Finish Wiring Home for Internet

I just bought a house, its wiring for cable/internet in each bedroom. However, in the basement, there is a large trunk of un-terminated wires, so its not 100% ready.

I need to know exactly how to finish this wiring please!

2nd floor - Office. This room has a female CAT 5 jack built in the wall. The cord in the basement has no end on it. I've already toned which wire it is. The cable internet also was hooked to this room (by isp). So this room has 2 PCs, Router, Cable Modem, and the un-used cat5 port in the wall. Both PCs are online already.

1st floor - Living Room - Also an unused CAT5 jack built in the wall. I've toned the cord to the basement, it also has a clean cut end.

Basement - The trunk of cords comes down here.

I have a really old Lynsys "hub" its an old loooking device, has Collision lights on it .. I doubt its a router or a switch.

Here is what I was guessing:

Male-to-Male plug from router to 2nd floor wall jack. Terminate both basement cords with female ends (not sure what config to use "A" or "B").. Take those new female ends, and male-to-male from them to this hub I have. Then male-to-male from my xbox to the 1st floor wall jack..

Is that right? What config to I use on the basement females? Is there any way to just slam these two basement cords together? Any help, thanks!

Reply to
Kbalz
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If all the cat5 cables go from room to basement, and you have the cable from the ISP in the basement, the easiest thing to do is buy a patch panel for Ethernet. It will be color coded for both wiring standards, not knowing which standard the room jacks are wired to. You'll need a punchdown tool to install the cat 5 wires on it. It will have female cat5 jacks on it. You will purchase short patch cables to connect from the patch panel to the router, which you will install near by and connect to the modem

Reply to
RBM

You rambled on there a bit or I have had one too many.

There is always a way to make the connection. Sounds like the router and modem are upstairs. Connect the line from that room to a switch or hub in the basement (the in port if labeled) and connect the other rooms to the out ports.

If you get a two male patch cord between the two females, you have a connection. Gosh that sounds kinky.

It might be easier to just cut the ends off, buy a crimper and add new ends to the cat 5. Do be sure to make sure the last guy followed the correct color codes for the wire before you crimp.

There may be a coupler M/M, F/F or M/F that you can buy. There may also be gender changers. Radio Shack would be the place to look. Not the cheapest but the best chance to find it.

You can use more than one hub/switch for additional connection points. To the best of my knowledge you can NOT connect two devices to one line without using a switch/hub.

If you need an extra switch, Ebay is a great place to shop.

I have rambled as much as I accused you of doing. Post back with any questions.

Colbyt

Reply to
Colbyt

It sounds like you have the same setup as I have.

I put a shelf in the basement for my cable modem (sounds like what you have). Then I took a cat5 and ran it to all computer locations from the shelf.

I didn't like my modem being in the basement because I could not reset it or see the lights so I moved it to my main computer location. (Your office 2)

Use the cat 5 in office 2 and plug it into one port on the router. This will be the feed for your hub. Take your hub (repeater) and put it in the basement and plug everything down there in the hub.

There are two types of Cat 5 connections. 568A and 568B You need to find out what type you have at the wall jacks. Either one works but you should match your existing setup.

You can either put a patch panel (female) in the basement (and use jumpers male/male) or just put RJ-45s (male) directly on the ends of the basement cables. The hub is female.

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Reply to
Terry

Have someone who knows what they're doing come in and terminate your connection on a patch bay. I don't think you'll be able to do it yourself and you want something you won't have to keep messing with.

Reply to
Meat Plow

You need to terminate those cables downstairs on a patch panel or (less useful in a residential home) a wiring block. The patch panels take many different forms nowadays but I think the best would be to purchase a specialized enclosure (think Home Depot low voltage isle) that sits between studs on 16"centers and therefore can possibly allow a nicer finish to the wall the cables are landing at. You will then need to purchase a patch panel insert that the cables are actually terminated on that snaps into the enclosure. They also make Ethernet switches that snap into the enclosure but you may be better off buying a larger enclosure so your can put your router in there

Be prepared to find that the jacks (the female connectors are commonly known as "jacks" no matter how illogical that sounds) upstairs are NOT terminated according to any of the two standards that were named in this thread before - T568A and T568B - as low bid electrical contractors that builders hire to do the job very often have no clue about either. So, don't cut your cables too short. you may need to feed them back to the jack upstairs (if the cable was at least pulled correctly, it may still move inside the wall to a degree) so you can correct the jack's termination. Here are the above mentioned pin layouts for your reference:

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When all is said and done, you will need two patch cords (RJ45-RJ45) per cable to connect the actual equipment - PC on one end, router on the other. make sure you buy short cables for the enclosure in the basement - there will be no room to spare there.

