In-wall ethernet ports

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Jon55

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Forgive me if this has already been covered (I checked the stickies and did a search before posting this) but I've been wondering about this for a while.

Our apartment has ethernet ports in the wall in every room. Is it as simple as plugging a cable from computer to the wall, and in another room plugging a cable from the wall to the router?
 
Assuming all of the cables go to the same switch and any port on that switch can be used as an uplink.... yes.
 
Gillette said:
Assuming all of the cables go to the same switch and any port on that switch can be used as an uplink.... yes.
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If not, is just a trial/error test to see which port works as an uplink and which one doesn't?
 
More than likely, all of the wires were pulled back to a central location in the apartment. There should be a panel somewhere (check the closets). Pop the cover on the panel and see what the wires are plugged into. Should give you a good lead on what is really going on there...
 
Well, I tried simply going from router to wall, and in another room wall to computer and nothing happened. Comp said cable was unplugged, and the router's "1" port (where the cable to the wall was connected) did not light up. Thoughts?
 
could be a cabling issue on the back of the panel or the ports on the walls. are the jacks on the wall labled in anyway?

do you have a laptop?!? if so... i would plug the router into a jack in the closet... then run from room to room to find where it connects.

If you had a tone generator, that would be optimal! lol

could you upload some pics of what you have..... might be easier to work through.
 
Ok, so I just further inspected the box in the closet, and it turns out all the ethernet cables are run to there but are all raw wire on the other end; none are connected to the board. They were installed in the wall, and ran to one central location, but were never installed to the board. How useless is that? And yes, I have pics and will upload them shortly.
 
Jon55 said:
Forgive me if this has already been covered (I checked the stickies and did a search before posting this) but I've been wondering about this for a while.

Our apartment has ethernet ports in the wall in every room. Is it as simple as plugging a cable from computer to the wall, and in another room plugging a cable from the wall to the router?
Click to expand...

For the most part, yes.
 
Jon55 said:
Ok, so I just further inspected the box in the closet, and it turns out all the ethernet cables are run to there but are all raw wire on the other end; none are connected to the board. They were installed in the wall, and ran to one central location, but were never installed to the board. How useless is that? And yes, I have pics and will upload them shortly.
Click to expand...


sounds like a trip to home depot to get a punch down tol (if you don't own one already) and maybe a tone out tool too!

grab a 6 pack while you are at it...... project time!!!!

or........

call the apartment complex office and complain. demand someone comes out soon or hold the rent! :p
 
OK, so I told you I'd be back with pictures and I am. I'm also confused but willing to try and fix this myself. I talked to the apartment staff and they said they only wire it up but don't connect it and that that's the ISP's job (didn't make sense to me either).

These pics are all in the box in the closet. So here's one set of wires. Sorry for the slightly blurry pics.
3095922893_da1f5c72e1_b.jpg


Followed by the other set.
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And another.
3096763208_e269f5c9c6_b.jpg


Here's the whole thing.
3095923057_a284de33dd_b.jpg


And a shot of the board.
3096763420_b97fc181b4_b.jpg


And another shot.
3095923295_3b0f62884c_b.jpg


This is what each wire looks like. Raw. Uncut.
3095923103_8e1543f131_b.jpg


And the wall port itself.
3095923525_6a9d53edb7_b.jpg
 
looks like the gray cables are wired up for phones. that is what that board thingy is for. The blue cables are your data cables. You will need to get some RJ-45 connectors and a crimper and then go to work on it. Then you should be able to plug them into a switch/router and be all good to go. My guess is the yellow cable is a demarc extension to the outside box for your ISP.
 
Captain Colonoscopy said:
looks like the gray cables are wired up for phones. that is what that board thingy is for. The blue cables are your data cables. You will need to get some RJ-45 connectors and a crimper and then go to work on it. Then you should be able to plug them into a switch/router and be all good to go. My guess is the yellow cable is a demarc extension to the outside box for your ISP.
Click to expand...

