# Can't find home's central Ethernet Hub, all ports are cabled.



## FinneganTimothy (Sep 11, 2016)

Hey!

I've noticed that my house has built-in Cat5 ethernet for a while, and I've been looking to make use of it rather than buying a dual-band wireless router.

I've unscrewed the wall panels in each room that has an ethernet port, and every single one of them is cabled with Cat5 leading up into the wall. I can't find the central hub, however, and so I can't activate them. I have also attempted plugging cables into the router and wall in one room, and my PC and wall in the other room, and there was no connection, which rules out a single net of cables with one collision domain. There HAS to be a closet somewhere.

I've opened my telephone closet as I've heard that it's usually in there, but only the telephone and cable lines are in there. I've also checked all of my downstairs closets, every square inch of the garage, every closet within every room of the house, and behind all furniture. The hub is nowhere to be found.

The one place that I haven't checked is the attic, but my father(having worked in construction) is adamant that it would not have been placed up there for the time period that the house was built.


I was hoping that someone here could give me some common places to check that I may have overlooked.


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Did you try closets?


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## FinneganTimothy (Sep 11, 2016)

Yup. Every closet in the house. It's not in any of them. even looked behind the shelves in the closets that have them.


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## SABL (Jul 4, 2008)

The Cat5 cables should all terminate near the telephone equipment. Check the ceiling in the telephone closet......the Cat5 may have been bundled up and placed there. Look for an access panel also.....they've got to be hidden somewhere.


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## FinneganTimothy (Sep 11, 2016)

Corday said:


> Did you try closets?





SABL said:


> The Cat5 cables should all terminate near the telephone equipment. Check the ceiling in the telephone closet......the Cat5 may have been bundled up and placed there. Look for an access panel also.....they've got to be hidden somewhere.


So rather than a proper telephone closet, we have a pair of metal boxes outside of our house that the telephone lines lead to. One of them contains the telephone wiring, the other seems to be where our cable company hooked up all of the house's coaxial ports.


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Any chance you can contact the old owner?


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## FinneganTimothy (Sep 11, 2016)

Corday said:


> Any chance you can contact the old owner?


I just managed to find it. It wasn't what I expected it to be.


Rather than a closet of ports, it was a set of Cat5 cables with no terminating ends. I'm going to need to get some RJ45 connectors and cable them. Since the other end of the cable is female, does this end need to be female, or can I crimp it to a male connector and put them all into a switch?


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## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Old owner took hub with them. :grin: Amazon and others sell connectors male/female.


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## FinneganTimothy (Sep 11, 2016)

Yeah. I suck at cabling RJ45s, but since I'm working on my Cisco Certification currently, it'll be good practice. Thanks for the help!


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## SABL (Jul 4, 2008)

The electrician normally runs the Cat5 as part of the wiring package. They only finish the ends in the rooms the cable runs to for a nice finish look. The other ends of the cables are just bundled together for the network provider to take care of. At least the cables are there......no fun fishing wires after the house is completed.

I can't advise on the rest of your project.......I'm only familiar with common construction practices. I'm a retired carpenter.....:smile:


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## Confounded Also (Aug 19, 2015)

FinneganTimothy said:


> Rather than a closet of ports, it was a set of Cat5 cables with no terminating ends. I'm going to need to get some RJ45 connectors and cable them. Since the other end of the cable is female, does this end need to be female, or can I crimp it to a male connector and put them all into a switch?



I'd get a patch panel with more ports than the number of wires you have. 110 Punch down is quite easy once you get the color scheme figured out.

Once all the wires are laid down and the panel mounted, use short (3' or so) pre-made patch cords to go to you switch, router/modem or other devices.


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## Confounded Also (Aug 19, 2015)

And if you use a place like Monoprice, you can get everything you need for fairly cheap, including a punch tool to make it all easier.


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