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Ethernet via Phone Jack Installation - Which type of Company?

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Leth96

New Around Here
I'm trying to covert the phone line wiring in my house for ethernet. The house is pretty old and the cables don't seem suitable. I don't feel comfortable trying to do this myself.

What's most suitable - data cabling company vs low voltage electrician vs A/V installer for ethernet install (there are a few phone jack ports that could be replaced, but there are also some that don't have phone jack ports where new holes/runs would need to be done)

I'm trying to understand which kind of company can help and the pros and cons associated with each one.

The goal is to get the wiring suitable for high speed internet without having to hire multiple people.
 
would be good to write at least what country you from if you looking for same internet company recommendation.

did you check if you telephone wiring is a twisted one (each 2 wirings are twisted)? if not it cannot be converted and you will need to put new ethernet cable class 5E (1Gb) or better 6A (10Gb).
 
would be good to write at least what country you from if you looking for same internet company recommendation.

did you check if you telephone wiring is a twisted one (each 2 wirings are twisted)? if not it cannot be converted and you will need to put new ethernet cable class 5E (1Gb) or better 6A (10Gb).
Sorry, USA. This is my setup atm. I can't get access to the cables inside the wall.
wiring.jpg
 
those do not look at all as twisted wirings at all and those are only 2 - this is no way to do that. With 4 wirings will be hard to achieve more than 100Mbit but I am not fun such modification prefer to put new cat 6A internet cable.
this movie is showing how those wirings should looks
- those can be converted.
 
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If you find the endpoints of all the old wiring, you might be label to use the existing wires to get Ethernet class cabling inside.

Use the existing wires as a 'pull wire' to bring new Ethernet cables in.

That, or start tearing out drywall.
 
this is one case where mesh may be good enough.

Single story house ?
Basement ?

Do you have coax runs by any chance ?
If you do, MOCA can be a viable option instead of tearing it all out.
 
Given that the wire colour is orange & orange-stripe, you do have basic wiring that *may* be usable to some extent. This is definitely an upgrade from the old 2-wire or 4-wire phone cabling, but, you will need to pull some out from the wall or view it somewhere in the house to determine what it is. There will be a stamp on the wire casing telling you what type of cable it is. (CAT5, CAT5E, CAT6, etc)

My *guess* would be CAT5 cable which won't help you much with gb speeds. Another factor is the length of the cable runs and how it was wired.

If it is one wire that runs from room to room, then it is essentially useless to you. If each room is wired back to one central location, then you *may* be able to use it depending on the cable type and length.

Since you say some rooms require new wires it is likely your best option will be to contract for new wiring to all locations, but only you can determine that.

Who you get to do it is irrelevant really. Determine what cable type you need and what jacks you want installed then call anyone qualified to do the work. The company types you listed are all potentially viable and it will come down to cost. Running cable and installing jacks isn't rocket science you even a general handyman/contractor can do it, just be sure they test and verify the cabling / jacks when complete. Ideally they would tell you the length of the cable runs too (there are limits to cable lengths which vary depending on the cable you use).

A combination of wired, wireless, mesh and moca may ultimately be the most cost effective and workable solution.
 
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CAT5e is just fine for 1Gbps connections....but what he provided a picture of was highly unlikely CAT5e...more like CAT3 or non-rated.

The three installer options you listed are all probably about equal. The ones you have be concerned with are standard high voltage electricians. Then again....an alarm installer may not understand Ethernet either. My in-laws had a high voltage electrician, who was already at the house adding electrical outlets, wanting to "splice" the Ethernet runs just like they would a 120V line. Luckily I was able to redirect him to only run Ethernet for me through the walls and not touch any of the existing Ethernet.

There are clueless AV installers, alarm guys, low-voltage guys, and high-voltage guys out there. Try to find local references to confirm they understand what you are after.
 
If I were to "wire" today, then I would run Cat6, but years ago, I hired a company which specialized in low voltage installations. The company provided a bid with parts list, a schematic, and a single day installation. They were able to run 2-Cat5E & 2-coax drops to every location with all cabling inside walls and home-run to a centralized media closet. They also ran an electrical outlet to the panel.
 
Given that the wire colour is orange & orange-stripe, you do have basic wiring that *may* be usable to some extent. This is definitely an upgrade from the old 2-wire or 4-wire phone cabling, but, you will need to pull some out from the wall or view it somewhere in the house to determine what it is. There will be a stamp on the wire casing telling you what type of cable it is. (CAT5, CAT5E, CAT6, etc)

My *guess* would be CAT5 cable which won't help you much with gb speeds. Another factor is the length of the cable runs and how it was wired.

If it is one wire that runs from room to room, then it is essentially useless to you. If each room is wired back to one central location, then you *may* be able to use it depending on the cable type and length.

Since you say some rooms require new wires it is likely your best option will be to contract for new wiring to all locations, but only you can determine that.

Who you get to do it is irrelevant really. Determine what cable type you need and what jacks you want installed then call anyone qualified to do the work. The company types you listed are all potentially viable and it will come down to cost. Running cable and installing jacks isn't rocket science you even a general handyman/contractor can do it, just be sure they test and verify the cabling / jacks when complete. Ideally they would tell you the length of the cable runs too (there are limits to cable lengths which vary depending on the cable you use).

A combination of wired, wireless, mesh and moca may ultimately be the most cost effective and workable solution.
You can even run 100Mbs over old phone grade wiring with vdsl ethernet adatpers. (I've used the ones from netsys-direct with great success on 30 year old water logged cat-nothing pots wire well over 100ft long.) These can use the telephone wire to simultaneously run ethernet and still have the phone line.

Even if the run is just room to room, you can still use that--you will simply need to terminate each of the cable in each room so you'll have two outlets in each room which you can use a short patch cable or a switch to complete the network.

I wouldn't run any new cabling until you've tried everything available--wireless, vdsl, powerline adapters, and moca adapters. Even a combination of these can provide sufficient performance to avoid running wires.

As far as company--even today there are complete numbnuts doing these installs. If I had to hire one, I'd tell them you want to see a job site and then when at the site, tell them to pull off the plate and show you the terminations--if every single one of those aren't PERFECT, I would pass. If I was doing a wiring job, I'd just have them run the cables and I would terminate myself. And I'd have them run several runs to each location since the labor of running the wires would be the same.
 

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