Interesting. So the board wouldn't have anything to do here (other than for the phones)? And if getting a switch is my only option, any idea how much a small, cheap switch would be?
 
those cat5's were pulled for phone from what i can see in that picture you can pull them off there and punch them down on a patch panel if you want

+1 on the Home Depot trip
 
How nice to move into an apartment with structured wiring built in!

As said before, you have two options ... quick & dirty (cheap) just crimp RJ45 ends onto the blue data cables and plug into your router/switch ... or make things neat & tidy for a bit more money. Regardless I would suggest plugging in devices one at a time and then labeling the cables so that you know where they go which will save a lot of time if you need to troubleshoot later.
 
Guys, thank you a ton.

The router is on the other side of the apartment (and for reasons I'd rather not go into, it's probably gonna stay there :rolleyes:), so it looks like I'll grab that board from Home Depot and wire it myself. Now I'm a bit of a newbie and have yet to do this before, but I'm also a fast learner, so any guides/tips on how to wire up the raw cables to the board? I'm guessing it's not too terribly difficult (?).
 
There are two standards of wiring ethernet ... you need to figure out which one they used when punching down the wall plates. If you unscrew the wall-plate and pop the plastic cover off of the jack you will see that the wires punch down on the colored terminals. The jack should have colors corresponding to the A and B standard, so double check the layout of the orange and green wires. If orange/orange-white are goign to pin 1 & 2 you are on the T568B standard. It might be easiest to just take a picture and post it. Look at this picture ...
cat5_jack.jpg

You can see that the side of the plug has an "B" line on top and an "A" line on bottom. Figure out which one matches how the cables are punched down on the plug, then match this on the punch-down panel (which will have it's own layout for both the A and B standard). Did that make any sense?

Basically match the termination style on the board that you grab from home depot.
 
Most buildings do not terminate the central location primarily for the reason that it can be used for many alternative applications. All you need are some rj45 ends or if you want to go a little fancier, get a small patch panel from leviton designed for that enclosure.

Lucky you. When I used to live in an apartment I had flat cables that I ran under the carpets, lol. If you got a little aggressive with the vacuum cleaner you could bump jump ;)
 
as far as wiring tips make sure Ur pairs are twisted all the way up to where they are punched down. i know a really cool trick for this but cant very well show you on a forum. also make sure you do the same wiring config on both side either A A or B B. also buy a pair tester to make sure Ur pairs are correct sometime even when they are punched down in the right places they do not get a good connection with out a pair tester this can be a nightmare to find. also do not strip the shield back to far or you will let interference into the line.
 
OK, so I'm back with more pictures, this time of the wall port itself (unscrewed). Again, sorry about the slightly blurry pics. It looks like I'll check out Home Depot for that board, but there's also a Fry's Electronics near me (which is the best place ever), and they might have a bigger/cheaper selection. In any case, I'm gonna go with that. But I'm not sure on how to actually hook the wires in, or if they need to be cut in such a way, etc. I figured it was simple enough as just matching colors up though.


Here's the back of the wall port itself.
3099083778_9be54efdf1_b.jpg


And another one.
3099083618_3335cba197_b.jpg


A somewhat close up shot.
3099083694_63bc233143_b.jpg


And here's a shot of the whole thing.
3098461262_6f215e6d17_b.jpg
 
try using the macro feature on your camera. that will give you way better close up shots!

you need a punch down tool.

home depot has them for $20 i think.... shizzle I bought mine back in the day (98 or so) not sure if they went up in price.
 
You terminated those wires WAAAAY to far way from the ethernet cabling shield. Your gonna have issues with termination and data CRC problems due to the fact that the wires are not twisted to prevent cross talk. Ideally you want your ethernet termination 1" away from your shielding.

EDIT: Here, because im a cable installer and hate cleaning up someone elses crappy wiring jobs, I went and did a basic walkthrough in my van for you. And yes you DO have to make sure that the wiring matches the other punched down end of the cable or nothings going to work. Most ethernet cabling is straight to straight and most modern termination ends have color coding for you to make it easy to figure out what color goes wear.

