Computers & Electronics

Ethernet Wiring Services in Vancouver? Just need to repair or find out what's wrong.

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  • Aug 7th, 2021 3:34 am
Deal Addict
Oct 12, 2007
1806 posts
1042 upvotes
Vancouver

Ethernet Wiring Services in Vancouver? Just need to repair or find out what's wrong.

My goto for these home repair stuff is to look at Homestars, but they don't really categorize this service under anything, or at least they don't tag service professionals or electricians as being able to do ethernet wiring.

So my first question is if anyone has recommendations for ethernet wiring repair in Vancouver (specifically Burnaby) that could see what is wrong with the Cat5 network in my house.

Now, you guys might say "do it yourself", but for very, very complicated reasons, I may just need to hire someone to give me the consent to fix this problem, however, I am very open to any advice and resources on how to fix this problem myself. Essentially, I am told that the drops are dead in almost all ports in the house, but I have not seen the ethernet panel (again, complicated reasons).

I suppose without access to the panel, I can't really figure out anything, right? What could be the problem if the panel is not the issue and connected, but the drop is still dead?
31 replies
Member
Feb 9, 2008
409 posts
332 upvotes
Vancouver, BC
From my findings, the professionals are electricians who do "low voltage" work.
Usually, a large electrician company would have a separate division for that type of work.
E.g. https://powermaxelectric.ca/residential-services/low-voltage-tv-tel-data/
https://www.spotlightelectrical.ca/low-voltage
(These 2 just popped up first on Google and I do not know or endorse them)

You will need to see the panel and the equipment attached to it, to figure out what's wrong.
Could be a switch failure or a rat ate through most of the wires, who knows.
Deal Addict
Oct 13, 2014
2896 posts
2234 upvotes
Just Moved To Somewh…
@Whoaness Should you want to attempt to identify the problem here is one tool that can help you with two different functions and that costs less than having someone come in and trouble shoot:

NOTE - I cannot attest to the quality of this tester I am only showing what you can look for in a tester.

https://www.amazon.ca/Meterk-Multifunct ... s9dHJ1ZQ==

This particular tester can also be used as a non-contact voltage tester to ascertain if an A/C circuit has power.

1 - Find the end panel, modem router or the ends of the various Ethernet cables. The first function you want to do is to identify each access point with the wire that terminates at the modem, panel, etc. Label that particular wire if is has not been done.
2 - Once all or an access point has been labelled at the panel you can now test if the terminations have been properly done.

If all is well then look at replacing the panel, modem, router, etc.
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Deal Addict
Oct 20, 2005
1222 posts
420 upvotes
I would look at the patch panel in the house and usually there is a label each ethernet port which you can map it back at the patch (hopefully).

- May it is not patched into the switch or the switch died?
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Deal Fanatic
Feb 16, 2006
5264 posts
2270 upvotes
Vancouver
OP - Why don't you take some close up photos of the following and post them here but otherwise I would go with the tool that rcmpvet linked to. Make sure the images are bright and close and in focus because we need to see the colours on any labels and how they match to the colours on the conductors.

1. Wallplates - remove from wall and take a pic of the jack from various angles so we can see the label on the jack and the colour of the insulation on the conductors.

2. Patch Panel - if there is one - as above, get a pic of the labels and the conductor insulation.

3. if there is no central patch panel, but the cable runs at the far end are terminated into jacks or modular plugs, get pics showing as per #1 or the colour of the conductors inside the clear plastic on the cable end of the mod plug.

Confirm you are using standard 8 conductor Cat5/6 patch cables to connect from the wall to your device? i.e. not a 6 conductor phone cord


FYI... what we will be trying to confirm

Image


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Member
Feb 9, 2008
409 posts
332 upvotes
Vancouver, BC
I guess we should know if the jacks were working before and suddenly died, or is this a newly bought house with non-working jacks?
Or are you a tenant with no access to the panel?
Deal Addict
Oct 12, 2007
1806 posts
1042 upvotes
Vancouver
Thanks everyone. I'll see what I can do.
zerod wrote: I guess we should know if the jacks were working before and suddenly died, or is this a newly bought house with non-working jacks?
Or are you a tenant with no access to the panel?
It's more like a complicated family situation where invasion of privacy is a thing. I honestly would just rip down doors, but trying to handle it in other ways.
Deal Addict
Oct 12, 2007
1806 posts
1042 upvotes
Vancouver
Okay, so I have some pictures, but not a good picture of the cat5 panel because the wiring is behind more stuff, but this is a start.

The outlet
IMG20210628161619.jpg
IMG20210628161613.jpg
IMG20210628161503.jpg

And this is the cat5 panel (which was taken for me)
cat5panel.jpeg
cat5panel2.jpeg

Again, no pictures of the wires behind the panel port. Working on it. As you can see, two of them work, so I would assume they all should work. Those yellow cables are coming from a wireless router (another factor of making this work).
Deal Fanatic
Feb 16, 2006
5264 posts
2270 upvotes
Vancouver
The two port wallplates are wired 568A which is the norm in Canada but the work I see there is substandard. I would not be happy with the work I see there - they cut back the cable jacket too far to expose the twisted pairs and they have let the twists unravel.

It would have helped to see the back of the jacks in the six port wallplates in the wiring closet.

.
Member
Feb 9, 2008
409 posts
332 upvotes
Vancouver, BC
So those 2 yellow + yellow/gray wires in the last photo all go into the wireless router?
If you figure out the labels above them, they should match with the jacks that are working.
Can't see the text on the top one, but LL and Den?

