Prewired house but how do I activate the Ethernet network?

[jdogorsi]

I know this has been addressed here before but I haven't found an exact setup like mine on here....yet. New house, prewired for ethernet but all the blue Cat5e cables run to what looks like a dead end. There is also a single loose Cat5e coiled around the (punch panel?). What's that for? From researching, I'm pretty sure I need a switch? But how do I plug the Cat5e cables into it with the ends they gave me? There's no plug connector on the ends, just wires. I want to activate this system because our TV keeps dropping the WiFi connection so I would like to go with a LAN connection instead. The black coaxial cables all go to DirecTV. Thanks!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=14jpRTi57kT6E4wVS34okqyrUlCNO_h_V

https://drive.google.com/open?id=16OAXrjDzCKCQlMnmOi0gtL8mIR_sTQsN

 

[jsmithepa]

U cannot say house is wired for ethernet by just looking at that... those could be CAT5/6 cables but I can't zoom enough to tell. Even if they are CAT5/6 the way they are wired may/may not be for ethernet. The picture shows a PUNCH PANEL which is most used for phone, security system, maybe home automation.

For ethernet then, you must have CAT5/6 cabling running from this location, call it the JUNCTION, to a plate on each room, and first thing you want to do is, open a plate and verify it has all 8 wires, commonly called 4 pairs present, because that's what ethernet requires. If that's a YES, then you need to convert that PUNCH panel (assuming you are not destroying any alarm, home automation etc) to a RJ45 patch panel then hook up your ethernet switch to it.

 

[jdogorsi]

Thanks for the response jsmithepa!
The blue wires say Cat5e on them. We have no phone line and no home automation.
I opened up a plate (which we have in 7 rooms in the house) and I confirmed there is 8 wires. See pics. All plates look exactly like this one.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1M8IuATiIdD3VLxBUQDlPmLQ3tVT4TrkQ

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1D2u0SFekwzzfysgeJe9Q9Y3BNTE8iEcE

So in order for this to work I would need an RJ45 patch panel AND an Ethernet switch?

 

[Alabalcho]

Whoever did the termination at the rooms must be fired, and never ever allowed to do that again.

As mentioned above - confirm the cable used is Cat5/6. Then the fun part begins:
- get a LAN tester like this, RJ crimping tool, and a handful of RJ45 connectors; Another way to ring the cables is to use simple ohm-meter, make a dummy RJ45 plug with all eight wires jumped together, and probe the other end until it rings.
- cut and re-terminate the cables in your junction box. Since I don't see any labels on them, you'll have to either run thru all rooms until you find the other end, or use hints from the cable itself (usually, Ethernet cables have a foot or meter markings, if you can pull enough of it from the room to read it)

The funny part is that you said you have seven outlets, but I see ten cables being patched (and one being coiled). When you're done with ringing the cables, mark them properly.

 

[Math Geek]

look closer at the panel with all the ethernet cables in it. get a model number for that and from there can look it up and figure out what exactly it is and what it's trying to do. that will go a long way to helping figure out what you've got wired and for what.

the wall jack is the right wires for cat5 but that does not mean it was put there for net access.

 

[jdogorsi]

The funny part is that you said you have seven outlets, but I see ten cables being patched (and one being coiled). When you're done with ringing the cables, mark them properly.

Yes there is seven outlets and ten cables........???? I don't know why..........All I want to do is get one of them working for the tv. I think I understand what you're saying. I need to get an RJ45 patch panel and an Ethernet switch. I'll post how it goes! BTW, the blue cables say Cat5e right on them so at least that's confirmed. Thanks!

 

[Math Geek]

The funny part is that you said you have seven outlets, but I see ten cables being patched (and one being coiled). When you're done with ringing the cables, mark them properly.

noticed that as well. not sure what the goal was/is for it but with some luck, a lot of testing and a little adjusting hopefully it can be made to distribute ethernet around.

 

[jdogorsi]

OK, now wait a minute, I just thought of something. Where is my "main" line supplying the internet? Maybe it's the coiled wire? Hmmm..........maybe all this IS for telephone. I'm back to square one now.

 

[Math Geek]

unless it is a VOIP set-up running a VOIP server in the house, telephone connections are not CAT5 and are wired with RJ-11 jacks and not RJ-45. usually only uses 2 or 4 wires instead of the 8 your jack is wired with.

need to figure out where it comes into the house and how it gets to that panel to understand how it is set up overall. then of course trace the input to that panel to see what's up.

