CAT5 cabling query

[Jethro]

Hi all,

we're having Telewest BB fitted next week. I imagine they will put the box on the wall where the TV & Phone points are. Unfortunately the PC is two rooms away.

To be neat and tidy I want to have two RJ45 (is it) boxes one each wall. I'll run the cable (about 15m) over the loft.

Having never done this sort of thing before (phones yes, networks no) will I need any special tools ? I have a huge reel of CAT5 cable which I bought from a previous employer after they'd done their networking. Can I just buy 2 sockets and use those ?

AIUI Telewest will leave a BB modem which will have a socket for a USB connection and an RJ45 to go into the network card (which I am fitting - also a legacy of my last employer). So I'll need a couple of 12" patch leads to go Modem->wall socket then wall socket->PC

Any gotchas to watch out for.

Thanks in advance

[Rob Morley]

Yes. You'll want to get a punchdown (Krone) tool suitable for the sockets if you haven't already got one - disposable plastic ones are probably good enough for this sort of use.

Make sure you get the wires the right way round - colours don't really matter, but the pairing does. Try not to kink or crush the cable, although at this speed it probably won't matter. Don't run the cable close and parallel to any mains wiring, or near fluorescent light fittings.

[RichardS]

I just got a Krone Clone (!) - IIRC about a fiver from ebuyer

. Works a treat.

Their faceplates aren't terrific, though. They're fine for my installation because once a patch is plugged into them it isn't going to be removed in normal usage (it's all done through local switches). If I wanted to be able to connect and disconnect stuff regularly then I'd be wanting something a bit better.

The RJ45 sockets I've just done had the colour coding for both wiring schemes on them - T-568 A and B

I chose B (it doesn't matter which you choose) - make sure that once you've chosen one particular standard that you stick to it for the other end of the cable otherwise nothing will work!!!

Don't nick the conductors when you're stripping the insulation!

Useful step by step guide here:

guys were cheaper for cable (doesn't matter to the OP) and faceplates then ebuyer, but the punchdown tool was more expensive...

[Paul]

I agree with all what has been said so far and can I add.....

If you can leave a little bit of wire spare in the loft (but not coils and coils of it), just enough slack so if you wire up the socket and it doesn't work you can cut a little off, pull a bit through and start again.

If you can borrow a tester from someone then great but if not just plug it in and if it works it works.

Wiring from a modem to a network card may require a crossover cable. My suggestion would be to wire your sockets as straight through cables and have one straight through patch cable at one end and a crossover cable at the other, or you can use two straight cables and a crossover adapter. Sometimes devices will automatically work with a straight or X-over cable so check it out.

patch cables are sold as .5 meters and multiples of 1 meter.

Paul

[The Natural Philosopher]

No need to do that. Leave about 18" slack BEHIND THE FACEPLATE. It coils up inside the backing box no probs.

All sound advice IMHO.

[Christian McArdle]

Personally, I just use wireless, although there are security issues if you don't know what you're doing.

My last house was loaded with Cat5e, but I haven't bothered with the new one. I don't even have phone extensions.

Christian.

[Jethro]

I have some 12" ones that were made up when they installed the network ....

[RichardS]

Ah, but have you encoutered the telewest wireless network setup procedure? :-) (I did, for a neighbour. Took us 2 weeks to sort out and I had to tell a slight untruth saying that I'd reinstalled the OS from scratch when I'd determined beyond doubt already that it was a hardware fault).

OP's got the right idea. Go wired, and if wireless required then do something on the home side of the network, not with Telewest's wireless setup!

[Cicero]

networking.

============= Assuming that you already have Telewest TV, phone etc.......

Ask for their 'Broadband Internet Wireless installation pack' - it costs about £35-00 but saves a lot of hassle. Simply plug the supplied 'Access point' (802.11b) into the set top box and the wireless receiver into the PC. Run the software (easy) and you're in business. I've had mine for about a year with only minor problems.

Cic.

[DB.]

just got a Krone Clone (!) - IIRC about a fiver from ebuyer

I've got some Krone faceplates and surface boxes available. Please email me if interested.

[Roly]

If ( like me ) you are too mean to buy even a cheap punchdown tool, you can make perfectly good connections by using the corner of an old credit card to push the wires into the terminal.

I've done that on a number of occasions when I couldn't borrow the correct tool and they've all worked well and continue to do so.

I'm not suggesting that it's best practice, but it can get the job done.

[Michael Chare]

I used a small instrument sized screw driver.

I also bared the wire beyond where it was punched down to make it easy for me to use my meter to test the connection.

[will kemp]

colours don't really matter - unless you want to work out what you've done later! or unless someone else has to work with your cabling.

it's a good idea to keep to standard ways of doing it - even if you think it's never going to matter. one day it *will* matter and you'll be glad you did it the standard way - and probably very stressed out if you didn't! ;-)

have a look at:

[will kemp]

if you think there's any chance you're ever likely to want to make up cables like this in future, it's worth investing in a proper tool. you can get one for 14 quid including delivery:

how good this one is though. it claims to be "LSA/Krone tool" and looks ok on the web site.

will

[Paul]

Fair enough. that should do the job.

One thing is that the cat 5 standard specifies that there is a minimum cable length for cat 5 runs and I believe the patch cables. I had a quick search and came up with alot of different answers but I think it is 2.5 meters minimum total for the whole run including patch cables (you will be ok here) and I think that the specified min patch cable length is 1m. I wouldn't worry too much about this though as it is only 1 cable run and it is at home. Also the router/modem is probably going to run at 10mbps which is fine for internet broadband/cable. Again if it works... it works.... if not try something else.

Does anyone know of a link to the standard to check these specs out?

Paul

[Richard Sobey]

Aye, but if you buy them from PC World (for example) you would probably need to buy them in specific lengths e.g. 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10,

1. 12" sounds rather like an exact measurement made to order.

[RichardS]

Don't recall having seen anything like that, but then I'm not much up to the technical specs of cat5 - if anything I'd have thought that it would be ethernet standards that dictated max/min cable lengths.

All I can say is that I've had networks up and running here for ages at

100mbps where the minimum cable length is considerably less than 2.5m. Not sure whether the inclusion of a hob or switch in such a network has an effect though.

I do know that I've used crossover cables at 100mbps which were much shorter than 2.5m, and that's about as pure a network as you can get.

[Lurch]

On Wed, 1 Dec 2004 21:57:42 -0000, "Michael Chare" strung together this:

You are obviously a rougharsed f****it and we should all ignore your contribution to this thread.

[Michael Chare]

You obviously are rude and have nothing sensible to contribute on this subject!

The procedure I followed works and enables the connection to be tested, if you dont have the correct punch down tool or proper test equipment. I should add the I snipped of the bare ends once I was sure that I had a good connection

[Chris Hodges]

I'm on telewest with a motorola surfboard sb4100 and it needs a straight through.

Chris