ethernet jack

[B. Amish]

how hard is it to take a phone jack and switch it to a ethernet jack using the existing cat 5 or 6 wire.

no drywall in place.

[pureinsanity]

Im not sure what you are asking??? Are you saying you need to run wire? or you saying you want to change out the face plates in the walls for cat5 instead of phone line?

[upnorth]

You really can't. Ethernet is an 8 wire configuration. Phone is a RJ11 and Ethernet is a RJ45. You can use a RJ45 in place of a RJ11 but not the other way around.

[Jim Almquist]

how hard is it to take a phone jack and switch it to a ethernet jack using the existing cat 5 or 6 wire.

no drywall in place.

If you have Cat5/6 wire in place it is easy if you have or can get the tools. You will need a way to punch down the wires into the jack and it is usually done with a 110 punch down tool. Make sure you keep the color code straight on both ends and you should not have any problems. You will see on the side of the jack different color combinations under the slots for the wires and each one needs a specific wire like white/blue,blue/white and white/orange,orange/white so as long as you make both ends the same you should be good to go. If you have any questions or would like a picture, just ask.

[LMITOUT]

They have jacks that don't require a special tool as well if you can't borrow one. You just strip back the jacket on the cable and then lay the wires in color-coded slots, snap the cover over, and then press with a pliers. I've used them and they work well for wall applications.

[upnorth]

What exactly do you have now? Cat 5 is 8 wire, phone is 4 they are not the same. If you do actually have cat 5, all you have to do is have the correct pin out and the correct jack. And like mentioned earlier you can purchase jacks that will literally punch down on their own.

[B. Amish]

it's got 8 wires. sounds like this should be fairly easy. thanks.

[MuleShack]

The typical computer use of an ethernet cable only uses 4 wires...2 sending and 2 receiving so you can make an ehternet (network connection) and phone conncection using your 8 strand wire. I did this for a friend last fall...took her 8 strand phone wire running from house to shop and split out 4 of them for the Network/LAN wire and hooked up to an ehternet box which supplied the network to the shop as well as the existing phone line.

There are box covers as well that you can attach the wires under screws which are easy to work with as well. found them at HD

There are examples on line for which wires to hook up and in what order. Google rj45 connections and there will be plenty of pictures of how to hook it up.

[spearchucker]

You still need to make sure that there is CAT5 wire installed to have a decent connection.