This project is continued from Part 2.
Basement Ethernet Jack Installation
The outlet will be located in the corner of the room. This location was chosen because it was close to the entertainment console and the wall cavity was readily accessible from the ceiling crawlspace. The electrical box dimensions were marked on the wall. The level is to ensure the outlet is plumb (true to vertical). The hole is cut by hand with a drywall jab saw. Tip: Saw on the push stroke to direct the dust into the wall cavity to minimize the mess on the carpet.
I used an old work electrical box in this project because I had one left over from another job. An old work low voltage mounting bracket would be a better choice and more convenient here, especially if installing several Ethernet drops or other low voltage home theater wiring.
Outlet Box Opening Marked on the Drywall
The opening is cut in the drywall and the outlet box fitted as shown:
Fitting the Old Work Outlet Box
Fishing Cable Down the Basement Wall
Working in the crawlspace between the 1st floor and the basement ceiling, I needed to run the cable down the wall to the opening for the new outlet. This problem is I needed to drill a hole through the horizontal bracing between the wall studs to the reach the basement floor level and the outlet box.
The solution is a six (6) foot long by 3/4 inch diameter drill bit! This is a Greenlee D’versibit Flexible Drill Bit part #12-04-72A. The cost is around $50 to $60 from various retailers. I purchased mine at Home Depot, you will find it in the electrical section.
72 inch Long Flexible Drill Bit
The drill bit is placed between the basement wall studs:
Drill Bit between the Basement Wall Studs
The drill is attached and a 3/4 inch hole drilled through the 2×4 bracing.
Hole Drilled through the 2x4 Bracing
Being a resourceful Handyman and building upon the crescent wrench technique, I went back to my tool box, got a 1/4 inch socket wrench extension and duct taped it to the Ethernet cable. This provided a heavy pointed weight to fish the Ethernet cable through the hole in the wall bracing.
Ethernet Cable Duct Taped to a Socket Wrench Extension
The socket wrench extension dropped easily through the hole:
Fishing the Cable through the Basement Wall
Back at floor level, I reached inside the wall and pulled the cable through the opening cut in the drywall for the new Ethernet outlet.
Pulling Cable through the Wall Opening
The cable is fed through an old work outlet box. An old work outlet box has wings that automatically flare out and grab the inside of the drywall when box is mounted and the screws tightened. Notice that I broke off the wire cover because it would pinch the Cat 5e cable and either kink it (causing signal loss) or possible break the light gauge wires.
An old work low voltage mounting bracket may be a better choice than an outlet box because there’s more room to reach in and pull cable.
Old Work Outlet Box
The kit for wiring up the new Ethernet jack consists of:
- Two port wall plate
- Blank insert
- Ethernet jack
Kit for Wiring the New Ethernet Jack
The new jack is wired as before and snapped into the wall plate.
New Ethernet Jack and Wall Plate
The wall plate ready with the jack and blank insert.
Wall Plate with Jack and Blank Insert
The wall plate is mounted to the outlet box with the provided screws. Notice the cordless drill is set to a low speed and low torque value of “3″ for a gentle touch.
Mouting the Wall Plate
The Ethernet jack upstairs is connected to the NetGear desktop router and a laptop is used to verify Internet connectivity and LAN connection speed (Start –> Control Panel –> Network Connections –> Local Area Connection).
Home Network Ethernet RJ-45 Jack
Lastly, a standard Ethernet cable is plugged into the new RJ-45 wall jack and the Xbox 360. My son reports the Xbox Live performance is much improved and very pleased.
Multi-Room Ethernet Wiring Solution
As a follow-up to the original article, a reader asked what the wiring would look like for Ethernet jacks to several rooms. The following diagram illustrates the multi-room solution:
Ethernet Home Network Wiring Diagram
Local Area Network (LAN) Connection Diagram
The cable or DSL modem is connected to an Ethernet Switch to distribute the broadband internet service to a wall plate with four Ethernet jacks serving different rooms in the home. An inexpensive 5-port NetGear FS105NA Ethernet Switch is shown with a four position wall plate. Wall plates are available with 1 to 12 jack positions.
