Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Question about installing a DSL line....

We have a telephone line in the kitchen that I'd like to run to the TV room for a DSL connection. There are two wires, one is blue w/white stripe and the other is solid blue ... will this be sufficient to use as an internet connection (DSL) for the PS3 and AVR or would I need to have a Cat5 line for that?

I am completely S-T-U-P-I-D whenever it comes to stuff like this.

You will need a modem to connect to your phone line (which will have to have the proper carrier supplied by your... carrier). The PS3 will connect to the modem.

Rick, do you already have DSL in your home?

Yes in another room of the house Randy, is that we need?

Yes. The DSL modem is what gives you an internet connection that your devices (computer PS3, etc.) can understand. Without it, they'll only get a dial tone.

The reason that I'm asking is that we're (ME!) is installing a back splash for the counter tops in the kitchen and there's a phone line that is located on a wall that just happens to be opposite the same wall as the component rack for the TV room ... what I'd like to do is to run those existing phone wires to the rack for my internet connect source for the components because we don't need the kitchen phone jack anymore.

So as I understand it I can run the existing wires to the rack and connect a modem and then we should be ready to roll Peter?

You can only have one DSL modem connected to a phone line at a time. You can certainly connect one in your equipment rack, but then you'd need to either run an ethernet cable from there to your computer or go wireless.

Yes, provided you already have a DSL-capable connection to your carrier. The wires are the same as regular, but the protocols that runs on them are not.

And, yeah, as Peter said, only one!

Oh I see ... how well would the AVR components run off of a wireless system I wonder? Or I suppose another option would be to move the PC in the TV room and go with an exclusive HTPC system.

And we do already have DSL in the house.

What Peter said.

Personally, I'd just run some Cat5 from your existing modem to the Living Room. But, I like copper. I don't trust all this "wireless" stuff people are always talking about.

If you go with a wireless 802.11n router, you should have no issues streaming audio and video within your home. Even one of the oldest standards (802.11b) is faster than the internet coming into your home.

Speak for yourself; I have 22.5 Mbps coming into my home.

I'm not sure if your actual question has been fully answered yet so let me try to add a bit to the already good advice.

DSL arrives to your house over your phone line. Your phone line is a pair of copper wires and inside your house, (older houses anyways) all the phone wiring is generally Cat2. Cat 2 is recognizable as it only has one or two pairs of wire in the sheathing and they are barely twisted together, if at all.

Once DSL gets to your home on your phone line, the data frequencies need to be filtered away from the voice frequencies. Think of it like crossover in an amp stripping out the bass and sending it to your subwoofer.

Normally, besides your modem, there is a also a "POTS splitter" ahead of the modem so that just the modem gets the data frequencies and alternately, you do not have to listen to the screeching of data noises on all your phone lines. Alternatively, some installs put an 'add on' filter on every phone jack where you are putting a phone. They often look like a short dongle sticking out of the jack and have a plug for your phone cord.

Point 1
If you want to place the modem there, the jack in question has to be wired to the data side of the POTS splitter if you have a central splitter. If you are using 'add on' splitters at each jack, then just remove the splitter from that particular jack.
or
if you are using it just as a run to go directly from the modem to another jack, it won't work well if at all. See point #2

Point 2
DSL signal travels quiet well in it's native format over old fashioned Cat 2 wiring. However, once it enters the modem, it gets turned into Ethernet. Ethernet, can only travel very short distances over CAT 2. Often even a room A to room B run is too long. You really need to have CAT 5 or 6 for the LAN wiring in your house. Otherwise you risk low speeds, data loss, etc.

CAT 5 is most easily recognized by the fact that it has 4 pairs of wires in it. Each pair is twisted like it's been spun tight on a drill plus the twisted pairs are also twisted around each other. It's all this twisting that negates signal loss and allows the Ethernet to flow.

So.... It is unlikely that the single pair wiring in your kitchen is suitable to get the Ethernet signal to a PC in this location, regardless of where the modem is. You could try. It certainly wouldn't hurt anything except your patients as the speed might really suck.

Final point.
Depending on how easy it is to fish some Cat 5 to this spot, wireless might be the easiest answer. A good wireless MODEM and a wireless USB or card receiver for the PC and you are all set, plus you are now ready to use any new wireless devices you might buy in the future.

Hope that helped rather than confused.

Yep, what Murph said. I was going to say the exact same thing, but with a little bit more detail. He did a pretty good job though

For a damn walkie....

Damn straight

Thanks Murph! It's probably going to take a few sessions to digest all of your very helpful information, and you did great explaining everything in lay terms ... I guess I'll just hide the telephone wires in the wall and figure out what I want to do for the component rack later.

I knew you were going to pull through for me Cam but that dang Murph beat you to it ... he probably just types a little faster.

Ha. You guys kill me.

It's not very often I ever get to speak on a topic that I didn't learn 5 months ago from another post on this board, so I probably got a little over zealous. I've never been know for short stories.

And I'm not a Walkie!!!
I'm a Mini Rider. Errr Cooper Driver. That is I have a tiny but fast drive.... DOH! None of that sounds any good.
I miss my Jeep.

Walkie

All of the answers you've gotten thus far are excellent and spot-on, but I don't know if anyone has clearly said it...

What you need is a router, preferably a wireless one.

Your "Internet" arrives at your house at your DSL modem. Think of the DSL modem like the electrical transformer that sits on the power pole in your neighborhood. That device takes the high-voltage main line and converts it to the 110/220v that your home electrical gear can use. When you *just* use a DSL modem for your Internet, it's like running one long extension cord from your microwave to the transformer itself. It might power the microwave, but the rest of your house is dark. Fine for the microwave (safety issues aside...), but not very useful for the refrigerator, nor anything else in the house.

