3 ms·

> 20 year old cables? I just bought a new house and the previous owner had phone lines everywhere (bedrooms, kitchen, office, rec room - honestly kind of weird

> 20 year old cables? I just bought a new house and the previous owner had phone lines everywhere (bedrooms, kitchen, office, rec room - honestly kind of weird). The house was built in 2002 and I gather that it was common at that time to put in Cat5e and just not use all the pairs. So all it took was a pleasant afternoon with the circuit toner, a new patch panel, and a few keystone jacks, and now the house is networked beautifully. Sure, they're not in exactly the places I'd have dropped 'em if I'd been starting from scratch, but it's hard to beat cables already in the wall for zero effort!

slow_typist 2y ago
You are lucky they went with cat5. In my house there are phone lines everywhere, too, but real phone lines. Like in ISDN. That’s 8 strands plus some extra strands (the European ISDN bus needs 4 strands, so for a faked star topology you need 4 to every room and 4 back). It is neither shielded nor twisted of course. Just plain dumb copper wires. On some connections a stable 10 Mbit link is possible. From what I gather the cables were installed around 2000…
kelnos 2y ago
Five years ago I bought a house built in 2008, and every room has at least 2 ethernet (cat6 even, good for them), 2 coax, and 2 telephone. I guess this was some sort of transition period where people were starting to understand the benefit of running ethernet, but people hadn't cut their tethers from their landlines yet. The coax is a bit weird, though. Two ports per room? Seems like overkill, but I guess it's better to have and not need than the alternative... I've still not found a use for the coax or telephone lines. I ditched cable TV 20 years ago, and haven't had a landline since 2004. The ethernet is super useful, though, for APs (paired with a PoE switch), and to to hard-wire the office, and stuff connected to the TV in the living room.
- epiccoleman 2y ago
  You can always use the coax for MoCa - but since you've already got ethernet, seems a bit pointless. I've got coax all over too, and, well, it's pretty much useless to me. But maybe someday I'll need a drop somewhere and be happy to have it.

slow_typist 2y ago

You are lucky they went with cat5. In my house there are phone lines everywhere, too, but real phone lines. Like in ISDN. That’s 8 strands plus some extra strands (the European ISDN bus needs 4 strands, so for a faked star topology you need 4 to every room and 4 back). It is neither shielded nor twisted of course. Just plain dumb copper wires. On some connections a stable 10 Mbit link is possible. From what I gather the cables were installed around 2000…

kelnos 2y ago

Five years ago I bought a house built in 2008, and every room has at least 2 ethernet (cat6 even, good for them), 2 coax, and 2 telephone. I guess this was some sort of transition period where people were starting to understand the benefit of running ethernet, but people hadn't cut their tethers from their landlines yet. The coax is a bit weird, though. Two ports per room? Seems like overkill, but I guess it's better to have and not need than the alternative... I've still not found a use for the coax or telephone lines. I ditched cable TV 20 years ago, and haven't had a landline since 2004. The ethernet is super useful, though, for APs (paired with a PoE switch), and to to hard-wire the office, and stuff connected to the TV in the living room.

epiccoleman 2y ago
You can always use the coax for MoCa - but since you've already got ethernet, seems a bit pointless. I've got coax all over too, and, well, it's pretty much useless to me. But maybe someday I'll need a drop somewhere and be happy to have it.