Can I use my existing phone socket for ethernet connection?

[SUNRAY]

It all started with the Coop who where doing the probate when mother died, and it seems in spite of my saying did not want services turned off, just transferring to my name, they cancelled the broadband. And knowing house to be sold, I would not agree to an 18 month contract.

We simply left the phone/bill in Dads name.

 

[ericmark]

I think August 2021 to now, no point in commenting as all likely sorted by now.

 

[SUNRAY]

I think August 2021 to now, no point in commenting as all likely sorted by now.

Crazy... the only reason I looked at the thread is due to a notification, but I see nothing new.

 

[Robin0577]

Unless you're looking at some super dooper speed only 4 wires are used

I suppose it depends on you definition of super dooper speed, BUT a 4 wire ethernet cable will only run at 100Mb/s which is considered to be a pretty much obsolete standard. Virtually all current PCs, network switches and other devices are designed to run at 1Gb/s, and that uses all 8 wires. Gigabit ethernet as a standard is over 20 years old, and has been commonplace even on domestic quality computer hardware for at least 10 years. I'm not sure that any major manufacturer bothers making 100Mb/s switches anymore. You can however still use a 4 wire 100Mb/s cable with gigabit equipment and the speed will be automatically reduced. You are of course correct in saying you can split an 8 way cable into 2 x 4s, but again, that's only good for 100Mb/s

Admittedly it is highly unlikely that any external connection from a telephone line (ADSL or FTTC) will be as fast as 100Mb/s so from that point of view it doesn't matter. However, fibre optic connections of up to 1Gb/s are now commonplace, and it is also worth considering that the internal network speed may need to be higher than 100Mb/s even if the external connection to the internet is not. For instance I use a network attached storage device for backing up my PC, and that would be very badly affected by only running at 100Mb/s, so my internal home network is all 1Gs/s, despite my external internet connection being only 50Mb/s FTTC.

EDIT: I just realised how old this thread is *facepalm*

 

[plugwash]

I'm not sure that any major manufacturer bothers making 100Mb/s switches anymore.

TP-link and Dlink seem to, plus a bunch of noname brands.

You can however still use a 4 wire 100Mb/s cable with gigabit equipment and the speed will be automatically reduced.

Be aware that this is a non-standard (though very common) extension.

 

[SimonH2]

TP-link and Dlink seem to, plus a bunch of noname brands.

Yes, there is still a lot of 100Mbps kit around still - but nothing I buy is less than gigabit. Even basic routers supplied by ISPs are mostly Gb capable these days.

Be aware that this is a non-standard (though very common) extension.

I don't get this bit ?
Are you suggesting that the ability for 1Gbps devices to auto-negotiate a 100Mbps link over a 2 pair cable is uncommon ? It isn't. It's getting uncommon for devices to support 10Mbps, but I think you'll find it's rare indeed not to support 100Mbps given the amount of 100Mbps kit around.

What is "interesting" is when you get a bit of kit that doesn't correctly auto-negotiate the link - something I've come across a few times. Most interesting is when one end negotiates full duplex but the other end only does half duplex and has a broken implementation - lots of collisions and naff-all throughput