I personally use an 8-port NetGear FS108P Ethernet Switch with four Power-over-Ethernet Ports for my Panasonic Network Cameras as illustrated below. The NetGear Switch is connected a Linksys WRT54G WiFi router so I’ve got the bet of both worlds, wired and wireless networks.
Ethernet Home Network Diagram with PoE
This is a photo of the my home network equipment on a crowded shelf. From left to right are:
- DSL modem (black box far left)
- Linksys WRT54G WiFi router
- ISY-99i Home Automation Controller (black box in center)
- NetGear FS108P Ethernet Switch (blue box)
- NetGear Skype WiFi phone base unit (white box)
I’m really in need of a structured wiring panel. Please see the comments section below for addition information about structured wiring panels.
Hope this helps,
Bob Jackson
Copyright © 2012 HandymanHowTo.com Reproduction strictly prohibited.
Good write-up! I have a modem/router combo unit and I hope to network my house by summer-time. I don’t have a switch but I don’t think I need one. Do you think it would work with just the modem/router unit?
You don’t need an Ethernet switch like the Netgear FS108 that I used unless you need:
A) More Ethernet ports (8, 16 or 24 ports) for connected devices. Most modem/routers only have 4 available RJ-45 ports.
B) Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) for things like network cameras, etc.
You can always start with a basic modem/router combo and add an unmanaged (e.g. the FS108 like I have) or managed (if your traffic management needs warrant it) Ethernet switch. It’s very easy to grow the network, so no need to worry.
Awesome write up! Be sure to use Cat5e Plenun Sheilded cable though if you are running them near duct work in the walls. It’s best to just use it everywhere in the walls too. I’ve bean meaning to do the same, but I’m still planning out the wired network layout throughout the house and finding the budget. You should purchase a small server cabinet with shelves to manage your cables and devices. They’re cheap, shelved, easy to hide cables/power strips with, usually contain cooling fans, and can even be purchased cheaper if you know of a local Datacenter or IT Company that houses any networking/server equipment. They should welcome someone wanting to purchase their uneeded equipment.
Thanks for mentioning Cat5e Plenum Cable, however, some explanation is needed before we go off confusing people about stuff most of us don’t need:
* HandyManHowTo.com is written for the Do-It-Yourself / Homeowner.
* Most homes do not have plenum airspace as may be found in a commercial office building in the ceiling area or with raised floors.
* Plenum cable is very expensive and most often found in commercial installations.
* The typical 2×4 wood- or metal stud drywall wall construction found in most homes is dead (non-circulating) air space. Standard Cat5e cable can safely be used here or in attics.
Your advice is well taken. The point here is a “best practice” is don’t run your Cat5e cable inside or next to an air duct, rather choose a different wall cavity for cabling.
Thanks for reading,
Bob Jackson
I too am a novice at installing a wired network. I was about to buy a
RJ45 crimping tool but apparently this tool is not required.
Thanks for the detail step by step on doing your own network. I do have mine set up but am on the process of upgrading/remodeling and needing some info on installing jacks before going to hardware store to get. I’m now sure I can do this with no problem. My modem/router will look a look better with less wires and holes in the walls……LOL
Great write up! Really liked the picture you took with the drill and 6 ft. drill bit! Thanks!
In response to Gary’s comment:
Crimping tools are not really needed unless you are creating new, complete ethernet cords from existing wire, or repairing the ends of existing ethernet cords.
So if you are going to buy lots of wire and intend to use it externally (visibly indoors), I would suggest buying a crimping tool. You’ll needed it to create a connection from a device to the wall plate. Otherwise, just buy another ethernet cord.
Is their a way to check jack continuity (or jack to jack continuity) ?
I’ve seem testers to test terminated ethernet cables but I’m still unsure on testing jacks or in wall installations.
A simple way to test for continuity between any two ethernet jacks is to plug an Ethernet switch into the first and your laptop into the other. If the Link LED is illuminated, you have continuity.
