The home network is extended to the basement game room by running Cat 5e cable and installing a new Ethernet jack. A “wired” network connection was needed at this location due to a weak WiFi (wireless) LAN signal. This was a “high priority” according to my teenage son for better Xbox Live performance.
Verifying 100mbps LAN Data Rate for the New Ethernet Jack
The most difficult part of this project was pulling about 65 feet of Cat 5e Ethernet cable from the home router in the upstairs bedroom up to the attic and down three floors to the basement game room. The trick is to find a convenient pathway to fish the Ethernet cable inside the walls.
Home Networking Equipment
My home network consists of a DSL modem (far left), Linksys WRT54G WiFi wireless router, Netgear FS108P desktop switch and a NetGear Skype phone basestation (white box) as shown below. The Netgear FS108P desktop switch is needed for increased Ethernet port capacity and for Power Over Ethernet (PoE) devices on my network.
Home Network Equipment
I had previously installed a dedicated wall box with a single Ethernet Jack and 4-port wall plate as shown below (I used a red Ethernet cable to denote a PoE connection). I’ll add a 2nd Ethernet jack to this outlet.
4-port Ethernet Wall Plate
Working from the attic, I fed kite string with fishing weights the through a 3/4 inch hole in the 2×4 wall plate down through the drywall cavity to the blue outlet box. It took a few minutes of trial and error to drop the fishing weights through the hole in top of the box. I had a helper shine a flashlight into the outlet box so I could see my target from the attic and tell me when the fishing weights dropped into the outlet. (I have rolls of nylon and metal fish tape, but didn’t use it because the fish tape coils over in the wall cavity and I’d never hit the small hole in the blue outlet box. A straight wire pulling rod might have worked if I’d had one available.) Click on the photo for a larger view.
Kite String with Lead Fishing Weights
Now that I had the kite string fished through the box:
- I tied yellow construction string to the kite string and pulled it up into the attic.
- The Ethernet cable was taped to the yellow construction string.
- The Ethernet cable was pulled down and out of the outlet box.
Wiring a RJ-54 Ethernet Jack
Wiring an RJ-45 Ethernet jack is easy to do if you’re attentive to detail and follow a couple of guidelines:
- Strip about 2 inches of outer sheath from the cable.
- The four wire pairs should remain twisted as closely as possible to the punch down pins for maximum signal integrity. About 1/2 inch to 5/8 inch of untwisted wire is usually sufficient to reach the punch down pins.
- Avoid kinks as the light gauge copper strands can break.
- Double check the wire color are correctly matched to the colored-coded pin positions on the jack.
- Wire the jack following the T568B wiring diagram unless you have reason to use the T568A. The T568B standard is widely used in commercial and residential cable installations. If your cable or phone company installs an Ethernet jack for you, they’ll use the B standard. This means matching the twisted pair colors to the “B” color code band on the Ethernet jack. Notice the B color band (upside down) on the Leviton QuickPort Jack in the image below.
Leviton QuickPort Ethernet Jack
- Detailed wiring instructions from Leviton are here.
The punch down tool and Cat 5e jacks are illustrated below.
Punch Down Tool and Ethernet Jacks
About 2 inches of sheath are removed from the cable, revealing the four twisted wire pairs.
Cat 5e Ethernet Jack and Cable
The orange wire is matched to the orange pin position on the ‘B‘ color band and punched down in the photo below. Click for a larger view.
Punching Down the First Wire - Cat5e Ethernet Jack
The orange Cat 5e wire is punched down on the jack pin below. The punch down pin is slotted such that it cuts the insulation and grabs the wire, holding it securely in the jack.
Orange Cat 5e Wire after Punch Down
The color coded wires are matched to the ‘B‘ band color codes and punched down in sequence. The minor trick here is to carefully route each wire to the pin position and avoid kinks.
Punching Down Cat 5e Wires onto the Ethernet Jack
Your Cat5e jack should look like this after punching down all eight wires.
Completed Cat5e Ethernet Jack Wire Punchdown
Right side close-up. The wire color matches the pin in the ‘B‘ color band.
