# Using existing Cat5e wiring in new home? how to network it?



## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

Hi Everyone,

We just moved to another home and I have a bit of a dilemma.....

The existing house has a "rats nest" of Cat5e cabling going to two Square D phone expansion hubs. It is a nightmare

The phone company and I tested all the jacks and they all receive the telephone signals BUT what I would like to do is change several of them out so that they can utilize a wired network.

The phone line comes into the panel in the mechanical room and sends it to the computer room. In the computer room the DSL goes into the M1000 DSL modem and then I have it running to a Linksys WRT45GS Wireless G broadband router.

In this room there is a Phone jack that has two Cat5e jacks running to the wall. One is for the DSL/Phone line to the modem. The other is unused.

What I would like to know is if I can use one of the ports from the back of the router and run a cable to the Cat5e jack that is unused. This would send the signal to the mechanical room.

From there I would like to be able to distribute the internet to three other rooms.

Is this possible?

Here is a picture of the MESS in the utility room.


I believe that I will need to get some sort of port or something to run the Cat5e to the rooms. Here is what I think may work....


http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100662465/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=cat5e%20port&storeId=10051

What I would like to do with this is be able to connect two rooms to the internet for my DirecTV DVRs and another room for the internet to the computer.

Thanks for the help!


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## Athlon2K15 (Mar 7, 2012)

I think you could do it,for Gbit networks you need all 8 wires


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

I will be using all eight wires....

I am not a networking Guru by any stretch of the imagination but have made patch cables in the past with good success.  I have the crimpers and connectors so that shouldn't be an issue.

So by passing the internet in ONE line from the router to the Port...the things that access through the port are smart enough to know what is going where?  By this I mean that the computers connected know which bits of data they are receiving and transmitting?


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 7, 2012)

Those look to be punched down at RJ14 and you need all 8 wires as athlonX2 said. You will also need to change the jack on the other end to a female RJ45. A good investment (if your serious about using the existing wires) is to buy a tone generator for RJ45.

To make this work to your advantage, you will need your router which usually has 4 extra ports on it then a 24 port unmanaged switch. Connect port 1 from the router to port 1 or 24 of the switch. then you will need to patch in all your incoming connections from other rooms. I would label and use some type of cable management for neatness.


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

Thanks Brandon....

Can I use this?

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100662465/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=cat5e%20port&storeId=10051

I will only be needing the internet sent to three locations.

I am in the process of tracing the wires....what a pain.  The folks that wired this thing up were morons in my opinion.  There was no rhyme or reason as to why they did it this way.

I am good about wiring things up and labeling things appropriately.  I have already traced two of them down but in a 2 story home with TONS of jacks it is hard.  

I hope to be able to get this all squared away in the next couple of days. 

The rooms that have multiple outlets have RJ45 jacks in place but they are only wired up for phone as far as I can tell.

They have tone generators at Home Depot so I will pic one of them up.  Good for testing connectivity and making sure things are squared away.


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## dir_d (Mar 7, 2012)

Im not sure what you are asking. If you have RJ45 jacks inside the house punch down the rest of the CAT5e wires according to TIA-568B specification. Once done all ports can carry data, power or voice. Make a custom cable for the DSL. Take CAT5e take blue and white/blue in the center of an RJ45 plug, crimp it down, then on the other end of the cable take a RJ12 plug and crimp down blue white/blue in the center of RJ12 plug. Repeat for each jack that has a phone.

If you have RJ11 Keystones in the walls in your house, just buy RJ45 keystones punch those down to TIA-568B and then do what i said above. On the back end the garage or closet where you have the photos, plug patch cables into the patch panel that have data and connect them to a switch. For the ones that are phones plug the RJ11 into the RJ45 plug on the patch panel( They fit).

To Trace wires buy a Toner like This.


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

I guess I am confused on the "Switch" issue.....

The area where all the wires is does not have an electrical outlet but I can run a cord to power a switch.

So the "switch" is used to regulate the data to the rooms?

The wiring for TIA-568B spec is what I will be running and am familiar with that aspect.  It is the distribution of the internet that I am confused about.

Would the leviton unit I mentioned earlier work?

Here is my attempt at illustrating this....

Router----->Leviton 6 port----->cat5e to three locations

Would this work?


