Sorry for my lack of technological knowledge. Hopefully can get some solid advice from you guys. Will be moving to a new house and transferring our Comcast service. Right now the new house has a few plates with the Cat5e labels. Our goal is to have these connections having the direct Ethernet wiring to whatever devices we have (roku, etc).

We are in Colorado so basement has the cable wiring for Comcast, so maybe that will limit the help available here. We'd like the modem router to be in the main living connected to one of the Cat5e plates.

Just trying to figure out if this will work and if so, will all Cat5e plates we have be active? Sorry if I am not being very clear. Really appreciate any direction with the limited information.

It could work. They have to connect to something though. If you are saying it's already wired then I assume the wires terminate somewhere. What I can't assume from what you are saying that just plugging a router to one of those will connect to all of them. Generally all those Cat5 cables will connect to a switch/router.

Essentially "where is the other end of the wire?", is the question.

Are all the Ethernet jacks throughout the house wired back to a central location (in a closet, for example)? Typically you'd located your cable modem in a central spot and have a router and/or switch hanging off of it that is cabled to each Cat5e run that drives all of the remote jacks.

Thanks for the feedback.

Yes allthe wires should be centrally located and originate in the basement (similar to oke of the closets in the home we had in TX)

10andBOUNCE said:

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Thanks for the feedback.

Yes allthe wires should be centrally located and originate in the basement (similar to oke of the closets in the home we had in TX)

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That is where your modem and router will go then. All those wires will plug into your router or if you don't have enough, you will need to get a switch for some. You can always run an access point wherever you want in the house from those other ports.

10andBOUNCE said:

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Thanks for the feedback.

Yes allthe wires should be centrally located and originate in the basement (similar to oke of the closets in the home we had in TX)

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Do the wall plates have a single ethernet connection, or are they dual jack plates?

They are dual cable/cat5e plates.

And access point? Does not compute

10andBOUNCE said:

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They are dual cable/cat5e plates.

And access point? Does not compute

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_access_point

Basically, it rebroadcasts your internet from the device. So if your normal router is in the basement, you can hook an access point up to a port upstairs and it will broadcast the internet signal upstairs where you can connect to it.


For example, i have one of these guys in my living room set up as an access point. My router is 40' away upstairs. I have it connected through a powerline AV kit. So now everyone in my living room can connect to the access point and get fast internet rather than the weaker signal from upstairs.

Basement
- Internet feed enters the house
- All Cat5e cables from the house originate in the basement
- Internet into cable modem
- Cable modem into the WAN port on your router
- All Cat5E from the house into the LAN ports on the router
- Likely you won't have enough ports, in which case you'll need an additional switch (ask in here for recommendations) that has enough ports available plus some for expansion
- If this is the case, one LAN port on the router will plug into a LAN port on the switch, the rest of the house plugs into the switch

If you need better wireless coverage (likely in a multilevel house or single level houses that have thick walls or brick), you'll need to purchase additional wireless access points as mentioned previously. If you do need these, ask on here to ensure you purchase the correct ones for your house, existing equipment, and level of tech knowledge.

If you find that 2 ports isn't enough in a particular location, you can purchase an additional switch for that location. Simply plug one of the wall ports into the switch and other devices into the other ports on the switch (note most modern consumer switches don't require special cables to connect one switch to another, but some older ones may require a crossover cable)

Basically ask what hardware to purchase here before you click the buy button :-)

Oh, and make sure to purchase a UPS (battery backup) to for your basement to plug the cable modem, router (and switch if needed) so that you'll have internet for a time in the event of a power failure.

You can find these at any electronic store (maybe Walmart) and tons of choices online. To power a cable modem, router and switch you don't need a huge UPS, one like this should keep them powered for at least an hour.

Thanks all. Sounds like I have enough to hardwire our main device in the Living Room and Master Bed. That's really all the main areas we need for hard wire until we finish the basement and study area.

So for access points sounds like this is what we will need probably on the main level. Shoot any recommendations my way (along with the previous posters suggestion noted). Just curious what the main difference would be in a router, wifi extender and these access points?

Do these access points require a new network name and password or is it the same as what I have been running?

10andBOUNCE said:

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Do these access points require a new network name and password or is it the same as what I have been running?

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They can extend your current network with the same SSID and password. Some may take a little extra setup but it will work.

FatZilla said:

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10andBOUNCE said:

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Do these access points require a new network name and password or is it the same as what I have been running?

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They can extend your current network with the same SSID and password. Some may take a little extra setup but it will work.

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I might add that if you use the same SSID, make absolutely sure that they are on different channels and remember that there is overlap of the channels as well. If you use the same channel for them, then you are likely to have multiple access points trying to handle the connection.

Also, you can run into problems with the device connecting to the first access point it sees rather than the one with the strongest signal. this can occur whether you use the same SSID or different SSIDS.

I prefer to use different ids so that I can look to see which I'm connected to and reconnect to a stronger access point.

My preferred access points for most cases is the Ubiquiti Airrouter. They are quite inexpensive compared to what they have at the stores, but they are more difficult to set up properly.

I use the Unifi AP AC Lite's along with the Unifi Security Gateway.

That said, this looks interesting https://amplifi.com/ The Unifi Aplifi home WiFi mesh network.

Quote:

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AmpliFi is more than a common home router: it's the ultimate Wi-Fi system. With turbocharged 802.11ac Wi-Fi, AmpliFi utilizes multiple self-configuring radios and advanced antenna technology to bring ubiquitous Wi-Fi coverage to any home.

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10andBOUNCE said:

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They are dual cable/cat5e plates.

And access point? Does not compute

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Since you have dual jacks. Another option is to place your WiFi router at the central location, and leave the cable modem in the basement. Depends on how large of a house you're trying to cover. Plug the cable modem ethernet connection into jack A, which will plug into the WAN port of the router. Plug a cable from one of the switchports on the router into jack B on the wall plate. Cross connect that to a switch in the basement to provide connectivity to the rest of the house.

Here's a diagram:

I would recommend having Comcast or a 3rd party tech out to assist but your best bet would be to start by installing the modem in the most central location in the home with both coax and cat5 and testing wifi coverage/speed from there. If adequate you can then purchase a 5 port ethernet switch(think of a switch as a splitter for your internet) for the basement and use the Cat5 line from the router to feed internet to the basement where it will connect to the switch. From here you can then connect the wires going to the areas where you would like a hardwire connection. If you are lucky the comcast tech may even be willing to identify and label the lines if they are not already but you will have to bribe them with a candy bar or something.

If the wifi coverage is not enough I would recommend something easy like eero to extend coverage. They have a nice app and easy to use interface but are a bit pricey at $500 for a 3-pack. Google wifi is another (more budget friendly!) option but are currently difficult to obtain as stock is limited.

Goodluck!

You definitely do not need to spend anywhere close to that amount to drape your entire house in wifi, especially when its pre wired. Just install the modem and router in the basement where the lines feed in and then if the signal is not as strong as you would like, install an access point upstairs using 1 of the ports already hardwired.

Denver area? I could take a look if you are close by

The way I did mine was
Cable modem --> router/WAP --> 24 port switch --> patch panel --> all the devices