Adding another DSL modem (you'd need another phone line...) would be like running *another* extension cord out to transformer. Not exactly what you want to do.

What you need, then, is an in-home distribution network. With electrical power, your circuit-breaker box provides short-circuit protection but also splits off power to the various circuits, outlets, and switches, in your house. With "the Internet", a router does the same thing, but for the bits of data. You'd connect your devices to the router with ethernet cables, or if they're wifi-enabled devices, they can connect wirelessly to the router. And *poof*, those devices are able to talk to eachother and the internet at large.

802.11b vs 802.11g vs. 802.11a vs 802.11n are certain wifi standards that a device or router can accept. b is the oldest/slowest, g|a are newer, and n is the newest. You'd likely want to buy something that's 802.11n compatible, as that will be the latest/greatest with the best range & speed but will also be backwards compatible with just about every wifi device ever made.

Whether or not you need to run ethernet cable to your AV rack depends on whether or not your gear is all wifi enabled. Personally, I prefer hard-wired connections for stationary gear (like printers, my AppleTV, my Dish Network DVR, etc), as it's faster and normally has fewer quirks than wifi connections. So if you *can* run ethernet cable from the vicinity of your DSL modem to your AV rack, I would do that. Especially if you have an opportunity *today*, and you may not tomorrow. Use "RG6" ethernet cable to do it. And I say 'vicinity of your DSL modem' because the router & DSL modem will need to be connected via an ethernet cable, so they'd often be found sitting next to each other.

Routers are generally pretty good these days. Go to any store that sells electronics (Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Staples, Office Max, etc, etc) and take a look. Linksys, Belkin, D-Link, and Netgear are the most popular brands. If you like Apple products, Apple's AirPort Extreme base station is a great router that's especially easy to set up and use if you're using a Mac (though it is as compatible with everything as any other router).

Good luck!

Rick, I have a DSL modem at the location where my service comes into the house. I then plug a short ethernet (network) cable from the back of the modem to a 4 port router which has a broadband connection, as well as 4 network ports. These ports are used to route network cabling to other rooms in the house.

Unless of course his DSL MODEM IS already a router. Then you have to consider ............

Oh, never mind. Just do like Peter says and buy a Wireless Router and give some teen a beer i-tunes gift card to configure your PCs/laptops up.

And Yes, I did recommend Wireless as the most simple solution but I was afraid to emphasize it to much because Tom was against it and I was afraid beer would stop shipping to PEI entirely due to insulting the Beer God.

You perhaps overestimate my clout with the Canadian government.

All I can do is make sure they only ship Unibroue there.



I know lots of people are "successful" with wireless. At my house, I was willing to fish the copper so that I never had to worry about it. Technology problems irritate me, and that measure just eliminated one whole category of "suck" altogether.

Tom, can you literally use your "clout" on Jack Layton for me? technically he is part of the opposition, but he thinks he is the leader.

Dang, I thought life was supposed to get somewhat simpler after receiving an AARP card, obviously not.

Thanks Peter and you other fellas, I believe hard wiring some Cat5 from the current modem to the equipment shed is what I'll end up doing ... it's going to be a beeotch trying to get the wire ran due to the scissor trusses and concrete wall but I'll just bite the bullet and do it.

I'd be glad to help if you want to send your plane.

OK, I'll help confuse you more. The network info given above about wireless/wired and routers is good. You can get your DSL to other pieces of equipment in your house pretty easily if you don't want to run any new wires. That being said, wired is always better.

If you go wireless (Wifi aka 802.11a/b/g/n)
If you put a wireless router onto your DSL modem, all your networkable equipment can connect to the internet easily. The only caveat is that your equipment needs to talk to the wireless router via wifi (wireless). If that equipment isn't wireless, you can buy adapters to make them wireless but then it gets pricey, hence the end answer to always go wired…

You didn't mention what equipment you'd want to connect so I'll assume say a PS3 or Blu Ray player with ethernet, a set top box (like a Tivo) with ethernet, and a networked AVR. Here you have 3 pieces of equipment that need a 'wire'. You can buy 3 wireless adapters but that's pricey. OR you can buy one wireless box that can handle 3 wired ports and then connect wirelessly to the main router on your DSL modem. See the Apple article below on how they do it w/ Apple equipment (this is how I do it w/ my Tivo and Slingbox in a distant room). The picture is worth the thousand words.

Apple and the WDS network - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2044

Yeah, the Apple routers may be a bit pricey but I think some other vendors like Linksys and Dlink may do the same, but Apple's easier to setup and there's enough fanboys (like me) that post on various support forums to make setup easier. Using this method, you can provide multiple ethernet ports to any location using a wireless link between multiple routers. This will save you from wiring multiple cables.

If you go wired
You can use something called Powerline Ethernet. Use the AC wiring in your house to carry ethernet. Connectivity can be a problem if the wiring in different rooms crosses a transformer or if your power isn't clean. Barring that, it's a good solution. I use several in my house to hard wire some Tivos so they can transfer shows between boxes via wired (which is always faster than wireless). You connect one adapter to your router and another one where your equipment exists. They have 1 port and 4 port versions. I use the Netgear version but there are others. The beauty here is that it is pretty much plug and play, almost no additional configuration required. Think of it as using your AC wiring as ethernet extension cables.

http://netgear.com/Products/PowerlineNetworking/PowerlineEthernetAdapters.aspx