Telephones and networks

I expect this has been answered in part before but I can't find it all in a search, so perhaps I can tap the expertise here for my issues.

My phone line comes into the house in the hallway (a sort of extension on the front of the house) and has previously been bodged to split there and send one line to a (BT but not NTE5) master in the kitchen (via half a mile of cable through the garage) and a secondary socket upstairs. I'm in the process of changing broadband service and I thought I might sort all this out as part of the change. (Although I'll check the new service works OK before changing anything) The general opinion seems to be that the broadband filter should be as close to where the service comes in as possible, for the best signal. The idea is:

A) Put the master socket where the cable arrives in the house. (Yes, I know I'm not supposed to touch BT's side but they won't know if I don't screw it up, and it will regularise everything. In any case, a while ago a tame BT man who came to fix a fault gave me some cable and jelly crimps to sort the wiring out, so he doesn't mind at least.)

B) Split/filter the cable at the master and take separate feeds to the phone and router.

C) Take two runs of cat5e cable from the router to my son's room, so he can plug his computer and Xbox into it and stop moaning about games dropping. The wireless box should do for more trivial applications, like me and the missus working from home (!).

Now the questions: When I split the service, should I take the runs to the router and phone in telephone cable or cat5e? It doesn't matter on cost grounds as I have plenty of each, but which would work better? Is it even worth worrying about: As the data path to the house is pretty mucky, in old cable from whenever it was laid, will the little bit in the house make any real difference? If I use cat5e, I presume I can take the filtered and unfiltered down the same cable, but how do I make up a reasonably good looking cable for this? (ie prettier than just the strands going to plugs). I've thought of heatshink to cover the strands but this may not be ideal - Would 2 short patches (of phone cable) into a double socket, then cat5e behind that, laid in trunking to the outlets be better? Has anyone used the decorative trunking (D-line from Screwfix for example) and found it to be good or bad? (I was wondering if it would ever open again once closed!)

Any thoughts/experiences gratefully received. Cheers G

Reply to
GMM
Loading thread data ...

The filter is for the phones not the broadband - that wants as unfiltered a feed as possible!

Best idea. Get a new NTE5 from one of the online places.

Get a filtered faceplace for the NTE5 and run all phone extensions off that one filter.

Indeed. I'd also suggest to put the router as close to the master socket as practical and run cat5 from there.

It shouldn't make a difference but if you can, put the router into the master socket with as short a bit of wire as possible.

Keep life easy. Personally if you have mains in the hallway, I'd put the router there next to the (new) master socket, then run separate Ethernet and phone wires out to the rest of the house. Good time to upgrade your phones too - put a Siemens DECT base station in the hallway too and save yourself the effort of running telephone wire!

Add a small UPS and you're all set...

Gordon

Reply to
Gordon Henderson

Seen as there is "telephone cable" between the exchange and your house, it won't make any difference. I personally would install one of these on the master NET5

formatting link
from the back run CAT5 (may be useful in the future when you next re-jig everything!)

I would use one pair to take the unfiltered "ADSL" signal to wherever you are going, an then another pair for pins 2 and 5 of the filtered "phone" section, and then one of the other cables for the ring wire.

It is important to keep pins 2 and 5 as a pair.

Toby...

Reply to
Toby

formatting link
might be useful. I've got one and it works well.

Reply to
F

Then on the other end of the cable, install one of these

formatting link
dual outlet secondary faceplate)

But as Gordon said, it would be better still to install the router next to the master socket if that is practical, then you just need the filtered face plate, and the extra wiring will all be filtered here, and you will get the best ADSL signal you are likely to achieve.

If it is not practical to install the router in the current master socket location, then, install a BT77A connection box where the line comes in, and then run telephone cable from here to the location of the router, and then stick the master socket on the end of this (Important to use telephone cable, as BT would not use CAT5 here, so this would be blatant evidence of your tampering!

BT77A -

formatting link

Reply to
Toby

On Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:28:57 -0700 (PDT) someone who may be GMM wrote this:-

As you have a branded one I would move the master socket into the hallway. Then you can claim, without fear of contradiction, that everything beyond that is yours.

I would then feed an NTE5 from this master socket, as explained in . I would put this beside the master socket, unless there are objections from those who must be obeyed.

In this NTE5 I would fit a filtered faceplate like

and run all extensions from the back of this faceplate. This is far neater than the awful dangly things.

You could then use the existing cables from the filtered side of this faceplate to the kitchen and upstairs, or new cable depending on your level of determination.