I am planning to do the same thing for the same reason, but I’m not a handyman. You make this look easy, but I know my limits. I’m only going 50 feet, but not sure I’ll be able to pull it off.
You can do it. Practice the techniques and plan ahead. Get a 2ft x 2ft drywall repair panel for $4 at Home Depot or Lowes to practice the cuts and wall outlet installation. Punch down a couple of Ethernet jacks on a short length of Cat5e cable and test that it works. Snip off the ends and do it again. The rest is just grunt work, crawling around the attic or basement pulling cable. Take care to stay away from the house electrical wiring for safety and to avoid interference.
I want to run an ethernet jack in my living room wall. Problem is, its an external wall, meaning there is insulation in it. The wall is about 11ft to the ceiling, and im not sure how to get all the insulation out. Would there be someway to just get the cable through the existing insulation?
If you want to run the Cat5 cable across the ceiling and drop it down the wall to a new Ethernet jack, you’ll need a wire fish stick like the LABOR SAVING DEVICES 81-130 Creep-Zit” Green Fiberglass Wire Running Kit (LABOR SAVING DEVICES 81130).
Push the wire fish stick upwards through the outlet box hole in the drywall to the attic along the craft paper face of the insulation. Working in the attic, you’ll have some tricky – but doable – effort to poke the fish stick up through a hole drilled in the 2×4 wall top plate. Once the fish stick is pushed through the hole in the top plate to the attic, attach the Cat5 cable to the stick and pull the stick and cable down and out to the room below.
An easier approach may be running the Cat5 cable along the baseboard around the room to the location where you want the outlet. If the room is carpeted, the Ethernet cable will tuck nicely out of sight between the baseboard and carpet. If you have wood or tile floors, consider pulling off the baseboard to tuck the cable behind the baseboard at the bottom edge of the drywall, replacing the baseboard when you’re done.
Just a note; the insulation type is not paper, it’s loose insulation
The fish stick will punch through loose (blown) insulation.
Thanks for the help, im all ready to go. But now that im converting some machines from WiFi to ethernet, how will i share MS workgroups with the still wireless machines?
A little ascii diagram to help understand what im getting at
modem->8 port switch->wifirouter/wired jacks
Bottom line: i need to get the computers on the 8 port switch to be able to access MS workgroups with wireless clients. Any ideas?
You need to slightly rearrange the network connectivity in your diagram from:
modem->8 port switch->wifirouter/wired jacks
to
Modem — (WAN port) WiFi Router (LAN port) — 8 Port Switch — Wired Jacks
See the “Ethernet Home Network Diagram with PoE” image above which illustrates this network configuration.
The WiFi router is the default gateway, DHCP server and router for all LAN devices. The 8 port switch cannot be between the router and modem. Connect the 8 port switch to a LAN port on the WiFi router and you’ll be fine.
First off, thanks for sharing and taking the time to help.
Question;
When choosing a route to run the cat5 wire, can you route the wiring above and over a florescent light, and if so, can you run the cat5 wire in close proximity to electrical wires?
Question;
Is there a loss of signal if you kink the cat5 wire or dress it to a panel at a 90 degree bend?
Thank so much
Unshielded Cat5e should be kept at least 6 inches from household electrical wiring. Fluorescent lights can cause noise because the ballast may operate a high frequencies in the kiloherz (kHz) range. Screen shielded twisted pair (S/STP, S/FTP) Cat5 cable is available for noisy environments.
Cat5 cable is subject to crosstalk if kinked because the twisted pairs can be flattened, causing the pairs to untwist. The TIA/EIA-568-B.1-1 cabling standard states:
“10.2.1.3 Minimum patch cable bend radius
The minimum inside bend radius, under no load conditions, for 4-pair UTP patch cable shall be 6mm (0.25 in). The minimum inside bend radius, under no load conditions, for 4-pair ScTP patch cable shall be 50 mm (2.0 in).”
