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I am somewhat unfamiliar with home networking but trying to set up my home's ethernet pre-wiring which originates from a control panel box in my garage.

The control panel has a Leviton 1x6 Telephone/Ethernet expansion board (see first image; here is a link to the product https://www.leviton.com/en/products/47609-f6) with what I assume is a single feed connection at the top and an expansion jack at the bottom.

The feed wire into the expansion board did not have a RJ45 connector on it so I added one myself using 568A ordering (white/green, green, white/orange, blue, white/blue, orange, white/brown, brown). I used a wire tester and successfully confirmed that the wiring ordering was correct and routed into remote rooms in the house via pre-wiring.

Currently, my internet router receives internet from coax cable in another room of house (coax passes through this control panel), but I want to connect the router directly at this control panel and then connect to the expansion board via the feed wire into one of the router's LAN ports.

See images below for current Base Scenario set-up, a Test Scenario which connects LAN but requires splitter, and my Preferred Scenario where there are no Coax splitters at all and everything routes into the house via the ethernet expansion board.

Issues:

  1. When I connect Coax directly into the router (no splitter), WAN light is ON but LAN light is OFF.

  2. When I connect Coax into router after the splitter, the LAN and WAN lights are BOTH ON, and I can connect devices to LAN port, BUT the connection through the Expansion Board to the other rooms in the house does not work.

Questions:

  1. Can this expansion board even handle LAN ethernet internet or is it for old style telephone?

  2. Do I need a device between the router and this expansion board to connect the internet signal?

  3. Could the wire ordering I'm using be the problem? I tested multiple different orderings when adding the connector, and the 568A order is the only one that had a successful test on the wire tester.

  4. Is there a reason the router LAN doesn't work when the Coax from the ISP is connected directly into router (no splitter).

Here is a picture of control panel plus diagrams of the three scenarios to help explain. Any help is much appreciated.

Control panel w/ Expansion Board on left (blue RJ45 wire goes to Feed at top of Leviton expansion board)

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Base Scenario diagram

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Test Scenario - router LAN only works after Coax splitter

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Preferred Scenario - Coax directly into router (but currently having issues with LAN)

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2 Answers 2

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I haven't reviewed all your options yet, but the "expansion board" is a non-starter. It's a TELEPHONE expansion board and will NOT work as you expect. You can't just connect computers in parallel like phones. What need there is a LAN SWITCH and all the appropriate re-wiring in your LV panel. Maybe I'll add to this later...just wanted to let you know now that what you have won't work.

EDIT: I just added a pic of my LV panel showing 2 small patch panels on the right and an 8 port switch on the left. It's a little sloppy, but it works.

Given the few number of connections in your home, you may not even need a switch if your router has enough ports on it. The benefits of a patch panel is flexibility.

patch panels and switch

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    Thanks George for the quick response - if I have the LAN switch, should I be able to re-purpose the wires currently in the "expansion board" to wire them into the LAN Switch?
    – Declan
    Mar 29, 2020 at 16:32
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    Yes, most likely, but you'll lose the functionality of phone jacks. Which these days people generally don't care about much. You could either get a small patch panel where you could punch down all your cat-5 cables then use short ethernet jumpers (RJ45) between the patch panel and your switch. Or just terminate your existing cables with RJ45 plugs and plug them directly into the router or switch. I can't add a picture to a comment, so I'm going to revise my answer with a picture. Mar 29, 2020 at 16:50
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    OK, now having gone thru your 3 scenarios, I believe your 2nd case (test) is closest to what's best. Via either a patch panel or directly, connect your 3 (basement, living room, office) cables to the router if you have enough ports, if not either upgrade the router or get a 4 port switch. Of course the telephone expansion panel will be replaced (just to repeat myself) either with a patch panel or direct terminations of your cat-5 on RJ 45 plugs. You'll need coax to your TV in most cases, so that needs to stay. Mar 29, 2020 at 17:07
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    George - this is very helpful, great point about the ports on the router instead of the switch. I should have enough ports. If all goes well, I'll probably "cut the cord" on the TV and go to Firestick - hence why preferred scenario showed no Coax going to living room. In your image, why did you use the small patch panels rather than terminate the house wiring to RJ45s directly into the switch? Was it already pre-wired that way before you added the switch?
    – Declan
    Mar 29, 2020 at 17:15
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    I have a large home with many ethernet connections. The patch panel allows me to pick and choose which ports are connected. It also gives me flexibility to move things around. Mar 29, 2020 at 17:23
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To expand on the accepted answer - you can do this two ways.

Both depend on having AC power inside the cabinet, or nearby where you can run an extension cable.

1) Adding a local ethernet switch inside this cabinet will work. You'll use one port coming in from your router, and all the rest can go out to your ~6 sockets around the house.
To do this, you'll need to terminate all those loose wires with an RJ45 plug, which will require a crimping tool and the plugs, and probably a wire-stripper. The expansion module should be removed, its useless for ethernet.

2) Another option is to locate the router here inside this cabinet. Presumably it has about 4 LAN ports, so you can liven up 4 ports around your house.
Downsides, your Wireless (WLAN) signal strength may suffer. And this still requires removing the expansion board, and having access to a crimper/plugs to suit your cabling.

THIS also assumes that the far end of each run of structured cabling is wired to an RJ45 socket/jack already. It is not unknown for the far end to be wired to an RJ11/RJ12 or a BT socket in countries that use those. Upshot, you may need ~6 wall plates, RJ45 jacks, and a punchdown tool as well.

If you're buying tools anyway, an ethernet continuity tester can be very helpful as well, though not strictly required.


If you really prefer a patch panel that suits your system, something more like this is required:

https://cdlnz.com/content/images/thumbs/1244158_HPP-1008-1SL__hpp10081sl.jpg

Notice how each RJ45 socket is associated with one punchdown strip of 8 positions (they alternate sides because of space constraints.) Also there is no "expansion" or continuation or daisy-chain connector.

I can't find a matching leviton part number, sorry.

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