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## Athlon2K15 (Mar 7, 2012)

Im thinking your going to want at least an 8 port gigabit switch.you need something that can manage the traffic or your going to have a mess of network collisions. if you purchase a gigabit switch make sure is has the proper bandwidth for example a 4 port should have 8Gbps of bandwidth


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 7, 2012)

Yes gigabit is what you will need as long as your router is gigabit. Can you take a picture of one of the jacks on the wall in a random room and then front the panel in your closet please.


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

Ahhhh...I think I am grasping this now.

I think something like this may work?

http://www.staples.com/Netgear-Prosafe-Plus-8-Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-Switch/product_927673

So I would have this setup....

Router---->Cat5e---->SWITCH---->cat5e to rooms that need internet

This way the SWITCH can figure out what needs the data where correct?

I can terminate the Cat5e that is sent to the wall jacks and connect it to the switch and simply mount the switch in the utility room if that makes sense?


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> Yes gigabit is what you will need as long as your router is gigabit. Can you take a picture of one of the jacks on the wall in a random room and then front the panel in your closet please.




Brandon,

Here is what I have on the pics for you.  Currently the router is only a Linksys WRT45GS wireless G.  I am planning on upgrading here in the future but want to get the network down first.

Here are the pics you requested:



Some of the jacks are just phone ones and some are just the Cat5e cable.  Depends on the room


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 7, 2012)

I wouldn't get that switch. Honestly you need to access how many drops (connections) you will have/need in the future throughout your house. If you are pushing the limit at 8, then I suggest a 16 Port.

This looks to be a solid 8-port Gigabit switch

*Edit*

Those look like RJ45 keystone jacks so you can still use those just cut the cables out and repunch it down using all 8 wires with the TYPE-B

You can order more keystones for your main closet HERE

ALSO

Here is a keystone panel you can mount in one of those metal boxes then just patch cables to patch to the switch u purchase

HERE


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> I wouldn't get that switch. Honestly you need to access how many drops (connections) you will have/need in the future throughout your house. If you are pushing the limit at 8, then I suggest a 16 Port.
> 
> This looks to be a solid 8-port Gigabit switch
> 
> ...




Thanks Brandon!

I love Monoprice!  Been using them for years!

I will start the purchasing soon so that I can get this up and running.  The "switch" thing had me kind of confused but I comprehend how it works now I think.

Data from the router heads to the switch through the Cat5e cable.  From there I connect the Cat5e to the rooms I want via the switch's other ports.  The switch then knows which device is requesting data or sending it and takes care of the communication back to the router and out of the house!  Correct?

Thanks for all the help!


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## Athlon2K15 (Mar 7, 2012)

That is one hell of a mess they created for you. Im so OCD i would be pulling them all out and rerunning them tacking them to the joist every 3 feet.


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## Disparia (Mar 7, 2012)

A switch or that Leviton punch block isn't necessary if you can place your router in or near your mech room and still get good wireless signal (assuming you want a good wireless signal throughout your house).

Kinda like what I did here:






Those top four lines run to ports in the house and the WAN line is connected to my cable modem on another wall. Nice and simple.

If you do feel like wiring more rooms in the future, or the router needs to be in another place, having a switch in the mech room would make expansion and placement easy.


Lol brandonwh64, hoping that he starts up a LAN party in his house?


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 7, 2012)

Jizzler said:


> A switch or that Leviton punch block isn't necessary if you can place your router in or near your mech room and still get good wireless signal (assuming you want a good wireless signal throughout your house).
> 
> Kinda like what I did here:
> 
> ...



LOL I build racks for a living so projects like this get me going! I would imagine if with all those drops that are punched down in the main closet that you will need atleast a 8 port switch.

What I would do is setup your router in there and if its wireless, just buy a wireless coax with mount and antenna that you can mount on the outside of this room somewhere.

Athlon is right. Go to home depot and picup some steeple nails or J hooks to organize the wire mess you have then figure out what goes to which room (tone generator would be the thing to use here) the label each wire (Example: Livingroom#1, Livingroom#2, and Exc)


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

AthlonX2 said:


> That is one hell of a mess they created for you. Im so OCD i would be pulling them all out and rerunning them tacking them to the joist every 3 feet.




TRUST me I am in the process of making this Rats Nest look like it SHOULD have been in the first place.  It never ceases to amaze me how crappy folks do jobs at times.  

Hopefully I can get this all sorted out shortly and be in business!  Definitely getting the toner because tracing all of these lines is going to be a royal pain in the butt!


