I have ethernet ports in every room in the newly built house.

umburgiz

Does anyone know if there are meant to feed the connection to every room from a router or is it just a place to plug in your router so you can set it up in any room you want.

SuperBowserWorld

So, from the main router in the house there should be a wired ethernet cable to port covered on the left. ( I think the port on right is coaxial )

You can attach additional powered ethernet switches to these ports to add more ports.

The Cush

Have you located the place in the where all these cables return to?

Co-ax probably return to this point also.

You could do that yes, but it would need to be connected to the main Ethernet hub.

umburgiz

Yeah i haven't found a place where all the cables meet. There is this thing near the front door but i didn't have a screwdriver to check what's behind the blank socket.

Maybe it's irelevant

umburgiz

Could it just be that it's just ports for the the router so that u can move it to any room you want? If so it's kinda disappointing cause then i will have to route ethernet cables between the rooms myself for the other 2 desktops.

kippy

Have you unscrewed the socket to see if it's actually wired up and not just a faceplate?

It's unusual for someone to run cable, terminate it at a box and not put some form of a label on the cable on both ends (although in fairness of there's only one per room it could be labeled back at the patch panel of there is one.)

Likely places for all cables to go back to would be attic, under stairs, near elec distribution box or near TV in sitting room.

Ha Long Bay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120184440#Comment_120184440

All of them patch points should all terminate in a single location back to a patch panel. It would look something like this.

They are not numbered which is not ideal. You then would need a switch which the router would be plugged into to provide network\internet access to.

You need to connect the ports on the patch panel to the switch to make the points live in the rooms this is done by connecting a CAT5\6 cable between switch and patch panel.

umburgiz

Thanks for the help guys, I will have a better look tomorrow

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120184368#Comment_120184368

Could be a telephone socket point.

ax530

As above, that how it is set up in our house.

The sockets in each room have a number like in photo. Then make sure that corresponding number on panel is connected to switch.

IMG_20230131_210342.jpg

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120184440#Comment_120184440

Most likely the ethernet and coax cables return to a central location, attic/hot press/utility etc. Have a root around.

Also as mentioned have a look behind the faceplates.

Plopli

That's very similar to the house I'm renting at the moment.

All the room sockets are cabled back to the utility room, near the main fuse board.

The plate near the front door is for an alarm system keypad.

CalamariFritti

It depends. Ethernet can't just be spliced like a coax/tv cable or so. If you go from on one point to many points you need something like a switch or a hub. Say if you have one port in every room then there would ideally be a point in your house where they all come together, where you have many ports. This is where your router (which also acts like a switch/hub) should go.

Point to point around the house can be done too but it requires multiple hubs and in this case there are most likely two ports in every room.

It all depends on the wiring. You need to have a wiring diagram or figure out what's connected to what by trial and error. Most likely is the star scenario where all the other ports (rooms) come together at a central point.

Dtp1979

Silly question but is Ethernet cable the same as phone cable?

lawrencesummers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120185572#Comment_120185572

Kinda but no.

Phone cable is thinner because it has only 4 smaller wires running inside it (and has smaller connections) while Ethernet has 8 and has bigger connections

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120185552#Comment_120185552

The picture shows the single faceplate about 12" from the floor, so not for an alarm keypad.

The Cush

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120185572#Comment_120185572

No, as posted but ethernet cable can be used as telephone cable, using just a single pair in the cable.

TimHorton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120185667#Comment_120185667

and 2 phone cables can be used as an ethernet cable as only 4 (2xPairs) are required for an ethernet data connection.

Sterling Archer

As others have said, most new build Morden homes should be wired like this.

All these points should return to a central location, most likely in your plant room or attic.

You do not need to wire them up to your router unless you want to.

Your domestic router will have 4 free ports on the back that you could connect 4 of those cables to, how you figure that out yourself is a bit hint and miss if the cables and ports aren't label.

If you need/want to wire up even more ports you would need to get a switch they aren't expensive

Wired connections are better the wireless, so your typical uses for these would be if you plan to work from home from a particular room, if possible wire in your connection.

If you have a particularly weak wireless signal in a part of the home you can get a wired extender and connect it, or you could use the ports to wire in a mesh system like the TP link deco etc

TimHorton

IMO Wired is no longer better than wireless. I have 2 x Unif Wifi Access points running multiple streaming devices / Xbox / PCx3 (WFH) and never have an issue, A good wireless implementation beats wired in today's world.

TheChizler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120184482#Comment_120184482

Most likely they will have to add the patch panel themselves, can't imagine the builders leaving any more than a bunch of loose cables sticking out of the wall.

TheChizler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186021#Comment_120186021

Maybe in some situations where throughput isn't the major consideration, WiFi is only more convenient IMO. At work we have state of the art enterprise WiFi 6 access points but always revert to wired Ethernet for local file transfers.

TimHorton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186133#Comment_120186133

The guy is talking about his house! , Where I work we manage 1500 Access Points across 60 sites globally...Some sites (Manufacturing/Distribution) have 300 Access Points and some only have 5 !