You can run a cable from the unfiltered side of this faceplate to a socket convenient for where you want the router. If you want you can run filtered and unfiltered versions of the phone line down this cable to a socket which has an RJ45 and telephone socket. Make sure you wire the right pairs to the right sockets and make sure the wires in the pairs are paired properly. If you are doing this I suggest that you wire the telephone side using the right colour code and use the brown pair for the unfiltered line to the RJ45 socket.

I would provide network sockets for you and the missus to use while working. Better bandwidth and less interference. Your son could have some too.

The latter would work marginally better, but you are unlikely to be able to measure the difference and it will probably make no noticeable difference to the speeds you get.

Not in most circumstances.

1) this sort of cable is not stranded. 2) if it is wired into the back of a

then it is as neat as you make it.

Reply to
David Hansen

The difference is that the indoor stuff is exposed to much more interference.

Reply to
Bob Eager

either.

Nope

I wouldnt.

There is a small bit of anecdotal bollocks that says that the BELL wire is unbalanced and carries enough signal to bugger the ADSL when a phone rings. So its generally better to take two wires only to a MASTER socket, in which case one cat 5 is OK, or take a completely separate extension cable FROM the master socket.

In fact., I question why you are putting a master socket in the hall at all if the router and the phones are not there. I would take the POTS cable all the way to the router, filter there and extend to phones beyond that. A simple junction box will suffice, and if you ask a BT man he may give you theh one with the right letters on it!

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

One random thought - don't rely on wifi any more than you have to. Put in cat 5 cable from the router. I did this all over the house back in

2004 much to the amusement of friends who told me wireless was the way forward. Having just started streaming video to our telly from a file server I'm glad that I did. Wifi is OK for basic surfing from a laptop, but for anything more demanding it's not up to the job.

Cheers!

Martin

Reply to
martin_pentreath

My Wi-Fi can stream HD video without any trouble. If you know what you are doing Wi-Fi is fine.

Reply to
dennis

I'd use cat5e everywhere that it wont cause a problem, ie everywhere after the master socket. A few reasons:

  1. Your system is then usable later for full speed networking
  2. complete flexibility should you decide to change room uses later
  3. Your incomer may be flat pair today, but many have had their incomer upgraded already, and then it will matter quite a lot
  4. cost difference is trivial

Also usually worth bunging extra cat5es in anywhere youre burying some, as it can be used for various other things later and costs so little.

NT

Reply to
NT

Hi Dennis,

Without wanting to get involved in willy waving, it was 1080p high- definition x264 stuff which I was streaming. My wifi handles the old- fashioned files fine, but if you start trying to stream heavy-duty stuff then it just doesn't have the bandwidth and stutters very badly. I don't pretend to be a techie in these matters, but having spent a good few hours in the relevant forums trying to sort out my set-up, the general experience is that for 1080p video wifi isn't up to the job.

I'm quite happy to be corrected, but I certainly couldn't get wifi to work for me, and was unanimously advised to go over to ethernet, which luckily I happened to have installed.

Cheers!

Martin

Reply to
martin_pentreath

martin snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com coughed up some electrons that declared:

I agree - Panasonic Inverter microwaves totally bugger my Wifi. Changing the antenna polarisation helps, but it's still fairly naff. Almost naff enough to make me consider trying 802.11a (5GHz) - although the wall penetration of "a" is poor...

Cables to main points. Wifi for flexibility.

Reply to
Tim S

Some good stuff on there - thanks - and the 'forums' have tech. stuff.

Going OT a bit: is there any way of replacing an old (about 20 years or so) main point with the modern one that'll not be sussed?

Bit expensive to get it done - just need the right box, really.

Reply to
PeterC

eBay.

Reply to
Bob Eager

And the world and his wife have it now. We live in a small close but everyone round here has a wi-fi point .. some even have Two!..

24 way switch and a lot of CAT 5 recycled low halogen type and 24 way switch. 5.8 Ghz for wireless is the way forward;!..
Reply to
tony sayer

In article , Tim S scribeth thus

5.8 Works well with reflection but if you use it outdoors any tree will sod it up!. If its got a clear path its fine we've got one running over 18 miles..in the C band part of the 5.8 Ghz spec..

Yes that was Eighteen miles;))

Reply to
tony sayer

oh, nasty route, but if it's the only one I'll have a look. Ta.

Reply to
PeterC

You can buy the master sockets in loads of places, but if you want a 'fell off the back of the van' OpenReach one, needs must. Less likely to be sussed.

Reply to
Bob Eager

I have three!

Reply to
dennis

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.