Ethernet cable in wall

[SharpY]

Okay, I was just curious.. when we moved in (I'm 18 living with my mom), There was an ethernet cable mount bracket thing (will add picture).  I Think I remember it having like an "Ethernet to DSL" adapter or something like that. (moved in a year ago in Feb)

 

My problem is.. I tried finding if it led to somewhere else in the house.. But it's the ONLY one in the house I could find.

My main guesses would be it's for an AT&T connection or something  (2 main providers in my area are Brighthouse and AT&T)  But I've never heard of that as I thought they would use the existing Coaxial Cables run to the house and just hook up their stuff to it instead of brighthouse's.

Guess 2 would be in house wired connections with a switch or wired wifi extender on the other end.

 

 

Idk.

 

Picture: 

 

1: Cover on wall  http://i.imgur.com/tcXNDgx.jpg

2. Cover Removed http://i.imgur.com/pRKLke9.jpg

 

I'm just wondering if anyone has a concrete idea of what this would be for, or at least help me figure out lol

 

No big deal or anything, just a curiosity. 

 

EDIT: http://i.imgur.com/pxmHl11.jpg

Edited January 23, 2015 by SharpY

[Cookie Monster]

It looks like an rj11 phone socket than an rj45 ethernet port to me.

[SharpY]

It looks like an rj11 phone socket than an rj45 ethernet port to me.

See I thought that too, but: http://i.imgur.com/uaNOTTH.jpg   (zoom in.. it's hard to take a decent image of this because of location, and no color to the text)

 

EDIT: Got a better Pic http://i.imgur.com/pxmHl11.jpg

 

 

After Looking on google images for what I thought was one of the weirdest things ("RJ11 CAT 5e")  I'm seeing images of stuff that looks similar and can understand lol

In particular, this image: http://www.computercableinc.com/ccinc/images/SURFACE-MOUNT-RJ11-12-and-RJ45-BestLink.jpg

Edited January 23, 2015 by SharpY

[Stadiz]

Looks like a connection for a housephone with digital functions (pushing calls forward)

weird...

[SharpY]

Looks like a connection for a housephone with digital functions (pushing calls forward)

weird...

I just found ONE more.. Missed it before (was behind keurig) I find it weird there would only be 2 phone lines in the house.. and with this connector)

 

Just to make sure it isn't some kinda non phone line I'm gonna hook my router to one and a laptop to the other

[SharpY]

Update: No connection what so ever with no recognition.  I would go ahead and say you're right on the mark

Looks like a connection for a housephone with digital functions (pushing calls forward)

weird...

[DerBernd]

The cover says cat5e meaning Gigabit Ethernet. The port is an RJ45, RJ11 is narrower (as in less wide).

[Scheer]

You can still plug in a RJ11 connector for phone into a RJ45 keystone. Could just be that the guy who was wiring it only had RJ45s on hand and threw them in. A little odd that he would punch down all 4 pairs though.

 

Check around the outside of the house for a box that looks similar to this:

 

 

You can usually find a flathead screwdriver that will open the top safety allen screw (the one above the red circled bolt) to get into the main part of the box and see if there are blue Cat5e lines running into it.

[SharpY]

You can still plug in a RJ11 connector for phone into a RJ45 keystone. Could just be that the guy who was wiring it only had RJ45s on hand and threw them in. A little odd that he would punch down all 4 pairs though.

 

Check around the outside of the house for a box that looks similar to this:

 

[PICTURE]

 

You can usually find a flathead screwdriver that will open the top safety allen screw (the one above the red circled bolt) to get into the main part of the box and see if there are blue Cat5e lines running into it.

I'll have to look in there,  and I was at first gonna be like "wouldn't they not like that if I did that?"  but why would I care.. both of us living here have mobile phones and do not want a landline again lol.

 

Will edit with what I find

 

 

EDIT: 

1. http://i.imgur.com/Raoqm4T.jpg  

2. http://i.imgur.com/W6Ydovw.jpg

3. Have some birds: http://i.imgur.com/md3BF9w.jpg

Edited January 23, 2015 by SharpY

[Jaybird]

Oh fun, an adventure. I'm following to see where this goes.

[SharpY]

Made the Edit:

 

1. http://i.imgur.com/Raoqm4T.jpg

2. http://i.imgur.com/W6Ydovw.jpg

3. Have some birds: http://i.imgur.com/md3BF9w.jpg

[Scheer]

I'll have to look in there,  and I was at first gonna be like "wouldn't they not like that if I did that?"  but why would I care.. both of us living here have mobile phones and do not want a landline again lol.

 

Will edit with what I find

 

 

EDIT: 

1. http://i.imgur.com/Raoqm4T.jpg

2. http://i.imgur.com/W6Ydovw.jpg

3. Have some birds: http://i.imgur.com/md3BF9w.jpg

 

Yep, its just phone lines hooked up to RJ45 jacks. If you ask the phone company they will say you aren't allowed to open the box... But they won't do anything about it.

 

Now if you want to, you could tap those two lines together at that box so the two jacks inside of the house would be connected.

 

You can buy these at about any hardware store to do it. Just stick one of each matching color in and squeeze with pliers, so you will need 8 of these. They usually come in a 25 or 50 pack for a few dollars.

 

I honestly don't know what the real name for them is, I've always called them scotchloks tho. Technically scotchlok is the 3M series of crimpable connectors.

 

[SharpY]

Yep, its just phone lines hooked up to RJ45 jacks. If you ask the phone company they will say you aren't allowed to open the box... But they won't do anything about it.

 

Now if you want to, you could tap those two lines together at that box so the two jacks inside of the house would be connected.

 

You can buy these at about any hardware store to do it. Just stick one of each matching color in and squeeze with pliers, so you will need 8 of these. They usually come in a 25 or 50 pack for a few dollars.

 

I honestly don't know what the real name for them is, I've always called them scotchloks tho. Technically scotchlok is the 3M series of crimpable connectors.

 

I'll probably do that and then hook up a Wifi extender that uses wired instead of the wifi signal since the other one is in our kitchen next to our living room (open kitchen design crap)

I'm sure a new wall jack is just a few bucks too since it looks like these ones don't have all the prongs for full ethernet.

 

Thanks for mentioning that because I honestly wouldn't have even though about doing it that was even though it's so simple in theory.. I was thinking about running whole new lines through the wall and all that jazz and man that would've been a pain. lol

[Scheer]

I'll probably do that and then hook up a Wifi extender that uses wired instead of the wifi signal since the other one is in our kitchen next to our living room (open kitchen design crap)

I'm sure a new wall jack is just a few bucks too since it looks like these ones don't have all the prongs for full ethernet.

 

Thanks for mentioning that because I honestly wouldn't have even though about doing it that was even though it's so simple in theory.. I was thinking about running whole new lines through the wall and all that jazz and man that would've been a pain. lol

 

Ah, I didn't even notice that, they are only 6 pin. Swapping keystones is pretty easy, should be able to find them at a hardware store as well, just not as cheap as online. Menards here sells them for $5/ea, they are a little over a dollar from Monoprice, but then you have to pay shipping on top of that.

 

You could also make a custom patch cable and shift the wires around on the wall side, all you need for 100mb is 2 pair. As long as your orange and blue pairs are lined up somewhere on the 6 pins and are the same on both sides it will work. Probably better to just do it right the first time though, save you the confusion a few years down the line lol.