UTP is Unshield Twisted Pair, meaning the common Cat5e cable that I used in this project, should be bent no smaller than about the size of a pen or pencil.
ScTP (screened twisted pair) is shielded cable which requires a bend radius no smaller than 2 inches.
I couldn’t help but notice that you have used Leviton ethernet-port inserts to fit into an On-Q wall plate. Leviton is sold @ Lowe’s, and On-Q sold @ Home Depot (at least here in Springfield, Mo)
My question is (since I am doing this myself, but on a single-story house and I’m coming up from the under-house crawlspace into the wall as opposed to dropping down from the attic) do those two companies make interchangeable parts? Leviton seems to be much more expensive than On-Q so it’d be nice to go with the cheaper. Thanks!
Sorry! Leviton is sold @ Home Depot, On-Q @ Lowe’s. Also this is an awesome how-to! Thanks for taking the time to document for us!
The wall plates were beside the Cat5e jacks on the store display and fits perfectly. Cat5e jacks and plates are standard stuff. Until you asked, I never gave it a second thought.
I’m glad you found the wiring tutorial helpful.
Thanks Bob for your step by step instructions on the Ethernet wiring.
I appreciate all your efforts to inform “all us grunts” on the proper
hook-up of our home networks and devices. This website is a valuable
resource! Thanks again,RD
Hello,
Thank you very much for this instruction,I am wondering if you can tell me what’s name of that blue outlet box,where i can get it?
Thanks.
The blue box in the first image is an “old work” wall box that’s widely available in the electrical section of home improvement stores – Lowes, Home Depot, etc.
Why do you need the outlet box? Can’t you just run the ethernet directly to the wall plate, and screw the wall plate into the drywall?
The wall plate has small machine thread screws that won’t hold well in drywall. The outlet box is easy to install for a professional looking job and also provides some support for the cables.
WOW, this is a great article. I’m so nervous about doing this job, i have a one story house with a crawl space attic and I am going to “attempt” to install these Ethernet jacks in every room including 2 in the basement. Wish me luck i am going to need it.
Thanks again!
Good luck! I’m sure you’ll do fine.
Great “How-to” article. Just what I needed to get started but I have a couple questions.
First of all, I have 7 cable outlets in my house and one is in the basement. I was thinking of setting up my network base there. My question is, will it be ok to use a cable splitter with one line going to the modem and the other to a tv (plan to finish the basement down the road)? Will I lose speed by splitting the cable connection?
I did think about running another separate cable line from the attic to the basement but I want to avoid doing that if I will not lose much speed by splitting the cable connection. What do you suggest?
Peter
Seven coax cable outlets in the house means there’s one or more splitters. Each splitter results in a huge loss in signal strength, for example a 2-way splitter cuts the signal strength over 50%. Below a certain threshold, a weak signal means poor cable modem performance – lot’s of resets, signal errors and slow Internet speeds. You could add an RF amplifier but that amplifies both signal and noise. If the cable modem is behind a bunch of splitters, it’ll be driving the RF upstream at maximum transmit power which also causes noise and signal errors.
The correct way to connect the cable modem is on a 2-way splitter at the beginning of the line, which may be at the coax drop outside the house in a weather proof box (service entrance) or the first cable split inside the house. See Structured Wiring How To for a nice diagram of a cable modem connected at the beginning of the line with a 2-way splitter.
Use quality splitters and RF coax cable. Poor components or low grade cable can be a problem.
Lastly, log into your cable modem diagnostic web page and verify the RF and performance levels are within spec. Your cable company Customer Care personnel can remotely verify the cable modem performance levels and tell you if there’s a signal quality problem.
My home was prewired for ethernet, all the rooms in the house come down to a “network interface device” in the basement. There are no ports in the NID in order to run a patch cable from the NID to my router to make all the ports live. So I decided to install a 4 port jack next to it. I took the Cat5e cable marked “study” where I want to move my computer, removed it from the NID, and installed a Levitron plug just like you did in the how-to. I then ran a patch cable from the router to the port I just created, but no-dice. I don’t get a signal. Am I missing something I should be doing? Thanks for the help and the how-to was very well done.
