[Bru-list] question on home network wiring

Contact (3rdevent.net) contact at 3rdevent.net
Mon Sep 23 23:20:14 BST 2019


Hope I'm understanding this correctly;

CAT3 Telephone Cable can't be used as Ethernet cable, only Telephone 
cable. I've seen many Electricians quote for it as networking cable only 
to find out it doesn't work.

I've heard in some cases tin CAT3 has been installed and that does crop 
high frequencies which wouldn't make it suitable for ADSL.

However, the normal solution assuming your Telephone sockets are wired 
with copper CAT3 (it should say on the cable sheath).
Plug an ADSL filter "box" into the normal Telephone socket, Phone and 
ADSL modem into the filter (if you have multiple sockets/phones you'll 
need a filter on every phone otherwise the modem will act flakey). These 
are normally all supplied by your internet provider, and someone will 
likely come around to install it anyway.
You can then use Ethernet CAT5 leads to plug the computers into your 
modem's "LAN" ports as a kind of network switch  This is preferable over 
wireless if you want the best speed. Although not everyone likes 
spagetti junction so otherwise just connect to the wireless.


A few things worth checking on your modem if you want to dig into it's 
settings;

* Plug a laptop/computer into a "LAN" port on the modem, make sure it 
picks up an IP from the modem. You can nearly always access the 
configuration by typing the modem's IP address into a web browser, 
normally 192.168.1.1, username/password will be in a manual or on the 
modem itself.

* I recommend disabling uPnP, it's a security risk as it allows network 
devices to add forwarding ports on the modem's routing at will.

* Disable remote wireless management, it allows other people to access 
your modems configuration over wireless, it only takes guessing the 
default username/password.

* Assuming it's a traditional wireless modem and not 5GHz (I've not used 
these, I've not heard great things tbh). Set the wireless channel to 
something other than 1 and 6, they're common channels and wireless 
modems in the same street will war with eachother leading to flakey 
wireless connectivity.


In terms of ISP, I'd maybe check uSwitch for who'se got the best 
customer rating and is reasonably priced. I'm with my Electricity 
supplier (SSE) and they've been pretty solid, so maybe you could get a 
package with whoever you're with (makes the bills a bit less fragmented 
imo). Although main problem is contract lock-ins and being stuck with 
someone rubbish like BT, Sky or Virgin. Talk Talk will be initial pain, 
but if you pressure them they get it sorted eventually.


Hope this is helpful,
qUE


Steven J Green via Bru-list wrote:
> Gents
>
> as you know I'm in the process of moving. Our new house seems to have
> telephone wall sockets in the rooms in which we might need to use computing
> equipment. I can easily get an adapter for Ethernet-to-phone socket and so
> could in theory set up wired connections which would be OK for most of our
> equipment, using my existing wireless router to provide wifi where needed.
>
> Question - assuming it would work at all, would the use of wiring intended
> for telephone use have an adverse effect on internet speeds? The village is
> just being connected to fibre, but there wouldn't be any point in having a
> fast connection into the house only to have speeds throttled by internal
> wiring.
>
> Grateful for your comments!
>
> regards
>
> Steve
>
>
>   





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