Home network - cat5 query

dev_g

Hi,

So i recently moved into a new(ish) house that has some cat5 cabling in it. One faceplate upstairs, two downstairs. I don't think they have ever been used as they don't seem to be wired correctly (after a quick google of correct 568a/b config).

One of the faceplates downstairs has 3 cables running into it and the 2nd faceplate (the one i want to use) has two cables running into it.
The faceplate upstairs has 5 cables running into it (I assume the 3+2 from downstairs) it seems as tho whoever wired them didnt really know what they were doing as the individual wires are not in the correct 'slots' and some ports even have two cables patched into them - don't think this can be done

Anyway, i have a 10mb wireless internet connection connected to my wireless router upstairs, but the signal is pretty poor downstairs (concrete slabs between floors) so i cant get a very good connection / keeps dropping out on xbox live. So i wanted to try and get the Ethernet ports up and running so i can have a decent, reliable connection (also to connect to the sky box to use anytime+ when its launched in Ireland).

I'm not 100% sure of the best way to test which cable is which, i'm guessing i'll make sure the two cables in the faceplate downstairs are wired correctly, then just go through each of the 5 wires upstairs, connect one at a time and use a cable tester until i find the correct cable??

So after i have connected the correct cable and tested it, in my head the scenario would be this:

Internet--->wireless router--->Ethernet cable--->Upstairs faceplate--->downstairs faceplate--->Ethernet cable--->Xbox/Sky box

(do i need to use 'straight through' or 'cross over' Ethernet cables?)


I hope this is clear, and would appreciate any help with this, thanks.

Edit:

I just took this quick pic of the faceplate upstairs which may give you a better idea of what i mean. As you can see two of the cables are wired into the one port and the other 3 cables aren't connected at all.
Not sure how to display it in the main text

PogMoThoin

Whoever wired that hadn't a clue. By the looks of the singled out blues he tried to set it up for an analogue phone setup, you just join them together to send phone to each room. Can't understand what they were trying with the 2x cat5 cables to single ethernet port, just proves they had no idea what they were at.

To answer your question, You use straight through and use T568B. T568A is only used on the other side of a crossover (which aren't really needed these days as modern devices auto-negotiate)

dev_g

Thanks for the reply.

Went and hired a network guy for a couple of hours and he sorted it out for me.:D

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