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The DP is in the downstairs hall.

I want to move it into the understairs cupboard as this will be the location for the patch panel from which I will hard wire all my telephone and computer stuff (over CAT 6).

The question is, do I need BT to come and move the DP or can I do it.

Not a skill thing but a permission thing.

BTW used to cable computer networks so am OK with actual cabling (last BT engineer told me I had better crimp and punch tools than he did )

Not technically meant to do it, but they will charge an arm and a leg to do it , so just move it yourself, as long as you dont short anything out you will be fine. and dont have hold of the ends of the cable when someone rings, gives you a nice little tickle LoL

Nick

LOL.

Thanks for the info.

Do you think the story about the dog chained to the pole is true or not?

Slugster wrote:The DP is in the downstairs hall.

I want to move it into the understairs cupboard as this will be the location for the patch panel from which I will hard wire all my telephone and computer stuff (over CAT 6).

The question is, do I need BT to come and move the DP or can I do it.

Not a skill thing but a permission thing.

BTW used to cable computer networks so am OK with actual cabling (last BT engineer told me I had better crimp and punch tools than he did )

Hi Slugster

Sorry I missed this one.... I also work in corporate networking previously and have had hundreds of dealings with BT engineers and such...

You actually dont need any permissions at all to move your own DP in your home, your free to do pretty much whatever you like with it and you dont even need to tell BT what you have done.

Its only if you screwed it all up and it stopped working that you might need to call them but as long as you make 100% sure that the 2 incoming wires (1Pair) dont touch each other then everything should be just fine.

Some of the older broadband connections use 2 pairs but these days its all sent down 1pair if your with BT

Even in a corporate setup, I've relocated DP's and farted around with featureline installs to put them where I need them (Normally after BT have installed them somewhere stupid) and none of it needs any notifications at all to anybody.

Lets see your understair setup too, show us how you compiled your kit as I'm thinking of doing the same....

Hi Richie,

Thanks for that. I'm going to drill through from outside into the floor void (between Ground and 1st) and pull their cable into that. It currently comes in by the bottom of the front door.

I'll probably have to extend it to reach the cupboard but it'll be worth it.

I've gone back to Cat5E. Can't be bothered paying CAT6 money and I won't be running a gig in the house anyway.

Even if technology move to HD streaming over UTP I'm fairly sure 100mbps will do. And if it doesn't I'll have moved by then anyway..!

I've got single pair DSL so I'm just going to put a micro filter into the understairs DP, take the DSL into the modem and hub. Then from the hub to the patch and fan out to the rooms from under the stairs.

Not sure what to do about phones. The most we'll need is 3 so I was thinking about splitting out from the one microfilter (with a bit of hooky cabling) but I've heard this can lead to hiss and crackle.

Have you any experience with this?

As for history, it's been about 7 years since I pulled any cables or fibre, now it's just organising to get it done

Slugster wrote:Hi Richie,

Thanks for that. I'm going to drill through from outside into the floor void (between Ground and 1st) and pull their cable into that. It currently comes in by the bottom of the front door.

Have you got a photo of where the cable comes in now that shows where it needs to go to? To be honest, I would leave the cable coming in on the ground floor and just extend it from where it is now having the least amount of outdoor exposed cable as possible.

I have a question on this too....

Where the cable comes in now, is the floor solid concrete or wooden floorboards? If its wooden floorboards then I think its best to run the cable under the floorboards to your "understairs arrangement" as this not only minimise's the exposure to the cable but keeps it protected inside the house and allows easier access to it if ever need be.

You would want to keep in mind that if your telephone cable comes in between floor levels from the outside it can look unsightly when selling your house and costly should a BT engineer want to get access to it later.

Slugster wrote:I'll probably have to extend it to reach the cupboard but it'll be worth it.

Got a picture of where it is now and where it needs to reach to?

Slugster wrote: I've gone back to Cat5E. Can't be bothered paying CAT6 money and I won't be running a gig in the house anyway.

CAT6 is better insulted though, depending on the cable you buy and where your planning on running the cables too. Keep it well away from power cables and light fittings.

In fact, why dont you just go wireless?

Also, if your going to do the job anyway, why not add value to your house by future proofing it so that when you come to sell it, the few extra quid for cable adds hundreds to the value?

You can get rolls of CAT6 on ebay nice and cheap...

Slugster wrote: Even if technology move to HD streaming over UTP I'm fairly sure 100mbps will do. And if it doesn't I'll have moved by then anyway..!

