How To - Cat5 to Cat5E connectors

[TerryOlson]

I'm stumped so far - my house is wired with Cat5 leads in several rooms. On one end is a wallplate with two sockets that are the same size as telephone connections. The leads run to the basement where the cables are just rolled up - meaning they don't run to a junction block or anything (they're not in use - never have been). I want to use the existing Cat5 leads to connect my Xbox to my cable modem, but the lead from the Xbox to the wall plate is wider - Cat5E I think. The idea is to adapt the one to the other so I can run the ethernet lead from the Xbox to the wall plate, connect that lead in the basement to the one that runs to the room with the computer, then run a lead from that wall plate to the cable modem - where I have the same problem being that the correct cable is wider than the wall plate will accept.

I've been to Radio Shack and Best Buy thinking they must make adapters but no such luck.

So I have two hurdles. First, how do I get around the different size plug problem? Second, what do I need to do to connect the leads where they meet in the basement to minimize signal loss?

Thanks in advance.

 

[redsox985]

You most likely need different wires. Ethernet cables use 8 color coded wires, thus 8 contact pins. The easiest way is to get a 50' cable and run it from your router to the Xbox going through the floor, walls, bstacles. For my Xbox, I ran a cable from the router, through the floor into the garage, stapled it to the ceiling, drilled through the wall into the basement, fed it along the I-beam in the ceiling, then up through the floor and carpet to my Xbox. It's flawless took about an hour to do.

 

[Kenny_McCormic]

Cat5, 5e, and 6 all use the same connectors. Telephone wiring is completely different, I dont think phone wiring uses twisted pair either, whatever you have certainly can't run gigabit assuming you even have 8 wires in the first place. I think you would be better off removing the wall jack, attaching a cat 6 line to it(buy a box) and fishing it through.

 

[TerryOlson]

I'm trying to make what I have work because it would be MUCH easier than running new leads. Getting to the TV we usually play on is no problem - unfinished basement below and they're on the same floor. Getting to the other TV upstairs is a different story, but that room is already wired with the Cat5 so that's primarily why I was looking for a solution that involved making use of what's already there.

I'm also concerned about loss of signal. I have a cable internet modem and I'm running a 50' lead directly to the game console. I don't notice much lag, but some guys I play with online are definitely getting the feed faster than I am. They seem to come from around cover and make an instant perfect single headshot - no one is that good. Some say they're "cheating" but I have no idea how that can be done. I think they're just less laggy for some reason. Who knows - it's not life and death, but I'd like to lose only because my opponent is a better player, not just better off technologically.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Kenny_McCormic]

Is this even cat5? it makes no sense to me why you would have cat5 wired to phone jacks. Still, just run cat6, its not hard to fish wire, run through a air duct if you have to.

 

[redsox985]

My neighbor ran his through his cold air returns. As long as it's a decent quality cable, you should have minimal lag being a hard wire. Unless you are directly next to your computer, your connection can't get better than a hard wired connection, even over a 50' cable.