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Context:

In a quest to convert my home from 100Mbps to gigabit, I encountered this device. Cables from the wall are coming in, Ethernet cable going out. As far as I understand, this device converts the interface for the signal, not the signal itself.

Photo: enter image description here

  • Connection: My computer is connected to it, and from it straight to the router.
  • Router: Netgear VEGN2610 supports gigabit
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte h97-hd3 supports gigabit

In windows, my speed & duplex settings are "1.0 Gbps Full Duplex", however, the connection speed says: "100 Mbps"

Questions:

  • What is the name of this device? I want to research online, but I don't know what device I am researching
  • Can it be the bottleneck? If not, why even though all of my network is 1 gigabit, it still uses 100Mbps?
Amit
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  • It looks kinda like a Patch Panel (though I've never seen one that looks quite like that.) It could be a bottleneck if it was made for Cat5 and not at least Cat5e. – Chris Powell Jan 18 '17 at 20:37
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    The problem is most likely one of two things: 1) Not all four pairs are connected all the way through. 100Mbps Ethernet only requires two, GigE requires all four. 2) The mappings of wire pins to signal pairs is not correct. 100Mbps Ethernet is much more tolerant of poor noise immunity than GigE is. – David Schwartz Jan 18 '17 at 20:47
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    Whoever did that knew nothing about Ethernet networking. The shielding on the cables is mutilated, and had too much removed (and it's also [not wired to either of the two accepted standards](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIA/EIA-568#T568A_and_T568B_termination)). That hack job is more than likely why you can't get full speed across your lines. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Jan 18 '17 at 20:48
  • It's 568A with each pair reversed. That should work if it matches on the other side, though of course you'd prefer to have it wired in a standard way. I agree with you about the poor quality of that job, particularly the amount of wire untwisted. In my experience, it's probably good enough for GigE if the other end is wired alike and the lines aren't too long. But, of course, I couldn't live with myself if I left it that way. And if the other side is as bad, or the lines are long, it could definitely be the problem. – David Schwartz Jan 18 '17 at 20:52
  • @Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Unfortunately, some craftsmen don't believe in product quality. If I change this wiring to standard A for example, will I need to change on both ends? – Amit Jan 18 '17 at 20:58
  • @DavidSchwartz "It's 568A with each pair reversed" I'm pretty sure that's not 586A. Look a the right-most one for example. It's just done color-white/colour pair after pair. The pair colours are in the wrong order, and the orange pair are not split apart by the blue pair. Weird stuff.. :) – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Jan 18 '17 at 21:05
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    They are. Look more closely, particularly at the pin numbers. – David Schwartz Jan 18 '17 at 21:06
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    @Amit "If I change this wiring to standard A for example, will I need to change on both ends?" Yup. Judging by this, I'd be highly suspect of the condition of the punch-downs on the other end as well. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Jan 18 '17 at 21:06
  • @Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 And if it is impractical to change the wiring of the wall ports, and I have a new patch panel, should I wire it in the same way as now, or the standard one? – Amit Jan 18 '17 at 21:10
  • As David points out, that _is_ actually wired in proper order (the punch-downs are on the PCB in the wrong order, on purpose) If it's working, I'd just concentrate on trimming and re-punching the ends, leaving as much shielding, and doing as little untwisting, as possible. – Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007 Jan 18 '17 at 21:15
  • If you can inspect one or two wall ports and confirm that the pins to pairs mapping is legal, just non-standard (as it appears to be on this side) you could follow that pattern on the other side. I don't think there's anything wrong with your patch panel itself though. I don't think replacing it would help you. – David Schwartz Jan 18 '17 at 21:16
  • @DavidSchwartz Thank you for all of the advises. I will be able to post a photo of the other side tomorrow. If there is nothing wrong with the patch panel, and the wiring is fine, what might be the problem with getting gigait? – Amit Jan 18 '17 at 21:22
  • @Amit See my very first comment. Most likely (in order of likelihood): 1) All four pairs are not wired straight though. 2) The pins to pairs mapping is not correct for GigE. 3) The wiring quality is absurdly poor due to some combination of long wires, excessive untwists, runs in proximity to noise sources, wires being crushed, stretched, or twisted, and so on. (Wait a minute. Did you try to manually set speed or duplex settings anywhere? If so, don't do that!) – David Schwartz Jan 18 '17 at 21:25
  • This question and it's answers are related. http://superuser.com/questions/858822/can-gigabit-ethernet-auto-negotiation-detect-cat5-cable-and-downgrade-the-mode-a – hookenz Jan 18 '17 at 21:36

1 Answers1

5

It's a patch panel. Assuming it's Cat5e rated, you should have no problem running GigE over it.

EEAA
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  • It does seem like one! followup: how can I check if me cables are Cat5e or Cat5? – Amit Jan 18 '17 at 20:45
  • @Amit - it'll often be labelled as such. If it's Cat5 it'll say so, or Cat5e. Looks like Cat5 to me. But even so, most cat5 cable and patch panels meet the cat5e standard but are just not certified as such. – hookenz Jan 18 '17 at 20:50
  • It won't bottleneck your connection to 100mbit.. that's usually a wiring issue. – hookenz Jan 18 '17 at 20:51
  • @MattH I can't find a label, unfortunately. If I get a confirmed cat5e patch panel, will it be compatible in case it is cat 5? (I can not change the wires in the walls) – Amit Jan 18 '17 at 21:00
  • Yes it's compatible. It'd be interesting to see how the other ends of the cable are wired. – hookenz Jan 18 '17 at 21:06