Setting up internet to wall ports in apartment?

[brawndo89]

Hey guys,

I'm trying to get the wall outlets working in my apartment. They are set up for both voice and data and are already wire. What I'm trying to figure out is how do I set up my modem to get them activated? I have this box in my closet:

Do I just need to wire my modem to one of those jacks and extra ethernet cables to the jacks that correspond with each wall outlet? I don't even really know where to begin. Any help is appreciated.

 

[ElFenix]

shouldn't your apartment maintenance be able to do it properly? you'd think they'd be trained on that since it's their infrastructure.

 

[brawndo89]

shouldn't your apartment maintenance be able to do it properly? you'd think they'd be trained on that since it's their infrastructure.

You would think right? But no, they are clueless. They didn't even know what I was talking about.

 

[mfenn]

Where do the other end of those white patch cables go? Are those the one that go out to the wall plates?

 

[brawndo89]

Where do the other end of those white patch cables go? Are those the one that go out to the wall plates?

The white ones go to the part of the wall outlet labeled "data" and the blue to "voice." This is why I assume my unit is wired for this to work, it just needs the modem to supply the data.

 

[mfenn]

The white ones go to the part of the wall outlet labeled "data" and the blue to "voice." This is why I assume my unit is wired for this to work, it just needs the modem to supply the data.

OK, so the data jack on the outlet is basically just a pretty Ethernet cable, exactly the same as if you ran a cable down the hall. There should be a bank of normal RJ-45 Ethernet jacks on the other side of the box in your picture. This is called a patch panel.

What kind of Internet service do you have? If it's your typical cable modem, they probably provide you with a WiFi router which takes coax input and has a set of Ethernet ports. What you'll want to do is get a few short Ethernet cables and connect them from the Ethernet ports on your router to the ports on the patch panel.

 

[brawndo89]

OK, so the data jack on the outlet is basically just a pretty Ethernet cable, exactly the same as if you ran a cable down the hall. There should be a bank of normal RJ-45 Ethernet jacks on the other side of the box in your picture. This is called a patch panel.

What kind of Internet service do you have? If it's your typical cable modem, they probably provide you with a WiFi router which takes coax input and has a set of Ethernet ports. What you'll want to do is get a few short Ethernet cables and connect them from the Ethernet ports on your router to the ports on the patch panel.

Yeah it's typical cable. I bought my own modem because FK renting one from Comcast. In their dreams right?

So I just take the coax, plug it into the modem, then take ethernet cables and plug them into the ports (on the panel) from the modem? I'll have to guess at which port on there leads to which wall outlet, but it should just be trial and error.

 

[mfenn]

Yeah it's typical cable. I bought my own modem because FK renting one from Comcast. In their dreams right?

So I just take the coax, plug it into the modem, then take ethernet cables and plug them into the ports (on the panel) from the modem? I'll have to guess at which port on there leads to which wall outlet, but it should just be trial and error.

That's the general idea. You'll want it to look something like this when you're done:

                      +--------+     +-------+
coax +---------+  eth | router |     | patch |       in-wall
-----|< modem >|------|<wan    | eth | panel |         eth
     +---------+      |    lan>|-----|<     >|---//------------ Room
                      |    lan>|-----|<     >|---//---------- Room
                      |    lan>|-----|<     >|---//--------- Room
                      |    lan>|-----|<     >|---//------- Room
                      +--------+     +-------+