What's going on in this photo?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › What's going on in this photo?

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#319758 29-May-2025 14:32

Hi all, I hope I'm in the correct forum. I am taking ownership of a new house tomorrow. During my final inspection, I found this on the wall near the ONT and modem. Can anyone explain to me what is shown in the photo? I assume the top left is for a TV aerial, but I don't know what else is going on.

I was hoping to get ethernet to my son's bedroom and my office (I work from home and he's a gamer) although I have not found ethernet ports in any other rooms. The office has one that looks the same as that pictured on the centre of the bottom row with the white cover on it.

How hard would it be to get ethernet to my son's room if the ONT is downstairs and his room is upstairs on the opposite side of a brick and weatherboard house? My sister, who co-owns the property with me, is not keen on making any unnecessary holes in the cladding.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

1 | 2

8321 posts

Uber Geek

#3378088 29-May-2025 14:46

Its probably more useful to take the socket off and have a look at what's in the wall and take a photo of that,

It looks like AV (maybe analog phone and sky or and old Telstra/Vodafone cable)

The silver cover will snap off and on, - pull it off, then unscrew the faceplate,

It doesn't look like there is ethernet plugs on that socket thou, Where is the ONT in the House? -

gehenna

8502 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3378101 29-May-2025 15:46

Agree that all looks like a/v stuff.

Simple enough to run ethernet, though. If it's a single run then just find an electrician - people have opinions about this, but all my home ethernet was done by a local electrician and he did a great job. It cost me around $500 to run ethernet to 5 rooms, and down into my basement rack where the ONT and router lives. If you want to run to each room you can still use an electrician like I did, but you might have a better result from a structured cabling company depending on how difficult it is to work in your walls and ceiling.

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#3378134 29-May-2025 17:59

wellygary:

Its probably more useful to take the socket off and have a look at what's in the wall and take a photo of that,

It looks like AV (maybe analog phone and sky or and old Telstra/Vodafone cable)

The silver cover will snap off and on, - pull it off, then unscrew the faceplate,

It doesn't look like there is ethernet plugs on that socket thou, Where is the ONT in the House? -

Cool - I will do that on the weekend. Weird that this is all AV stuff because the TV is at the opposite end of the room. This panel is in a corner and the ONT is on the wall immediately to the right.

gehenna:

Simple enough to run ethernet, though. If it's a single run then just find an electrician - people have opinions about this, but all my home ethernet was done by a local electrician and he did a great job. It cost me around $500 to run ethernet to 5 rooms, and down into my basement rack where the ONT and router lives. If you want to run to each room you can still use an electrician like I did, but you might have a better result from a structured cabling company depending on how difficult it is to work in your walls and ceiling.

Sweet, we are getting electricians in pretty smartly to do a thorough electrical check and add some additional power points. They ran ethernet to my son's room in my current house, but in that instance they were able to get down below the floor and feed it up. This house has no basement and a concrete block lower level, so I am not sure how they'll get it from the downstairs ONT to the upstairs bedrooms. I'll definitely ask them to suggest solutions, though.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

Apsattv

2388 posts

Uber Geek

#3378204 30-May-2025 04:21

If the outlet is there just missing the keystones then surely they left space to drop whatever cables you need to each outlet.

Who left it like that??

Goosey

2830 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3378205 30-May-2025 05:53

Apsattv:

If the outlet is there just missing the keystones then surely they left space to drop whatever cables you need to each outlet.

Who left it like that??

going by the OPs description, I reckon outgoing homeowner put the TV in the corner as described and ignored the as built suggested location for said TV and that’s now compounded by the ONT being on a wall in the same room at the outgoing homeowners chosen choice for the TV. Bad planning….but you do what you do at the time I guess.

cddt

1553 posts

Uber Geek

#3378215 30-May-2025 07:59

Apsattv:

If the outlet is there just missing the keystones then surely they left space to drop whatever cables you need to each outlet.

Who left it like that??

My house came with one almost identical to this, also missing a couple of keystones. Except mine did have an ethernet port included - but on the other end of the cable it wasn't terminated, literally chopped off and lying in the dirt under the house.

My referral links: BigPipe | Mercury

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#3378247 30-May-2025 10:22

Apsattv:

If the outlet is there just missing the keystones then surely they left space to drop whatever cables you need to each outlet.

Who left it like that??

The house has had one owner since new (the people we bought it from) so I presume they did it. The TV is actually in a recessed area above the fireplace at the opposite end of the room, so it's weird they put the AV stuff in the opposite corner by the door, but I presume they must have had the TV there at some point. We get the keys today, so I'm definitely going to pop the plate off and have a better look.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

Sharesies

Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

Bung

6480 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3378254 30-May-2025 11:14

littleheaven:

The TV is actually in a recessed area above the fireplace at the opposite end of the room, so it's weird they put the AV stuff in the opposite corner by the door, but I presume they must have had the TV there at some point.

Is there room for any AV stuff by the fire. Maybe there was a Sky decoder by the faceplare connected to the tv via the black cable.

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#3378255 30-May-2025 11:16

The recess accommodates the TV, a soundbar, and the previous owner had their sky box perched on the ledge also. I think they might have had some sort of media storage down by the panel, though.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

nova

250 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#3378256 30-May-2025 11:27

That face plate has space for six keystones, so would be interesting to see if there is any other cabling there. Also check how the phone wiring is done, in more recent houses it is often cat 5E, and can be used for ethernet up to 1Gbps, if you replace the jacks on either end. But in a lot of houses is that it is often daisy chained between outlets, so how useful this is depends on the wiring layout.

littleheaven

2130 posts

Uber Geek

#3378259 30-May-2025 12:01

Oh, interesting! The house was built in early 2009, so I am not sure whether the phone cabling would be 5E - that would certainly solve the issue as we don't plan on having landline phones. I will definitely get the electricians to check for that, thank you.

Geek girl. Freelance copywriter and editor at Unmistakable.co.nz.

coffeebaron

6233 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3379300 30-May-2025 19:28

I have done a few daisy chain networks re-purposing CAT5e phone wiring. So hopefully that's what's hiding behind the plate.

Rural IT and Broadband support.

Broadband troubleshooting and master filter installs.
Starlink installer - one month free: https://www.starlink.com/?referral=RC-32845-88860-71
Wi-Fi and networking
Cel-Fi supply and installer - boost your mobile phone coverage legally

Need help in Auckland, Waikato or BoP? Click my email button, or email me direct: [my user name] at geekzonemail dot com

shk292

2853 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#3379305 30-May-2025 20:49

I guess if it’s Daisy chained up could put a switch at each outlet and make it work. Not ideal but better than wireless

richms

28173 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#3379327 30-May-2025 23:02

shk292:

I guess if it’s Daisy chained up could put a switch at each outlet and make it work. Not ideal but better than wireless

There are dirt cheap gigabit power over ethernet extenders with multiple ports on aliex that can make it so you dont have to worry about people powering the switch off in the middle parts of the run.

Richard rich.ms

nova

250 posts

Master Geek

Trusted

#3379355 31-May-2025 11:22

I've got one of these hidden behind a faceplate:

https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/NETDNX0077/Dynamix-A-PD-C5E-Cat5e-Inline-Coupler-Punch-Down-B

Useful if you don't need ethernet at that location and just want to join the cable.

1 | 2