Basic Patch Panel and ADSL question

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AndrewAC

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#62203 1-Jun-2010 10:40

I have spent some time reading posts about ADSL and Patch panels and have learnt a lot (but obviously not enough!)

Currently we are in serviced apartments with a shared patch panel. The Telecom technician connected 2 ports on the patch panel for us - Broadband and Phone.

I have our ADSL router patched to an 8 port switch, and from the switch, 8 network cables going to each connector on the patch panel that matches our offices.
This works fine and dandy.

We are moving to a new office which has our own patch panel. I have read that a patch panel is "passive" but was wondering if because the patch panel is dedicated to us, would the technician be able to connect our broadband to all ports on the patch panel therefore eliminating the need to the 8 port switch.

We use the 2wire router that telcom provided. Could anyone let me know if this would work? Or am I trying to put a square peg in a round hold? Any comments appreciated.

Do you also get gigabit patch panels and 100mbps patch panels to match your cabling?

Regards,
A

kyhwana2

2566 posts

Uber Geek

#336952 1-Jun-2010 11:15

Not sure I quite understand what you're asking, but you need the ADSL modem/router to do NAT for all your machines on your LAN. You'll also need the 8 port switch to switch all the traffic to/from the ADSL modem/router..

As long as the cabling is cat5e/cat6 it'll do gigabit. (And it'll also do 10/100mbit)

JimmyLizar

321 posts

Ultimate Geek

#336965 1-Jun-2010 11:46

...would the technician be able to connect our broadband to all ports on the patch panel therefore eliminating the need to the 8 port switch.

Maybe, might have other issues without the switch though. I know that you can punch a telephone line pair into (say) 4 ports on a patch panel to get telephone on those 4 ports. Maybe it best to wait for cyril or sbiddle to answer this one definitively.

We use the 2wire router that telcom provided.

should be ok...I use a netgear DG834G with all 4 ports patched to my 24 port patch panel, works great (if I ever need more than 4 adsl connections I will need to get a 8+ port switch)

Do you also get gigabit patch panels and 100mbps patch panels to match your cabling?

Dont think so as they are a dumb device that provides a way of connecting two pairs of wires.

NB: this is the best of my knowledge. I was in the same position as you ie. a noob when it came to doing the structured wiring in my new house build. I have learnt a fair bit but I dont profess to be an expert. Dont do anything until someone like cyril or sbiddle have made comment.

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AndrewAC

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#336975 1-Jun-2010 12:01

JimmyLizar:
...would the technician be able to connect our broadband to all ports on the patch panel therefore eliminating the need to the 8 port switch.

Maybe, might have other issues without the switch though. I know that you can punch a telephone line pair into (say) 4 ports on a patch panel to get telephone on those 4 ports. Maybe it best to wait for cyril or sbiddle to answer this one definitively.

We use the 2wire router that telcom provided.

should be ok...I use a netgear DG834G with all 4 ports patched to my 24 port patch panel, works great (if I ever need more than 4 adsl connections I will need to get a 8+ port switch)

Do you also get gigabit patch panels and 100mbps patch panels to match your cabling?

Dont think so as they are a dumb device that provides a way of connecting two pairs of wires.

NB: this is the best of my knowledge. I was in the same position as you ie. a noob when it came to doing the structured wiring in my new house build. I have learnt a fair bit but I dont profess to be an expert. Dont do anything until someone like cyril or sbiddle have made comment.

Thanks Jimmy - yes, I'm very much a noob!

I am thinking of swapping out the 2wire switch - it doesn't give me enough control over things, such as blocking sites limiting bandwidth etc. It does allow me to do quite a bit, but you can't "get under the hood" so to speak as telecom have hardwired a lot into it.

It just seems redundant (in my mind anyway) to have the switch there when its a wired facility.

-

AndrewAC

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#336978 1-Jun-2010 12:07

kyhwana2: Not sure I quite understand what you're asking, but you need the ADSL modem/router to do NAT for all your machines on your LAN. You'll also need the 8 port switch to switch all the traffic to/from the ADSL modem/router..

