I think that my home is wired for internet

testudoAubreii

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Jun 20, 2012
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Hello,

I put the images first and the body of the post below them:
img0948zo.jpg
img0949aq.jpg
img0950no.jpg

I am new to this forum, so hello everyone!

I noticed that my house has Cat5E jacks all through out it (the jacks say CAT5, but the actual cable says CAT5E). In my closet near the middle of the house, there is what looks like a hub or maybe some sort of switch. I never really thought anything of it because I use a wireless router to access the internet throughout my home. However, I plan on moving my office to another room and I need the cable modem to be out in that room. My ISP told me that I would need someone to come out and activate my cable outlet for my internet. Apparently, you cannot just hook your modem up to any cable jack in the house, it has to be activated for data usage. Anyhow, I thought that if I have to have some one come out and activate a cable jack, why not have them activate the one that is in the closet with the hub/switch or whatever it is.

So, I guess what I am trying to find out is if this is what I think it is. I think that if I activate this one, then I will be hardwired for internet all over my house. They are CAT5E cables that run throughout the entire house.

Here are some of my questions:

What exactly am I looking at?
Am I right in assuming that my home is wired for this?
And, if so, should I look into upgrading the cables to CAT6?
Is there a huge difference between CAT5E and CAT6?

I am sure that there are more questions and I will probably think of them after I post this. If any of you have any advice of helpful comments, they will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance for any and all comments and help.

Testudo
 
on the left is the punch down for the telephone lines (V)

in the middle is a patch panel for your network connections (D)

on the right is the connection for a DSL

once you have the modem and router there, you need network cables to connect the patch panel to the router.

if you need to use more than 4 ports active, connect a switch to the router and then connect the patch panel ports needed to the switch

make sure you use the wall outlets marked with a D (data)
 
If someone put in a switch in a place, it's pretty much 100% that that area also has a connection for the IPS cable and modem there as well. Once the ISP setups the connection, they will setup a modem there.

That phone jack may or may not be for DSL, there is a coax cable hanging there, which means it's probably setup for a cable company ISP not a DSL one.

It should be hooked up Modem > Router > ports in the closet.

Nice looking setup there, looks well put together. Don't bother changing any cables, if you get a gigabit router and/or switch it will run on the CAT5E cables.
 

testudoAubreii

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Jun 20, 2012
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Thanks for the quick responses! I really appreciate that.

I have the modem and the router, it is just hooked up in the office where I am now. I need to move my office, so instead f relying on wireless, I figured that I would try to take advantage of this set up that I have. I have been in my house for 3 years and never really got around to using this because I has a wireless network set up.

So, I can only have as many jacks that I have in the back of my router, correct? I have four inputs in the back of my router. I also have four inputs in the back of my modem. When my ISP tech came out, he didn't say whether or not it was a wireless modem or not.

Here is is my modem and my router:

http://www.motorola.com/Video-Solutions/US-EN/Products-and-Services/Voice-and-Data-Consumer-Premise-Equipment/DOCSIS-Modems-Gateways-and-eMTAs/Wireless-Cable-Modem-Gateways/SBG6580

netgear wndr3400v2

I would really like to get this working. I think it would be pretty beneficial.

Thanks again!
 
You can easily expand the ports you can use with a switch. Use the uplink port on the switch (may not have one, but it's common to use port 1 or the last port of the switch for that) to connect to a LAN port on the router. Then you can connect the jacks in the closet to the switch with ethernet cables. You can move the modem and router into the closet with the setup, that coax cable hanging there should have a live signal if you are already signed up for internet service.

Actually that Motorola modem is a "Gateway" which should mean that it can act as the modem and router in one. You may be able to just bypass your router and hook up the modem to the switch.
 
Yes, connecting up the LAN wires will not have any effect on the wireless, aside from the fact that it would be located in a different area and you may have signal strength issues. But you can also get a ethernet wifi extender for any room, hook it up to the ethernet port and get wifi that way if you need more range.
 

testudoAubreii

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Jun 20, 2012
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That's good to know. I have the router in the office, which is in the back of the house and it reaches with a strong signal to all parts of the house. The closet is situated in the middle of the house, so I think it will be cool there.

Thank you for all of your help. You certainly provided me with the information that I needed. I guess the next step is to see if everything functions correctly. Is there anything else I should know?
 
Since you have a nice central place for your networking, look into getting a network storage box for media and file storage and backups. Having a central location for files you use often (say movie or music files that several people may wan to use at once) is handy.