Wiring DSL modem into home network box

[AlexinSeattle]

Hello,

My home is 8 years old and when it was built they (thankfully) ran wiring to a few of the rooms. There is a wiring box in a closet where the outside telephone/DSL service line comes in (blue wire) and is tied in to a board that then distributes that signal to the other wires in that board (which terminate as ethernet ports in 4 rooms). What I would like to do is connect the DSL modem in between the outside line and the board so that all the ports in the home are connected to the modem. We don't use the line for phone service (no land line nor any intention to add one) as we are mobile phones only, so I don't think there is any need/worry about a line splitter.

If you look at the picture below, you can see the wires are directly tied in to the board, no RJ11/RJ45 plugs on the end.
Now the back of my DSL modem is of course designed to plug in with RJ11/RJ45 plugs. Am I correct in thinking that all I would need to do is cut the blue wire and put two RJ11 on each new end?

Then I could plug the incoming DSL line into the the DSL port and then plug then the shorter segment to the ethernet port - which should now distribute the signal across the 4 gray wires tied into the board. In my thinking, I wouldn't touch any of the wiring in that patch board - I'm just cutting the line that comes from outside (blue wire), putting RJ11 jacks on each new end and those go into the router?

Please let me know if that would work or am I missing something?

Many thanks!
Alex

 

[abailey]

I can't tell from the picture. Are there 8 wires coming out of the gray cables? Do the gray cables have anything printed on them like CAT5 or CAT5e? You need to use RJ45 connectors for Ethernet. So if those are CAT5 cables then you would need to disconnect all 4 of them from the punch down block and put RJ45 connectors on them. You would disconnect the blue wire from the block and put an RJ11 connector on it. You would then plug the RJ11 into the DSL modem and you would connect the 4 gray wires into the LAN ports on the DSL modem. If your DSL modem does not have enough connections you would need to ad an Ethernet switch. Also, if you do put RJ45 ends on the cables be sure to Google the correct pin outs as it is specific for how you must wire it.
But it will not work the way you describe as you cannot just split Ethernet cables like you can phone cables.

 

[AlexinSeattle]

Hi ABailey,
Thanks for your advice. You're right, the cables turn out to be Cat5 with 8 wires coming off each (not phone lines like I thought). Looks like it's time to get a crimper and some connectors.

Thank you,
Alex

 

[abailey]

That's very nice that they are Cat5. Also very nice that your COAX is pulled into the same cabinet. That way if you needed to you could also run Ethernet over COAX if there is a room that has COAX but not CAT5.