If 3 jacks in the house work, you can probably figure out that those are the ones with wire connecting to the router.

What you likely need is a switch. 24 port, if you want all of them to work.
Something like this or this.
You will need to mount or put it somewhere. Maybe under your router or a shelf.

Then, buy some short network cables. One end goes into the jacks in your last photo (removing the existing cables), other end into the switch.
Lastly, plug one cable from a free port on the switch (i.e. port 24, so it doesn't get confused with the other cables) to your wireless router.
Now all of them should have internet, unless there's something wrong with the physical cable or jack.
Deal Fanatic
Feb 16, 2006
5264 posts
2270 upvotes
Vancouver
zerod wrote:
What you likely need is a switch. 24 port, if you want all of them to work.
Something like this or this.
You will need to mount or put it somewhere. Maybe under your router or a shelf.

Then, buy some short network cables. One end goes into the jacks in your last photo (removing the existing cables), other end into the switch.
Lastly, plug one cable from a free port on the switch (i.e. port 24, so it doesn't get confused with the other cables) to your wireless router.
Now all of them should have internet, unless there's something wrong with the physical cable or jack.
Good eye on lack of a switch.

.
Deal Addict
Oct 12, 2007
1806 posts
1042 upvotes
Vancouver
Alright, so I got some more pictures, however, I think they aren't going to help...

IMG20210707135011.jpg
IMG20210707135357.jpg

Not sure if you guys can get any hints from it, but it is going to a wireless router. I also took a picture of what's behind the patch panel. Hope that helps.

I know for sure that two of the ports are working, so I literally took a cable that is going from the router to a working port, tried it in every other port to see if they worked. I brought my laptop to my desired port location and plugged it in, but all the other ports did not seem to give my laptop internet connection.

I really think I'm going to need a professional to figure this out. I'm sure I've done everything I can other than figuring out how to finish the cables on the port, which I prefer to just hire someone to do.

Any suggestions?
Member
Feb 9, 2008
409 posts
332 upvotes
Vancouver, BC
As I said in my previous post, your non-working ports are not connected to anything in the closet.
You need to buy a switch and connect the empty jacks inside the closet to the switch, then connect the switch to your wireless router.
Those jacks will only get internet if you connect them to your router.

That said, whoever wired the wall jacks did a pretty bad job.
It's supposed to look something like this:
Home-Network-Cable-Wiring-18.jpg


Exposed wires like that introduce cross-talk between different jacks and could cause issues like slow network or corrupted data.

If you want to hire someone to fix everything in one go, you will need to find a computer tech who can also handle network wiring/termination.

To fix just the wiring, a low voltage electrician can do it. I haven't used any contractors personally, so I can't recommend anyone, but you can start with the two I linked in my first post.

As for selling you a switch and plugging in cables, any computer tech should be able to do it.
Deal Addict
Oct 12, 2007
1806 posts
1042 upvotes
Vancouver
zerod wrote: As I said in my previous post, your non-working ports are not connected to anything in the closet.
You need to buy a switch and connect the empty jacks inside the closet to the switch, then connect the switch to your wireless router.
Those jacks will only get internet if you connect them to your router.

That said, whoever wired the wall jacks did a pretty bad job.
It's supposed to look something like this:

Home-Network-Cable-Wiring-18.jpg

Exposed wires like that introduce cross-talk between different jacks and could cause issues like slow network or corrupted data.

If you want to hire someone to fix everything in one go, you will need to find a computer tech who can also handle network wiring/termination.

To fix just the wiring, a low voltage electrician can do it. I haven't used any contractors personally, so I can't recommend anyone, but you can start with the two I linked in my first post.

As for selling you a switch and plugging in cables, any computer tech should be able to do it.
Ah thanks for the info man. Yeah, I'm already trying one of them (Electrical Inc Spotlight) since they are on Homestars with good reviews.

Yeah, I guess maybe it's because they didn't do a good job. The house was built in 2007, so maybe they didn't build it so professionally as they do now.

I'll use your info to help talk to whoever I'll try to hire.
Deal Addict
Oct 12, 2007
1806 posts
1042 upvotes
Vancouver
Both companies rejected my service request... anyone familiar with any low voltage or computer network companies?

Seems hard to google for this specific kind of work.
Deal Addict
Dec 22, 2007
1657 posts
1316 upvotes
Mississauga
contact linus tech tips let them make a video out of it
Deal Addict
Oct 12, 2007
1806 posts
1042 upvotes
Vancouver
zerod wrote: What reason did they give?
I guess the job was too small for them?

While I don't really want to suggest craigslist, sometimes those guys are the only ones willing to take a small job:
https://vancouver.craigslist.org/bnc/cps/d/new-westminster-network-wiring-cabling/7348068468.html

Show their quote/estimate here for opinions.
They just said they cannot accept any new jobs. Maybe they are busy? Not really a real reason since they can schedule down the road.
I'll try your suggestion and maybe try to google a bit more, ask some techie friends.
Member
Feb 9, 2008
409 posts
332 upvotes
Vancouver, BC
Maybe they're busy with all the condo buildings going up and burning down.

Anyways, you should buy a switch and start plugging in cables, which should solve your original problem.
If some ports still don't work, then it is likely a wiring problem.
Since you say at least 2 work, they can't be all bad.

The cheapest switch from a local store:
https://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX00116236

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