[SOLVED] New house house Cat 5e but terminates outside?

[wirewick]

Hey all,
The house Im moving into has cat 5e wired to every room. The strange part to me is that the junction box is outside. The last house I lived in had the junction box in a closet which made it very easy to plug in a switch and have everything nice and safe from the elements.

There are 8 cat 5e cables that run to various areas in the house. And there are 6 coax cables.
I would like to have all 8 cat 5e setup for ethernet. I also need 1 phone line setup but I think that will run directly of the cable modem, and I can use wireless extensions for other rooms. I also plan on having 3 tv's setup with cable boxes.

What's the best way to get this all a wired together for my home network? My last house had a power outlet inside the junction box and this house doesn't have that. Imgur photo below.

https://imgur.com/a/iMzWycd

View: https://imgur.com/a/iMzWycd

 

[kanewolf]

It may be cat5e, but it is designed for POTS phone. There ARE outdoor rated switches. But there is no power. You may have to use POE to power your switch.

 

[wirewick]

Ah. So that white cable that goes up to the left of the box, is that a phone line from the street? The coax cable seems to come from the ground so I have no idea where this one leads to.

Is there anything else visible in this picture that show a possibility of making power in that space? There's an outlet a few feet away from the box but I don't know how could make that work.

Also the other side of this wall is the garage. I guess I could just bring the Cat cables through the wall and setup the switch inside.

What's the best way to do this?

 

[kanewolf]

Ah. So that white cable that goes up to the left of the box, is that a phone line from the street? The coax cable seems to come from the ground so I have no idea where this one leads to.

Is there anything else visible in this picture that show a possibility of making power in that space? There's an outlet a few feet away from the box but I don't know how could make that work.

Also the other side of this wall is the garage. I guess I could just bring the Cat cables through the wall and setup the switch inside.

What's the best way to do this?

If it were my house, I would carefully cut the wallboard ABOVE that box and put an inside box, that you can then have an indoor switch.
It also looks like that house has a crawlspace, so you may be able to run additional outlets via the crawlspace.
Since all those wires go up, I would take a look in the attic above the garage to see what it looks like up there also.

 

[wirewick]

Thanks for working with me.
Up the wall above the junction box area/garage is an upstairs office. There is an attic with a crawlspace, if that's what you mean. But it's a California home with post tension foundation if that's relevant.

What's the white cable that goes up? What are all the cut colored wires in the center of the box that come off the thick black cable? That looks like power to me..

 

[kanewolf]

Thanks for working with me.
Up the wall above the junction box area/garage is an upstairs office. There is an attic with a crawlspace, if that's what you mean. But it's a California home with post tension foundation if that's relevant.

What's the white cable that goes up? What are all the cut colored wires in the center of the box that come off the thick black cable? That looks like power to me..

A crawlspace under the house is what I thought the small rectangular opening was showing. Post tension, would generally be a slab foundation, that looked like pier and beam. Obviously not.
The brown and white wires going to the two terminals are your phone line.
The white wire is phone cable also. Probably added later, or the original install and the blue was added during a remodel or something.

 

[wirewick]

Thanks. Im still new to networking so Im trying to learn as much I can as I go.

You said the brown and white wires are the line and go to the terminals. But where do they come from? And how do they get into the house?

All I really understand at this point is that there are 8 Cat cables in the house, on the room end they are wired for phone, and on the outside end they are tied together with these rectangular things. I see a white cable that connects the two rectangles together, and then another white cable that goes up into the house?

Also my understanding is that this is all original wiring from the builder.

Thank you for helping.

Here is a closeup of the colored wires that appear to have been cut:

https://imgur.com/a/FP0hnBd

View: https://imgur.com/a/FP0hnBd


This is the wall plate in the room on the 2nd story above the junction box. It's for ATT Uverse I think and Im not exactly sure what's going on here:

https://imgur.com/a/LQyS1M0

View: https://imgur.com/a/LQyS1M0

 

[SamirD]

So you've got what looks like ethernet wire coming to your box (blue wires), but they're terminated to phone wire blocks. These will need to be re-terminated on both ends--to a cat 5e block in your box and keystones would be ideal in the rooms. (This includes att's hack job.)

Once you do that, you've got ethernet, which can also be used for phone. Then you need to figure out how to run wires from those cat5e jacks in your box to a switch either mounted in your box and powered from the garage or in your garage.

