[SOLVED] Cat 5e Capped at 100Mbps Due to Split Wiring

[phyrephox]

Hi everyone,

I searched the forum first and I think I know the problem but since I'm inexperienced with working with cables I want to be extra sure. The internet wall jack in my office is capped at ~95Mbps, but plugging straight into the router yields 300Mbps. I traced the wiring from my office down to my switch and realized that the gigabit switch is registering 100Mbps connection for that cable. Upon closer inspection I found that the wiring for that cable is all split up and four of the 8 wires are going to other connections.

I understand that you need all 8 wires connected to the RJ45 connector/socket (I'm not sure what to call this but it attaches to the wall) on both ends of the cable to hit gigabit speeds.

From the images below you can see at the end where my switch is, there are 2 blue wires that go to what looks like a telephone jack that leads to somewhere else i the house via some connector, and 2 brown wires are just wrapped around the cable and connected to nothing.

Here are the connections at my switch:

https://imgur.com/AYvDg5A

https://imgur.com/NpBs43e

Here is the wall plate in the office:

https://imgur.com/lZEBvCY

To fix this, do I just need remove the blue wires from their connections, take the blue and brown wires and connect them to the connector/socket that leads to my office to get gigabit speeds? Can I just pry those white sockets open to connect the missing wires?

Thanks all!

 

[bill001g]

As long as you fix both ends of the cable it should work. Hard to say for sure about those particular keystones. There are some that are made that you can't get them apart. You or may not be able to connect the wires without a punchdown tool. Worst case you can buy a new keystone from say the local home improvement store almost all those do not need any special tools to install.

............That wire looks strange color wise. The wire twist also look wrong. Maybe it is just a different brand thing. Check the jacket of the cable and make sure it says cat5e it might be cat5 cable. Cat5 cable is not really desigend to run at gbit but it might work.

 

[OrlyP]

Short answer: Yes, you'll need all eight wires terminated on both ends to do 1000BaseT... granted you're using at least Cat5e cables and connectors.

Apparently, the guy or outfit who wired this adopted a single LAN cable to have simultaneous data port and POTS port. This may have been ok 20 years ago but nowadays, it's common practice to have at least a couple of Cat6a cables, at the minimum, wired from the patch panel to each I/O port/outlet. One is typically used for an IP phone + PC while the other one can be used for an analog phone (POTS) or as a spare for a 2nd network device.

You have two options:

1. Re-terminate them so that each LAN cable is terminated to a Cat5e terminal (all 8 pins populated). However, that port can only work as either LAN or POTS.... not at the same time.
2. Re-cable the whole thing with Cat6a/7 or higher with extra ports to make it future-proof up to 10gbps.

 

[bniknafs9]

my tp link router is like that too , some RJ45 pins are missing. and it doesn't support more than 100 mbps . chinese jingoism

 

[phyrephox]

As long as you fix both ends of the cable it should work. Hard to say for sure about those particular keystones. There are some that are made that you can't get them apart. You or may not be able to connect the wires without a punchdown tool. Worst case you can buy a new keystone from say the local home improvement store almost all those do not need any special tools to install.

............That wire looks strange color wise. The wire twist also look wrong. Maybe it is just a different brand thing. Check the jacket of the cable and make sure it says cat5e it might be cat5 cable. Cat5 cable is not really desigend to run at gbit but it might work.

I just spent a good 10-15 prying them open (carefully) with success! I think you slot the wires into the white part then press them into the block part which acts like a punch down tool. I did check the jacket of the cable and it definitely says Cat5e. I noticed the wire colours are weird too. There are light and dark versions for each color. I looked at the wire placement of a properly installed keystone which is receiving gigabit signal and figured out that the light color wires are going to where the striped wire socket should go (I hope so at least).

Short answer: Yes, you'll need all eight wires terminated on both ends to do 1000BaseT... granted you're using at least Cat5e cables and connectors.

