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Where do the ethernet jacks in my house go?
01-01-2009, 06:43 AM
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#1
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Houston
Posts: 1,448
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Where do the ethernet jacks in my house go?
Our house was built in the 90s, we bought it last year. Several of the rooms have wall plates with an ethernet cable sticking out of them. However, I can't find where the other end of all the cables comes together (e.g. where I could plug them all into a router/switch). I've checked all the rooms, closets, garage, and attic. In the attic, there are wires run all across the ceiling, but none of them looks like ethernet cable, and most of them are obscured by the blow-in insulation, so its hard to trace. I expect the patch panel would be at least somewhat accessible. Any other tips on where these things usually terminate?
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01-01-2009, 06:48 AM
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#2
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Recycles dryer sheets
Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 101
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It's probably your telephone wiring, they seem to use ethernet cable for telephone wiring these days.
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01-01-2009, 06:50 AM
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#3
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: North of Montana
Posts: 2,769
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Probably in a service area near your electrical panel and telephone/cable entrance. May not be cat5 though, as burch said.
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01-01-2009, 08:26 AM
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#4
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,487
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When we built our home a few years ago we used cat5 for both network and phone, they both along with the TV cabling all come to the same box. Have you found your cable TV terminus? Most of the folks around here have theirs in a closet in the master BR but could be elsewhere.
R
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01-01-2009, 09:59 AM
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#5
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
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In my newer home, the CAT5 other ends are coiled up inside a small box (6"x8"?) with a grey cover plate, inside a closet.
In my older home with just old 4-wire telephone wiring, I was able to put 10Mbps Ethernet through it. Not real fast for file sharing, but plenty fast to get on the Internet.
I also have WiFi, but prefer wired connection for more reliability.
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01-01-2009, 06:23 PM
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#6
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 717
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Back when I strung coax for mainframe terminals, I used a device phone guys have to find wires. It's called a toner - and puts a tone on the wire. You also need a probe - which detects and amplifies the tone. Once you put the tone on the wire, you can walk around the house waving the probe and you'll soon find your wire. You can use it to trace any kind of wire -- telephone, coax, data, AC etc.
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01-01-2009, 10:22 PM
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#7
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Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 35,712
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Yes, the wire tracer that riskadverse described is indispensable to identify the wire at the other end, among the bundle. That is after you have located where the bundle end emerges.
The probe I bought will sound a tone when in proximity of the wire that has the toner attached. However, it has to be within 1 ft. The toner/probe pair cost me $70, if I remember correctly.
Without it, you would go nuts, trying to figure out which wire ends match up.
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01-02-2009, 08:11 AM
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#8
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Full time employment: Posting here.
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Atlanta suburbs
Posts: 898
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If you really can't find it anywhere inside - one more place to check would be outside the house inside your Network Interface Device (NID) - typically a small gray plastic box. Uncommon but I've seen it wired this way.
Link to see what is a NID: Phone-man's Home Phone Wiring Advice Page- Network Interface Device
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01-02-2009, 09:42 AM
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#9
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Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Houston
Posts: 1,448
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Thanks for the advice. Upon closer inspection, it turns out there are only two jacks with ethernet cable sticking out of them, one in study and one in master bedroom. A closer look at some of the other ethernet jacks revealed them to just be phone jacks. I think the two rooms are linked by the same cable which would explain everything.
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