 

[jsmithepa]

So in order for this to work I would need an RJ45 patch panel AND an Ethernet switch?

Correctomundo.

But a shallow STRUCTURED PANEL like yours is not the best for an Ethernet patch panel, u really want something with rear access. There are tons of youtube videos on what people do for this, help yourself.

 

[bill001g]

You need to replace the patch panel with something like this.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-1x6-Cat5E-Voice-and-Data-Expansion-Board-47603-C5/100062860

There used to be a 8 port one for much cheaper but today I just can not find it.

Depends on how your internet is delivered. There likely is a coax and a ethernet type cable going outside the house. Many times you would place the modem in this cabinet. But if the internet is deceived directly to another room you can feed a lan port back to this cabinet.

 

[jdogorsi]

look closer at the panel with all the ethernet cables in it. get a model number for that and from there can look it up and figure out what exactly it is and what it's trying to do. that will go a long way to helping figure out what you've got wired and for what.

I checked the model number on the patch panel and Leviton says it's for telephone only, Not suitable for data. So that answered a lot, it's wired for phones. Hmmm.....

 

[jdogorsi]

You need to replace the patch panel with something like this.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-1x6-Cat5E-Voice-and-Data-Expansion-Board-47603-C5/100062860

There used to be a 8 port one for much cheaper but today I just can not find it.

Depends on how your internet is delivered. There likely is a coax and a ethernet type cable going outside the house. Many times you would place the modem in this cabinet. But if the internet is deceived directly to another room you can feed a lan port back to this cabinet.

Thanks bill001g!

If I do decide to go this route I will most likely stuff everything in the 3" depth cabinet in the house and run a LAN from the router back to the cabinet. I've seen slim looking switches so I don't think that would be a problem.

 

[Alabalcho]

OK, now wait a minute, I just thought of something. Where is my "main" line supplying the internet? Maybe it's the coiled wire? Hmmm..........maybe all this IS for telephone. I'm back to square one now.

The Internet comes INTO your router, and I don't see a router in your picture. So, if you want this closet to be your comms center, you'll need to bring ISP cable (coax or Ethernet) into that closed, and plug it into the router.

 

[brucewol]

You probably need to take a step back and better understand where you want to go and if what you have will work for you. In a more standard environment, your isp brings internet into your house and connects through a modem. From the modem there is a connection to a router. The router usually has 5 or so ports coming out of it that you can plug devices into like a pc, printer and a smart tv if the tv has an etherenet connection. The router is the central location from where all ethernet cables branch off.

From what has been mentioned, you have cables in the wiring closet that can handle ehternet - cat 5e but they look like they were set up for telephone. hard to see but looking at your patch panel it looks like there 4 screws per cable - a telephone 4 wire setup. Etherenet is an 8 wire setup and usually a sort of u shaped knife edge connector that the wire is punched down into.

As some mentioned, you can easily get a patch panel for ehternet that will fit in your closet.

But you need to know where the cables go from the closet to each of your rooms. This should have been done and labeled where you might have a wire number on each of the cables in the closet and the same number at the termination in each of the rooms. Similar to labeling circuit breakers in your electrical service panel. There are networking tools that can help you do this, but with a little more effort you can do this with a multimeter or voltmeter. You need to go to 1 of the rooms and tie 1 of the 4 twisted pairs together. maybe the room that the tv is in as a starting point. then go back to the closet and use the voltmeter to test conductivity across the same color of twisted pair. If you don't understand conductivity or how to use a voltmeter, spend some time in Wikipedia. You can get an adequate voltmeter from amazon for $10 -$20 and once you learn how to use it, you'll wonder how you ever got along without one.

Once you know which cable goes to your tv, you need to figure out how to get a cable from your router to your closet. Not enough info so far me to comment. But if it was my setup, I would connect from one of my router ports and used the prewired connection in that room to get to your wiring closet. Then add a switch. Connect the switch to each of your other remaining 9 cables. now you would have ethernet in every room of the house, not just where your tv is.

There really isn't anything magical about a prewired house. just a central place - your wiring closet, that has a cable running to each of the rooms - a hub. You need to figure out how to connect this hub to your router, then to your modem and to your isp for ethhernet.

Hope this helps. But you will probably need to do a bit more homework to figure it all out.