Home Network Oddity

[etrigan420]

Why would the builder terminate a network cable this way?

What are those circle things?

What level of Hell would be unleashed if I snipped this, crimped a connector to it, and plugged it into my router?

I'm 99.9% sure that this is the box end of the connection coming from the den (all other connections are accounted for). There are only 2 wires at this end that are in use, blue and striped blue.

Any insight is appreciated.

 

[xSauronx]

its not uncommon for cat5 to be have the pairs divvied up and used as phone lines. the round things just look like splicers to me *shrug*

you *can* use that cable for a network connection. obviously you will lose that jack as a phone line. refer to the sticky for proper network cabling information. you should punch the end to a patch panel, wall jack or box and use a patch cable to connect it to your router.

then youd need to look at the jack in the den, since its probably going to be an rj-11, and replace with with an rj-45

if its already an rj-45 it may only have that one pair punched down, and you will need to pull that pair and punch it for tia 568b (on both ends) to use it as an ethernet cable for networking.

 

[etrigan420]

its not uncommon for cat5 to be have the pairs divvied up and used as phone lines. the round things just look like splicers to me *shrug*

you *can* use that cable for a network connection. obviously you will lose that jack as a phone line. refer to the sticky for proper network cabling information. you should punch the end to a patch panel, wall jack or box and use a patch cable to connect it to your router.

then youd need to look at the jack in the den, since its probably going to be an rj-11, and replace with with an rj-45

if its already an rj-45 it may only have that one pair punched down, and you will need to pull that pair and punch it for tia 568b (on both ends) to use it as an ethernet cable for networking.

Ahhh, that makes sense. It is definitely terminated as an rj-45 in the den. I'm hoping they bundled the cables like I *think* they did, and just brain farted on the box end termination. :hmm:

Thanks for the help!

 

[imagoon]

Ahhh, that makes sense. It is definitely terminated as an rj-45 in the den. I'm hoping they bundled the cables like I *think* they did, and just brain farted on the box end termination. :hmm:

Thanks for the help!

Buy the proper end dont just click an RJ45 on there. Read the sticky. It is cheaper to do it the right way....

 

[etrigan420]

Buy the proper end dont just click an RJ45 on there. Read the sticky. It is cheaper to do it the right way....

Grrr...I'm going to have to call somebody.

This is what I get for waiting to test the network for 2 years after we bought the house! :\

 

[imagoon]

Grrr...I'm going to have to call somebody.

This is what I get for waiting to test the network for 2 years after we bought the house! :\

Who makes the box? I have found tons of leviton gear on Amazon dirt cheap. 8 or 16 patch panels for $8 each at times. Buy a cheap 110 punch and now you are done right.

 

[etrigan420]

Who makes the box? I have found tons of leviton gear on Amazon dirt cheap. 8 or 16 patch panels for $8 each at times. Buy a cheap 110 punch and now you are done right.

I think it's just a standard builders grade "Let's shove all of the crap in here and not label anything" box.

Long story, I'll try to shorten it up as much as possible...

-House custom built in 2010
-4 ethernet jacks (should have gotten more, it is what it is)
-Cable in every room (we *did* have a little foresight on this at least)
-I've never messed with the ethernet stuff. Just came right off of the cable jack in the den to the modem, to a Netgear WNDR3700, hard wired to my computer.
-Kids start bitching about internet speed. Apparently the den (located in a corner of the house) is the wireless black hole...
-I open the box and am presented with what is pictured in post #1
-See the 4 cords bundled to the left? (3 blue, 1 gray) 3 of those cords (2 blue and 1 gray) terminate in rj-45 connectors
-I figure, "Hell, those must be the 4 ethernet ports...makes sense", but the 4th cable is terminated into the phone block.
-All 3 other CAT5 cables in the 4 cable band on the left side of the photo *are* the ethernet drops. Verified.
-I clipped-n-crimped that "what the hell is it?" 4th cable, and either did it wrong (entirely possible, although it *looks* right) or it's *not* the cable coming in from the den.
-*Every* other CAT5 cable in the box (3 in addition to the "what the hell is it" cable) terminates fully (all 8 lines) to the phone block...which is weird in and of itself...we have *2* phone jacks in this entire house...

I don't think I'm even to the point of being concerned about a patch panel, I'm still trying to figure out where in the hell the den drop terminates on the box side, and short of tearing up walls or doing more "snip-crimp-n-pray", don't see how this is possible.

Insult to injury, the builder didn't provide us with a diagram of the internal wiring (my fault for not realizing this at the time of purchase). I'm going to give them a phone call and see what they have to say.

Even though I got it wrong...I got a little bit of "learn on" as far as home network wiring goes, so it hasn't been a *total* loss :|

 

[imagoon]

Honestly I would start with this since it is so cheap:

http://www.amazon.com/Leviton-001-47...=leviton+cat5e

If it is a generic box you should be able install it with a couple of screws. Terminate the wire to it. That take a patch cord and either a) hook it to gear and try and make a connection b) use a toner to locate the wire. It is $7 so you can order as many as you need and it is no big loss if you find out the electrician did a crap job. (which sadly way to many of them do.)

Also read the wiring sticky. It will give you an idea what you are in for.