Does having multiple RJ45 jacks degrade the Internet signal a lot?

I would not put jacks next to the router, myself. I'd just put plugs on the end of the cable and plug them directly into the router or switch.. Put jacks in the wall at the endpoint.

Connections that do not exist cannot cause problems in the future. Using a jack and jumper at the router adds 4 sets of connections to each run. That's 32 actual potential points of failure (of which 8 are critical on 10/100 without POE, which are totally un-needed.

I don't see any reason why not - but a few questions. The antenna is a router ? - so inside for the wireless you only want an ACCESS POINT. Is the WRT54G capable of working as an access point?

Apparently yes: From googling

Settings to change (obviously, do this while plugged into a LAN port on it): Setup > basic setup > select 'auto config DHCP' in the connection type drop-down; enter a good (outside of your DHCP range) IP address (and, of course, match your current subnet); and click 'disable' on the DHCP server line. Then (here's where it becomes an AP; but, the wording's a bit wierd): Setup > advanced routing > select 'router' from the operating mode drop-down (in Linksys, Router = AP, Gateway = Router); 'both' on the dynamic routing line; and 'LAN & Wireless' on the interface entry.

Of course, remember to click the 'save changes' button before you go on to the next screen. Do, this, and your WRT54G is now a switch/WAP

Any reason not to just put the access point at the entry point, as it is also an active switch? Is the wireless range adequate???.

I'd try that first - and if the range is insufficient, move it upstairs to the center of the house and add the switch.

It is. See my last posting

I would not bother splitting the cable - you have enough cable to do it right and run 2 cables - which will allow you to move to gigabyte ethernet later if technology dictates. Gives you redundancy too.

On Sun, 25 Dec 2011 10:04:45 -0800, Jeff Liebermann wrote: (blah-blah=blah...)

I forgot to mumble something about the location of the wireless router. In general, the place where all the wires come together in a star topology is a rats nest of cables. In home installation, the mess is usually hidden behind a desk, behind the TV, in a closet, inside a drawer, or buried in the garage:

The ethernet wires like to live close to the floor. However, wireless likes to live as high as possible in order to avoid obstructions in the house (i.e. furniture). It might be useful to locate the wireless router on a high shelf, while hiding the ethernet switch somewhere near the floor.

Incidentally, the stiff heavy black cables coming out of the back wall are gel filled, shielded, and thick jacketed CAT5 cable. The ends are terminated with special RJ45 plugs designed to accommodate the oversized cable. There was enough spring tension in the cables to unplug themselves.

The cables ran underground near a swimming pool which apparently leaked a bit. That made the wires continuously wet. The jacket and sticky gooey gel prevented moisture incursion into the cable, but did nothing to prevent water from creeping over the outside of the cable, and dripping into the cabinet box. A drip loop at the point of entry would have prevented this, but that was impossible due to the method of installation and the rather stiff cable. I ended up wrapping the cables in a sponge, with vinyl tubing to a collection bucket.

Well - only if you define the domain as a single segment - and star based Ethernet these days uses switches, and i think you are explaining about topology in a single wiring closet, where a star on 1 switch is the easiest way to set it up.

But the topology between Ethernet switches can be pretty arbitary once you hvae nore than 1 device - as long as you stay with a tree, or run

1 of the protocols designed to make sure any loops do not cause problems (spanning tree, 802.1s/w RPR, etc)

True

But - wiring tends to have a much longer lifetime than the equipment hung on the end of it - not becuase it costs much, but because of the hassle and disruption of changing it.

So my preference and the way i have wired up the later runs at home after this hit me the 1st time is

1. run more sets of cables than you need - always seem to use more than i tohught i might need......
2. terminate the fixed wiring on a panel or a wall jack.

That way when the "puppy attack" mentioned by Jeff happens, you just replace a damaged patch lead, rather than the entire run, buried in the walls.

Since you're in the business, I can't dispute your experience and I'm sure you've had your fair share. Perhaps my location provides an interference free area thus serving my satisfaction of wireless. Being I work within a University, the connection is fairly sound as well, though, don't get me wrong, has had it's fair share of problems. Overall, I think it's safe to assume the location plays a role when going wireless and I won't dispute wired having a greater advantage over wireless. I just didn't think it was as bad as the rebuttal. It won't be the first time I'm wrong. ;)

University services vary but are generally better than the typical home wireless derrangement. They're always centrally managed, properly configured, and tend to use better than average hardware. Corporate style services, such as RADIUS authentication, logging, traffic management, SNMP and Netflow monitoring, etc are common. Channel layout is usually well controlled. Firmware updates are maintained. Over powered amplifiers, repeaters, and monster antennas are proscribed. (So is hiding users behind a firewall or sharing a connection). Backhaul capacity is well above the level found in most homes. However, the main reason you're not seeing wireless problems is that considerable effort was put into planning and engineering before it was deployed. It has to work on paper, before it will work in the field.

Locally, we have UCSC (Univ of Calif Santa Cruz).

Plenty of hot spots:

I couldn't find traffic reports that are publicly visible.

Well, my view is that it's not so much the location, as it is the planning, design, use of high end hardware, monitoring, and maintenance. If university systems were planned and installed in the same manner as the average home wireless system, I would expect serious problems.

