[SOLVED] Is there any way to utilize Cat5e for both Gigabit internet and Phone Line?

vanquished

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Sep 24, 2012
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Hi Everyone,
So this is a mild annoyance but I just purchased a new house that has Cat5e in every room. While that's better than not having it, it does not have any phone jacks and annoyingly the doorbell/intercom only works through the phone line. The electrician tied all the two blue central wires of the cat5e together and then connected them to the doorbell thing.
XIcVJV0
https://imgur.com/a/XIcVJV0

So the blue wires are directly connected to every port in the house. Obviously this means that my ethernet is not pushing gigabit speeds, right? (I know my internet is only 120mbps but I want the network to be gigabit). I set up a velop system with 4 nodes and ethernet backhaul.

I wanted to be able to have the phoneline and doorbell connected but my phone is from my isp so obviously I'd need to have the phone and originating ethernet connected to the same port which won't work, right?

Is there any way to make all the ports work for both gigabit ethernet and phone (for the doorbell)? I think if not my only option would be to by a second phone to use on the spare ethernet jack in my master bedroom which is less than ideal since I would have to have two cordless phone systems... Ugh, what a stupid way to wire a new house.
fclJB8h

https://imgur.com/a/fclJB8h

Appreciate any help/suggestions. Thanks!
 
Solution
That's one fancy doorbell. Do u have to have a bell in every room?

Gigabit ethernet MUST have the whole cable to itself, period, finito, no argument. U can use half of that cable, 4 wires for 100 mbit.

kanewolf

Titan
Moderator
Analog phone uses AC voltages that are incompatible with ethernet. You will have to choose which rooms use the ports for phone (with wireless handsets you usually only have 1 or 2) and what rooms have ethernet. The rooms with ethernet need to have the wires shown in your second picture properly terminated (I would cut all the unshielded wire off and start over). You might want to add a punchdown patch panel and short jumper wires to your switch.
 
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vanquished

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So unfortunately I guess that means there is no way for me to work this with gigabit? Since the modem is on the second floor (as is the router). I crimped all the cables (actually recrimped them after taking this picture because I mixed up the order of the orange and brown - ugh) Leaving the blue wires twisted together as the electrician left them that's all the space I had to work with which is why I left so much unsheated, doesn't seem to cause a problem though. I have a feeling I'll need to cut and recrimp all of them again though to add the blue center cables in.

So anyways, you're thinking the solution for me is to pick an ethernet jack and keep it totally separate from the switch to run the blue cables through and plug in a phone. Is there a way for me to combine two cordless base stations so I could have one at the doorbell and the other connected to the phone line from the cable modem (as it currently is)?

Thanks!

EDIT: Oh yeah, I have a security system too that they didn't even connect, no idea how that's supposed to work. Supposedly monitored by the HOA but if it requires an outside phoneline I guess I'm SOL.
 
Yeah, definitely want to redo those RJ45 connectors on there. UTP, or Unshielded Twisted Pair wires are twisted for a reason. They reduce crosstalk which reduces transmission errors. The wires should only be untwisted as close as possible to the actual metal contact within the RJ45 connector. This distance is only a few millimeters, with CAT5e being only a bit more lenient than CAT6, but if the wires are untwisted outside the connector it is surely out of compliance either way.
 
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vanquished

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< This is how I have it set up right now, with 100mbit to ever port but I want to allow it to be gigabit, it's just used for ethernet backhaul between my Velop nodes but... Unfortunately I don't have a bell in any room :mad: I really wish that it was just a simple doorbell and not this stupid intercom doorbell combo that results in me currently not having any bell.



I had the installer connect internet while I had a single wireless router and not the mesh system I have now so that's where he did the fine-tuning. Also the modem is one of those wifi/phone/modem combo units so it's huge and wouldn't fit in that cabinet with the switch and all the other crap. Since I have the velop system now, the internet needs to go into one of the nodes before going to the switch or the backhaul/mesh wouldn't work (at least that's my understanding) > that's the main problem, I don't want to put one of the nodes in the garage for no reason.