Apartment LAN

[Tuero]

So I recently moved apartments (Same company, different building across the street) and we are having issues with the pre-installed ethernet jacks in the apartment. Each individual room has an ethernet and coaxial jack, and so does the main "common room". In our old building, we get our signal from Rogers through the coaxial jack in the common room -> modem/router -> then connect an ethernet wire from the router to the ethernet jack in the main room. This would allow each of the individual rooms to have wired internet through the ethernet cables in the room. This however does not work in the new building. It seems that there is no signal coming or going into the individual ethernet outlets in the rooms. 

 

The apartment owner is looking into it but its going to take a while as she doesn't really know what is going on. We are able to get a direct line signal from Rogers so I know its not their problem (connecting directly to the router works). There is a cable box which has 6 ethernet wired connecting to some panel (5 individual rooms, 1 main room). I think this panel serves as a switch with the signal from the main room being distributed to the 5 individual rooms. I have seen previous setups where the ethernet cables have the RJ45 connecter head so you plug the 5 wires into the router, but this just has them connecting to this panel.

 

I have attached a photo of this panel as its hard for me to describe. I know there isn't much I can do and I have to wait for the apartment owner to figure things out and call an electrician/network person, but does anyone have any ideas that I could try or anything that I can do to eliminating possible "errors" so I can make it easier for her?

 

Things I have tried thus far:

- connecting directly to the router/wifi (tells me that we are indeed getting internet from Rogers)

- Using the same cables I connected directly to the router so I know the cables aren't the issue

- Tried the jacks in all the individual rooms (tells me that its not just one jack that isn't working

[KTFO|SGTmoody]

not to sure whats going on there but thats definatly not how i would connect up multiple rooms via 1 ethernet cable.  You can't split 1 ethernet link up in to 6 just by wireing them all togeather which is what i asume the electrician has tried to do...?

 data connectivity isnt the same as connecting  mains supplys togeather. I have seen simmilar where electitions have wired all the ethernet cables togeather in to one link at an end. #doesnt work or you can only use one link at a time....

Im also guessing they are not wired in the correct order at the "connected" end.

 

The way to connect all your rooms up is to put each one of those cables in to a patch panel like this:  http://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat5e-patch-panels/9-24-port-cat5e-utp-elite-port-patch-panel.html

 

and then get your self a switch and patch the cables you want connected from the patch panel to the switch like this:  http://www.speedguide.net/~brian/patt3.jpg

 

that way you get a connection on each link and only have to have one cable from your switch to the router.

 

When patching make sure the colours are round the correct way otherwise it wont work

 

 

Hope this helps

[KTFO|SGTmoody]

Actualy....  is there room to connect cables on the other side of that bar. it might just be a pannel where you can connect the patches to eatch cable by wireing them in.

if so... then the reason its not working is because nothing is connected to them?

 

could do with some more pictures of both sides as well as close ups of the wires.

[Tuero]

There are 6 cables there, and there are 5 ethernet jacks in the individual rooms and one in the common room (totalling 6). There is no place to plug anything in. I am not quite sure what the panel is, but I have attached more pictures from different angles. 

 

[KTFO|SGTmoody]

ahh ok its one of those....  yeh...

 

um.  the reason it doesnt work is because nothing is connected to those cables.   If you look the cables are punched down in to the mettle bits in side the panel.  those then corespond to the other side. And theres no cable on the other side......

 

So for it to work. You need to buy some cat5e or cat6  up to you. And punch down the cables in to the other side.  You then connect the other end of your new cable in to a switch and away you go.

 

But personaly I would start again with what ever that person hand in mind.  Get your self a proper patch panel and mount it to the wall with some brackets. and mount a switch underneath it.  connect your blue cables to the patch panel and patch the cables in to the switch.

 

Or.  if you wanted to do it the easy way.  buy your self some RJ45 clips and crimp tool, remove the cable from that panel and make the ends up on the cable and plug it in to the switch that way. Just remember to get the colours round the correct way

[Tuero]

So I know what to do know. I am going to strip down a cat6 cable into the 8 wires and connect them so the colours match up. Then plug in the other end into my router. Do I have to strip away the coloured insulator on each of the 8 individual wires so that it can make a connection?

[Tuero]

Success it worked!!!!!!!!!

 

Stupid contractors ahaha thanks so much for your help!

[KTFO|SGTmoody]

That's OK. If you have any more questions or issues I'm happy to help