Question Activating all ethernet ports in new home ?

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ronald911

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Feb 14, 2010
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I recently bought a new house (2 story flat) in South Korea.
I have multiple built in ethernet ports spread throughout the house, however I discovered only the ethernet port in the living room works.

I then discovered this box inside my unit's entrance. A patch panel on the left, with the coax ports on the right, I think for the TV.
I have a 500mbps connection from SK Telecom.

korean-house-networking-v0-2jd31ju3sy9f1.jpg


On the patch panel there's written IN, perhaps internet? and then above it in korean it translates to "upstairs", double story apartment. The very top layer with wires connected, I assume it goes to the living room.

The router is connected with regular NAT / DHCP with no configuration required as long as you connect it to the WAN port - plugged in a brand new router out of the box and the internet just works. I presume there's a provider server room somewhere in the building that handles the rest of the connection.

So I have many dead spots in the house and when I went to buy an additional router, I learnt that the other ethernet ports are dead, particularly the room upstairs that I intended on making my home office.
However, given that this house is pre-wired I need to figure out what would the way forward be with this setup.

First thought is to get a switch and repatch the panel with INTERNET -> SWITCH -> LIVING ROOM (DHCP) and then punch add more cables from the switch to the patch panel that would hopefully light up the remaining ethernet ports.

Is this remotely doable or am I going off track?

I'm a relative noob with this, but I have my parents house in South Africa pretty well wired up, fully DIY, crimped ethernet cables, punched down ports, from their FTTH ONT, with switches and routers (same SSID) all around the house to ensure local IP addresses remain consistent and devices switch seamlessly as we move around the house and it remains FAST. But that was 4 years ago, so memory quite vague.

Advice would be much appreciated.
 
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So first I will assume you know where the terminals go and that is not your question.

It will work directly punching down wires but in the longer term I would replace that with a small patch panel so it has standard ethernet jacks instead. Makes it easier to change. Something like a 8 port patch panel is really cheap.

Now to you question.

First the path must always go ISP----modem---router----switch. You can not place a switch between the modem and the router. It is not really a technical limitation the limitation is the ISP only gives you a single IP address so if you were to connect a switch only 1 device would get the IP and the rest would not have anything.

The next key thing is where does the ISP connection come into the house in relation to the patch panel. The simplest and best is if the internet comes into that same patch panel. You would place all the equipment in there. In very simple houses where you have less than 4 rooms to patch you could just use the lan ports on the router. Although extremely simple in the ethernet concept the patch cabenet tend to be located in the worst place to put wifi. You end up having to put AP or router running as AP in the remote rooms to get good wifi coverage.

The really messy stuff comes when the ISP connection does not come into the patch panel or anywhere close to it. Let say the ISP connection is in living room and we will assume there is a ethernet jack back to the patch panel. The design is pretty much the same. You place the modem and router in the living room and then in effect use a very long ethernet cable back to the cabenet and you have a small switch there connected to all the other jacks.

There are other much more complex thing that can be done if for example the modem and the router must be in different rooms. I will leave that discussion until you indicate you have a not more simple install.
 
In full agreement with the preceding post.

And I will ask what is printed along the length of those "Ethernet" cables?

The punchdowns are also not what they should be and who knows what all else may be astray in the actual cable runs and termination points (wall jacks?) on the other end of those cables..

If the physical cable and connections/punchdowns are not as they should be there will likely be continuing network problems.

I suggest that you provide a simple line diagram showing the network wiring and devices as you understand it all.

You can use the following line diagram as a starting and you are free to edit and correct the diagram as necessary to match your network. Remove, for example, the switch if your network does not include a switch.

ISP === (coax, DSL, fiber) ===> Modem ---->[WAN Port] Router [LAN Port] ----> [LAN Ports] ---> Wired Network devices (one device being the switch.

With Switch LAN ports -----> other Wired network devices.

And Router ~~~~~ >Wireless devices.

Or feel free to provide your own diagram or sketch. Does not need to be fancy just clear and complete.

Add a few more photographs showing wall jacks, cable labels, etc..
 
I really don't suggest OP to mess with the patch panel.

It seems there are 2 ethernet cables came from the top into the patch panel and 5 ethernet cables went into the patch panel from the bottom, and then the exposed ethernet core wires were doing a crossover connection?
 
I am not sure about the wires or the patch panel.

Almost looks more like telephone wiring to me.

Not sure about South Korean standard(s).

