cable_modems_routers.htm

Columbia ISA

Audio – Video

Cable Modems, Routers and DSL

Home Networking

Hookup to High-Speed Internet at Home

Wiring your home network

Home : Diagrams : Wiring : Cable Modems : Routers : DSL

Internet access from home used to be one computer using a built-in modem and a dial-up telephone line connecting to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and then out to the world wide web. Today the picture has become more complicated. Video games and other gear can now connect to the internet. The home scene has changed such that you need faster access and multiple connections for all your gear. Routers can provide a shared home network and cable TV providers can hookup your coaxial cable for not only TV but internet as well. Not to be outdone, the telephone company now offers DSL for faster access than dial-up.

Basic Concepts:

Cable Connections and Wiring

RJ-11

Everyone is familiar with the standard telephone cord. It has 2 or 4 small copper wires, with color coded insulation. The colors are red, green, yellow and black. The plug and the jack it connects to are standardized and called RJ-11.

RJ-11 Connector

The local telephone company has used the RJ-11 standard for decades in homes and businesses for voice communication and also for dial-up internet access.

The RJ-11 plug and jack

If you use a dial-up internet service provider for your computer, you are using the telephone company's network to gain access to the internet. Your transmission speed is limited due to many factors, one of which is the capacity of the wires you are using to send and receive data over the internet.

RJ-45

Another cable you may or may not have seen is the RJ-45 standard. The RJ-45 has 8 wires and is bigger than the RJ-11. The plug is longer and wider and the cable is bigger because it has double the number of wires.

RJ-45 Connector

The RJ-45 has been used for years to connect computers together so information can be transferred between them. When devices are inter-connected with the RJ-45 jacks and plugs on the 8 wire cables, the network created is called Ethernet and the jacks on the back of computers are often labeled just Ethernet. Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks (LANs). The name comes from the physical concept of the ether. It defines a number of wiring and signaling standards, and a common addressing format. Ethernet is standardized as IEEE 802.3. The combination of the twisted pair versions of Ethernet for connecting end systems to the network, along with the fiber optic versions for site backbones, is the most widespread wired LAN technology. It has been in use from the 1990s to the present. In recent years, Wi-Fi, the wireless LAN standardized by IEEE 802.11, is prevalent in home and small office networks.