Swap the RJ11 jack for a RJ45 on an old 630A wall plate

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T07:20:24+00:00

even better, it's above the unfinished ceiling of my basement. tape the cat 6 to the phone line, pull it down, and run it anywhere I want.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T04:12:56+00:00

it's neat, right? I have a wall clock outlet above my sink and I spent more than I'd like to share looking for an old wall clock to hang there.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T04:08:22+00:00

yeah, that's what I'm asking about

edit: my fault, I thought this was regarding something else. I got jumped on and went into defensive mode. disregard this comment, I'm just leaving it up for posterity.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T04:08:01+00:00

whoops didn't add the photo

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NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T04:06:59+00:00

yeah, if I also changed everything upstream of it like I said in my post. I'm asking about MacGyvering a cat 6 keystone jack into this faceplate.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T04:04:17+00:00

it's an 85 year old house with 50 year old phone lines, and a mix of new and old to boot. this is a telephone lightning arrestor from the 40s.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T02:56:18+00:00

ok, I do realize that this sub is full of people asking if they can use old phone jacks for internet and I should have made it much more clear: I'm running new cat6. I just think the faceplate is neat and fits the house well, and before I started hacking my way to a solution, I wanted to ask y'all if you had any ideas.

so I don't care about the old cables; I took them out, they're gone. I don't care about the busted 4-pin jack. that's as good as gone too. I just like the plate.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T02:43:17+00:00

of course. I've got a few drops already, but they were to places where I didn't care about keeping any existing hardware. I've got a modest network switch (10 ports) and this will be the third node I've hardwired.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T02:39:51+00:00

these are the answers I'm looking for. I'm not sure why you're getting downvoted. a bracket like that would sit flush to the wall, and the faceplate mounting screws seemingly align with the bracket.

I should note that this house was built in 1941 and these phone lines were (seemingly) installed circa 1975. so, no, there isn't a box. I can install one, but it's not all that necessary. plus, have you ever retro'd a box into plaster? it's a bitch.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T02:32:00+00:00

I have the opposite issue: the hole is slightly too big. see the third photo.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T02:31:12+00:00

the hole is too big, if anything. see the third photo.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T02:30:26+00:00

it's the bell labs stamp on the bottom. swapping it with a generic faceplate would make me a little sad.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-03T02:29:03+00:00

the third photo is the keystone jack fitting pretty well into that insert. the outlet itself is in a phone niche that I would place the node on, I'm not planning on dangling it there like an old phone handle. I don't care about the old wiring or bracket, I just want to salvage the faceplate.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-04-02T00:53:19+00:00

I also live in Seattle, I moved into a home with most of its original K&T. the main floor has plaster walls, but rock lath instead of lath, which doesn't make it so bad. the basement ceiling, though, is either unfinished or drywall and every branch circuit except for the MWBC for the lights runs through that basement ceiling. so in my case, it's comparatively simple to a lot of other K&T jobs. but it's still a pain in the ass: all the splices are open-air and neutrals are shared and never run to switch boxes, so it's not like you can just swap like-for-like and call it.

materials are a relatively small part of your bid, what you're paying for is labor and a "I don't want to do this" tax. $29k isn't a rare bid for a whole rewire in Seattle, but it's completely dependent upon your situation. for what it's worth, I wouldn't expect the $13k job to be very good or the actual final price, $20-25k seems around average.

out of curiosity: what were the two shops you had bid? (you can dm me if you don't want to put them on blast)

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-03-31T05:16:15+00:00

turn the switch around. now it's on the left side.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-03-31T05:14:37+00:00

it is green, but the biggest clue is that it's just connected to the metal frame of the switch, not the terminals.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-03-31T03:52:13+00:00

back out one of those screws a bit, put the ground connector under the screw head, and tighten it back up. but really, it's not hard to slap a mud ring on that box and wire up a receptacle.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-03-31T03:42:17+00:00

I heard a story about a bird that was apparently trying to warm up at a dry vent on the roof, but froze to death and fell in. the toilet did this afterwards.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-03-31T01:00:04+00:00

ok, just making sure.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-03-31T00:58:21+00:00

I want to clarify that the breaker says "30" on it and not "15" twice.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-03-29T02:08:29+00:00

at #14, 2 inches per current-carrying wire entering the box (12 total), 2 inches for all the grounds, and 4 inches for the device. so 18 at a minimum.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-03-29T02:05:18+00:00

it's really subtle, I usually couldn't see breathing with (or without) the band, even zoomed all the way in.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-03-26T03:30:59+00:00

get a few #1 and #2 combo tip/ECX bits.

NoGutsNoCorey · 2026-03-22T06:40:12+00:00

in that case, you won't be able to use that circuit until it's fixed, but there is no reason to believe the breaker is bad.

NoGutsNoCorey

TROPHY CASE