Determining correct 5e cable for AP install

[cbuchach]

I need to add a wireless AP to the upstairs in our home and am planning on repurposing the existing cat 5 cable that is pulled to all of our phone jacks. My problem is that at the punch board in the basement none of the cables are labeled. I don't want to have to pull each one off in succession to find the correct cable. Is there an easier way to do this--such as some device that can probe the cable at each end? I am not opposed to spending a few dollars on a device if something like this exists.

 

[wirednuts]

yup, we use them all the time

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...&cagpspn=pla&gclid=CLqvsqjmv7ICFexFMgod3AwANg

some are better then others, but the good ones are $100+. just buy a cheap one, you wont use it all the time but you will use it more then once. they are very handy. just make sure power is off as the toner will send a signal down the cable and you dont want the other end to be an active nic

 

[cbuchach]

Thanks, Wirednuts--I picked a Sperry unit at Home Depot after work for $40 and it worked great. Of course the line was the last one down the punchboard, so I would have wound up taking every single cable out until I got to it.

 

[wirednuts]

wow... i dont think i have ever heard of that. the fact that you bought the toner usually would mean the wire you want is the first one you try. you just defied the laws of physics

 

[Fardringle]

wow... i dont think i have ever heard of that. the fact that you bought the toner usually would mean the wire you want is the first one you try. you just defied the laws of physics

I don't know about the laws of physics, but certainly the laws of Murphy..

 

[wirednuts]

I don't know about the laws of physics, but certainly the laws of Murphy..

sometimes feels like murphy had a chisel and a big flinstone slate to write on

 

[ScottMac]

Check to make sure those phone jacks aren't daisy-chained.
Like: (termination point in the basement)==> cable==> jack==> cable==> jack==>cable==> jack

So, when you plug in the toner go to all the jacks with the inductive probe to make sure you only pick up the tone at one of them.

IF you pick up the tone in more than one jack, you need to run another cable.