Apparently, the guy or outfit who wired this adopted a single LAN cable to have simultaneous data port and POTS port. This may have been ok 20 years ago but nowadays, it's common practice to have at least a couple of Cat6a cables, at the minimum, wired from the patch panel to each I/O port/outlet. One is typically used for an IP phone + PC while the other one can be used for an analog phone (POTS) or as a spare for a 2nd network device.

You have two options:

1. Re-terminate them so that each LAN cable is terminated to a Cat5e terminal (all 8 pins populated). However, that port can only work as either LAN or POTS.... not at the same time.
2. Re-cable the whole thing with Cat6a/7 or higher with extra ports to make it future-proof up to 10gbps.

Yeah, I'm not pleased that whoever installed it did this. The house is about 9 years old, so not sure why we didn't get Cat6a. I think I will have to go with option 1 and use them as LAN ports. Re-cabling would probably cost a lot as the this cable runs all the way up to the third floor.

Thanks for direction everyone. I'm about to give it a try. Will report back soon!

 

[mihen]

I'm surprised you didn't have any issues with a connection like that. They probably messed with it to add phone lines but only had 1 wire per location. I would replace the key stones at each end if you have enough wire. That way you can be sure you have a solid connection.

 

[USAFRet]

Yeah, I'm not pleased that whoever installed it did this. The house is about 9 years old, so not sure why we didn't get Cat6a. I think I will have to go with option 1 and use them as LAN ports. Re-cabling would probably cost a lot as the this cable runs all the way up to the third floor.

5 vs 6a is irrelevant.
Properly terminated Cat5e is just fine.

Wrong can be done with either. As is the case here.

 

[OrlyP]

5 vs 6a is irrelevant.

I guess some qualifiers are in order.

If you have Cat5e cables already installed, they're fine as they can achieve 1 Gbps when terminated properly.

However, if you're laying down new cabling, there's little incentive to use the older Cat5e. Cat6a isn't at all that too expensive anyway, and it is future-proof. Beyond the fact that it can do 10 Gbps, it is also more forgiving to interference (tighter twists) so connections are more stable and error-free, even at just 1 Gbps.

 

[SamirD]

I guess some qualifiers are in order.

If you have Cat5e cables already installed, they're fine as they can achieve 1 Gbps when terminated properly.

However, if you're laying down new cabling, there's little incentive to use the older Cat5e. Cat6a isn't at all that too expensive anyway, and it is future-proof. Beyond the fact that it can do 10 Gbps, it is also more forgiving to interference (tighter twists) so connections are more stable and error-free, even at just 1 Gbps.

The disadvantage is that nearly no one can terminate 6a properly and it requires 6a ends (5e/6 won't fit due to the larger gauge wire).

The OPs setup is your typical electrical contractor that thinks they know how to wire ethernet because they can wire telephone. And they shortcut by not running 2x home runs and then do this hack job on each end to get a phone jack and a 100Mbps ethernet jack. Electricians should never touch ethernet--even in the 25 years since I saw this type of crap at my parents house built in 1995, the idiots STILL don't know what they're doing.

I've seen wire like that before with different shades, and honestly the colors don't even matter as long as they're in the correct 568a/568b positions. So do that on both ends of each cable and you should have full gigabit--unless those idiot electricians did anything else to mess up the cable run...

 

[phyrephox]

Guys. I think it worked. After what felt like a bit of heart surgery 👇

https://imgur.com/HjIbv2t

All lights are green on the gigabit swtich! It's only 323 Mbps, but it's the most I've got. Can't believe I went a couple of years paying for 300Mbps and only getting 90Mbps in my office. 🤦‍♂️

Thanks for the help!

 

[SamirD]

Guys. I think it worked. After what felt like a bit of heart surgery 👇

https://imgur.com/HjIbv2t

All lights are green on the gigabit swtich! It's only 323 Mbps, but it's the most I've got. Can't believe I went a couple of years paying for 300Mbps and only getting 90Mbps in my office. 🤦‍♂️

Thanks for the help!

Sweet! Great surgery doc! Yeah it sucks now that you know but that ignorance was bliss.