Networking Basics
 

Maybe the title of this thread should read "I got screwed" and it should be in the home and home renovation forum, but it's a long story... Basically it boils down to this...I need some help...The situation:

This year, my parents finished building a house, they hired a useless goon to do the low voltage wiring for the house and the guy never got the job done... So now I got a brand new house with cat 5 cable running through it, and all leading into one panel, along with the phone lines and cable etc. It should've been a smart panel of sorts, but I'll never know cause it's just a hole in the wall right now with a bunch of cat 5 cables sticking out of it. The guy finished the cable and phone lines, but bolted before the cat 5 shit was completed... So this is where I need help.

Does anyone know where I should start (ie links) ? The cables have been run, and meet at the panel...but what next? I feel like it's just basic networking, but I just can't seem to find any sources on the web that make sense for my situation, and clearly I have very limited knowledge of networking...I'm certain I can finish the job, just don't know where to start...


ps. I'll post a pic of the panel later... If something I said didn't make sense, I can clarify!

I recommend gettin another technician to get it done. Theres a lot of things you may not know, I wouldnt risk it especially when its a brand new house.

Also the stupid goon who didnt get it done, probably fucked up along the way. So hiring someone who is capable, may recognize and adjust changes.

^ Yeah I've considered that my last resort. All the quotes I've gotten so far are for full price, no one wants to take on a patch job on shoddy work.

Plus...I want to learn this stuff, I'm just finding myself wasting a lot of time on how-tos and guide that aren't really helping at all. Thought maybe I could get links to more well made guides.

I tried finding some for you online but they arent good at all. Learning this requires a lot of hands-on work.

^Thanks for trying recon. Do you have an idea of what would go in that panel by any chance, is it a switch or something?

If your not familiar with networking, I wouldnt touch it..

If you have time and willing to learn, you can DIY, just pick some networking books from chapters... good info... You could prolly find tons online for free... but reading it from the books is worth while, you can always re-read incase you forgot something instead to dig it up from online again.. sometimes it can get frustrated..


Are the cat5 cables even labelled so you know which cables runs into which room? I hope so...

Also.. that dumbass should have used cat5e at least... supports higher bandwidth incase you have lots of people connecting..


BTW, I would have gone with Powerline adaptors instead of re-wiring cat5 cables. Heard lots of positive things and could be cheaper in the long run then paying a tech to wire(re-wire in your case).


http://www.rackmountsolutions.net/im...el-Cnv0139.jpg

This is what a Networking Patch Panel looks like, yours is going to smaller.. the backside is where yo put fuses.
I wouldnt really recommend a patch panel for homes...

From reading your posts, i did a quick search on what i think you're needing and this video (i skimmed it really quickly) seems to address most if not all of your questions.

The patch panel just terminates all the cat5 cable into a nicely organized point of connection. You then run cables from the patch panel to the switch. However you may not even need patch panel. Just terminate all the cat5 with connectors and connect directly into a switch. Unless you want it nicely done.

Sweet, thanks a lot guys, this should be good, I still haven't gotten around to taking a pic of what it looks like, but I will ASAP.

This is why I thought it'd be worth posting this here, revscene tech support :D

Maybe skip the cat 5 and just go wifi?

PM me, im a certified low voltage guy as well, im always willing to help out a fellow RSer.

I can come take a look at it for you and tell you what you will need, and help you out with it.

If you know how to hookup your own router and switch, you can do this job yourself. The only complication is knowing which cable runs where. The guy probably labeled the ends of the cables, so this could be easy.

If you read this pdf, you will be a expert.
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&...iMVn3A&cad=rja

This pdf outlines how do a super professional job. You can get away with a far less sophisticated job. There are online tutorials on the internet that are much easier learn with.

Can still be pretty easy. All he needs is a switch and a laptop. The connection led will light up when there's a positive connection so by process of elimination he can easily determine which run goes to which room.

PM me if you need help. I do this for work so i can help you out if you want to learn.

^Thanks to everyone who posted, I'll keep you guys in the loop as to what happens, I'm kinda stoked to try this out now... I'm going to give this a shot and see what happens. I'll post back tomorrow!

I'm curious as to how this worked out for you OP. im going to be in a similar position as you quite soon as the house we are about to purchase also has cat 5e cables (I think), run thought the house and they all exit out into a central panel in the master bedroom of the home. I just hope all the cables are labeled because i don't want to have to face the nightmare of finding out which cable runs where.. Btw I'm a total noob when it comes to this kind of stuff so I'm just hoping for the best. Lol.

What a weird place to have all the runs exit in the master bedroom.

Well they actually exit out in the closet of the master bedroom. Still a weird place I think... Guess that's what you have to live with when dips build the house. Lol.
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There are tons of houses that have smart junction up in the master closet, but in my experience, all the new nice houses ($$$) say vancouver west end, all their stuff will be in basement somewhere or crawl space, but any houses built on budget or by asian/EI, it will always be up in the master, def left me wondering, maybe it's different designing platform or something along the line

What are you going to use the cat5e for?

if it was me i'd like the box maybe in the wall of the closet by the front foyer of the house...

If you guys are planning on doing a wiring a new house (or renovation) I suggest putting cat6 /cat6e wiring as 10GigE support will be coming soon enough (cat 5e rated for only 1GigE).

Don't fret if you forgot to label the cables... connect them to a switch and it'll all work. If you really want to find out which wire goes where, go to monoprice and buy a network tester (The ~$5 is more than sufficient). Connect the slave unit to a network outlet in a room, and go through the wires at the centralized end with the master unit until the light on the master unit turns on. You can verify that the wiring was done correctly (people often mix up the wiring as there are two standards) by looking at the lights (they should light up 1-8 on both master and slave).

P.S. Make sure your ROUTER and SWITCH are rated for at least 1GigE if you're wiring your home with cat5e... else you're bottle-necking yourself to 10/100 Mbps

PM if you need more info.

Lol. Google “tone generator and tracer".
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BTW, I do not recommend people do this on their own. Especially noobs. If you've never done this before, you're going to make mistakes that you're not even going to realize all along the way. Nothing beats experience. You can read all the books and PDFs in the world, but having been taught this under proper supervision makes a world of difference.

If you're going to attempt to do this, I would advise getting somebody who is CLEARLY experienced to take the lead, and then shadow him as he does it.

I personally hate walking into somebody's house and seeing crappy wiring done by either A) somebody who didn't give a fuck, B) didn't know WTF they were doing, or both. It makes my job more difficult because I have to figure out the backwards logic they used to wire the place up. Noobs don't know standards. When standards aren't followed, it becomes time consuming and frustrating for people like me.

Someone I would recommend is a capable Telus install tech.