Good luck!

Dude, I just could not resist highlighting this phrase :-) I'd be extremely careful and use the safest config I could find :-) LOL.

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Reply to
DA

@Meat Plow: No way, I work in an IT dept. and have access to all the tools.. I'm doing this myself. The setup for ports at my work is different than setup at my home, and is why I started this question :)

Sounds like there is a few ways of doing this.. at this point I'm not going to worry about buying anything that will mount nicely or enclose.. just want it to work! (basement is currently unfinished, I'll clean the mess later!)..

Many replys wrote of getting patch panel for the basement, to complete the ends in the basement.. then ethernet cord from the patch panel ports to the small hub/switch. Actually that's how it works at my work! But,

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$50.

My question now (and kind of originally) - instead of the patch panel, can I hook 8 of these up instead:

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(actually, I'd only need two for now)

And If I could use the female jacks downstairs, how do I know t586 "A" or "B"? Do the basement jack ends have to match the config upstairs? I can unscrew the plate and look at what they did upstairs. I guess if the upstairs is "A", I'll convert it to "B" since that what we use at work..

@DA: Yeah I liked that when I typed it too :D

Hmm another problem I just thought of, is for some reason they left me little "extra" cord in the basement.. if I did want to nicely finish the wiring, I'd need to extend the basement ethernet cords somehow before they got to the patch panel.

Reply to
Kbalz

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(actually, I'd only need two for now)

"For now" things have a way of becoming "forever". Why cut corners? Installing a patch panel is the correct way to complete the network wiring you described. (and it is never considered good form to crimp a plug onto the cable)

Reply to
George

instead:

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> (actually, I'd only need two for now)

I hoped my emphasis on the $50 patch panel would reveal I'm trying to cut costs "for now".. not that I'm too lazy to mount/enclose it. The female jack plugs are a few bucks each.. or free from work ;)

Reply to
Kbalz

Especially with solid CAT5. Strippers usually nick the wire which then fails down the road. Seen this too many times. The patch bay with punch down is the correct way to do it and will last a lifetime.

Reply to
Meat Plow

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(actually, I'd only need two for now)

If you have extra cord, why would you want to extend the cable? The patch panel or the jacks can be mounted anywhere. Jumpers would extended to your hub.

If you have enough length on the existing cable, you can put a male end (RJ-45) directly on the ends of the cables. This will plug directly into the hub.

The way you tell which setup you have is to take off one of the wall plates and look at the jack. The part number and the color pin out will be on the jack. Converting everything to "B" sounds like a good idea. You most likely already have "B"

BTW the reason your system is different at home than at work is because at work the router is located at the patch panel.

At home your router/modem will be in office 2. You will have a repeater in the basement.

You really do want your modem and router upstairs. This way, you can see the indicator lights without having to go in the basement.

Reply to
Terry

Why do they sell them then?

Reply to
Terry

To crimp onto the proper cable.

Reply to
George

For sure, I see so many crappy unreliable installations where someone asks the experts at home depot and buys a roll of wire, a crimping tool and a bag of plugs and think they are doing it the right way.

Reply to
George

Yep - this was a pain at my last house.. due to the work I bring home. Going to basement to reset router/modem for any reason. I don't mind having a bunch of equipment in my office either!

I found some less-expensive patch panel. I'll just punch the basement cords to the panel. Then plug each output from the patch panel to the hub.

When I sell the house down the road, the next owner can do it backwards just as easy (router/modem in basement)

Reply to
Kbalz

True, I too messed up many cords at first.. but in recent years I've made 100s of them correctly without having to redo them.

Reply to
Kbalz

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