New home with Cat5/LAN roughed-in? How to add connectors, switch, router, etc.



January 8, 2013 by Tech Tutorials

So I just moved into a brand new home. The builder (Landmark Legacy) was cool enough to run Cat5 throughout the house with plugs in every room. Awesome. However, it turns out they just come out in a bundle or wires in my basement with no connectors on them. Less Awesome.

I was also a little surprised to find out that the local cable company (Shaw) doesn’t actually touch these wires when they come to get you set up with cable/internet. This made me think to myself:

I’m lucky I’m a bit technical and like to doing projects like this… but what if this were most anyone else? What would they do? Who do you even call to take care of something like this?

Anyway, I thought I’d detail the steps I go through to get this all running so that the next guy can do a bit less head scratching than me.

Here’s where I’m starting at

  • All the Cat5 wires are connected to a wall plate in their respective rooms (office, living room, 3 bdrms, etc)
  • A Cat5 wire for each plate is hanging by my electrical planel in the basement
  • The cable co. installed the provided modem/wireless router unit in my office on the main level using a coaxial outlet

The tools I used

Steps

Crimp the wires you’ll need (in my case the one coming down from my office, where my modem and router are, and the living room where I wanted a wired connection). I used this video to guide me through crimping.

How to crimp Cat5 wired with RJ45 connectors

Cat5 wiring diagram for RJ45 connectors

Screen Shot 2013-01-08 at 10.59.21 PM

If you have any trouble or need some more info on wiring patterns (there are a few variables) check this page.

Once the required wires are crimped, plug in your switch, put the one coming from your router into the LAN port and the other(s) in one of the remaining ports.

IMG_20121230_214417 (1)

Test, and enjoy!


  • jd

    While the steps you took will work, the proper way to terminate this type of cat5 is with a patch panel.

    I recently had the same sort of setup from a builder. I ordered a couple 12 port patch panels from monoprice.com and and terminated every cable in to them. This has the benefit that I can now easily patch ethernet or telephone to any of the jacks in the house.

    I used a couple of these guys…

    http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=105&cp_id=10514&cs_id=1051402&p_id=7299&seq=1&format=2

    which are nice because you can screw them right in to your plywood backer. While I was at it, I ordered about a dozen 2′ or 3′ patch cables

    • http://nickpierno.com/ Nick Pierno

      Good info! I really don’t know enough about networking to have an opinion, which is why I found the situation I was left with a bit odd. I’m always game to take on projects like this and learn, but I wonder what the 90% of other people who buy a new home with this roughed in would do.

      I had no idea who to call or what to Google so I just kinda tried my best. Definitely worked though! Getting 48 Mbps down when I speed tested! I really only needed one active panel too, though I may add one in my bedroom if the need arises. I have no intention of changing the role of any of the jacks because they are all dual wired and the phone lines are already all live (going to the top jack).