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

Jizzler,

I already have good wireless in the home currently.  But in order to hook up the DirecTV boxes for VOD I have to have a wired connection.  Additionally I really want to have the wired connection for the downstairs as I do some gaming on occasion and have always had better success with a wired connection TBH.

I am committed to wiring this damn thing up and getting it squared away....kind of a fun project for a few days anyhow!


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> LOL I build racks for a living so projects like this get me going! I would imagine if with all those drops that are punched down in the main closet that you will need atleast a 8 port switch.
> 
> What I would do is setup your router in there and if its wireless, just buy a wireless coax with mount and antenna that you can mount on the outside of this room somewhere.
> 
> Athlon is right. Go to home depot and picup some steeple nails or J hooks to organize the wire mess you have then figure out what goes to which room (tone generator would be the thing to use here) the label each wire (Example: Livingroom#1, Livingroom#2, and Exc)



Moving the router to the utility room may be a good idea!  I will have to trace the wires back from the office as this is where the phone guy hooked up the modem and such but I think I can figure it out!


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 7, 2012)

are the wires already labeled? If not, it will be harder to figure out were they all go.


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## Frick (Mar 7, 2012)

I don't have any input but just wanted to say it's a good thread!


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## Disparia (Mar 7, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> LOL I build racks for a living so projects like this get me going! I would imagine if with all those drops that are punched down in the main closet that you will need atleast a 8 port switch.
> 
> What I would do is setup your router in there and if its wireless, just buy a wireless coax with mount and antenna that you can mount on the outside of this room somewhere.
> 
> Athlon is right. Go to home depot and picup some steeple nails or J hooks to organize the wire mess you have then figure out what goes to which room (tone generator would be the thing to use here) the label each wire (Example: Livingroom#1, Livingroom#2, and Exc)



Heh, I understand. Have had the joy of being able to rewire the entire building of two of my last three jobs. Though I believe the OP is going to keep some of those as phone lines, unless I misunderstood the first post. Right now he's at 3 connections and possibly the modem<>router line, depending on router placement.



Guttboy said:


> TRUST me I am in the process of making this Rats Nest look like it SHOULD have been in the first place.  It never ceases to amaze me how crappy folks do jobs at times.
> 
> Hopefully I can get this all sorted out shortly and be in business!  Definitely getting the toner because tracing all of these lines is going to be a royal pain in the butt!



Good! If the previous owner had wired for data, I bet maximum transfer speed would be far south of 100MB/s (a good goal for consumer equipment, wiring) due to the poorness of the wiring. With those hand made patch cables I did in the earlier picture and the D-Link router I can achieve 113MB/s.


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

brandonwh64 said:


> are the wires already labeled? If not, it will be harder to figure out were they all go.



No....I was able to figure out generally where they go by moving a phone from room to room and disconnecting the jumper between the hubs.

Getting a wire toner in a few minutes to make the job easier.  I placed blue tape on the ones I did know about but the others were in a hit and miss stage....LOL

My plan for right now will be to move the DSL modem and Router to the utility room.
Then, I will get the wires straightened out.
Next, fix the runs to each of the rooms I need (I only need 3 devices in addition to the computer upstairs.

This eliminates the need for a switch for now.  Ultimately (read next week or two) will look at getting the switch and a new router for the Gig setup.

I am learning a ton and thanks for the suggestions.....opened my eyes to a few things.


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 7, 2012)

Guttboy said:


> No....I was able to figure out generally where they go by moving a phone from room to room and disconnecting the jumper between the hubs.
> 
> Getting a wire toner in a few minutes to make the job easier.  I placed blue tape on the ones I did know about but the others were in a hit and miss stage....LOL
> 
> ...




Sounds like good progress. What I would do is keep on it and do not remove any of them unless they are just completely broken.


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## dir_d (Mar 7, 2012)

Guttboy said:


> No....I was able to figure out generally where they go by moving a phone from room to room and disconnecting the jumper between the hubs.
> 
> Getting a wire toner in a few minutes to make the job easier.  I placed blue tape on the ones I did know about but the others were in a hit and miss stage....LOL
> 
> ...



Glad you are getting the hang of it. I would run modem ---> router ---> switch ---> patch panel and wire your middle ports 568B and leave the top alone if you want to keep them as phone only. If you have adequate cooling id run a HTPC on the switch as well or a NAS.