Agree with @cruisetung - the exposed wires seem to be some sort of jumper.

Appears more to be a straight connection versus a crossover.

Would really like to see more of the photographed "patch panel".

And know more about the cables and destination wall jacks.
 
Ralston18 said:
I am not sure about the wires or the patch panel.

Almost looks more like telephone wiring to me.

Not sure about South Korean standard(s).

Agree with @cruisetung - the exposed wires seem to be some sort of jumper.

Appears more to be a straight connection versus a crossover.

Would really like to see more of the photographed "patch panel".

And know more about the cables and destination wall jacks.
Click to expand...
The wall jacks inside the house are standard ethernet female ports, with a coax as well.
 
Like I said, I don't have access to anything further upstream. For all intents and purposes this is where the internet terminals in the house. There's no modem, I assume the "modem" is somewhere in the building.

Korean apartment blocks generally have a "server room" of sorts where ISP's put their equipment (perhaps multi tenant ONTs if you can call it that) and then just run ethernet to the house. In my case it terminates in to the patch panel which then connects the living room ethernet port where I plug in my router in the WAN port and the internet just works. No authentication on the router, no PPPOE etc. It literally just works - which is kinda black magic to me, but I guess it's standard FTTB.

I will send more photos when I get back home later.
 
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So first be sure you can actually be changing the cabling, if you own the apartment then you likely can do what every you like.

What I would do is move you router to the cabinet. If you want to just hack it cut a bunch of lan cables in half.

Remove the jumper wire and connect one of these half cables to the wan port of the router. Then take the other half cables cable connect them to the lan ports on the router side and connect the other ends to all the various ports going to the remote rooms.

I would still replace that punch down block with a small patch panel so you can use normal ethernet cables. It will work just by using the half cables but it doesn't look as nice and it is much easier to say accidentally pull a cable out.
 
And what is printed along the length of those cables serving those wall jacks?

Ethernet and coax.

Hopefully you will be able to see some print on one end or the other of any given cable.

Or somewhere along the cables' path if not fully run through walls or conduits.

FYI:

https://www.electronicshub.org/ethernet-pinout/

Look at the wiring pattern on the photographed patch panel (block?).

= = = =

As has been posted you need a router but there should only be one router in your network. To serve other areas of your house you will need an Access Point. Which can be a router with DHCP disabled.

However if there are Ethernet ports that can be used then that is what I would recommend (and would do).

You may have options but the first objective is to understand what is now in place.
 
ronald911 said:
I recently bought a new house (2 story flat) in South Korea.
I have multiple built in ethernet ports spread throughout the house, however I discovered only the ethernet port in the living room works.

I then discovered this box inside my unit's entrance. A patch panel on the left, with the coax ports on the right, I think for the TV.
I have a 500mbps connection from SK Telecom.

korean-house-networking-v0-2jd31ju3sy9f1.jpg


On the patch panel there's written IN, perhaps internet? and then above it in korean it translates to "upstairs", double story apartment. The very top layer with wires connected, I assume it goes to the living room.

The router is connected with regular NAT / DHCP with no configuration required as long as you connect it to the WAN port - plugged in a brand new router out of the box and the internet just works. I presume there's a provider server room somewhere in the building that handles the rest of the connection.

So I have many dead spots in the house and when I went to buy an additional router, I learnt that the other ethernet ports are dead, particularly the room upstairs that I intended on making my home office.
However, given that this house is pre-wired I need to figure out what would the way forward be with this setup.

First thought is to get a switch and repatch the panel with INTERNET -> SWITCH -> LIVING ROOM (DHCP) and then punch add more cables from the switch to the patch panel that would hopefully light up the remaining ethernet ports.

Is this remotely doable or am I going off track?

I'm a relative noob with this, but I have my parents house in South Africa pretty well wired up, fully DIY, crimped ethernet cables, punched down ports, from their FTTH ONT, with switches and routers (same SSID) all around the house to ensure local IP addresses remain consistent and devices switch seamlessly as we move around the house and it remains FAST. But that was 4 years ago, so memory quite vague.

Advice would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
It's very simple... there are 8 CAT5 cables that are connected to that punch block. Each cable goes somewhere in the house. Use a Network Toner on each cable to determine where it goes, and label each one.
Follow the previous responses... and you'll likely have to replace the punch block with a switch.

