My router is connected with a cable that contains only 2 wires? WTF

[TommyTwommy]

So I was routing some internet cables around my house and I had to cut the internet cable (dsl cable, telephone line or whatever its called) on my attic and connect it to another cable that goes into my room so I could have the router in my room. I was shocked when I saw that the dsl line has only 2 GODDAMN wires? I mean like wtf? My life is 2 wires? I expected more!!! My question is how can so much data be transfered over 2 cables? Lets say my internet speed is 50mbps. This means I am downloading 52428800 bits per second. And if I'm right bits can be a 0 or a 1. And they are represented by the voltage in that wire. If the voltage is for example 1V or more its a 1. If its below 1V its a 0. So can someone explain me how can 2 wires change their voltages 52428800 times in a second? It'd mean the voltage in each wire would change every 0,000000038 seconds. Is this how it works? And how wrong am I?

[spartaman64]

well the internet im using is on a coaxial cable which is basically one big copper wire

[TommyTwommy]

4 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

well the internet im using is on a coaxial cable which is basically one big copper wire

As much as I know the coaxial cable has 2 cables inside it.. The main one you mentioned 'big copper wire' that is wrapped around with some kind of shield that another cable wrapped around that shield that is also shielded

 

I mean I'm probably wrong but I was just connecting a coaxial cable yesterday (my RF cable) and when I was adding a connector to it I had to make sure that the metal shield was touching some other metal otherwise my tv signal was very bad when I only had the main copper cable connected.

[spartaman64]

4 minutes ago, berny22 said:

As much as I know the coaxial cable has 2 cables inside it.. The main one you mentioned 'big copper wire' that is wrapped around with some kind of shield that another cable wrapped around that shield that is also shielded

i made coaxial cables and i thought the stuff around was just shielding and when i stripped them off it still seems to work but i dont know a lot about coax cables

[TommyTwommy]

4 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

i made coaxial cables and i thought the stuff around was just shielding and when i stripped them off it still seems to work but i dont know a lot about coax cables

Yeah me too. I removed everything but the big copper cable inside thinking it's the only thing that matters. But when I connected it to my tv receiver the stream was bad and lagging like hell and there was no sound at all. So I called my dad to help me and when he saw what I've done he laughed at me. He said that the metal shield around the cable had to touch the other metal thing inside the connector. I did it and the picture was fine, as was the audio. I was like wtf.

[Windows7ge]

From my understanding of RJ-11 connectors. The two wires in the middle are for data transfer while the optional two wires on the outside are for power. DSL lines have their own power source so in the case of a power outage if you have an old school phone you can still use it. If the line doesn't require power than only two wires are needed to transmit data. What the exact data bandwidth limit is I don't know.

[spartaman64]

8 minutes ago, berny22 said:

Yeah me too. I removed everything but the big copper cable inside thinking it's the only thing that matters. But when I connected it to my tv receiver the stream was bad and lagging like hell and there was no sound at all. So I called my dad to help me and when he saw what I've done he laughed at me. He said that the metal shield around the cable had to touch the other metal thing inside the connector. I did it and the picture was fine, as was the audio. I was like wtf.

oh guess i got lucky somehow lol

[TommyTwommy]

1 minute ago, spartaman64 said:

oh guess i got lucky somehow lol

You're using that coaxial cable for the internet?

[spartaman64]

3 minutes ago, berny22 said:

You're using that coaxial cable for the internet?

yes my modem uses an coaxial cable for internet. and then i connect my modem to my router using an ethernet cable

[DevilishBooster]

16 minutes ago, berny22 said:

So I was routing some internet cables around my house and I had to cut the internet cable (dsl cable, telephone line or whatever its called) on my attic and connect it to another cable that goes into my room so I could have the router in my room. I was shocked when I saw that the dsl line has only 2 GODDAMN wires? I mean like wtf? My life is 2 wires? I expected more!!! My question is how can so much data be transfered over 2 cables? Lets say my internet speed is 50mbps. This means I am downloading 52428800 bits per second. And if I'm right bits can be a 0 or a 1. And they are represented by the voltage in that wire. If the voltage is for example 1V or more its a 1. If its below 1V its a 0. So can someone explain me how can 2 wires change their voltages 52428800 times in a second? It'd mean the voltage in each wire would change every 0,000000038 seconds. Is this how it works? And how wrong am I?

2 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

From my understanding of RJ-11 connectors. The two wires in the middle are for data transfer while the optional two wires on the outside are for power. DSL lines have their own power source so in the case of a power outage if you have an old school phone you can still use it. If the line doesn't require power than only two wires are needed to transmit data. What the exact data bandwidth limit is I don't know.

From what I know, that is correct. The middle two wires on a phone line are for the signal and the outer two are the power and ground. That is how old school phones didn't need to be plugged into an AC outlet in order two work. Because DSL connections receive their own power from a AC source, you only really need to use the two signal wires. The reason why most peoples' DSL connections have all 4 wires is because it's usually easier to just terminate the wire like a regular 4 pin phone line so that it can be re-purposed later for a phone if needed.

 

[TommyTwommy]

3 minutes ago, spartaman64 said:

yes my modem uses an coaxial cable for internet. and then i connect my modem to my router using an ethernet cable

Hmm, maybe if you tried fixing that coaxial cable thingy, your internet connection would be more stable, or the latency would be lower, or who knows the speed would be higher 

[spartaman64]

3 minutes ago, berny22 said:

Hmm, maybe if you tried fixing that coaxial cable thingy, your internet connection would be more stable, or the latency would be lower, or who knows the speed would be higher 

oh my modem isnt using the coax cable i made its using one given by comcast

[Limecat86]

At my home everything enters my house trough coaxial. Which goes to a 3 way splitter for internet, tv and radio.

From the splitter then I have 3 coaxial lines. One to the modem, one to the HD recorder, and one to the HiFi tuner. I'm quite impressed how they manage to put everything trough a single coaxial line. 

[brwainer]

9 hours ago, DevilishBooster said:

From what I know, that is correct. The middle two wires on a phone line are for the signal and the outer two are the power and ground. That is how old school phones didn't need to be plugged into an AC outlet in order two work. Because DSL connections receive their own power from a AC source, you only really need to use the two signal wires. The reason why most peoples' DSL connections have all 4 wires is because it's usually easier to just terminate the wire like a regular 4 pin phone line so that it can be re-purposed later for a phone if needed.

 

A phone or DSL only needs 1 pair, which carries both data and power. If you have a second pair, that is literally a second phone line, which may or may not be hooked up at the telco box.

[Wombo]

On 2016-06-30 at 8:59 AM, berny22 said:

So I was routing some internet cables around my house and I had to cut the internet cable (dsl cable, telephone line or whatever its called) on my attic and connect it to another cable that goes into my room so I could have the router in my room. I was shocked when I saw that the dsl line has only 2 GODDAMN wires? I mean like wtf? My life is 2 wires? I expected more!!! My question is how can so much data be transfered over 2 cables? Lets say my internet speed is 50mbps. This means I am downloading 52428800 bits per second. And if I'm right bits can be a 0 or a 1. And they are represented by the voltage in that wire. If the voltage is for example 1V or more its a 1. If its below 1V its a 0. So can someone explain me how can 2 wires change their voltages 52428800 times in a second? It'd mean the voltage in each wire would change every 0,000000038 seconds. Is this how it works? And how wrong am I?

That sounds like regular cat3 used for phone lines. That is what DSL was designed to run over.