*This is my most popular post. If you have any questions about anything, please ask. Happy reading!

Does your household have more than one computer? Do you have these computers strategically placed around the router? Sick of it? So was my brother. Wireless still kinda sucks in certain situations, like gaming, so we decided to do something about it. We burned his house down. Just kidding, here’s how I did it.

My brother added 2 rooms to his basement. While it was being built, I ran the cable for the network, cable TV, and the phone. I made a homemade box to hold the battery backup, cable modem, wireless router, and switch. I mounted this box on the wall in the center of basement for several reasons. It was the best location for wireless, and it was a centralized place that all the cables could easily reach. I should mention that this was my first time running cable for a network, but luckily not my first time consuming whiskey.

By looking at the diagram below, you can see the 2 new rooms on the left. The X marks the location of where I mounted the homemade network rack/box and where all of the cables eventually run to.

My crappy photoshop skills at work

While the framing was still exposed, and after the electrician did all of his wiring, I went to work. I mounted the blue “electrical outlet” type boxes which would become the drops. My Brother decided that he did not want to only add 1 per room and have to add another router per room if he wanted multiple computers in there. Since one room was to be an office he wanted 4 connections in one room, and 2 in the second bedroom. This meant I had to run 6 lines.

Next, I decided on my cabling routes then drilled 1 inch holes in the studs. I started with the CATV Cable using RG6. I used some underground orange cable I had laying around. I ran the cable from the main location (see diagram) where it comes in the house to the drops. For each CATV location I ran it’s own cable, just like the professionals do. Here is the cable confusion I had to deal with. Messy!

Looking at the diagram, you’ll notice that I had to go up and over 2 doors to run the cable to each room location. We’re going to have to patch those holes I guess. That might require a second bottle of whiskey.

I used strippers and crimpers to add the ends to the cable. I had to replace the first set of strippers though, because after explaining again and again that while I appreciated what they were showing me, I was running out of singles and they still hadn’t even finished one cable end yet.

If you do not have these tools do not worry. There are cheapy screw on ends that you can buy. You will still need to strip the wire back somehow.

Next, I reorganized the cable mess. Notice the new orange cables. Those little white nail clips come in handy. I ended up using them everywhere. I also ran another cable to where my homemade box/shelf will go, which hooks into the cable modem.

Now that the cable was finished, the phone was next. Cat 5 is not only used for networking, but phone as well. I bought a box of 1000 ft. of solid copper wire in blue. Be sure not to kink or nick the cable in any way or you may damage it.

There are 8 small wires inside and can be used to carry 4 phone lines. Here’s the main box where the phone came into the house (purple on diagram). I connected them up, only 2 wires (one line) on each, and added green tape to each end because the network cable and phone cable will be following the same path through the house. There is one phone outlet per room, which I placed opposite each other on the same wall.

Each phone line requires 2 wires to be connected. Look for the red and green wires and strip and connect one to the red and the other to the green. If using regular phone line you will already have red and green wires, but if using network cable like I did, just choose any 2 wires, but remember which ones so you can connect them later at the other end. If you want to run more than one line through here then the next set you will hook up will most likely be black and yellow. Again, when using network line, you have the ability to run 4 phone lines through it.

When choosing the phone jack that will be at the other end, be sure to get one that is for the number of phone lines you are running. If you are not sure, just look at the hole in the jack where the phone line connects and count the wires. There will be 2 wires for each line, and on the back or inside where you connect everything, there will be the required hookups.

This is what it looked like after running the network and phone cable through the walls of the basement.

I numbered both ends of every cable with some numbered stickers I got from Home Depot in the electrical department. I rolled up the cables and stuffed them in the box so they’re out of the way when we put up the drywall. Again, I placed them opposite each other on the same wall, one on each side of the stud.

This is the end where the rack/box will go. I just kind of hung the cables there until it was up.

Before I made the network box/rack, I was sure to take measurements of all of the equipment. Minus a few minor mistakes and trips to the hospital, it came out well. Then I drilled some holes for the cables to run through. The big hole at the bottom is for the battery backup power cord to plug into the wall outlet below the box.

I then wanted to mount this 16 port Keystone Patch Panel above the box. I accidentally dropped my burger and and got mustard all over his chair. Sorry bro, maybe your wife can get it clean with the Martha Stewart scrub brush and cleanser set I gave her for her birthday.

I forgot to purchase the mounting bracket so I had to make my own. I cut off a square piece of a 2×4 then used a hole saw and made a hole. Then, I simply cut the thing in half across the hole. This gave me two nice strong brackets, and with the arc I was easily able to drill pilot holes and screw it into the wall.

So far so good. Now here’s the crummy part. Having to punch down all of those little wires into the Keystone Jacks. There are 2 standards for wiring, A & B. What you choose doesn’t matter as long as you are consistent and wire each end the same. I chose B. There’s even a handy color code on the side to help out.

Again, this was my first time. It wasn’t very difficult, just tedious. I read and followed these wiring directions. I bought these tools when I bought all of this stuff. The strippers (black) are for removing the blue casing from the cable which revealed the 8 tiny solid copper wires. The punchdown tool is used to punch the wires down into the keystone jacks.

Don’t strip the tiny wires before punching them down, the wire insulation is exposed and the connection is made when punched down into the jack. I added the Keystone Jacks to the patch panel. The other end would have to wait until the drywall was up.

Here is the box with the patch panel mounted above it. I also got the cable ready to run to the cable modem.

Then I connected some 3 ft. patch cables to the patch panel. These will go into the switch. I also connected the cable to the cable modem.

Almost finished, I added the battery backup, wireless router, and switch. Now we just had to finish the drywall.

Connecting the equipment

The reason to do all of this is to connect multiple computers together and for them to all share the internet. You will first need to have a router, I used the Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router. You will connect your cable or dsl modem to your router with a patch cable. Look for an “internet” port (see pic). There will probably be at least 4 other ports, which are used to connect up to 4 computers.

If you need more ports because you’re an uber geek and have too many computers in your house, like in my case, then you will need a switch. I got a Linksys 8-port Workgroup Switch. On the back of the switch is an “uplink” port (see pic). Run a cable from the “uplink” port to any port on your router. You can then use the ports on the switch AND also on the router. You can add more switches simply by doing the same thing again.

After our crappy drywall job, which will obviously need more attention, I punched down the wires into the jacks, added the wall plates and numbered the jacks carefully matching them to the other numbers on the patch panel.

I tested each line and they all worked great. Having never done this before, I must admit, I was a bit nervous that it would work.

Now if we wanted to add a new line to another room we could just do it the same way, and with the 16 port patch panel there is plenty of room for adding new lines.

This was a fun project and I learned a lot. I’m sure I left some details out, but I think you get the idea.

I bought most of the cabling, panels, jacks, tools, etc. online from LANshack.com. My total cost was around $200. So, give it shot and try it at your brother’s home. Use him as the guinea pig before you try it at home like I did. After all, why mess up your own stuff.

Please feel free to comment or ask me a question. Thanks.

Caveman Conclusion: Only real men put in home networks.

More gnarly posts by the Caveman:
• My House With Tornado Damage [PICS]
• Link To Caveman Conclusion
• My Visit To The Milk Farm
• F.A.Q.
• The Future Of Information Technology