The box in my basement may not be called a Network Interface Device, I think that is outside my home. I am not sure what it is called but all the cat 5 cables from my home terminate there.
I think what you’re referring to as a NID is really a Cat5e patch panel. Is this so? If not, please e-mail a photo to bob [at] handymanhowto.com and we’ll go from there.
Or better, your “NID” is probably a structured wiring panel. Does it look similar to one of these Leviton panels?
It looks more like the Cat 5e patch panel. It is all punch down with no other ports on it. Thanks for your help.
The “NID” is just a Cat 5e patch panel that’s there to organize the cabling (structured wiring): each Cat5e cable is punched down on the back to match a single RJ45 jack on the front. If you replace the 4-port wall jack in this diagram with the Cat5e patch panel in the basement, it should match your situation.
You’ll need to install a Ethernet switch in the basement wiring panel to light up the Ethernet drops to other rooms in the house, as illustrated in the aforementioned diagram. Use short patch cables to connect the Ethernet switch ports to the patch panel RJ45 ports and label each patch cable.
The problem is there are no ports on the patch panel, that’s why I just removed the cable marked “study” and installed it in the 4 port wall jack and then plugged my router into that jack. So in the diagram I have a router instead of a switch but everything else is the same. I just don’t know why it isn’t working. Is the switch required? The only other thing I can think of is that the cable is mislabled.
> The problem is there are no ports on the patch panel
Hmm, that doesn’t sound like a Ethernet patch panel, rather some other type of punch down block. Can you e-mail a photo of the basement panel and cables? Send it to bob [at] handymanhowto.com. Include any markings or labels that state the manufacturer and model #’s.
> that’s why I just removed the cable marked “study” and installed it in the 4 port wall jack and then plugged my router into that jack.
Please confirm this is your network connectivity path – which should work just fine – a switch in the basement panel is not required:
cable modem — patch cable — (Internet port) router (LAN port) — patch cable — wall jack — Cat5e cable drop inside the walls — 4 port jack in basement — cable drop from/to the Study — wall jack — patch cable — computer
I’d like to see your basement panel to better understand how the cables are being terminated.
Erik – thanks for the photos of the basement wiring. I see the problem. The Cat5e cable in your home wasn’t installed for Ethernet, but for the phones.
Here’s what you have:
* A phone wiring 66 punch down block.
* Two tan colored Cat-3 cables from the phone company into the top of the 66 block. Only 2 wires from each Cat3 cable are punched down, to support two phone lines.
* Several blue Cat5e Ethernet cables from the various rooms with only 2 of the 4 pairs are punched down to the 66 block. This matches the two pairs from the Cat3 phone lines.
A phone line requires 2 wires (tip & ring). The two Cat3 cables make up two phone lines (2 pairs for 4 wires). The two phone lines are carried over 2 pairs of the Cat5e cable to the phone jacks in the other rooms. Notice how the unused Cat5e wire pairs are wrapped around the cable.
Closeup of the 66 block phone wiring:
If you disconnect a blue Cat5e cable from the 66 block, you’ll deactivate the phone jack in the corresponding room. You can confirm this by opening up a phone jack in one of the rooms and see that it’s Cat5e wired to the phone jack.
I didn’t see the 4 port jack you wired up and where those Cat5e cables were (re)located. Did you remove those Cat5e cables from the 66 block? If so, how is that Cat5e cable terminated at the other end in the upstairs room?
The builder wired your home for only for phone lines, this isn’t a data capable installation.
I had a feeling it was set up for phone but I thought I could make it work for ethernet as well. I don’t care about phone in the study. Here is what I did:
* Removed the ethernet cable for the “study” from the punch down 66 block, installed a levitron cat5e port to the end.
