Cat5e Wiring

wingzfan · 08-21-2008, 10:09 AM

Hopefully this is an easy question to answer so here goes. Im moving into a home that has a cat5 junction box. Every room in the house has cat5e ran to a jack but it was ran for the phone line. My question is can I use those phone lines as the ethernet lines for any pc's in the house since there wont be a land line in use. What Id like to do is hook the modem up downstairs to a wirless router and run the router into the cat5 junction box where the "phone in" line was and use that box as a type of switch.

renegade X · 08-21-2008, 11:09 AM

Yes and no.

If they had terminated all the wires then yes. If not, use a punch-down tool to crimp the rest. The block should be color-coded.

**johnwill** · 08-22-2008, 02:42 PM

Maybe. Network wiring MUST be home runs, not daisy-chained. Many phone installations, daisy-chain the outlets, that won't work for networking.

WiFiTech · 08-23-2008, 10:10 AM

Hello Wingzfan,
As both Johnwill and Renegade X stated it is all a matter of how the home is wired. My preference would be to save the time trying to test it all and just use a Wireless Router. If you must play with the wiring be sure to avoid three problems.
1) There is voltage on a phone line. You must DC the incoming Phone connection (physical disconnect)
2) You will still have to use a Hub, Switch or Router to supply ethernet to each run.
3) You need to be sure that only one device is connected per run.
--a) I have been able to run ethernet over a daisy chain wiring install however, Only to a single location. Meaning, that only one device could be connected in the entire home even though the there was a seperate line in each room. We connected a switch in that room to allow more than one device to be connected but the speeds were compromised by about 30%.
If you have a phone demark with seperat lines running to the junction block, you can detach them and connect them one at a time and see which jacks light up. If you get more than a one to one relationship then that line is daisy chained.
Hope this helps,
Kevin

08-21-2008, 10:09 AM	#1 (permalink)
wingzfan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 1 OS: XP	Cat5e Wiring Hopefully this is an easy question to answer so here goes. Im moving into a home that has a cat5 junction box. Every room in the house has cat5e ran to a jack but it was ran for the phone line. My question is can I use those phone lines as the ethernet lines for any pc's in the house since there wont be a land line in use. What Id like to do is hook the modem up downstairs to a wirless router and run the router into the cat5 junction box where the "phone in" line was and use that box as a type of switch.

08-21-2008, 11:09 AM	#2 (permalink)
renegade X Registered User Join Date: May 2008 Location: My house Posts: 77 OS: 1) XP SP3 2) Vista SP1 3)Server 2K3 4) Server 2K8	Re: Cat5e Wiring Yes and no. If they had terminated all the wires then yes. If not, use a punch-down tool to crimp the rest. The block should be color-coded.

08-22-2008, 02:42 PM	#3 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 41,922 OS: Windows 7, XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: Cat5e Wiring Maybe. Network wiring MUST be home runs, not daisy-chained. Many phone installations, daisy-chain the outlets, that won't work for networking. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

08-23-2008, 10:10 AM	#4 (permalink)
WiFiTech Registered User Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Madiera Beach, FL Posts: 56 OS: Windows Mobile 6.1, XP SP4, Vista Ultimate SP2.	Re: Cat5e Wiring Hello Wingzfan, As both Johnwill and Renegade X stated it is all a matter of how the home is wired. My preference would be to save the time trying to test it all and just use a Wireless Router. If you must play with the wiring be sure to avoid three problems. 1) There is voltage on a phone line. You must DC the incoming Phone connection (physical disconnect) 2) You will still have to use a Hub, Switch or Router to supply ethernet to each run. 3) You need to be sure that only one device is connected per run. --a) I have been able to run ethernet over a daisy chain wiring install however, Only to a single location. Meaning, that only one device could be connected in the entire home even though the there was a seperate line in each room. We connected a switch in that room to allow more than one device to be connected but the speeds were compromised by about 30%. If you have a phone demark with seperat lines running to the junction block, you can detach them and connect them one at a time and see which jacks light up. If you get more than a one to one relationship then that line is daisy chained. Hope this helps, Kevin