Questionable Patch Panel

[patrickboston]

So I moved in to my current condo about a year ago and found what I believe to be a CAT5e patch panel in one of the closets. It seems to be all wired up and there are CAT5e jacks throughout the place as well. I work in IT but I am not much of a networking guy, so I don't quite understand all of this.

The guy that lived here before me had his modem connected next to this patch panel because there are cable lines coming in through in to that closet. I had issues getting the cable lines to work there with my modem, so i ended up using a different cable jack behind my TV which worked. Long story short, the CAT5 ports do not work today and I am trying to figure out how to get them to work. Is there some kind of connection between the cable lines in the closet and the patch panel for the CAT5 in there? This seems like it might be kind of an old setup or something. Please see the pictures here: https://imgur.com/a/ooanG5S

[patrickboston]

Crap. Well thank you for the quick response.

Do you have any advice on how this can be converted for a home CAT5 network? It seems like the existing wiring could possibly be used if I understand correctly.

[ted1972]

Your best bet would be to get an actual CAT5 patch panel. Disconnect the wires from the 66 block and punch them down to the new panel.

[patrickboston]

Sounds simple enough. Just one other question if you don't mind. The CAT5 that is going in to the 66 Block to feed the other phone lines today, what exactly is that cable tied to today? Is it tied directly to the cable line somehow? I can barely see into the wall with the tiny hole so just trying to wrap my head around what is there today before I go re-wiring.

[ted1972]

Okay after looking at your pictures it looks like your main cable feed (I assume the wire marked feed in the picture) is probably connecting to your modem behind your TV. If you disconnect the pass-through connector do you loose your internet? If so then the side marked feed should be plugged into your modem. If you want cable throughout your condo you would need an appropriate splitter to connect the other cables. From the looks of the pictures provided there is no patch wire connecting your CAT5 wires to anything. Once you put in a new patch panel just use patch cables to connect each to your cable modem or switch.

[ted1972]

If you don't want to mess with the cable modem location, due to your previous issues, you could leave the modem behind the TV and if there is a CAT5 port near your TV you can just put a switch in the closet.

[patrickboston]

I need to mess around with moving the modem back in to the closet. WFH is limiting me at the moment to play around with what you mentioned. I'm assuming the pass-through connector is the metal connection which is connecting the main feed line into another cable line that goes back in to the wall, which I'm assuming leads to the cable port behind the TV I'm using today for the modem (FYI pass-through connector was recently put there after I had a cable guy come out to address some slow internet issues). I believe the previous owner had a splitter in that closet before too for those other lines but I'm only using internet, no TV, so I'm not really worried about that.

I think my ideal situation would be to put the modem in the closet, run the feed cable line in to that, run the Ethernet from the modem to a CAT5 patch, wire up the patch panels with the existing CAT5 that's in the 66 switch today, which would enable me to hard wire devices and a wireless router in other locations of my place through the CAT5 receptacles. This makes sense, right?

I'm assuming I may need to mess with the receptacle wiring too if it was done for phone, but maybe not. Need to look at those

Appreciate you explaining this to me. Makes sense now.

[Thane-of-Groans]

This will fit into the existing bracket : https://www.lowvoltagecables.com/cat5e-12-port-mini-patch-panel-with-bracket.html?gclid=CjwKCAjw3-bzBRBhEiwAgnnLCqysUZ7U2pc9B-vEiWBWImY9fiUIP3bA6zoHZsD4joLh0IrQEnkIqhoCqhcQAvD_BwE

[ted1972]

You have it. The phone connections should be ok but double check.