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Question

Terminating Cat6 Cable

Apr 3, 2017 2:34PM PDT

Good day,

I am not very knowledgeable in networking and have a question for those of you who are. When I finished my basement in my home, I ran many cat6 cables and terminated them in my utility room. I also ran a cat6 cable that connect into the upstairs ports to the same utility room in the basement. To make my downstairs ports "live" or to be able to hook up devices and access the internet, do I need to connect all basement runs to the upstairs run through a switch? Through a splitter? Through a distribution block? Through a router?

Sorry for my noob question but I am overwhelmed at the amount of information I am finding online.

Thanks

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Unclear to me.
Apr 3, 2017 2:38PM PDT

CAT cable 5, 6 or such do not need termination like our old 75 Ohm Coax system did.

All I ever needed to do was apply the RF45 connection and plug it in where I wanted it to be connected.

Color coding of the wires is on the web, so I'll pause here for clarification why you think it needs termination.

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Cat6
Apr 3, 2017 3:00PM PDT

Terminate was probably the wrong term. I am just wanting to connect my basement runs to my upstairs runs.

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Connecting.
Apr 3, 2017 3:11PM PDT

Is more like it. So far, you use the standards for RJ45 CAT cables (doesn't matter 5 or 6) and crimp the connector on. Plug it into your choice of switch and done.

What we no longer deploy is a punch down patch panel. Given the headaches and hours lost, we rip those out as needed (they fail, they are replaced.)

Post was last edited on April 3, 2017 3:44 PM PDT

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Thanks
Apr 3, 2017 3:40PM PDT

That is what I needed, thanks!

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One last question.
Apr 3, 2017 3:44PM PDT

What is the difference between fast Ethernet and gigabit switches?

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Just speed.
Apr 3, 2017 4:13PM PDT

In the past, Fast was 100Megabit. Gigabit was just that speed.

So far all switches handle slower speeds without any work by us.