* In the study I opened the wall jack, it had two cat5e ports with wires from the one cat 5e cable leading to both ports (set up for phone?). I removed the 8 wires from the 2 ports and applied them to one of the ports just like I did in the basement. Now the cat5e cable is terminated with a cat5e port and snapped into the wall plate.
* Snapped the cat5e port in the basement into the 4 port wall plate and plugged the router into it using a patch cable.
Thanks, Erik
I’m pleased you got it working by disconnecting the Cat5e cable marked “study” from the 66 block in the basement and punching it down to an RJ45 jack, then rewiring the wall jack in the study for Ethernet.
> * In the study I opened the wall jack, it had two cat5e ports with wires from the one
> cat 5e cable leading to both ports (set up for phone?).
Right, the wall jacks in the study were setup for two phone lines which is consistent with the two tan-colored Cat3 phone cables going into the basement 66 block.
For a phone line in the study, you can always buy a cordless DECT phone for the kitchen (or where ever there’s a live phone jack) and place a DECT phone extension in the study.
I only skimmed the comments, but didn’t see any alternative mentioned to the blue box. A better choice is a low voltage box such as made by Carlton, available at home depot for under $2:
http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100160916/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053&superSkuId=202891090
The back is totally open making fishing wires easier and less problem crimping ot sharply bending the CAT5/6 cable.
The low voltage box is a good choice. I have a new Cat5e drop to install and will post photos.
Thanks for the web site, Bob!
I am getting ready to run some cat 6 from my router to several rooms and this has helped me.
I ordered parts from http://www.monoprice.com
Again thank you for taking time to do this site!
regards,
William V.
Great review! I’m curious, is there a difference for Cat 5e and Cat 6 when selecting the keystone used? I want to run Cat 6 for future proofing but I don’t know if I need specific keystones. Thanks!
Please see the explanation at the bottom of this page: “Are the connectors for category 5e and category 6 different? Why are they more expensive?“.
If you’ve mixed Cat5 jacks with Cat6 wiring and want to ensure the full performance of a Cat6 network, remove the Cat5e jacks and punch down Cat6 jacks.
Ugh, I am so sick of the wifi in my room! My PC is brilliant but the wireless internet dongle completely lets it down. I wish you were my dad Bob.
Great article, i found it very helpful. I just ran 3, 60 foot runs of Cat5e frm my router to entertainment center by dropping wires from the main floor down to an unfinished basement. During the run, all three wires cross over 2 air ducts. I did not buy plenum wire. In this situation, do I need to use plenum wires and what is the risk if I just use regular Cat5e riser wire.
Plenum wire is needed when cable is run inside an air duct – a rare situation outside of commercial buildings where the entire crawlspace is the duct. Search the comments in this series for more details. Your situation where the cable simply crosses the air duct is fine with standard cable.
Do you run multpiple computers on the same domain? I have a Netgear wireless router to a Netgear switch but can only see those computers that are hooked directly to the wireless router or using the wireless signal. Would this be a setting in the Netgear wireless router or does the wiring need to be some form of a cross over type?
Thanks
I’m running a “flat” LAN network – all devices are in the same subnet and no VLANs. If your switch is plugged into a LAN port on the WiFi router then you should be good. I assume you have a simple unmanaged switch. Check your router DHCP lease table to see if the switch devices are pulling an IP address. You could have a bad Cat5e cable, too. Use a standard Ethernet cable – a crossover cable will not work. Also check the Netgear Support Site.
Great tutorial!!! I am planning to run cat 5e cable at my house soon. I will be running cat 5 from the main floor down to a unfinished basement. My question is about the different type of Cat 5e cables. What is the difference between CM (in-wall rated) and CMR (riser rated)? I looked on monoprice and didn’t know which one to buy.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10233
Any help will be appreciated.
Riser cable is also known as “plenum” cable. Please see my answer dated April 1, 2010 at 6:36pm in the comments section to another reader’s question on this topic.
The short answer is you don’t need plenum or riser rated cable for pulling cables through walls. Riser cable needed for it’s fire-resistant properties when pulling cable within air conditioning ducts or plenum spaces.