100Mbits is fine

Wireless will soon outpace 10/100 anyway but keep in mind the resell value of your home. Its like having a dated kitchen....

Slugster wrote: I've got single pair DSL so I'm just going to put a micro filter into the understairs DP, take the DSL into the modem and hub. Then from the hub to the patch and fan out to the rooms from under the stairs.

What a lot of work... Wireless (Secured properly is much easier)

Slugster wrote: Not sure what to do about phones. The most we'll need is 3 so I was thinking about splitting out from the one microfilter (with a bit of hooky cabling) but I've heard this can lead to hiss and crackle.

Have you any experience with this?

Dont use hooky cabling, it will only bust on you later or give you more problems than you started with.

Go get yourself 1 Telephone master socket and 2 or 3 secondary sockets.
(Make sure its the sockets with the 2 screwdown connections, NOT 6 punchdown sockets)

You can then have 3 or 4 telephone sockets under your stairs and use 1 ADSL filter in each socket then plug in whats called a triplex adapter into the filter, then an RJ45 cable into the triplex and patch this into your LAN.

Then wherever you want the phone in the house, just plug in a PSTN master adaptor and plugin your phone into that!

I'll dig you out a photo / diagram of how it fits together if you like?

In fact, might go one better as I'm about to do the same over the next few weeks so by the middle of April I should have everything in place so might just write up a tutorial for you if ya like?

I'm planning on having my routing kit under my stairs and 4 telephone sockets (The max) so I can have both office phones in the office and cordless phones in case the wife wants to take a call in the garden.

Slugster wrote: As for history, it's been about 7 years since I pulled any cables or fibre, now it's just organising to get it done

If pulling cables really isnt your thing, then why not try these new mains adaptors that use your electrical wiring as lan circuits? There totally weird because typically, Data and power cables are like electric and water..., yet this just looks like a battery charger but with an RJ45 socket on the bottom of it.

Not my thing really but some people like them and say they work really well.

I'll catch up with you later maybe then...

Richie

Richie,

Lets keep this going, I think there is some good stuff here.

The BT cable hooks on to the front right corner of the eaves.

It then drops straight down to the bottom of the door (it's a vertical drop). I was going to drill into the void half way down the cables drop and pull it into the house there effectively reducing the amount of exterior cable by 50%

When I redo the bathroom (behind the wall the remainder of the external cable run) I will then pull the rest inside. So I'm not extending the amount of external cable but reducing it (sorry if I didn't make this clear).

The ground floor is solid concrete so everything goes into the first floor void and then drops down.

As for screening. I'm going to keep to the bare minimum any routes near mains and where it does cross I'll cross at 90 degrees to minimise induction.

The only worry I've got is that the entry point to the understairs cupboard is down the cooker hood cowl. So at one point it will be within 6" of a electric motor..! But the whole hood is stainless steel so that should limit the interference (hopefully).

But what about the three channel dado that's used in offices. the UTP runs for meters parallel to the mains supply. I'd have thought that would have caused problems if it's suseptable.

You are right about wireless the whole world will move to it soon - but I wont be one of them.

I've done two recent IS projects which has shown even banking class wireless to be anything but secure. And anything that our good guys have got now, the bad guys will have in 6 months.

I know what your going to say, am I interesting enough for anybody to try and break either WEP or MAC ACL's - no I'm not. But it's enough to know it can be done. And let's face it they would just break in at the local exchange even if I didn't have wireless so I'm just being a tinfoil hatted loony

I'm really interested about the telephone cabling bit. Can you link to any suppliers on the web - how about RS?

I take it you mean have one master socket and daisy chain 3 slaves off it.

But wouldn't they have RJ11 connectors. I'd then need RJ11 to RJ45 adaptors to go into the patch panel and then RJ45 to RJ11 at the other end.

I think you're telling me I'd need modtaps at the far end. But I thought the BT master socket has the gubbins in it and it's just plain converters needed at the patch panel and wall sockets.

We used to use modtaps when wiring up internal exchanges to CAT5 so now I'm confused.

Don't get me wrong I love cabling - to much probably. That's while I'll happily rip up floors instead of using w/less

Cheers

I have a central cat 5e patch panel which takes BT and LAN.

I only use 1 filter and I feed 3 telephones from it. I feed a router from the ADSL side of the filter. The router has wireless and a 4 way hum. The 4-way feeds into the patch panel too.

The LAN only needs two of the 4 pairs, so I use the same cable for LAN and telephone. (not at the same time, of course) I can plug either, so I can use an outlet for either LAN or telephone.