TLDR: Replacing the jacks in my apartment for network. Whats your weird wiring project?

So I moved into my new apartment and tore up what I found to be a sort of network cabinet in one closet, where all the cable jacks and phone lines dropped into.

The place doesnt have an outside phone connection, so they only dropped phone lines figuring the residents would terminate them for digital phone.

Phone lines are cat 5, but the jacks are rj-11 phone heads, not rj45 ethernet heads . So Im off to lowes to get some rj45 jack blocks, heads and a crimper to terminate the lines and put them into a switch.
Since its all in a closet, throw my modem direct to the cable jack, stick my router in there with my switches, and maybe stick my servers in there as well for a nice all in one place server/networking closet. Only problem is theres no power in there


So whats your most extravagant way to get perfect networking/power/cabling in your place?

1/24/2011 10:23:46 AM

buy wireless router
???
profit

1/24/2011 1:10:43 PM

but hardwired is fasterrrrrrrr

1/24/2011 2:56:28 PM

so you're not really rewiring, you're just turning cat5 into ethernet jacks instead of phone jacks. I'm not sure that counts


For the record, if you're actually running anything put in shielded cat5 or regular cat6 - then you can run HDMI extenders and stuff through it later.

[Edited on January 24, 2011 at 4:49 PM. Reason : we ran almost 1000ft of cat5 15 feet in the air this weekend at an old warehouse. *fun*]

1/24/2011 4:45:08 PM

^ Ok you win Im technically not rewiring but give me a better term to use

Heh I didnt think on that. I might have to do that, but at a later date, just using the existing runs to do a new one.

And yes you did have fun.

Also I have a wireless AP which is very good but yes wired is better, and its more for my desktop, and gaming devices which is a pain to convert to wireless, or run a bridge.

1/25/2011 8:53:55 AM

If decide to re-wifi your place check out the Open-Mesh access points. These things are the junk for low bandwidth applications. Twin networks (one protected, one 'public') so you don't have to explain your 50 character wifi password to your friends. The public access can be disabled from the management website (it will then populate across your entire network instead of having to reset your router, and the 3 repeaters you're using) when no one is there.

Then if you have signal issues, or if you need to bring a wired client into the fold just buy a new node (~$50) and plug it into a wall outlet. It will map to your network and download your settings from the website automatically - no need for setup. Or if you need a repeater just buy it and plug it up - the $10 case hangs right on the outlet out of the way. No setup, just let it sit there until the next server ping and it will remap itself into your network (remaps every 3-5 minutes).

They're awesome

1/25/2011 9:40:06 AM