 

[wirewick]

Thanks im starting to figure it out. Im considering POE switches per kanewolf's suggestion, and also considering the option of just bringing power to the drop, or cut the wall and bring the drop into the garage. I still have a few questions.

1. Where does "POTS" come in on this box?
2. What's going on in that area with the green pair, brown pair, and all those other cut / colored wires?
3. What is that white wire that goes up above the junction box?
4. What the heck is going on with that ATT faceplate?
5. If I rewire all Cat 5e on a network switch, how can I use landlines? (this may not be an issue if I decide to use a cable modem with wireless landlines directly attached)

Thank you so much for answering all of my questions! Upvoting everyone who participates.

 

[SamirD]

Thanks im starting to figure it out. Im considering POE switches per kanewolf's suggestion, and also considering the option of just bringing power to the drop, or cut the wall and bring the drop into the garage. I still have a few questions.

1. Where does "POTS" come in on this box?
2. What's going on in that area with the green pair, brown pair, and all those other cut / colored wires?
3. What is that white wire that goes up above the junction box?
4. What the heck is going on with that ATT faceplate?
5. If I rewire all Cat 5e on a network switch, how can I use landlines? (this may not be an issue if I decide to use a cable modem with wireless landlines directly attached)

Thank you so much for answering all of my questions! Upvoting everyone who participates.

I would bring it into the garage since a poe switch will still need power and you can just plug in the power cord into the garage if that's the only hangup. But I would caution this as the enclosed box won't allow any ventilation and is more exposed to the elements compared to something inside the garage.

Answers:

1. The original pots wires came in on the wires in the gray box. That was the original att demarc. Somewhere along the way, the white wire became the phone or 'pots' line and was distributed via those rectangular termination blocks.
2. See above
3. See above
4. It's probably a plate with a built-in dsl filter as well as a separate port for a phone and a dsl modem, but those terrible splice thingees are what I would see on 1970s phone wiring so those are terrible.
5. Luckily the inner two pairs of tia568a/568b are able to be used as phone wire. So as long as you have a phone on each end (don't have a switch or you'll blow a port!), you can connect a phone line to your block and simply plug in a phone in the room jack. RJ45 jacks also work with phone without a problem, so no re-wiring or termination. (This is why it makes no sense for electricians and other 'installers' to not simply wire everything for ethernet when using 4-pair cat5e wire.)

Hope this helps!

 

[wirewick]

Thank you, that was very thorough and helpful.

I thought the PoE Switch could be powered remotely by the Cat's it received. But it looks like PoE is for the purpose of giving power to things like Ethernet security cams, so Im not sure how this would even apply to my situation?

So I guess the safest bet is bringing all the Ethernet into the garage and setting up a network switch in there.
Or the easier option would be to hang the network switch in the existing "Demarco" location. I took a closer look and noticed a power outlet a couple feet away that could be used, but it would be partially exposed to the elements. Worst case scenario is I have to replace a switch?

Re: Answer #1. That makes sense. I see that all the Cat cables are attached to phone blocks, but I still don't see where that white wire goes? Or the purpose of the white wire? Is that what ATT used when they setup the phone network? I don't see where the white wire goes and Im not sure what it does.

Re: Answer #5. "So as long as you have a phone on each end (don't have a switch or you'll blow a port!), you can connect a phone line to your block and simply plug in a phone in the room jack."

>>Right so if I wire all 8 Cats to an ethernet switch, I won't have the option for phone? I don't know who you mean by "phone on each end."

Thanks again for all the help, Samir, Kanewolf, and anyone else who contributes!

 

[kanewolf]

There ARE outdoor rated POE powered switches, for example -- https://www.ui.com/unifi-switching/unifi-switch-flex/
If you can move the ethernet cabling into the garage, it will be better, but there are options if you can't.

 

[wirewick]

Right, but PoE switches are for providing power over ethernet to other devices right? Since they still need to be plugged in to power, im not sure what that would solve for me. Unless Im mistaken.

 

[kanewolf]

Right, but PoE switches are for providing power over ethernet to other devices right? Since they still need to be plugged in to power, im not sure what that would solve for me. Unless Im mistaken.

That switch I listed is intended to be POWERED by POE, in addition to being able to provide POE to some devices. This type switch is used to power outdoor cameras and access points, where power is not available to the switch or other devices.