RJ11 or RJ45, Office

Andromeda1983 · 15 Sep 2011 at 16:42

I have finally been able to clean out my spare room which leaves me with the ability to turn the room into a office/computer room. I have an electrician coming to install some switches in the room since there's none in there but the main concern for me is how I am going to provide the PC's with an internet connection.

Now I am not a fan of wireless technology so my only other options are running a RJ11 cable up the wall from the room below where the master socket is, through the floor into upstairs or I could run a RJ45 cable leaving the router downstairs and simply routing the cable through the floor upstairs into the spare room. My question is a simple one, which idea would provide the most stable connection?

TNGL · 15 Sep 2011 at 16:48

RJ45 is better for networks I think. RJ11 is best suited for telephony.
If I were you, I'd just go with RJ45.
RJ45 also has more wires to carry more data; there are plenty of discussions about this if you Google it

SMN · 15 Sep 2011 at 16:59

Go with RJ11 and stick your router next to your machine.

Rozzy85 · 15 Sep 2011 at 18:29

If you're going to lay a cable either way then RJ45 definitely. It'll also mean you will have a link downstairs if you ever needed it and if for whatever reason you don't need the line anymore you could convert it to a normal phone line.

mogwai · 15 Sep 2011 at 19:09

I haven't used them myself but have you considered power line adapters.

Wucked · 15 Sep 2011 at 19:14

Or if you wanted to make it easy on yourself you might employ power line networking from the master socket to your upstairs computer room. And then into a small ethernet switch and out to how ever many PC's, printers, etc you intend to have up there. Stable, low cost, easy to implement, and versatile enough that you can move it around the house as needed.

Andromeda1983 · 15 Sep 2011 at 20:00

Is say, ping more stable with powerline networking than wireless?

Magic_x_uk · 15 Sep 2011 at 20:45

Leave router next to master socket.
Run 2/3/4 runs of cat5e up to the room. terminate with rj45 into back of router ports and then rj45 into whatever you have in your new room, laptop, computers, printers etc.

Job done. You can get wall faceplates/ rj45 modules as well if you want it to look spot on.

Another option. Just run 2 lengths of cat5e from router and use a network switch in the new room.
Then connect devices to switch.

Reason behind running 2 lengths.... one for redundancy

How do I know all this? I asked same question about 2 months ago on here and got some very good advice from various members.

Deleted member 77746 · 15 Sep 2011 at 21:15

Power lines work a treat, saves messing about. Couple of these n your sorted.

23JMZ07 · 15 Sep 2011 at 21:54

Never extend your RJ11 ADSL line further than it NEEDS to be. The signal will degrade more and more and you will get worse speeds and latency. Leave the router downstairs and just run a few lengths of cat5e upstairs

Andromeda1983 · 15 Sep 2011 at 22:20

Thanks for the advice everyone, I have decided to go the RJ45 route.

PhillyDee · 15 Sep 2011 at 22:26

mrbell1984 said:
Power lines work a treat, saves messing about. Couple of these n your sorted.

Would only ever consider using them if there was no way to route a proper cable. In this case, its easier (and far cheaper) to run a cable or 6.

Deleted member 77746 · 15 Sep 2011 at 22:48

PhillyDee said:
Would only ever consider using them if there was no way to route a proper cable. In this case, its easier (and far cheaper) to run a cable or 6.

I would say it was far easier to plug two plugs in.

Wucked · 16 Sep 2011 at 12:08

Andromeda1983 said:
Is say, ping more stable with powerline networking than wireless?

Yes. If you really want to run cat5e / cat6 across your house then go for it, but its a wasted effort. The results wont be any better than using powerline.

But if you've already decided to do it anyway, then you may as well use STP over UTP, just for a bit of added cosiness.

bremen1874 · 16 Sep 2011 at 14:15

Wucked said:
But if you've already decided to do it anyway, then you may as well use STP over UTP, just for a bit of added cosiness.

STP cable would just add unnecessary complications and expense.

23JMZ07 · 16 Sep 2011 at 14:25

Wucked said:
Yes. If you really want to run cat5e / cat6 across your house then go for it, but its a wasted effort. The results wont be any better than using powerline.

LMFAO!

You think powerline is as good as a wired CAT5e link?

Deleted member 77746 · 16 Sep 2011 at 15:09

23JMZ07 said:
LMFAO!

You think powerline is as good as a wired CAT5e link?

No, but the cable is already down, all you need is to plug the plugs in and it's created a network. It's far easier that's for sure. Then it can be extended to any room as desired just by pushing the plug in. niiiccceeeeee!

kerrgreg · 16 Sep 2011 at 15:35

Sounds like you have made you choice (i would go with the advice already here too) just encase you have any doubts though, if you j45 you can always plug rj11 into the rj45 socket and it will pass the down the cable as if its rj45 meaning you can have the router upstairs too!

NathanE · 16 Sep 2011 at 16:31

HomePlug's will work, but they add a couple milliseconds latency together with probably around 0.5 to 2% packet loss, and one day about a year down the line they will blow up and you'll be left with no working Internet.

Do a proper job and run some CAT5/6. It will take you an hour on a weekend, tops.

GeX · 16 Sep 2011 at 16:40

Most stable would be keeping the distance from the master socket to the router at a min. Nothing stopping you having a modem downstairs, and then running from CAT6 up and having the router upstairs.

Now for some nit-picking..

RJ = registered jack. They refer to connections on the cable, not the cable itself. What you are calling RJ45 is actually 8P8C

Wucked said:
Yes. If you really want to run cat5e / cat6 across your house then go for it, but its a wasted effort. The results wont be any better than using powerline.

This is lulz. I used to use Powerline, when installed it gave me a good solid ~90mbit/s link. When then had a new boiler put, and that upset it. Dropped it down to ~30mbit/s. That wasn't good enough, so I did it properly and ran some CAT6 - now I have a 1000mbit/s connection.

Powerlines have their use (as does wireless) but they are no replacement for a proper wired connection.