Home networking odyssey: Mike's first punch down

By Mike Azzara

Chapter 5

Still Aug. 30: Thus inspired, I went ahead and installed an Ethernet jack in Ariel's room. (Remember, at this point I hadn't given in to my wife's common-area insistence.) I also figured this installation was just to test my ability to install a jack as well as a module, and to test those 10-year-old lines between the second floor and the basement. Next, I dug the three cat5 cables out of the basement rafters and strung them over to where the router was located before breaking for the evening to make dinner. Unfortunately, I had no way of telling which cable in the basement went to which room because they were never labeled.

My plan for the next day was to attach the connectors to each of the cables in the basement and then, in turn, plug each one into the router. I'd take my laptop up to Ariel's room and plug in there; when I got a connection I would know I found the right cable. But if I did a poor job punching down the jack in her room, I might never get a connection. I was also worried about the length of the run, which was long (I've since learned you can go something like 300 feet), and the condition of the cable, which looked like it had taken a beating in the basement during the course of the past decade. The outer casing was broken in a couple spots. Ah well, it would be interesting, fun and, I was sure, very frustrating.

Aug. 31: Before executing my carefully crafted plan, I decided to finally install the new Linksys WRT150N, replacing an ancient Linksys BEFSR41. The new "Draft-N" router not only had four cable ports, but MIMO WiFi and two antennas for extra good coverage. My hope was that I could simplify my network by eliminating the Netgear WiFi router and cover the entire house with just this one router on a high shelf in the basement. Based on previous experience, I didn't bother to power down every device on the network (as the router instructions insisted). I simply unplugged the old router and every cable coming into it and tossed it aside, then replugged everything into the new router. It worked. My biggest problem was maneuvering the power cords for the Linksys and cable modem so they looked neat.

Mike's Home Networking Odyssey

1: The original home network mess

2: The great modem swap

3: Of scrimping and crimping

4: The first cut is the deepest

5: Mike's first punch down

6: Wiring the family club

7: Microsoft workgroup voodoo

8: From the frying pan to the freezer

9: The power of perseverance

One complaint: My previous router installation also taught me these things usually need a firmware upgrade right after installation. When I registered the product, I expected it to tell me whether mine did. The registration process itself wasn't too terrible. But when I entered my "router version," I was presented with a cryptic list of "downloads" available for my device, including two different firmware versions —"1.01.9 7/11/2007" and "1.0.02 7/31/2007." I felt stuck. Do I download these? Are they a waste of time? Am I better off hunting for version 1.1, which another dropdown menu on the site indicated existed? Again, this is exactly why the idea of changing my network provoked such mind-numbing terror. So I chose to do nothing. No download at all; I left the router with its original firmware and it worked OK. But here's my complaint: With all its billions, Linksys parent company Cisco should fully automate firmware upgrades for consumers. When I get to that screen, a dialog box should pop up saying, "We checked your router and it has slightly outdated firmware. The new version, blahdy blah, should be installed. Please click install …"  

Once the router was installed, and with my wireless network renamed (several "Linksys" networks already exist in my neighborhood!), I walked around the house and got connection everywhere—even on the second floor in the far corner of the master bedroom, the farthest possible point away from the router. That said, the connection in the master bedroom was very low and not good enough to stream YouTube videos without pauses and other glitches. The connection was very good or excellent in the Family Club, which is more or less two floors directly above the router. Still, I have cat5 in the wall, and I'm going to use it!

I had to unplug a cable from the router to make room for the one going upstairs. But I was determined to do this once and not end up bewildered and having to retrace each cable every time I moved one. So I traced each cable and used masking tape and an indelible marker to label them—Gateway, TiVo, Compaq, Netgear. Then I unplugged them while I crimped the three new cables that went upstairs. At some point my daughter yelped about her lack of IM connectivity, but I figured being detached for a few hours was good for that particular addiction.

I plugged in the first cable, ran up two flights to Ariel's room, and plugged my laptop into the wall jack. Nothing. No network connection. I tried and got a great WiFi link from Ariel's room, though. Hmmm. Down two flights, unplug, replug, back up two flights.

The second cable failed. Luckily, I'd been doing cardio at the gym, so all that going up and down two flights of stairs from the top floor to the basement wasn't even winding me. Here's the e-mail I sent to Strom after my final attempt: "Eureka! Third time's a charm! I am writing (and sending) this e-mail from Ariel's room, where the third cable I tried actually worked! Not only that, but the whole thing is fast as hell! I downloaded a file—WHILE streaming from YouTube (the other file download rates I quoted you were the only movement on the network at the time) and never saw the rate dip below 230 Kbps. Definitely faster than the WiFi connection I just had (though just for drill…). So I guess I nailed that punch down on the RJ45 jack on my first try, and this room is all wired! I can do the other rooms now, and their cables should be easier to find."

It was an exhausting—but triumphant—day.