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## Athlon2K15 (Mar 7, 2012)

i also agree with dir_d on puting the router before the switch. always do this so you have some sort of firewall between you and the internet.


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 7, 2012)

Yep both DIR_D and Athlon are spot on. 

It should go as said, Modem>Router>Switch>Wireless Access point (if used)

The router will hold you DHCP Pool and will be your firewall between your private network and the world.


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

You guys ROCK!!!!

Ok so I went to Home Depot and picked up the Sperry Lan/Phone Wire Tracker and it is working like a charm thus far.  I have checked all the existing jacks and have them labeled!  Still have some bare Cat5e that is run through the house to the homerun area and am now looking for them.

I also installed a few Jacks and am double checking them now.

Good thing I already have crimping tools and connectors/jacks.  The folks that butchered this system did some sort of weird connections having two sets of Cat5e running to one connection.  Odd why they did this but it is fixed.  

I also noted that in the Utility room where the home run is....they must have had multiple people working at different times on this as the wire ends were TOAST...many nicks where they must have swapped one line for the next....UGHHHHHHH

I trimmed all of the ends and they are squeaky clean now!

Will keep you all updated~!

And yes I always run Modem--->Router--->switch--->Devices

Never had a switch so that will come soon.

Plan is to move the modem and router downstairs and since I only need 3 extra lines the router will do fine.  When I expand and upgrade in the next week or so then I will add the switch!


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## Guttboy (Mar 7, 2012)

*How the heck did they do this?*

Slight snag in the process right now....

Nothing that can't be solved though! 

I am not entirely certain how the phone company hooked up the DSL into the house.  It appears as though they took the blue/blue white wires and hooked them to the phone expansion plugs.  They also took the Brown/Brown white wires to the line going up to the jack in the office that connects to the DSL modem.

I am trying to figure out how to move the modem downstairs but right now it is eluding me.  If the wires were traceable or I could tug on them I might be in business....trying to figure that out now.

EDIT:

Ok....here is a picture of how the telephone connected the line.  

I am assuming that the Blue and Blue white lines that go into the Square D phone junction are for telephone.  The Brown/Brown-white lines I am unsure of....at the computer where the modem is connected I have the blue/blue-white lines and ORANGE/Orange-white lines going into the jack?

I have full internet capability so I am unclear why the Brown/Brown-white lines are connected?  

Any thoughts?

I am making an assumption that the circular connectors are DSL filters or am I mistaken?


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## dir_d (Mar 8, 2012)

I hate how sloppy the phone company is, there was no need for that. They bonded Blue with Brown and White/Blue with White/Brown. If you have extra room on your patch panel you can punch down the incoming Blue and White/Blue and label it DSL. Then on the Brown White/Brown patch panel there in the picture punch it down and run a cat 5e patch cord from the DSL incoming port to the modem port. If you dont have the room just leave it alone. It looks sloppy but it works.


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## Guttboy (Mar 9, 2012)

Thanks folks....

Still working out the kinks....LOL....I have the lines run and am going to leave the sloppy phone company wiring alone for the moment.

Been trying to figure out how to get the leftover Linksys routers (each has a 4 port switch) working.  Having the damndest time trying to get "into" them via the HTTP address....it MAY be an issue with my laptop as it has seen better days and is working on a HDD that is on it's last legs...LOL

I am going to hook up an old PC that I made a few years back and use that as the test bed.

Wish me luck!

EDIT:  FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!

The problem was with the laptop....it is about ready to be relegated to the collection of misc computer parts I have had since almost the *cough* TRS-80 4k color computer...

I was able to get into the Linksys BEFSR41 and can adjust the settings on it now.  I also have a spare Linksys WRT54G that I was able to get into as well.....boy that was fun 

Now....I am going to try to still make this work with either of the Linksys routers because I am learning a TON in a short amt of time and enjoying the "tinkering" aspects of this.

While I am playing with this I will post another thread on how to PROPERLY set up this system based on the sound advice from here at TPU.

I will be soliciting advice on hardware and design shortly....

Thanks so much for the help and I certainly appreciate you all "walking me" through this process and letting me know that these things can be done.

You folks ROCK!


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## brandonwh64 (Mar 19, 2012)

As per PM, Here is a network rack I built today at work. Sorry for the bad picture, I left my droid home by mistake.


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## Guttboy (Mar 20, 2012)

NICE JOB BRANDON!!!!!!!  She is a beauty!


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