Home networking odyssey: Wiring the family club

By Mike Azzara

Chapter 6

Sept. 1: Did anyone doubt that the way my wife wanted to set up our home network wouldn't prevail? So the next step was to install the RJ45 jack in the Family Club wall. The nearest wire was in Michael's room. I was very worried about the mess I would make turning that wire around to come out in the hallway instead of his room, having to cut through a wall and all. But as luck would have it, the electrician had the foresight to use a plastic electric box when he installed the phone and Ethernet wire 10 years ago, so a half-inch boring bit on the end of an electric drill made short work of the problem and with minimal mess. I drilled right through the exact center of the rear of the box, using slight pressure so that it moved slowly and cleanly; once through the box, I bored gently through the wallboard on the other side. Oh, and I should point out there was an electric outlet located about a foot-and-a-half away. I measured that location very carefully on both sides of the wall to make sure my bit wouldn't hit anywhere near any electricity cable.

Then I slid about a foot of the cat5 through the two holes (luckily I had that much slack). On the other side (in the Family Club), I used a utility knife to enlarge the hole in the wallboard enough to fit the back end of the jack. I connected the jack, put it in its wall covering, screwed that right into the wallboard (what the hell), and all that was left was testing the connection. I plugged both remaining wires (having already labeled the one that went to Ariel's room) into the new router and had Michael stand by in the basement while I went upstairs and plugged my laptop into the jack. Mike's instructions were to remove one of the wires when I called down. If my laptop read, "A network cable is unplugged," then I'd tell him to switch the wires. This time, I nailed it on the first try. And again, fast connectivity! That electrician must have installed top-grade cat5.

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

Through this process I'd been collecting old cat5 10- and 15-footers from around the house, where they had been left over the years as different computers came and went, or as they migrated from wired to wireless. Compared with at least a couple of these, I noticed some of my homemade connections were much better and neater. Remember, according to the Web page where I learned how to terminate cat5 to modules and jacks, neatness counts; the twists in the four twisted pairs have to be just so to get maximum throughput. So I'm extra proud of my throughput.

Last for today, I used an ancient eight-port Linksys Workgroup Hub (model EWHUB) that I found in the basement (no doubt installed during one of Strom's many dinner visits) to create a workgroup network in the office that Tonia and I share. This way, I eliminated one of the direct connections to the router because the Compaq and Netgear both now linked to the hub, which was the only link back to the router. (My laptop, which was wired into the Netgear, is now attached to the hub as well). Unfortunately, I couldn't eliminate the Netgear as I had originally hoped because of the printer and bedroom TiVo. I thought the TiVo would be able to connect with the WiFi router in the basement, but the printer was another matter. I've had to reconfigure it twice since Strom installed it, and each time was a 36-hour marathon to get the WiFi working properly. And that WiFi connection to the printer was the only way the iMac can print. I fear that printer. As long as it worked, maybe the Netgear would live on as an expensive print server of sorts.

So back to the hub, which I wired up; it worked without difficulty, as expected, but it did slow the network because it's just a 10-Mbps hub, not a 10/100 like the rest of the network (files downloaded at around 170 Kbps instead of 220 Kbps). Two new gigabit switches went on order from Amazon. Meanwhile, the real test would come when I attempted to link my wife's computer with mine for backup and printer-sharing purposes. After the new rug for the Family Club arrived the following week, my plan was to install one of those gigabit workgroup switches; then I would move the Gateway XP machine upstairs and network it with the iMac G5 and a printer to create the kids' workgroup network. I'd also be able to eliminate the Netgear, if the TiVo reaches the basement router. Long term, however (when I landed a real job again), my plan was to buy Macs for all three kids and then reimage the Gateway as a file and backup server.

Of course, all that would leave the kids without a machine in the basement to use for IM when they're hanging out down there with their friends, watching TV or playing video games. They cherish that connection to their wide-area friends network, so I thought I'd have to figure something out. I had heard of cheap IM-only computers, but I didn't remember when or where. I'd to search those out when the time comes. (Note: The time still hasn't come. Seems now that school started there's no time for TV, and when friends come over they usually end up tutoring physics.)