Cat5e Ethernet Jack Punchdown - Right Side
Left side close up.
Cat5e Ethernet Jack Wiring - Left Side
Trim the excess wire as close to the jack as possible.
Trim Off the Excess Wire - Cat5e Ethernet Jack
The finished Ethernet jack:
Cat5e Ethernet Jack Wired and Ready for Service
This article is continued in Part 2.
Bob Jackson
January 19th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
A friend of mine just emailed me one of your articles from a while back. I read that one a few more. Really enjoy your blog. Thanks
April 12th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
I just wanted to say thanks for your publishing of this article. This is almost exactly what I was thinking of doing(single story house though) for the purpose of an XBOX 360 in another room(bad signal with wireless) and you answered all the questions that I had and the pictures were a nice touch. After searching for a long time on how to do this, I am glad I came across this article. I am going to try install mine sometime soon and just wanted to let you know that you have helped someone. Thanks.
May 13th, 2009 at 12:46 am
Thank you very much. i’m attempting to network our new house. we were left with he non tech savvy builders and Verizon left us with only 1 jack. being an xbox player myself i am very sick of being dropped from my favorite games. if all goes well i shall post again.
June 30th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Before I read this, I had no clue how to hook up an Ethernet jack. Now I feel like a pro. Thanks!
August 1st, 2009 at 9:49 am
Loved your stuff, extreeemly helpful in many ways. I already had the hookup in my room with the cable running but just wondering how to insert wires. All for my ps3 and xbox 360. Also just wanted to say how easy you made it im only 15 and with no mechanical knowledge easily performed this. nice blog!
December 26th, 2009 at 11:58 am
How do you connect a Mac?
December 26th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
The Apple Mac computers use a standard RJ-45 Ethernet port. Just plug the Ethernet cable into your home network.
If you’re asking how to configure the Mac O/S network settings, that I wouldn’t know as I’m not a Mac user. This article at Apple Support may be what you’re looking for: Creating a small Ethernet network – http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1433
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:02 am
I was wonder what brand punch down tool you used for this project.
I am going to re-do the cable in my ethernet wall jack in my place, because the installer who did it originally left ~6″ of uninsulated and unbundled wire before terminating the end on the jack itself.
Great howto by the way, nicely illustrated and cleared up the process.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:58 pm
> … the installer who did it originally left ~6″ of uninsulated and unbundled wire before terminating the end on the jack itself.
A long strand of untwisted wire like that can significantly impair the signal quality and lower your data rates. Rewiring it correctly is a very good idea.
> I was wonder what brand punch down tool you used for this project.
The punch down is the Economy Punch Down Tool – Catalog # 35-185 made by Ideal Industries, Inc.
I bought it at Home Depot for something like $10. I found it just fine for work around the house.
Thanks for reading,
Bob Jackson
March 1st, 2010 at 11:46 am
Hi there, I just had a quick question. Is there a reason you wired your own Jacks rather than just using a female/female coupler? Is the connection more reliable when you wire your own ports? Was it becuase it’s easier to fish out the bare cable? Thank you.
March 1st, 2010 at 1:53 pm
> Is there a reason you wired your own Jacks rather than just using a female/female coupler?
I wired my own jacks because it provided a standard RJ-45 wall jack data port and I’m able to make the Ethernet cable run any length to suit my needs. Had I used Ethernet patch cables with factory installed plugs, I can only buy standard lengths, e.g. 10ft, 25ft, 50ft, 100ft. Bulk cable is a cheaper way to go if you plan to do a lot of jacks.
> Is the connection more reliable when you wire your own ports?
Wiring your own Ethernet jacks is very reliable if you use quality materials (not all Ethernet cable is the same quality) and are careful in your work.
> Was it because it’s easier to fish out the bare cable?
Fishing bulk cable might be a little easier compared to fishing pre-wired Ethernet patch cable with a plug. My concern would be gumming up the plug on the patch cable when wrapped in duct tape to the fish wire. When I pull a run of bulk cable, I just cut off the last 6 inches or so that I wrapped in duct tape to the fish wire.
Thanks for reading,
Bob Jackson