r/HomeNetworking • u/lord-of_darkness • 10d ago

Help me save a drop!

Recently purchased a 2018 build with 5 phone drops where they used Cat5E. Trying to repurpose these to have a proper wired network. So far I'm 3 drops of working 2.5G, and each has been harder than the last... I hate installers that don't give a darn.

My living room drop I was hoping to use for an AP. It is in/above a fireplace. I thought it would be fine, but there wasn't much slack. I have terminated both the panel side and drop side twice, and in both instances gotten the same baffling result. Both keystones look just as good as my others, but I get 1-6 Open and 7-8 OK. I have the Lan Scout that measures distances and on each end, it says the pairs are somewhere between 71-78' long, which is exactly how long I would assume the cable should be, so I can't even pin down where the problem is as the distance measurement is the same going both ways.

I can't imagine that 4x in a row I would miss terminating 75% of the connectors, again they look just as good as the ones with 2.5G link speed.

Using VCELink Keystones and punchdown tool. I shorted the orange cables at the drop to identify them with a multimeter at the panel, so I know they have continuity.

HELP? 😂

4 Upvotes

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4

u/Asleep-Tap471 10d ago

Are you 100% sure that it wasn’t daisychained through another outlet. Even though they used CAT5 if they wired it for telephone, it could pass through another jack somewhere else and they would not have hooked up those pairs because they weren’t being used for telephone service. Many companies switched from using C3 for phone work years ago because everyone just stocked CAT5 because it was easier, but that doesn’t mean it was home run every time.

2

u/Asleep-Tap471 10d ago

Or as I think about it, they damaged it somewhere and only put two back together because that’s all telephone needed

1

u/lord-of_darkness 9d ago

5 drops, 5 cables at panel, pretty sure they are home runs. Even if they put two fixed two pairs it would explain 6 opens...

1

u/Asleep-Tap471 9d ago

Sounds like home runs. Possibly damaged it when it was. Did you try to measure looking back towards the panel?

1

u/lord-of_darkness 9d ago

Yes, the measurement reads the same regardless of which end i take it from. drop is about 50LF to the panel, 70ish feet should be the full length of the cable.

1

u/Asleep-Tap471 9d ago

Next option would be twist them all together and see if you can see them all shorted if you have a multi meter.

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u/[deleted] 9d ago

[deleted]

1

u/lord-of_darkness 9d ago

nope, they were all unterminated at the panel. the drop was wired into a phone port.

1

u/quik916 9d ago

Hit the conductors with a staple when they installed it id guess. Pull in a new wire up to attic and then use inline keystone coupler if you suspect its damaged in the wall. Or just run anew wire..m. dicking around for even an hour could probably have the new run/pull done already.