As long as the cabling is cat5e/cat6 it'll do gigabit. (And it'll also do 10/100mbit)

Ah, NAT - just looked that up on wikipedia! I will have a look at the cabling in the building this afternoon - hopefully its Cat5e at least.

Thanks for the comments!

-A

Ragnor

8223 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#336989 1-Jun-2010 12:48

A patch panel normally just brings all your cables (from all your jack points) to a central point, from there each cable aka jack that you want to use for something needs to be connected to something. traditionally either a network switch for lan/ethernet or a pabx for phone/voice.

Usually you'd have your adsl modem, your network switch and voice hardware in or near the patch panel.

If I recall correctly the 2Wire modem/router has 4 10/100Mbit network ports, so you would still need the switch if you wanted more ports than that and wanted gigabit lan speeds.

As long as the cable in the building is Cat5e or Cat6 and your switch is gigabit you'll be able to use gigabit lan speeds (assuming the pc's/laptops have gigabit network chipsets/cards).

FreakyKiwi

66 posts

Master Geek

#336995 1-Jun-2010 13:07

You will still need to use a switch - you cant daisy chain or split off ethernet to multiple ports without a device - each port on the patch pannel requires a port on either a switch connected to your modem/router or a port on the modem / router

graemeh

2078 posts

Uber Geek

#336996 1-Jun-2010 13:07

AndrewAC: would the technician be able to connect our broadband to all ports on the patch panel therefore eliminating the need to the 8 port switch.

We use the 2wire router that telcom provided. Could anyone let me know if this would work? Or am I trying to put a square peg in a round hold? Any comments appreciated.

Do you also get gigabit patch panels and 100mbps patch panels to match your cabling?

Regards,
A

No it won't work. The "broadband" port on the patch panel will be carrying an ADSL signal that your ADSL modem uses.

You still need the modem to decode the signal and do NAT and other things.

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cyril7

9058 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#337078 1-Jun-2010 15:41

I presume what you are saying is that the new location has a patch panel at a central point in the office and outlets (TO's) at various locations around the office.

If the above is correct then you can use your current 2Wire ADSL modem, have this connected to a phone line that is at or near this central location where the patch panel is, telecom should sort that phone line out for you when you get them to connect your phone/DSL services up, this will require them to visit or they may just liven an existing connection to the demarc (assume an M/IDF in the building) and expect you to sort out an independant technician to get phone/DSL services to the patch panel.

Once the above is done then depending on how many outlets you require live with ethernet from the 2Wire modem (that will provide both internet and NAT routing from all the PCs to the internet) you may need to get an extra ethernet switch to achieve what you want.

The current patch panel if cat5e rated is probably good for GigE speeds, but that may have to be tested, if you want GigE speeds between computers within the office then yes getting a GigE capable switch will allow this (assuming the cabling is up to it), however the connection to the internet will still be limited by the speed of the DSL connection itself.

Cheers
Cyril

AndrewAC

5 posts

Wannabe Geek

#337415 2-Jun-2010 15:49

cyril7: I presume what you are saying is that the new location has a patch panel at a central point in the office and outlets (TO's) at various locations around the office.

If the above is correct then you can use your current 2Wire ADSL modem, have this connected to a phone line that is at or near this central location where the patch panel is, telecom should sort that phone line out for you when you get them to connect your phone/DSL services up, this will require them to visit or they may just liven an existing connection to the demarc (assume an M/IDF in the building) and expect you to sort out an independant technician to get phone/DSL services to the patch panel.

Once the above is done then depending on how many outlets you require live with ethernet from the 2Wire modem (that will provide both internet and NAT routing from all the PCs to the internet) you may need to get an extra ethernet switch to achieve what you want.

The current patch panel if cat5e rated is probably good for GigE speeds, but that may have to be tested, if you want GigE speeds between computers within the office then yes getting a GigE capable switch will allow this (assuming the cabling is up to it), however the connection to the internet will still be limited by the speed of the DSL connection itself.

Cheers
Cyril

Many thanks to Cyril and all others that have passed on their wisdom. I now feel much more confident going forward with this.

Regards,
Andrew