Need Help Connecting PC to Router 25ft. Away

[hkchan]

I want to run the cable from the router down to the basement and then up to the room where the pc is. To make it look good, I need to connect the cable to the wall plates and use short cat5 cable to connect to the pc and router. What kind of cable do I need? Phone cable or cat5 cable? Connectors (Keystone?)?

 

[midnightrat]

unless you have some funky router that uses phone cable (never heard of that) you'll need cat5 cable, these are the cables with the connectors that look like they would fit in a phone jack but are too big to fit. That's because phone cable uses rj-11 connectors while cat5 uses rj-45.

If your trying to connect the router to the pc through the phone jack this will not work. Good luck anyways and if you prove me wrong I'll love to hear how you did it.

 

[hkchan]

No. I guess my post was not clear. I will connect the router to the wall plate using a short cat5 cable. I'll do the same connecting the pc (25 ft. away) to the wall plate (not the same wall plate obviously). It's connection between the wall plates that I have questions on. Covad connected the DSL line (phone cable) to my wall plate (with an rj-45 connector) and I connected a cat5 cable between it and the router. So between the two wall plates, do I use a cat5 cable? If so, then each wall plate needs to have a female rj-45 connector on each side.

 

[midnightrat]

huh??? now i'm even more confused to your situation than before. Short answer is yes you need cat5 cable btn the 2 wall plates. But now I have to ask where is the dsl modem? Usually a dsl setup would be like this-> dsl modem is connected to the dsl line by regular phone cable (rj-11); dsl modem is also connected to router or computer by cat5; if dsl modem is connected to a router then there is another connection from the router to the computer by another cat5 cable.

phone jack|--rj-11-->|dsl modem|--cat5-->|router|--cat5-->|computer|

or phone jack|--rj-11-->|dsl modem|--cat5-->|computer|

The other question I have to ask is what does the wall plate look like? Is it composed of multiple jacks of both rj-11 and rj-45?

 

[Dyngoe]

I agree with the rat,
You MUST have CAT5 all the way through your connection. If Covad connected your router to the wall jack with a cat5, that does not mean you have a CAT5 connection. Where is your modem connected in this whole thing? A little more info is required to figure all this out. I'll be glad to help, just fill in the blanks we need to "see" your connection.
As Always,
D

 

[hkchan]

Forget about the DSL modem. I'll clarify if you still want me to, but it's not essential to the problem. All I need to know is whether to use a 25-ft cat5 cable with a male rj-45 connector on each end. If so, what kind of wall plates do I need. I need to "punch" new holes in the wall to mount outlet boxes for these wall plate, so they're unrelated to the existing wall plate for the DSL connection. I assume there're wall plates with a female rj-45 connector on each side. If so, is there a special name for these plates? A link for say Buy.com would be appreciated.

 

[hkchan]

To state in a slightly different way. I can simply connect the router to the pc by using a 25-ft cat5 cable and run the cable along the walls. I don't like it, so I break this cable into three pieces. One small piece goes from the router to a wall plate. Another small piece from the pc to a wall plate. And a long piece in the walls, through the basement, etc. All I want to know is whether the two short ones and the long one can all be cat5 cable with a male rj-45 connector on each end. If so, then the wall plates need to have a female rj-45 connector on each side. I'm requesting help to locate these wall plates.

 

[Dyngoe]

Cable Wholesale
These guys are in CA and sell plates and Keystones that will suit your puposes. You will need two plates and two keystones. You will need to buy a crimping tool to connect the keystones, and you will need to run CAT5 through your wall between each of the keystones. This is not an easy task. If it's a short distance, you can run a wire lead through the wall to feed the CAT5, but longer distances are sometimes tricky. In my house I simply ran my cable under the edge of my carpet. I drilled a 3/8" hole in the wall and used a plastic gromet to make it look better, but I can barely see it anyway. I used cable that was cream colored and it matched my carpet and wall nicely. Does this help?
As Alwyas,
D

Missed your update! If you can do it, but the plates and you will need all MALE CAT5Sorry, I missed your update! If you can do the in wal work, buy the plates and all MALE CAT5

 

[Eug]

Yes. CAT-5 or Cat-5e all the way through. Home Depot may have both CAT-5e cable and the RJ-45 jacks. You can get wall plates with square holes, in which you put whatever jacks you want.

Do not stick your phoneline/DSL on the same circuit. You may fry your Ethernet network that way.

EDIT:

P.S. As Russ has mentioned before, one can just buy self crimping jacks for the CAT-5. No crimping tool required.

 

[hkchan]

Thanks a lot guys. I hope I didn't confuse you too much. Just to clarify, the crimping is for installing the keystone connector to the wall plate? And a keystone connector has a female rj-45 connector on each side?

Is this a self-crimping keystone?
CAT5 TOOLESS UNSHIELDED KEYSTONE JACK 110 TYPE WHITE

 

[hkchan]

And how's CAT-5e different?

 

[Dyngoe]

Yes, those self crimping ones are nice, but the crimping ones cost $2 and the tool ~$10. The tool is a nice thing to have if you look to the future. CAT5E is the next step in CAT5 and is a more durable? cable. You will see the same connection speeds if you use either. I use CAT5E if I think their could be some extra interference from power wires or moisture(just for safety). I would suggest running CAT5E since it cost very little more if you buy it without connectors already attached.
As Always,
D

 

[hkchan]

Thanks. There are more.
10/100BT CAT5 KEYSTONE JACK W/LOCKING TAB 568A/568B BLACK
What's 568A/568B?
1 POSITION KEYSTONE FACEPLATE LOADED W/RJ45 568A/568B CAT5
2 POSITION KEYSTONE FACEPLATE LOADED W/RJ45 568A/568B CAT5
1 position and 2 postion? I assume loaded means a face place that already has a Keystone connector.

Edit. 2 position simply means two holes for connectors.

 

[hkchan]

One "last" thing. Look at this picture of a Keystone.Category-5 RJ-45 Keystone Jack, Black Color
I can see the female connector on one side but not the other.

 

[Russ]

hkchan,

568a and 568b are two different wiring standards. You want to use B. The jacks are color coded for the wiring, so it's easy to use the correct standard.

There will be no "female" connector on the back of a keystone jack. The wires from the cat5 cable are inserted directly in to little channels and crimped down.

Russ, NCNE

 

[hkchan]

Thanks. So I need a "bare" cat5 (or cat5e) cable, plates and Keystones and a crimper, or self-crimping Keystones.

 

[midnightrat]

Ok, now I understand, sorry if I confused the situation any further. Hey I even learned a thing or two. One quick question, why are they called keystones?

 

[Russ]

hkchan,

Yes. All of which you can pick up at your local Home Depot.

midnightrat,

I don't know why they call them Keystone Jacks. Maybe some geek a long time ago thought it sounded cool.

Russ, NCNE

 

[hkchan]

Hey Russ, I went and searched for related threads (should've done that in the first place) and you seemed to imply that Keystone=self-crimping. Was I dreaming?

 

[Russ]

The only kind I've ever bought are self-crimping and always called Keystone. That doesn't necessarily mean the other variety isn't called that, only that it all that I've used. For me, the self-crimps are dirt cheap because I buy them wholesale, so I haven't even looked at the ones that actually involve skill.

Russ, NCNE