · Sep 26, 2017

Snipergod87 :

kanewolf :

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Thanks.

jeff-j · Sep 26, 2017

I have come across wall jacks that were only 10/100, I found out after I replaced a damaged wall jack that was running gig but running at 100megs after I replaced the jack. Turns out a grabbed some old jacks that were only 10/100.

But I would check the CAT type and wires as stated above, if the wire can handle gig and is using all 8 wires, try replacing the wall jack.

scoopstv · Sep 26, 2017

kanewolf :

There are 8 wires crimped at the male ends, and 8 wires connected at the wall jack. The cables also have CAT5E printed on them. I tested again using a spare CAT5E directly from router to PC and achieved 151/162.

Lasselundberg · Sep 26, 2017

in my new house the previous owner had a hidden 100mbit router, after fiddeling with cables and connectors is finally crawled under the house to find a cheap 100mbit netgear router.....replaced with a gigabit switch and all is good....some (very) old routers defaults to the slowest speed of what ever is connected could be that too

kanewolf · Sep 26, 2017

scoopstv :

To get gigabit speeds, there has to be 8 wires and they have to be in a specific order (color code). The 568B color code is the preferred standard. Check the color code of the wires (they will match at each end).

scoopstv · Sep 26, 2017

kanewolf :

scoopstv :

To get gigabit speeds, there has to be 8 wires and they have to be in a specific order (color code). The 568B color code is the preferred standard. Check the color code of the wires (they will match at each end).

Jackpot! The cable order was not using the 568B standard. I guess I'll have to buy a crimping tool and try to rearrange the ends to match up. Thank you!

kanewolf · Sep 26, 2017

scoopstv :

kanewolf :

Jackpot! The cable order was not using the 568B standard. I guess I'll have to buy a crimping tool and try to rearrange the ends to match up. Thank you!

The 568A should work. I wouldn't re-terminate if it follows the 568A standard. It is not preferred, but should be OK.
Keystone jacks require a punch down tool. If you buy one keystone jack, it will include a plastic punch down tool.

scoopstv · Sep 26, 2017

kanewolf :

scoopstv :

The 568A should work. I wouldn't re-terminate if it follows the 568A standard. It is not preferred, but should be OK.
Keystone jacks require a punch down tool. If you buy one keystone jack, it will include a plastic punch down tool.

Hmmm. Ok so the 568A should be capable of gigabit speeds? Does that mean its simply the mismatched color order of the router -> wall jack vs wall jack -> PC?

mjslakeridge · Sep 26, 2017

For the wires going from the router to each wall jack, are they wired exactly the same way on BOTH ends? If not, that could affect speeds. Or perhaps there are one or more crossover cables in play. I would check both ends of all of the cables.

As for the wires going from the wall jacks to your computer(s), as long as they are wired exactly the same on BOTH ends, the configuration shouldn't matter.

https://www.utm.edu/staff/leeb/568/568.htm

kanewolf · Sep 26, 2017

You really want EITHER 568A or 568B consistently used everywhere. If consistently implemented, neither should have a performance issue. -- http://www.dslreports.com/faq/4659

mjslakeridge · Sep 26, 2017

Quote from the link you provided:

"568A and 568B may be used interchangeably in a system SO LONG AS both ends of a given cable are terminated the same way."

But I agree with you that one or the other should consistently used everywhere. Over time, or on complicated setups, it would be easy to forget which standard was followed.

It sounds like the OP may have one or more cables wired differently on each end.

scoopstv · Sep 26, 2017

mjslakeridge :

kanewolf :

I took pictures of the connector end going into the router and the walljack. The cable from the walljack to the PC is a 568B at BOTH ends.

Mousemonkey · Sep 26, 2017

That RJ45 in your picture is not terminated to 568B, from left to right it should be w/o, orange, w/g, blue, w/bl, green, w/br, brown.

scoopstv · Sep 26, 2017

Mousemonkey :

Reread my post.

mjslakeridge · Sep 26, 2017

From your pictures, it looks like both ends of the in-wall cables are terminated according to 568A, so that shouldn't be the issue. The fact that your patch cables from the wall to the PC are terminated on both ends according to 568B, shouldn't be a problem either. All I can think of is maybe some of the wires aren't making good contact, so rather than an 8 conductor cable, it acts like a 4 conductor, limiting the speed to 100mb/s.

You may need to invest in a Cat5 cable tester and check all of the in-wall cables.

kanewolf · Sep 26, 2017

The RJ45 is terminated 568A. The text on the keystone jack shows a 568A color code that it looks like the cable is following.

Mousemonkey · Sep 26, 2017

scoopstv :

I was refering to that picture.

scoopstv · Sep 26, 2017

mjslakeridge :

kanewolf :

I ordered a kit that includes a cable tester so I'll see if there is an issue with the cable itself. I appreciate the help troubleshooting this.

mjslakeridge · Sep 26, 2017

It sounds like you are testing your internet speed using the wall jacks versus a direct connection to the computer. Try doing a network speed test. I used the software linked to in this Tom's post:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1797977/network-speed-test.html

Basically you install the software on 2 (or more) computers, and designate 1 as the "server". You then send packets of data to/from the various computers over the LAN and the speed gets reported.

scoopstv · Sep 26, 2017

mjslakeridge :

Ok I tested using my laptop which I connected via CAT5E to the router. PC is still going through the wall jack to the router.

DESKTOP-66DLBGA is the laptop.

scoopstv · Sep 26, 2017

Here is a test with my PC connected directly to the router using a 200MB file.

Ethernet wall jack bottlenecking speeds?

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