Guys
One of my junior net techies assures me that he has seen Cat5e wall sockets with LED's on the front panels indicating if there is a carrier on the line.
I've googled and googled this afternoon in attempt to find these as I think they would be invaluable in our environment
Have any of you ever seen such things and if so where. I could ideally do with a UK reseller or manufacturer of these
In anticipation.............
Steve
3Com did a line of line powered micro switches which looked like 4 port wall sockets which had the green lights - IIRC they were around £150 each for a 4 port one plus you need either a POE capable switch or a wallwart transformer for each box.
If you've got the money to burn...
P.
Hmmm
I had an idea they would be POE but £150.00, chuff me. We only pay about £7.50 per double point.
Thanks
Steve
Cat5e + POE = useless
If you're using Cat5e you are probably hoping for a GigE conection, yes? POE cannot work with GigE, so what would be the point?
-Wil
IEEE 802.3af (a.k.a PoE) supports 4-pair power over signal transmission and hence is compatible with 1000BASE-T (GigE). In fact there are Catalyst switches with 10/100/1000 ports and IEEE 802.3af power. Anyways, the main point would be that CAT5E is the cheapest data-grade cabling you can buy and PoE is a great alternative to hiring an electrician to provide local power, so these two together can make a strong case for this solution even if Gigabit over PoE were not available.
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I have never heard of such (passive) device and I don't think they exist. Let me explain why. Yes, you can measure voltage across the receiving pair and therefore recognize that there is a transmitter on the other end. Much the same way the "Link" light on most NICs operate. However, cabling manufacturers usually struggle to get as much performance from their components as possible, and the additional circuitry needed for the voltage sensor is not going to help. On top of that, you actually need to power the LED, and the Ethernet port on the switch was not designed to supply any power except if it's a PoE switch, of course. In the latter case a whole lot more circuitry is going to be required because PoE is a protocol, not a simple connection of 48V source to a pair of conductors. Thus no jack manufacturer is going to want this circuitry INSIDE the jack. It is best to move it into the end device - NIC and such.
I think your junior tech was thinking of 3Com's NJ100 (200) network jack as was pointed out by other poster here. This device is essentially an Ethernet switch in shape and size that fits a US-standard size outlet back box. Of course, you will pay for this device as for a switch (and then some for unusual form-factor), not as for a CAT5E jack as you used to. The tech did not recognize an Ethernet switch in a shape of an outlet, which probably explains why he is still a junior ;-)
So, if you want to do it cheap, nothing beats looking at the back of the PC to see if the "Link" light is green ;-)
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Ah, when the heck did that happen? *grin*
I hadn't heard of this before, I'll have to look up some specs to see how widespread support is...
-Wil
Dmitri(Cabl> Wil wrote:
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