[SOLVED] HELP converting phone jacks to ethernet

[Joonius]

I've moved into a fairly newly-built home and there are phone jacks everywhere (6 to be exact) and they're all using cat5e cables.
My plan, after reading many threads online, is to convert them all to ethernet cables for gigabit internet.

So here's what I found:

* communication box outside, ATT fiber > keystone > cable that goes into the house

* wiring closet, inline cable > keystone > cable that goes into the ATT modem (ONT port)

* living room is the only place that had a RJ45 jack in the wall. Noticed keystone and cable are both T568A

Important Note: I opened up every phone jack in the house and they each have just the "blue" pair of wires connected to the keystone. There is only one cat5e cable behind each wall plate.

So the fun begins.
I replace my bedroom's phone jack with a RJ45 keystone, find the corresponding cable in the wiring closet with a toner, terminate the end with another keystone, plug in a cat5e, then plug it into the modem. Nothing, not even "connected, no internet".
Grabbed a network tester, connected it to my bedroom RJ45, and only getting link lights 4+5 (the blue pair). Weird.
Tried different cat5e cables, cat6 cable, re-terminating with new keystones, changing both ends from T568B to T568A wiring... still only getting the same 4+5 link lights. What.

I posted this on reddit and a guy keeps saying that I'm daisy-chained somewhere but I've checked every inch of this house... inside and outside, opened up every box hung up on a wall, and I've reached my limit.
I don't normally ask for help but I've run out of ideas..... please help!

 

[SamirD]

Yeah, you're definitely daisy chained at that outlet. Try another one.

 

[Joonius]

Yeah, you're definitely daisy chained at that outlet. Try another one.

My bedroom is the main room that I need hard-wired. 😞

Since all wires lead to the central wiring closet, is there anything I can do here to "connect" the daisy chain? Like a dummy switch or something?

 

[SamirD]

My bedroom is the main room that I need hard-wired. 😞

Since all wires lead to the central wiring closet, is there anything I can do here to "connect" the daisy chain? Like a dummy switch or something?

I know, but if you find out this was just on your bedroom then it could be a broken wire instead which means the contractor can fix it under warranty. Otherwise, if they're all daisy chain, you're going to have to find out where they linked them all together. So need more info.

As far as a quick solution to get you working, it looks like you have coax and moca adapters can easily turn those into ethernet.

 

[Joonius]

I know, but if you find out this was just on your bedroom then it could be a broken wire instead which means the contractor can fix it under warranty. Otherwise, if they're all daisy chain, you're going to have to find out where they linked them all together. So need more info.

As far as a quick solution to get you working, it looks like you have coax and moca adapters can easily turn those into ethernet.

Good point on the possibility of a broken wire. So I still have hope that the other wires are possibly "home runs" then.

I did consider moca adapters at one time but unfortunately, the ATT service I have is fiber and coax isnt used.

 

[SamirD]

Good point on the possibility of a broken wire. So I still have hope that the other wires are possibly "home runs" then.

I did consider moca adapters at one time but unfortunately, the ATT service I have is fiber and coax isnt used.

Yep, and that's the point of trying out another jack since you're going to have to do them anyways and it will confirm the theory.

You don't need your service to be coax to use moca adapters. Moca can be used to convert ethernet to coax and back even in a single point-to-point run like from your demarc room to the master. And this should work even if they daisy chained stuff as long as the splitters are moca compliant.

 

[gggplaya]

With telephone wire, they did most likely daisy chain it. I don't see any reason for them to make every whole run back to the wiring closet. There's most likely a daisy chain splice buried in one of the walls and you'll never find it. This is not a warranty issue if the home was only spec'd with telephone and not ethernet.

I would terminate all the ethernet wires properly, then instead of doing a line test from each outlet to the closet. I would do line tests from each outlet to another outlet and take notes.

 

[Ralston18]

And just based on what I see in the photographs, cable management was not even an afterthought.

