Wiring – How to use house’s built in patch panel

data-wiringethernetinternetwiring

So, when i bought this house the builder went ahead and installed a patch panel. Since then the only time I've really payed it any attention was when my house was getting hooked up to my ISP's service. recently I've wanted to start using it to interface with my router so i can easily hook up anything with Ethernet. Only problem is i dont necessarily know where i need to hook everything into. Ive included a picture for clarity.
enter image description here
enter image description here

Best Answer

So, based on what I can see there, that's not an ethernet patch panel. The cabling is CAT5, which can be used for ethernet, but those are all being used for phone lines. It looks like there's also a coax splitter, and some unused CAT5 cable.

In general, if you wanted to, you could probably repurpose that CAT5 cable and use it for ethernet, but you'd need to get an ethernet switch or hub, and find a way to get the router to connect to that switch or hub. You'd also need to turn some/all of your phone jacks into ethernet ports. And hope that the builder didn't do something that would preclude using the CAT5 cable for ethernet. Depending on where the line from the ISP comes in, that could be easy or hard.

Optionally, you might be able to use those existing CAT5 runs to pull more cabling, but again, that would depend on how the contractor ran the CAT5 cable (ie, conduit vs staples).

For much more information, I'd suggest reading through https://www.structuredhomewiring.com.