Using existing cat5 for home LAN

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layman

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#128724 21-Aug-2013 13:09

Hi.

Recently I moved into a new home. It was built about 10 years ago and every room has a RJ45 socket connected by cat 5 cable. There is a central box in the garage that looks like a telecommunications bus. With all the cat 5 cable terminating here.

I don't have a landline. Can I utilise the existing cable to as a LAN? I realise that cat5 isn't the fastest option but as the cabling is in place I'm hoping it will be faster than wireless. How do I connect my router to this setup? There is an alarm at the property (not sure if this matters).

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

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#882161 21-Aug-2013 13:22

Just to assist, are you able to take a photo or two?

Ragnor

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#882187 21-Aug-2013 14:09

Yes you can, basically you put your modem/router or a network switch in the cabinet and use cat5e patch cables from the patch panel ports you want to be LAN to the router or network switch.

ubergeeknz

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Vocus

#882190 21-Aug-2013 14:16

Cat 5e is good enough for Gigabit. Plain old Cat 5, if it's good quality, should also do gigabit but will do at least 100Mbps. Either way, it's going to beat Wireless.

sbiddle

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#882191 21-Aug-2013 14:17

I'm not sure what you mean by "cat5 isn't the fastest solution". It's stock standard for an Ethernet network.

Assuming all jacks are wired correctly it's simply a matter of placing your hardware near the patch panel and connecting it.

Inphinity

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#882192 21-Aug-2013 14:25

Connect each of the ports you want to use for network connectivity at the patch panel in the garage to the ports on your switch/router. As above, Cat5 can do 1000Base-T just fine (unless they're very long runs or have high interference), which is what most consumer-grade GbE devices use. The 1000Base-TX standard however specifies cat6, but that's unlikely to be relevant to your situation.

Zeon

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#882196 21-Aug-2013 14:29

Yes you are lucky to have such good wiring. Cat5 cable is fine and can handle 1gbps (its more than likely cat5e). Put your modem, router and switch in the garage and run from there.

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#882339 21-Aug-2013 18:18

Here is a diagram i drew up the other day for someone else which may help you understand "structured cabling"

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layman

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#882438 21-Aug-2013 21:19

Thanks for all your replies. That's great news. Seems like its fairly easy, and I'm lucky the place was built with all this cabling installed.

Thanks raytaylor for your diagram. I've attached a photo of the setup in the garage.

So I set the router up in the garage. It's got 4 ports on it. Do I have to patch each port individually? One other question. Once I get the router setup and the networked delivered to the lounge. Then do I use a network switch (sorry I don't know the correct term) to divide that signal up to about 4 other pieces of equipment?

Thanks again for your assistance.

Jaxson

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#882442 21-Aug-2013 21:36

Yeah I was going to say that the very easiest way is to connect all 4 ports on the modem as required. Do you have more than 4 devices requiring wired LAN connections is really the big initial question?

layman

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#882593 22-Aug-2013 09:48

Jaxson: Yeah I was going to say that the very easiest way is to connect all 4 ports on the modem as required. Do you have more than 4 devices requiring wired LAN connections is really the big initial question?

Once I get the LAN into the lounge I have three to four devices that I'd like to be wired. A home theatre amp. The TV and a Blu ray. At the moment they're all plugged into the router which lives in the lounge.

Cheers.

Zeon

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#882614 22-Aug-2013 10:00

layman:
Jaxson: Yeah I was going to say that the very easiest way is to connect all 4 ports on the modem as required. Do you have more than 4 devices requiring wired LAN connections is really the big initial question?

Once I get the LAN into the lounge I have three to four devices that I'd like to be wired. A home theatre amp. The TV and a Blu ray. At the moment they're all plugged into the router which lives in the lounge.

Cheers.

How many ports in the wall do you have in the liunge? Usually its best to have individual runs back to the patch panel or if you don't have enough ports but have say 2 wall ports, use a splitter e.g.

But if only one you will need to use a switch.

In your garage, you will need to replace what is installed there with a patch panel by the looks of things.

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#882641 22-Aug-2013 10:35

layman:
Jaxson: Yeah I was going to say that the very easiest way is to connect all 4 ports on the modem as required. Do you have more than 4 devices requiring wired LAN connections is really the big initial question?

Once I get the LAN into the lounge I have three to four devices that I'd like to be wired. A home theatre amp. The TV and a Blu ray. At the moment they're all plugged into the router which lives in the lounge.

Cheers.

Buy a cheap unmanaged 4 or 5 port switch. All your entertainment system will plug into it and you'll only use one port on your modem/router. A number of places sell these switches on the net, ie mightyape, cablesdirect. This is what I've done for my tv/blu-ray/amp/extender and it works a treat.

Inphinity

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#882674 22-Aug-2013 11:29

Zeon:
layman:
Jaxson: Yeah I was going to say that the very easiest way is to connect all 4 ports on the modem as required. Do you have more than 4 devices requiring wired LAN connections is really the big initial question?

Once I get the LAN into the lounge I have three to four devices that I'd like to be wired. A home theatre amp. The TV and a Blu ray. At the moment they're all plugged into the router which lives in the lounge.

Cheers.

How many ports in the wall do you have in the liunge? Usually its best to have individual runs back to the patch panel or if you don't have enough ports but have say 2 wall ports, use a splitter e.g.

But if only one you will need to use a switch.

In your garage, you will need to replace what is installed there with a patch panel by the looks of things.

Be aware you will not get gigabit speeds on 1000BASE-T devices using these splitters! 1000BASE-T uses all 4 pairs, these splitters work by running each port across 2 pairs. 1000BASE-TX should be ok though, as it only uses 2 pairs, but is far less common than Base-T.

layman

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#883562 23-Aug-2013 19:20

Thanks for your responses guys. I think I'm going to have to do a bit more research about patch panels and how to install one.

Cheers.

MadEngineer

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#883574 23-Aug-2013 19:58

I wish more houses were wired with cat5/6, should be standard for new builds to have at least 2 cat6 cables to every room.

I say at least so that you can use hdmi over cat6 adapters that require two cables, then you need data, phone ...

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