MacDanger

We're just building at the moment - should we be getting an ethernet port in each room? I was just planning on having it in a couple of rooms and relying on wireless

Gaz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186113#Comment_120186113

This is exactly how my house was left. All ethernet and coax from every room returns to a small box in the utility room. Nothing terminated and all squashed in by the builder.

Expect a complete mess and a days frustration tracing and terminating each cable.

Yellow_Fern

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186021#Comment_120186021

In many houses, you need a wired network to run those Unif Access points, particularly in larger houses. Wired also provides PoE, VoIP phones more security etc. Wireless is often better for convenience, but I am pretty sure wired is always higher performance. Many dont need that and should go wireless but some might want it.

theteal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186021#Comment_120186021

In a basic home setup, wireless has some plus points and convenience can be a major one. In general though, no. Wireless is open to too much interference. To get your full bandwidth, high end wireless stuff is not cheap. Wireless printers fall off the network all the time. Mesh systems play havok with ever more popular wireless soundbar systems.

The OPs house is already cabled so with some advise here he could have a fully connected network for very little outlay. OP, this reminds me of my brothers house in Royal Canal Park, all rooms were patched with no info and no sign of the central connection point in the house. We eventually found a bunch of cables in the utility stuffed in the dry wall behind an empty elec back box which was covered by a blank face plate - shameful job by the builders tbh. Anyway, it turns out the ports in each room were not actually terminated properly and obviously the bunch of cables in utility needed a patch panel or some ends put on. Guess what was my job on my last visit?!

OP, yeah, get your tool kit :) , check behind that faceplate at the front door - my guess, ISP router may have to live there, easy external access and you can then feed the connection to your central point. Any other blank faceplates in the house? Is there a utility?

jacko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186156#Comment_120186156

Yea, its probably overkill having in every room as most things are over wireless these days. I'd say having ethernet anywhere you plan on having a TV or anywhere you'd possibly have an office/desk is plenty - even tho you may never use them its always better to have just in case. (If you are running CoAx to the Tv points then Ethernet cable can go along with them) Once your build is complete it wont be easy to add in. A definite thing to consider is where you plan on putting your Access Points for WiFi coverage in the house. For me I used ceiling mounted PoE Access points which work super. You will of course need your ethernet cable ran to wherever you want them and have a PoE switch in your Hotpress/utility where the cables terminate

theteal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186156#Comment_120186156

If you're just building, I would put at least 1 port in each bedroom (I'd run 2 cables even if only connecting one port, stuff does break). Then a bunch, maybe even as many as 4+ in main entertainment areas for Tv's, set top boxes, consoles, sound systems etc. etc. . . . The cable costs next to nothing and they'll be running elec wire anyway so it's simple to pull along with it - a pain to do after building is finished! Even if they just run the cable, leave the terminating up to yourself as a little project, a few youtube videos and it can quickly be learned.

As @jacko says above, a few ceiling runs for potential AP placement is a really good idea whether you go for ports in the rooms or not.

Girl Geraldine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120185737#Comment_120185737

You'd have a crap bit rate. I don't even know if you would get 100mbps, probably not.

What you can do in a pinch, if you have a gigabit setup, is split an ethernet cable so that it can serve two two devices. You can open the cable and wire one set of pairs to one RJ45 plug, and the other pairs to another RJ45 plug. It works, but the bitrate will be limited to 100mbps. Might be OK for the likes of IP cameras or other low data demand devices. You won't get away with it for a TV or intensively used computer setup though.

TimHorton

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186315#Comment_120186315

Complete overkill - Most new TVs/Laptops no longer come with physical Ethernet/Network ports.

theteal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186395#Comment_120186395

I would say slight overkill but why not, during the build is the time for it and it'll cost next to nothing.

I've never seen a TV without eth, the issue with TVs is that they still don't have gig ports, top of the range and all but that has to improve. Yes, newer laptops are a right pain but I'd think most working from home would have a dock which will have an eth port (not the USB dongles, I hate them!).

Look, I fully get your point and if it was a retro fitting job, I'd have a more measured approach but you can never have too many eth ports. . . .you can have too few though.

munsterfan2

There is better latency using wired ethernet vs wireless. Important for the Call Of Duty teenagers in the house.

Thargor

Theres just something sweeter about being on Ethernet compared to wireless, unless you've used it its hard to describe, I dont just mean latency either. Seeing your downloads max out every time is pretty sweet aswell if you torrent a lot.

Also agree the ability to ethernet straight to a tv/satbox is very important these days too.

CalamariFritti

And for gaming. I have the PS wired to the router and especially since I got fibre my pings to my favourite game servers are just short of amazing. When you play stuff like battlefront its all about the pings and every little helps.

Plus wireless doesn't like wood & concrete. My upstairs home office in the other corner of the house would be struggling with Wifi alone. Always nice to be wired even if only to install a wifi repeater.

umburgiz

So i checked everywhere and i couldn't anything that looked like a switch or loose ethernet cables. The only place i didn't check was the attic. I noticed that there was an extra coax socket but in female version and the usual ethernet port beside it.