Make your terminations and connections as clean as possible. Test when possible.

That will give you some assurance that your work is good and that continuing problems are indeed "behind the wall".

 

[Joonius]

Yep, and that's the point of trying out another jack since you're going to have to do them anyways and it will confirm the theory.

You don't need your service to be coax to use moca adapters. Moca can be used to convert ethernet to coax and back even in a single point-to-point run like from your demarc room to the master. And this should work even if they daisy chained stuff as long as the splitters are moca compliant.

But won't I need a coax feed to be present behind each wall plate in each room? There is only a single cat5e cable there.

With telephone wire, they did most likely daisy chain it. I don't see any reason for them to make whole runs back to the wiring closet. There's most likely a daisy chain splice buried in one of the walls and you'll never find it. This is not a warranty issue if the home was only spec'd with telephone and not ethernet.

I would terminate all the ethernet wires properly, then instead of doing a line test from each outlet to the closet. I would do line tests from each outlet to another outlet and take notes.

And just based on what I see in the photographs, cable management was not even an afterthought.

Make your terminations and connections as clean as possible. Test when possible.

That will give you some assurance that your work is good and that continuing problems are indeed "behind the wall".

That's my plan today, I'll terminate all the ethernet wires in the wiring closet and run tests from outlet to outlet. I'll report back my findings, thanks!

edit: Not sure if it's worth mentioning but over the weekend, I used the wire toner's alligator clamps on each "pair" of colored wires on the cat5e cable from my bedroom to tone back to the wiring closet. I noticed that each pair would tone on different cables in the closet (not just to the single bedroom cable). So I tried crimping all the pairs into one RJ45 keystone and then connecting it to the modem, but I was still only getting link lights on the "blue" pair (4+5)...

 

[kanewolf]

Since you have in-wall wiring and wall plates, I highly recommend a low cost ethernet tester -- https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004CI9NRM/
It will help you identify if you have all 8 wires connected.

 

[SamirD]

But won't I need a coax feed to be present behind each wall plate in each room? There is only a single cat5e cable there.






That's my plan today, I'll terminate all the ethernet wires in the wiring closet and run tests from outlet to outlet. I'll report back my findings, thanks!

edit: Not sure if it's worth mentioning but over the weekend, I used the wire toner's alligator clamps on each "pair" of colored wires on the cat5e cable from my bedroom to tone back to the wiring closet. I noticed that each pair would tone on different cables in the closet (not just to the single bedroom cable). So I tried crimping all the pairs into one RJ45 keystone and then connecting it to the modem, but I was still only getting link lights on the "blue" pair (4+5)...

Yes you would. If you don't have coax in the room, moca is out. 🙁

That's some very interesting findings--definitely pointing to some daisy chaining going on for sure.

 

[Joonius]

Small update

I replaced two other phone jacks with RJ45 and they both get internet... all 8 links light up.

I then connected the wire tracker to these new ports while having the other tracker in my bedroom and no link lights... so far no daisy chain.

There are only 3 more phone jacks in the house to swap and my suspicion is that theyll be the same.

Samir might be right about a broken cable just in my bedroom...

 

[SamirD]

Glad to hear the other rooms are doing well! There is a way to get ethernet over that single pair of wire using a vdsl ethernet extender like this one:
https://www.netsys-direct.com/colle...t-managed-g-fast-ethernet-extender-nv-450ekit

But as you can tell, it's not cheap.

 

[Joonius]

Yup, just a broken cable in my bedroom. All other phone jacks were successfully converted to ethernet.

Time to crawl up in the attic!

 

[SamirD]

Yup, just a broken cable in my bedroom. All other phone jacks were successfully converted to ethernet.

Time to crawl up in the attic!

If you still have a warranty on the home, I would contact the contractor first as it was their responsibility to run the wire without damage and they would have to re-run it. Doing this out of pocket won't be cheap.