What are these RJ45 sockets for?

[conny]

Right, I am pretty useless when it comes to technology so I will try to put this simply.

At the moment, we plug our PlusNet router into a 'normal' phone socket, (plus mains supply), and we have no problems.
We will be moving to another house in mid-November and, in that house, it has a number of 'normal' phone sockets in various rooms and in one or two rooms it has, what I call RJ45 sockets. i.e. the square type with the release tab on the top.
The plans for the new house state it has, 'access and termination points', for high speed communication.
Does this mean we could plug the router into the RJ45 socket and get a better internet signal? Or is the RJ45 for something completely different?

 

[andycollins]

You need to find out where the cables run to, perhaps there is a central point in the loft or elsewhere. The sockets could all be connected or they could be two separate systems.

One way would be to test each socket by plugging a phone in.

You can get adapters to change between the different types of sockets. Below is one example but it depends on which way you want to convert.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SHONCO-Converter-Connector-Telephone-Ethernet/dp/B08L67K1B1?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&smid=A240MCJAKFEZHF&th=1

Failing that, an electrician or BT engineer would be able to test for you.

 

[Diver Fred]

4 or 8 'pins'?
4 pins are USA 'phone standard.
8 Pins are Data standard.

If they are 8 pins sounds like the present (or previous) sensibly cabled the house for Data connections instead of relying on WiFi. Find where the Router is or was located and you may/should find the other end of the cables.

I have wired our house from the router point to office desk, TV point, a location in the Kitchen (TV or laptop as cook ebook) and an extra socket in the lounge.

 

[Murdochcat]

RJ45 connectors are best used (when proven connected) for things like TVs and computers

You could also use one to connect a Wi-Fi access point.

First you need to try and work out what is connected and where

Our house has them in each bedroom and where a TV could be sited

 

[spoodie]

You can get a basic network cable tester for around £10. With a couple of cables you could use all this to try to find what goes where in terms of the RJ45 network cabling in your house.

 

[conny]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I know there has never been an internet connection supplied to the house, (it is my late FIL's bungalow which was completely rebuilt 5 years ago).
It has a satellite dish on an outside wall and, to watch TV, he had a Manhattan free-sat box, which plugged into a standard phone socket with a 'splitter' lead. This lead had the Manhattan and the phone lead plugged into it.
I could be wrong by calling it an RJ45, but that's the only term I know for these shaped sockets. Didn't know there was such a thing as an RJ11
In the loft, (soon to be converted into 2 rooms and an en-suite), I can see where the cables from the Sat dish come in, run across the loft ceiling and then down to floor level. At floor level they are coiled up and joined to another set of leads with, what look like, in-line screw connectors. There is writing on a support post saying, 'Data Cables', before one set runs across to one of the ground floor bedrooms and the other runs down to the lounge. As my FIL and sister-in-law were disabled, they never had internet or access to computers whilst living there.
Does this help at all?

 

[opps]

If you you are going to have ADSL (read: internet access) via a telephone line, you need a socket with a RJ11 plug. As mentioned above, they have 4 pins, but they only use 2 of the 4 pins.

It may well be the case that you can run a RJ45 from the rear of the MODEM/router in to one of the wall plates to distribute access throughout the property without needing to worry about WiFi.

On the balance of probability, that RJ45 will run down to a distribution point before being sent to the other rooms. Ideally, it will run in to a powered switch (rather than a hub). Hubs are dumb technology and will send traffic to all ports, a switch will know that a TV (for example) only wants to communicate with the router (and not all of the other connected devices), thereby reducing excessive traffic being sent to all devices.

Your MODEM connects to ISP. The router built in to the device doles out IP addresses to any internet able device that communicates with it. You connect, for example, a TV via ethernet, the router trusts it and assigns an IP address, you don't need to worry about passwords.

Think of your router as being a postman, it needs addresses (IP addresses) to deliver packages. The router assigns those addresses. Your TV says, yeah, I want to access the Channel 4 web catch up access. It "talks" to the router, the router then, via the MODEM grants access.

I hope the above make sense. If not ask for clarification.

 

[ETAF]

EDIT- ignore this
you may be able to find if one of them is a master socket - connected to the outside of the house phoneline -
at the moment you have a filter i assume between the landline and the router - it maybe the new house has tha tincorporated in the box
what do the current owners of house use ?

HOWEVER - this may still apply
also when you change the landline - they may isnsist that you have VOIP - and the phone connected to the router - i renewed my contract for interent earlier this year and they would not renew the landline - HAD to be via the router - same price mind !!!!!
as openreach are removing all analogue networks by end of 2025

 

[hllns]

If it's a very new house there's guidance on this, the data points should come back to a "Primary Distribution Space" allowing easy internal distribution:

PAS 2016:2010: next generation access for new build homes guide

Publicly available specification (PAS) produced by BIS and the British Standards Institution (BSI).

www.gov.uk

Have a look in any cupboards near the front door or under the stairs for a load of socket and any telecoms operator marked kit/sockets.

 

[Diver Fred]

Since all of us are working ' blind' - how about posting a photo of one of the sockets.

 

[conny]

Since all of us are working ' blind' - how about posting a photo of one of the sockets.

Good idea Fred. We are over there tomorrow sorting the garage out, so I'll get some pics.

@ETAF there are no current owners. It's my late FIL's property, (technically now my wifes property). He didn't have internet of any kind other than a Manhattan FreeSat receiver box, which was plugged into the phone socket via a splitter.
There is a phone socket in the lounge, which has a cable going out the wall, up to the roof and then across next doors roof to a pole in the road. I think this may have been put in after the builders had finished because where the cable exits, (down a narrow passage way), the outer face of the brick has been blown by going straight through with a large drill.

I'll get some pics tomorrow. Thanks guys.

 

[ETAF]

picture of that phone socket would be useful as well

 

[Winglet]

If there was never Internet at the house then unlikely to be RJ45 ports, unless the house was refurbished and they put RJ45 ports in. You would however find a patch panel somewhere where all these RJ45 ports go back to, which would then have a switch and connect back to the router.

 

[conny]

Sorry guys, didn't get chance for any photo's today. Will try to get them tomorrow.