Be sure to use T568B terminations for all the RJ45 connections: WO/O/WG/B/WB/G/WBr/Br to get the fastest throughput
 
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In order to get Internet to the other rooms in the house, you'll need 2 ethernet cables going to/from the Living Room to the Patch Box
1 cable provides the router with WAN
The other cable will need to provide Network to the other locations via a switch

IF you don't have 2 cables, then you'll have to move the Router into the Patch Box, and add a switch there to provide the rooms more than the amount of jacks you have on the router
 
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dingo07 said:
In order to get Internet to the other rooms in the house, you'll need 2 ethernet cables going to/from the Living Room to the Patch Box
1 cable provides the router with WAN
The other cable will need to provide Network to the other locations via a switch

IF you don't have 2 cables, then you'll have to move the Router into the Patch Box, and add a switch there to provide the rooms more than the amount of jacks you have on the router
Click to expand...
Yes this is exactly what my current idea is.

Only one cable to the living room unfortunately.
 
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@ronald911
____________

Also from Post #13 (@dingo07 )

"Be sure to use T568B terminations for all the RJ45 connections: WO/O/WG/B/WB/G/WBr/Br to get the fastest throughput"

Look at the existing color pattern on the wiring closet patch panel....

The colors per se do not matter. However it does matter that the wires are consistently and properly punched on both ends and preferably using the 568B standard. Widely used and recognized. 568A is another choice.

As for the existing cables: they may be for telephone service. I see no marking on those cable nor on the COAX cables for that matter.

Just having four pairs does not make a cable an Ethernet cable.

It does appear that there is a cable to cable pairing with respect to a gray wire from the patch panel block being alongside a white coax cable and exiting as a pair to some destination room. That makes sense if each room Upstairs Bedroom, Study, Living Room has a wall outlet with an RJ-45 jack and a coax cable connector.

Per the photograph, I only see one connection "punched in". That being the jumper from upper right patch panel block to lower right patch panel block as noted by @cruisetung . That connection may be to the living room [WAN Port] Router.

Thus you at least have one working wired connection path and wireless service via the router to the network's wireless devices.

= = = =

My layout, as I currently understand the requirements, would be to place the router in or near the wiring closet shown in the photograph.

Make the WAN port router connection there, then use short Ethernet cables from the Router (4 ports) to each of the patch panel's served rooms via the existing Cat 5e or Cat 6a cables (red and green lines) with consistent and correct terminations on both ends. Caveat being that those cable runs are indeed real Cat 5e or Cat 6a cables.

Many home routers have four ports so there may be no need for a switch. Make and model router? Or modem/router perhaps?

One path to one wired device (where ---> represents an Ethernet cable) being:

---- from "building" ----> [WAN Port] Router [LAN Port X] ----> [Port #1] 568B Patch Panel Punchdown block [Punchdown # 1] ---- > Ethernet cable run to Living Room Wall jack punchdown [Wall Jack port] --> connection to wired network device.

Repeat for the remaining three wired connection paths (2,3, 4) to the other rooms. Bedroom, Upstairs Study, and ?

Another issue is the modem. It is still not clear to me how ISP service is actually being delivered to the patch panel and thus to the router.

Keep in mind that the 500 mbps service you are paying for may be being tapped into by someone else.....

Or being shared with/by other tenants to begin with resulting is slow performance on your devices.
 
Ralston18 said:
@ronald911
____________

Another issue is the modem. It is still not clear to me how ISP service is actually being delivered to the patch panel and thus to the router.
Click to expand...
It's black magic to me as well, but every apartment build I've ever lived in Korea had a setup like this where the ISP (there's only 3 in Korea, SKT, LG U+ & KT) would have an FTTB setup and it's being delivered to somewhere central in the building and from there they would ensure that your unit's ethernet port are somehow wired to receive to connection you are paying for. I don't think being tapped into by someone else is a concern, else it would be a well known issue as this is the setup in most apartments in the country.


Router is an ISP Provided one, Mercury GW-ME6110.
 
Think the house is using CGNAT (Carrier-Grade Network Address Translation), your router will get a private IP instead a public IP. It doesn't affect how you should connect the router however.

Updated photo with center piece removed? And are you sure the ports in other room are rj45 ethernet ports, not rj11 phone ports?

As mentioned by others, actually you should put the router besides the patch panel.
 
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cruisetung said:
Think the house is using CGNAT (Carrier-Grade Network Address Translation), your router will get a private IP instead a public IP. It doesn't affect how you should connect the router however.