Chuckle. No, it's not that bad. The problem with being in the repair and service biz is that I only see the broken machines and networks. I'm sure there are systems that work right out of the box, but I don't see many of those. I just see the problems. From the repair persons point of view, everything is broken.

On the other foot, 802.11 wireless is nothing more than ethernet packets encapsulated in 802.11 packets. Spend some time with WireShark sniffing wireless to see how it works. Every problem that you might experience with a wired ethernet LAN, you can also experience with an 802.11 WLAN. All that wireless adds is additional layers of problems on top of the ethernet problems.

I bought one of those on Ebay earlier this year from a Chinese seller. The cost was $3.95, shipping (from China) was free and took 3 days, and it came with a nicer than expected leather pouch. I figured it had to be total crap and it probably is, but it seems to work rather well.

Oh oh. I thought that by virtue of the fact the steel mast is stuck into the ground that it was 'protected' from lightning.

What kind of surge protection goes on a cat5 cable?

Lots of good information there. Regarding code, what cities have inspection of data cables as part of the building inspection process. Now I can see dumb ass stuff like running data and mains in the same conduit producing an epic fail. But poor data wiring practices?

So I can see a code for everything, but how about an inspection for everything?

The antenna has an N connector on back which is directly connected to an Ubiquiti Bullet M2 "radio" which can be set up either as a "bridge" or as a "router".

Since my prior WISP required MAC authentication, and since Ubiquiti Bullet M2 radios can only spoof MAC addresses in "router mode", that radio was set up in router mode.

With my current WISP, who doesn't require the MAC address, I can now set up the Bullet M2 radio as a "bridge" - so that is what I will likely do (and what they are recommending).

But the BM2 radio on the antenna is currently still set up as a router.

Oops. I used a bad search term on eBay to find that. Using "LAN cable tester" instead returned the cheap stuff. I couldn't resist buying two of these:

to throw into my junk err... wiring box. $7. I think I paid $25 retail for the one I'm currently using.

This may be just a matter of terminology, but the router should have a switch in it. I only add switches to get more ports. I've been using these relatively cheap Dlink switches.

There is some black magic in this DLINK box that my linksys router reservations work with ports the Dlink switches. How it works is "not my problem", so I never investigated further. Installation was just plug it in, no need to read any manual.

You still need the router. But if the router doesn't have enough ports, you add the switch. The router handles the WAN, handled DHCP and has the firewall. Essentially the switches can "star" out of the router ports.

A bit OT, but the more wireless stuff I put on my network, the more often my router out and out fails. Pissed me off since Linksys refuses to upgrade the firmware and there are no 3rd party hacks for it. And the choice is just to buy something else from Linksys or official Cisco branded gear, with no assurance they are going to get better support.

I really wish there was an alternative to Cisco, but all the other consumer gear is far worse, especially Netgear.

Interesting. It's currently set up in "Gateway" mode, but, I went through the motions you described (without hitting the save yet) and it 'did' show all that you said it would in the pulldowns.

I'm not sure 'what' an AP is (with respect to a home setup).

Since all devices connect to my broadband router SSID, isn't the broadband router in "gateway" mode already an access point (from the computer's perspective)?

As for the range. The entry point into the house (garage) is on the far end of the house; this I assume is too far for the other end of the house (many walls away). But, there's an easy crawlspace under the house that I could wire to the middle of the house and then on to the far end of the house.

So, I think two actual wires will do me well:

• One to the middle of the house (main desktop computer)

• One to the far end of the house (Wii game room)

Yes, my post as well. The additional switch is what you add to get more ports. This could be in the closet, or you could put the switch in the room itself where the wall jack is located if you need more than one port in a room.

I noticed the Dlink unit I suggested is discontinued. Maybe Jeff can comment on what magic if any is required so the switch maintained DHCP reservations. [It is nice not to have the port assignments change. Not a necessity, but still nice.]

I never owned a Dlink wireless router, but every other Dlink item I've bought has been great. I don't think Dlink designs anything (I could be wrong), but is like Beklin, i.e. they use ODMs. But so good thus far.

You've hit the nail on the head for my 'original' confusion!

The original plan (one continuous cable) was as you stated:

- The cable from the antenna radio enters the house at the garage

- That cable then goes in the crawlspace to the upstairs office wall

- That cable ends at the upstairs office wall wallplate (drilled hole)

- The 15 volt POE is connected to that wallplate

- The other end of the POE goes to the Linksys WRT54G router input ... this primary goal would work fine for all wireless devices ... except those in the game room ... which are presumed too far away for good reception.

My initial confusion was then HOW to wire the game room at the far end (opposite the garage) of the house.

Since the same crawl space that serves the office also serves the game room, I was trying to figure out HOW to wire the three in series: (a) Garage entry point at the one end (b) Office drill hole in the middle of the house (c) Game room drill hole at the other end of the house.

The initial question was how best to wire that!

Besides the drip line, you might want to google waterproof cable entry

There a probably a thousand schemes for cable entry. I've even see hacks of the cable entry used to get mains into the house. I got a bunch of Andrews cable entries that showed up an a surplus shop. Andrews is what they use in repeater sites, cellular sites, etc.