How to activate/use wall-mounted ethernet jacks?

[emaij]

I recently moved into a brand new apartment. The phone jacks here have ethernet ports as well so I called Pac Bell and ordered DSL. Now they say that the DSL will only work through a modem they are sending me and that the ethernet jacks need some kind of networking work to activate them.

Does anyone know what I have to do in order to use the ethernet jacks that I have?

 

[thorin]

Talk to your super or neighbour or someone and find out what their attached to of if they are just networking for use within the apartment.

Thorin

 

[Diffusion]

Wall mounted jacks could be anything. You really need to contact the person your renting from to know what they are. They could be a high speed line, and if they are, you would still need to buy service, or they could be phone jacks for those industrial phones.

 

[pyr]

are people really getting so out of touch with reality that they will plop down in front of a computer and make a post about something instead of just calling their landlord and ask? Sheesh.. next itll be a post saying 'guys, am I out of toilet paper? I dont want to get up and go check...'

 

[Doomer]

How do you know they are ethernet ports ?

 

[MrBond]

<< How do you know they are ethernet ports ? >>



Good point. The dorms at our school used a versajack for phone and ethernet ports. Either plug could go into either jack, they just wouldn't work if you got them mixed up. And neither of them were labled.

DSL comes in on a phone line, it isnt ethernet until you plug it into the modem.

 

[JackMDS]

What ever you have in the wall has nothing to do with you new DSL service, Just hang some nice pictures on the walls so they will look good,


The Modem that they are sending you has 3 Jack.

1. Power supply.
2. RJ-11, regular cable that goes to your telephone.
3. RJ-45, Ethernet Cable that they will supply, and will be connected to back of your computer to a network card that you will have to Install.

If you to know more:
Read This:

The Basic Options to Share Internet Connection (Internet Sharing 101).

And This:

AnandTech - FAQs - Hubs, routers, switches, DSL, LANs, WANs, etc.

 

[emaij]

I had asked the management office and the contractor who built the place but noone knows anything here. PacBell wasn't much more help.

Edit:

I just happened to find a Pac Bell guy working in my building! He told me that it is possible to use the existing ethernet jacks for my LAN but that it would require additional wiring. Since the place is already wired, all that needs be done is in a box at the front of the apartment where all the telecom originates for the apartment. I can see where each of the phone jack/ports originates. Each bundle of wires splits up at the box and is attached to a metal pin.

Can anyone walk me through the wiring that needs be done? They want $120+ to do it.