Updated photo with center piece removed? And are you sure the ports in other room are rj45 ethernet ports, not rh11 phone ports?

As mentioned by others, actually you should put the router besides the patch panel.
Click to expand...
They are 100% ethernet. :)

I'm positive an rj45 male cannot fit into an rh11 female - physically plugged ethernet cable into the port to test.

Last night I just did a quick prototype, where I wired up an either directly into the slot that said IN (internet) and the router connected to the internet as expected.



oGfLQ6g.jpeg


Only took this photo after I removed the bottom patch.

Ff6HFwt.jpeg


qxURrVm.jpeg
 
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So my idea now, is getting a smaller router with enough ports + a WAN port that can fit near or in this cabinet.
And then patch more ethernet cables that go from new router to other rooms and I believe that should work.
 
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You do not want to use that patch panel. You should remove each cable from it, and terminate each cable with an RJ45 in T568B. Find the other end in the room, and re-terminate the Keystone Jack (female plug in the wall) in T568B if it's not already.
Using the punch block will only introduce a point of failure, and possibly reduce overall speeds.

You should look into Ubiquiti UniFi products, like the new Cloud Gateway Fiber, and see if they are available to you. It'll provide you with one POE+ port if you wanted to add an access point in the future for wifi.
 
ronald911 said:
So my idea now, is getting a smaller router with enough ports + a WAN port that can fit near or in this cabinet.
And then patch more ethernet cables that go from new router to other rooms and I believe that should work.
Click to expand...
You are right.

So you have punch down tool and know how to use it, and you have a power source inside the cabinet.

So it looks like the lower right is the incoming WAN and upper right was wired to living room and was straight jumped between them.

What you need is a wired ethernet router inside the cabinet as you speculated. Remove the jumper wire first. You then can use existing ISP router but don't use its wifi feature (the wifi signal will be blocked by the metal cabinet anyway) or buy a new wired ethernet router and put it in there. Use the black ethernet patch cable you created and connect it to the WAN port.

Then create several short patch cables like you did with that black ethernet cable and punch down to the patch panel and connect the other side with rj45 jack to the LAN ports of the router. So all rooms' ethernet can all connect to the router.

I suppose the house in Korea is concrete? You can use any router and put them in AP mode and connect one of its LAN port (not WAN) to the wall ethernet jack so each room can have wired and wifi access. If you put the ISP provided router back to living room it also should run in AP mode.
 
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My thoughts:

That punch down block needs to be replaced with a known 568B patch panel.

It may be tempting to replace the existing connections by terminating the current wires with RJ45 connectors.

However, I see two problems with doing so: 1) there does not appear to be enough cable (service loop) in order to do that, and 2) those wires may be 4 pair telephone wiring (Cat 3 at best).

Ethernet cable (Cat 5e and Cat6a) and 568B punchdown terminations being much more demanding than telephone wiring/punchdowns.

FYI:

https://findanyanswer.com/what-is-the-difference-between-a-66-block-and-a-110-block

From Post #22 (@ronald911)

"So my idea now, is getting a smaller router with enough ports + a WAN port that can fit near or in this cabinet. And then patch more ethernet cables that go from new router to other rooms and I believe that should work."

Redraw your diagram accordingly.

Then do some additional testing with the existing router first.FYI

Premise being that the incoming cable via ISP/Building/CGNAT is connected to the router's WAN port (blue per image).

And that eventually there will be some sort of Ethernet patch cables between the router and real Ethernet RJ45 ports on the patch panel. Again making those punch downs may be problematic.

One cable run being (living room example):

--- Service connection via ISP ---->[WAN Port] Router [LAN Port X] --- patch cable ---> [568B port] Patch Panel [punched connection to served room (e.g. Living Room)] ----installed cable to served room ---> Room 568B wall jack.

The currently installed cable types & specs to the listed rooms are still TBD - correct?

Initially set the router up as near to the service box and as high as possible. Do so as a temporary test configuration. No permanent mounting.

Then test wireless connections to all rooms. Also test the connection and performance via the wired connection to the living room.

Objective to simply establish an initial baseline regarding potential network performance both wired (living room test) and wireless (all served rooms).

If possible you can patch in and test the wired connections to other rooms as well.

Diagram it all out and use the diagram for notes and measurements.

FYI:

Patch Panel images

You can easily google for other similar images and explanations.

Take your time and be methodical - plan first, then implement.
 
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