1. Heres your basic layout and tools *including GOOD quality punch down tool, a must!*
right1.jpg


2. Strip off about 1.5'' of outside shielding from your cable, careful not to cut through and into the data wires with you razor or whatever your using.
right2.jpg


3. Untwist the twisted pairs like so and cut off stripping cables
right3.jpg


4. Give no more then 1" of cabling from the end to the termination plug. 1/2"is better.
right4.jpg


5. Punch down on a hard flat surface to cut off excess cable *YES, I realize my blade is going the wrong way in picture, sue me :rolleyes:*
right5.jpg


6. This is the correct length your cable ends should be like. Put on your endcap to prevent wires from being pulled out
right6.jpg


7. Click into your panel and wallah, your done!
right7.jpg
 
Freezebyte said:
You terminated those wires WAAAAY to far way from the ethernet cabling shield. Your gonna have issues with termination and data CRC problems due to the fact that the wires are not twisted to prevent cross talk. Ideally you want your ethernet termination 1" away from your shielding.
Click to expand...

You also have to make sure not to untwist the wire pairs any more than you have to. Only straighten the end just enough so you can punch it down.
 
you can actually leave the pairs twisted together the jack it self has a little point on it and you can slide the point right through the pairs then when you punch down they are twisted all the way into the punch down
 
You need to learn to read. His apartment came pre wired. It was the Low Voltage contractor who did the building originally that messed up. (Horrible job, jeeze, 4" of wire? WTF? lol)
 
You've definitely have a bit of work ahead of you. I would highly recommend re-terminating those jacks, and if possible, just put the modem/switch combo by the box. Do that, and you'll probably have a cleaner setup than most of us here ;)
 
Wow thanks for the detailed write up Freezebyte, but the I didn't do any of this, the apartment came pre-wired this way. And as far as wiring goes, what I meant in my last post was how to set up the board that I'll be buying from Home Depot and wiring it up.
 
nice job freeze.

excellent reference for anyone starting out with this sort of stuff.
 
The Spyder said:
You need to learn to read. His apartment came pre wired. It was the Low Voltage contractor who did the building originally that messed up. (Horrible job, jeeze, 4" of wire? WTF? lol)
Click to expand...

Ah my bad, but still, I'd redo it, if only for his jacks :D
 
The Spyder said:
You have a generic/leviton access panel. Captain is correct, however do it right. You can get a small patch/termination panel for the Cat5 just like the phones have. A small 8 port switch is under $20. They have the patch panels at Home Depot.

http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?section=10633&minisite=10028
Click to expand...

Do you guys know if this could be bought online? I went into Home Depot and they didn't have this board, and the board they had there was like thirty something dollars. I check Lowes and they didn't even have a board period. o_O
 
heavenlykid said:
and i have to argue with this picture these are untwisted way to far back
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It's probably okay for CAT5 running 100 megabit. For CAT5e or CAT6 at 1000 megabit, it's no good.

Jon55 said:
Do you guys know if this could be bought online? I went into Home Depot and they didn't have this board, and the board they had there was like thirty something dollars. I check Lowes and they didn't even have a board period. o_O
Click to expand...

I've bought Leviton parts at Midingt Electric and TWAComm.com before. They're both excellent shops, and I think both also carry some of the tools you'll want.

I'm using a couple of the 47605 punchdown boards in my structured wiring center but they came in a part of a kit with a phone termination and DSL filter.

You can't go wrong with the Leviton stuff. There's cheaper gear, but you'll notice the difference in build quality. As you can see, "thirty something dollars" is pretty much the right price for this part.
 
Freezebyte said:
*shrug* Thats how I was shown in tech school and all my clients these past several years are wired this way without having issues
Click to expand...

Easier to do that way...but you'll have a hard time hitting the higher bandwidth numbers. The more untwisted the wires, the less effective they are at canceling out noise by opposite voltage.
 
Jon55 said:
That's an awesome find, but I only need like a 6 port switch. Sadly I couldn't find one on monoprice.
Click to expand...

That's not a switch -- it's a patch panel to terminate all the wires going into your closet. You plug each port from the patch panel into the switch.
 
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