RE: {Definitely Spam?} OTish: Maplin CAT5 outlet

["Keith Doxey" <ukha@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Brad

> Strictly speaking I guess this is off topic but I'm about to pull my
> hair out and I'm sure a few of you may have come across this before.
>

Not OT in my opinion.

> Has anyone used the Maplin Networking outlet (code: DP29G)?
>
> I've used these to set-up my first home network but I must have
> ballsed something up as it's not working. The double set of colours
> (and no pin numbers) on the back confused me for a bit but I guess
> this is for the two standards that I've read about - anyhow, am I
> right in thinking that as long as I used the same method at the start
> and finish then it doesn't matter what colour I used i.e as long a
> pin1 goes to pin1 then who cares if it's blue, green, orange etc.
> Might confuse someone else but should't stop the network from working.
>

One colour code is for T568A and the other for T568B. The only diference
being the colours of the Orange and Green pairs are transposed. Normal UK
standard is for T568B which has the orange pair on 1&2.

Whilst the colour of the pairs doesnt really matte one jot, IT IS VITAL
THAT
YOU KEEP TO PAIRS. eg 1&2, 3&6, 4&5, 7&8. You should stick
to one of the two
standards and T568B is the one you should really use.

> Is there a dummies guide to common problems for newbies? I've
> probably done something obviously wrong but can't see it at the
> moment. Luckily I left my old set-up (basically one long piece of
> cable from modem to computer) in place so I can swap between the two
> for testing - this is also how I know that the problem must be in my
> cable runs between two sockets as it's the only new component that
> doesn't work.
>

The most common problems are

1. Wiring 568A at one end and 568B at the other

2. Split pairs eg 1&2, 3&4, 5&6, 7&8 which will lead to all
sorts of
problems due to crosstalk.

You can get cheap CAT5 testers on eBay which will identify crossed or
missing (badly terminated)wires but they wont pick up incorrect useage of
the cable as they only perform a basic DC test of the cable 1-1, 2-2
...7-7,
8-8 etc. Full blown CAT5 testers will cost you a lot of money.

http://tinyurl.com/k84lf is a cheapy
tester.

Regards

Keith (who has a vested interest in correct wiring as my kit wont work it
its wrong!!)
www.kat5.tv