How to make ethernet ports live

[xx99xx]

I have ethernet ports in all the rooms in my house but there is no control panel/switch thing anywhere. I have fibre broadband router (downstairs) next to one of the ports. What do I need to buy/do to get at least one of the ports working (upstairs) as WiFi up there is weak and slow and would prefer a faster connection for my laptop where I'm currently working?

I've tried a WiFi extender and although it provides a stronger signal upstairs, the speed is still slow so cables seem the way to go, or is it? I struggle to do any video calls at the moment because of (presumably) connection speed issues.

I've searched Google and a lot of what comes up is beyond my understanding and/or American so doesn't really help me.

[SS2.]

The cables connected to the back of your LAN (wall) sockets, where do they all go ?

[randlemarcus]

Find the other ends of the cables. They ought to be wired into a patch panel, hopefully labelled up. Buy a switch, plug it in, and grab two (to start with) patch cables, one to go to the ISP router port on the patch panel, and one to go to the upstairs room port.
Go to the router, plug a patch cable from that to the wall. Wander upstairs with your laptop, and a patch cable. Plug laptop into wall, and pray

[CharlesElliott]

Somewhere there will be a bundle of cables. They will be unterminated (probably) so you will need to wire them to a patch panel. If you are lucky there will be a patch panel as well.

[SS2.]

CharlesElliott said:

Somewhere there will be a bundle of cables. They will be unterminated (probably) so you will need to wire them to a patch panel. If you are lucky there will be a patch panel as well.

If he's really lucky, there'll be a 24 port gigabit switch sneakily hidden in a cupboard somewhere !

[xx99xx]

There's no panel of any sort anywhere and no bundle of wires in a cupboard, under the stairs, in loft etc. Just have ports on the walls. If this is the case, are the ports useless? I haven't taken one apart yet but am assuming they are actually wired up and not just blank ports for show.

[skilly1]

I would open one up and see if it’s connected to a wire.

[deckster]

It would be surprising in the extreme if somebody had specced ethernet ports but not actually wired them up. But then again an ethernet port without a wire is exactly as much use as an ethernet port with a wire that you can't find the other end of.

[HantsRat]

Unscrew the wall plates and see if they're wired up. If so, get hunting to see where these all run to. Perhaps the loft or under the stairs?

[camel_landy]

xx99xx said:

There's no panel of any sort anywhere and no bundle of wires in a cupboard, under the stairs, in loft etc. Just have ports on the walls. If this is the case, are the ports useless? I haven't taken one apart yet but am assuming they are actually wired up and not just blank ports for show.

A bit odd but I suppose it depends on the original thinking.

Pop the face-plate off and have a look. If they're actually cabled up but no sign of a patch panel or bundle of cables, it could be they're being used point-to-point (sorta what you're trying to do).

You might need to get yourself a couple of network cables and one of these: Lan Tester

Connect up the 'dongle' to one of the ports and then go around the others to see if one comes back with a positive result.

M

[Chris Type R]

Would something like this help ? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Tester-RJ11-Finder-...

[skilly1]

Chris Type R said:

Would something like this help ? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Tester-RJ11-Finder-...

You need to find the other end of the wire for that to help. That’s for when you ha lve a bundle of wires and you need to identify the socket for each one.

[ThunderSpook]

We bought a new house about 10 years ago that had Ethernet to all 4 bedrooms. All of the cables were behind blanking plates, and they all went back to a single point that was also behind a blanking plate in the lounge.

I bought a quad Ethernet socket to terminate them all to, and then single Ethernet sockets in each of the bedrooms to terminate them to. This is likely the same setup you have, find the single point.

Annoyingly for me the only place that didn’t have an Ethernet socket was where the master BT socket was!

[Chris Type R]

skilly1 said:

Chris Type R said:

Would something like this help ? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cable-Tester-RJ11-Finder-...

You need to find the other end of the wire for that to help. That’s for when you ha lve a bundle of wires and you need to identify the socket for each one.

I was thinking it'd help with testing for P2P wiring - might be a sledgehammer though.

[xx99xx]

ThunderSpook said:

We bought a new house about 10 years ago that had Ethernet to all 4 bedrooms. All of the cables were behind blanking plates, and they all went back to a single point that was also behind a blanking plate in the lounge.

I bought a quad Ethernet socket to terminate them all to, and then single Ethernet sockets in each of the bedrooms to terminate them to. This is likely the same setup you have, find the single point.

Annoyingly for me the only place that didn’t have an Ethernet socket was where the master BT socket was!

Interesting. There are quite a few random blanking plates around the house, guess I'll have to get them all open and check behind some of the ports.

The house also has a burglar alarm, all the interior sensors etc but no control panel and no signs of where one might have been. Maybe that's how this particular developer built their houses and you had to install your own control panels for things?!

[megaphone]

It would make sense that all the ethernet and alarm cables run back to a cupboard, also possibly TV aerial cables. Have you got neighbours? Have they found their cables.

I did an aerial job in a new build last week. Eventually found a bundle of cables underneath the loft insulation.

[MB140]

If it does turn out that there are no cables behind the face plates. Then maybe look at Ethernet over power lines.

[xeny]

xx99xx said:

I've tried a WiFi extender and although it provides a stronger signal upstairs, the speed is still slow so cables seem the way to go, or is it? I struggle to do any video calls at the moment because of (presumably) connection speed issues.
.

Just to check, you know you put the extender part way between your laptop and the router? -it needs to "see" a good signal in order to extend it.

[IanJ9375]

I expect they will be like our new build which was "wired for Network" - no hub, no panel just basically a face plate with wiring from office to lounge, office to dining room, lounge to dining room.
2 port faceplate in each of the 3 rooms.

Basically a way of you having wired from where you put the main router by being able to piggy back on to the wiring to the other rooms. I use mine as a Backhaul for the Mesh I have running here and also for giving the cctv NVR internet access

[nyt]

xeny said:

xx99xx said:

I've tried a WiFi extender and although it provides a stronger signal upstairs, the speed is still slow so cables seem the way to go, or is it? I struggle to do any video calls at the moment because of (presumably) connection speed issues.
.

Just to check, you know you put the extender part way between your laptop and the router? -it needs to "see" a good signal in order to extend it.

I've recently installed https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/deco/de... . They use a combination of Mesh & Powerline to link with each other and extend the network. Recommended.