Help installing home phone network please!!

[boiselifer]

Hello,
We live in an older house (1945) that never had a Network Interface Device installed. Right now our DSL has gone capoot! The phone company said the problem is within the house and its old wiring (which doesn't surprise me).

So...the phone company is coming out to install a NID. I am planning on re-wiring the telephone cables within the house myself. While I am at it, I would like to set up the DSL so we can access the internet in any room.

Can somebody direct me in the process and what is needed to setup a simple network to be able to do this?

Is there some type of hub system where everything can branch out from?

Also, would you run a CAT5 cable from the NID to some type of hub, then splice the multiple cables (also CAT5) with the main CAT5 cable and run them out from there?

This is my first attempt at this type of thing so hopefully I am not speaking in Latin. =)

Thanks!

[seezar]

You could use a 66 block to branch all your phone wiring off of.

This site is a good read:

http://www.homephonewiring.com/

[mango man]

Network cables need to all home run (terminate in a common location )

at that point they will go to a patch panel and from the patch panel to a switch , you will need one switch port for each location you want a computer.

dont terminate the network wires to 66 block (its used for voice only)

the dsl line should also be run at this point unfiltered , and go the modem and router if needed (some dsl providers are providing a modem with a built in router and switch )

your phone can be either home run as above ..prefred

or loop wired (one cable from jack to jack ) loop will work just fine it just gives you less flexiblity.

If I where doing it I would run flexible conduit to every location , to handle future requirments .

[KaosX]

What I would do for the whole setup is

1. Mount Plywood to wall as close to the demarc (nid) as possible.

2. Use a 66 block to run your phone runs, LABEL ALL RUNS ON BOTH ENDS!
I cannot begin to tell you how much this will help you if you do not have a tone generator/amplifier probe.

3. Make sure you label the 66 block as well.

4. you're going to need to have a pair of wires come off of the 66 block for the dsl modem, this should be a short run, two or three feet max if you are going to mount your dsl modem on the plywood( if not you are going to have an input run of cat5 cable from the dsl modem) Personally i would mount it on the plywood.

5.Pickup a wired router with as many ports as possible, most likely 4. If you need more than four you are going to have to buy a switch/hub too.

6. You can use a surface mount box and some cat5 jacks to make a simplified (and cheaper) patch panel that your router/switches will plug into.

7. Surface mount boxes can/will hold both your voice and network jacks, plus theyre simple too.

8. Make sure you label your network runs on the cables and on the ports, label makers shine for this sort of thing.

its easier to use different colored jacks for voice/data, plus itll look neater.

Tools/materials youll need:

Cat5 keystone jacks (will work for voice too)
Minimum cat5 cable for network use
minimum cat3 for voice
surface mount boxes (youll need to know how many yourself)
Punchdown tool (doesnt have to be impact tool but it is nicer)
66 block
crimp tool
screwdriver/drill
screws
piece of plywood



If you need more detailed help for when you get to a particular part just post and i'll see if i can help you.

[seezar]

For running the phone lines you might as well run cat5e instead of cat3. Reason being that the price difference is very minimal and later on if you decide to use a particular run for data the cat5e is already there. Also, I'd suggest running more runs than you actually need, like run at least one extra run of cat5e to each location. Reason being that its there for future use and since you are doing the work now to run one line, doing the work to run the second line is less work now than later.

I've got some pics of my ongoing project that can give you somewhat of an idea of a setup. In my case I have my DSL modem right at the location of all my wiring so what I did is took a DSL splitter and ran the line from the NID into that. The DSL portion runs to my DSL modem and the voice portion runs to my 66-block which then branches off the lines to the outlets in my house. I like my setup because I do not need to use filters on any of my phones and later on if I want the DSL signal run to another jack in the house, the 66-block offers me that flexibility. I actually used 2 66-blocks, you can see from my setup:

http://www.seezar.com/pictures/wiring/wiring1.jpg

http://www.seezar.com/pictures/wiring/wiring2.jpg

http://www.seezar.com/pictures/wiring/wiring3.jpg

http://www.seezar.com/pictures/wiring/wiring4.jpg

http://www.seezar.com/pictures/wiring/wiring5.jpg

http://www.seezar.com/pictures/wiring/wiring6.jpg

http://www.seezar.com/pictures/wiring/wiring7.jpg

http://www.seezar.com/pictures/wiring/wiring8.jpg



Also, as KaosX has mentioned, labelling your runs on both ends cant be stressed enough. Once you start getting the cables all together it can get confusing really fast if things are not labelled well.

For my setup I came up with a naming scheme for each jack and then labelled each cable accordingly. For example, FSW1 is my voice line to my Front Sitting room west wall jack, FSW2 is the data line to that location, FSW3 is the coax... and so forth.


Oh, and by the way, I was able to do my project because of all the help I received from this site :)

[mango man]

nice job , you should be proud