The face plate at the front door had just a bunch of cables behind it

Outside where the electric meter is underneath it there are 2 white boxes one has virgin logo on it dunno if that's relevant. And the face plate near the front door would be directly behind the two boxes.

Btw the sockets in other rooms only have the male coax port and ethernet

umburgiz

20230131_175114.jpg

The bigger one is in the sitting room and the smaller one is in all the other rooms

kippy

The reality is, there's really little need for a wired connection to every room. Maybe the TV and any offices.

It'd be far more advantageous to think of where you want to put your WAPs and invest in decent WAPs. The vast majority of devices you will be putting on your network will be IoT/Smartphones/Tablets/Laptops etc which are all Wireless first these days. You need decent wireless coverage in all areas of the house.

In fairness I appreciate you can use a wired connection in a room to set up WAP on but it's usually better have these in the ceiling etc.

A PoE switch, decent router and two or three WAPs would set you back about 700 euros max (ubiquiti dream machine a snail poe switch from them and three of their entry level WAPS would give you a massive amount of good solid coverage and a few wired connections to your home office/TV etc would make it a very solid implementation.

Think of the coax scenario in the OPs post. Pretty much redundant nowadays in a lot of houses.

I appreciate that when you are building new running these things isn't such a big expense but I'd be more interested in investing in the kit at the end of them.

Timistry

If the wires are not terminated, who woud you recommend to do this task, a network enginner?

theteal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120189571#Comment_120189571

A crimping kit from Amazon and a few youtube videos tbh. Maybe a sparks would take on an easy cabling nixer????

I'm a network engineer but that means firewalls, routing protocols, security policies etc. I've never run/terminated a cable in my professional life.

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120189534#Comment_120189534

I just have phone on mobile data and everything else wired

Don't use tablets or laptops and don't like WiFi much

I can see how the waps setup covers all bases but probably cos I'm spark I prefer ethernet , just plug everything in and they work at full speed everytime

The Cush

The face plate at the front door had just a bunch of cables behind it

Outside where the electric meter is underneath it there are 2 white boxes one has virgin logo on it dunno if that's relevant. And the face plate near the front door would be directly behind the two boxes.

Looks like a co-ax and ethernet cable, possibly from the 2 small enclosures outside, open the enclosures and check.

Guessing the coax is from the VM box and the ethernet from the eircom box. Looped there in the hall for easy access, for future VM router/eir phone line. Both continue to the attic or other central location where all the internal comms cables converge.

The Cush

So i checked everywhere and i couldn't anything that looked like a switch or loose ethernet cables. The only place i didn't check was the attic. I noticed that there was an extra coax socket but in female version and the usual ethernet port beside it.

Modular faceplate with modular inserts. An unscreened TV co-ax socket - female (normally used with a terrestrial TV aerial feed) and an unscreened F-connector (normally used for satellite connections and probably cable too). Unscreened is crap, should have been screened at the rear to prevent inward and outward interference, hadn't come across that type before.

Also RG45 Cat5e modular insert.

Cyrus

I was lucky that our developer put a mini network rack in the house with patch panels for coax , Ethernet and speaker cables. In every other new build house I’ve been in the owner has been left with a box of unterminated cables in a plant room or attic. If you can find a young electrician he should be able to terminate for you .

imo if I was building I’d have it set up same as mine again Ethernet to every room and multiple to main ent room. Ethernet also allows hdbaset for centralised media av devices etc and personally I’d rather a wired non gigabit connection to a tv over wireless for streaming etc ( and i have a full UniFi set up with multiple aps and a udm pro etc etc )

Irish Steve

Wi Fi is wonderful if you are not in an apartment complex or similar, a number of years ago now, a friend of mine was having problems with a laptop up on the third floor of his house, and at the time, I had a software package that ran on my laptop, and showed the local WiFi signals, with the SSID, channel number and related details

I went up to his house, and ran a scan. My laptop found 17 WiFi signals, and his was about 12th down the list in terms of strength and quality, as his router was on the ground floor and suurrounded by the blockwork of the stair way.

The solution for him was to move the router up on to the second floor, which meant cabling his phone line, and changing the channel that his router was on, to get away from the default channel that was being used by a significant number of the other service providers.

Even with 5 Gb now available, WiFi can be problematic in high density estates, there's only so many frequencies (channels ) available, and if some of the routers are in high places, or close to windows, they can have effects over a much wider area than expected,

At home here, (70Ft long dormer bungalow) I've ended up putting in a second WiFi point indoors to ensure coverage for things like phones, and then there's a TPlink over the power system for the garage to ensure that the incoming power monitor can get reliable signal, the WiFi just can't get that far, and it's too much hassle to run ethernet cabling underground to the garage. Almost all the TV's and related devices are Ethernet wired.

If you have the option to have wired, go for it, we get way better reliability from things like Sky boxes, and other similar devices using wires, rather than the WiFi, especially when streaming content to the TV, very rare to get buffering issues with direct connections.

kirk.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120186258#Comment_120186258

Seems to be a mixed bag

10-10-20 was making the point about wired versus mesh/waps on another thread