Kitz ADSL Broadband Information
adsl spacer  
Support this site
Home Broadband ISPs Tech Routers Wiki Forum
 
     
   Compare ISP   Rate your ISP
   Glossary   Glossary
 
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Author Topic: Modems now wall-mounted  (Read 2824 times)

Weaver

  • Senior Kitizen
  • ******
  • Posts: 11459
  • Retd s/w dev; A&A; 4x7km ADSL2 lines; Firebrick
Modems now wall-mounted
« on: July 13, 2018, 04:49:38 AM »

I am now in the process of sticking all modems onto the wall, with very short cables to wallsockets. My wife Janet did all the work of course, so the thanks go to her. We using a certain type of velcro sticky pads, which take 12 hours to 'cure' and are not sticky initially. There is a velcro pad stuck to the wall and one stuck to each modem. One initial snag we encountered was that the feet on the modems are too deep, deeper than the thickness of a pair of the velcro pads. So as a kludge, we made a spacer out of a pair of back-to-back velcro stickies, to increase the thickness enough to clear the feet. This worked really well though. The stickies are rated at 5kg weight so miles more than enough.

Thanks to a suggestion from Burakkucat, I am using a BT ordinary telephone-only front with the one NTE5C wallsocket that I have with a specially made 0.25m BT431-to-RJ11 cable from an Ebay custom supplier. So we are now finally filterless on this wretched NTE5C that was fitted by the BT man despite my wishes - because I was in bed not overseeing matters - and the nuisance BT Mk4 SSFP that was in there just to make the connector the right fit is gone.

Despite Burakkucat warning me not to use CW1308 cable for such a link, I screwed up  :-[ and indeed somehow ordered just such an item, having got confused through all the pain drugs. So I am duly warned that the plugs might fall off the cable.

The other wallsockets are NTE5As with single RJ45 sockets provided by Andrews and Arnold shop-supplied DSL-only straight-through fronts, no SSFPs, so for these I am using RJ45-to-RJ11 cables from the same custom supplier, again a mere 0.25m. These have a nicer snap than my beloved Tandy/ADSL Nation cables because having RJ45 plugs not RJ11 at at the wallsocket end they are the correct fit.

I am putting TDK split ferrites on all the modems’ DC cables, rest assured with the required dose of skepticism. We can only try to measure and see if it improves things but such measurements will be very difficult and in any event I would imagine any effect would be ridiculously small if non-zero.

Janet had done an excellent job of routing signal and DC cables well away from all mains. Now the DSL signal cables to the modems are ridiculously short and they and the modems themselves which are plastic-cased, not metal and not conductive-coated, are even further away from mains. So every little helps, cannot say by how much. At 65dB downstream attenuation, that is not much signal voltage at all at our end, that is my thinking. I do not know by how much the tx power might be increased for us at the exchange end, if at all, to help us out with our extremely long line at 7300m, but according to my calculator that is a voltage reduction by a factor of 1778, so that each 1V becomes 0.56mV.
Logged

burakkucat

  • Respected
  • Senior Kitizen
  • *
  • Posts: 38300
  • Over the Rainbow Bridge
    • The ELRepo Project
Re: Modems now wall-mounted
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2018, 08:07:59 PM »

Despite Burakkucat warning me not to use CW1308 cable for such a link, I screwed up  :-[ and indeed somehow ordered just such an item, having got confused through all the pain drugs. So I am duly warned that the plugs might fall off the cable.

Now that it has been installed do not touch it, unless absolutely necessary. It may last for years.  :fingers:

I have a mental image of your "imminent atmospheric electrical discharge" gubbins sounding the alarm and Mrs Weaver charging in with a pair of long-handled, super-sharp bladed, lawn edge trimmers and severing all the patch leads in one rapid motion . . . thus saving the electronics as a brilliant flash lit the Skye sky.

A picture of the new set-up would be appreciated, if possible, please.
Logged
:cat:  100% Linux and, previously, Unix. Co-founder of the ELRepo Project.

Please consider making a donation to support the running of this site.

Weaver

  • Senior Kitizen
  • ******
  • Posts: 11459
  • Retd s/w dev; A&A; 4x7km ADSL2 lines; Firebrick
Re: Modems now wall-mounted
« Reply #2 on: July 13, 2018, 11:47:00 PM »

I will indeed supply a pic. Thanks again to Burakkucat for supplying the dose of common sense required and giving me the tip about going for a simple telephony-only front plate.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2018, 11:49:19 PM by Weaver »
Logged

j0hn

  • Kitizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 4093
Re: Modems now wall-mounted
« Reply #3 on: July 14, 2018, 12:23:19 AM »

I always use cw1308/solid core twisted pair for my patch cables without any problems.

My current cable has been in use for a couple years (from My Mate Vince on eBay).
Run-it-direct also make/supply such cables, along with many other companies.

As long as the crimping is done properly with a decent tool there shouldn't be any issues.
Logged
Talktalk FTTP 550/75 - Speedtest - BQM

Weaver

  • Senior Kitizen
  • ******
  • Posts: 11459
  • Retd s/w dev; A&A; 4x7km ADSL2 lines; Firebrick
Re: Modems now wall-mounted
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2018, 12:01:36 PM »

See pic, as promised.

I used ethernet cables out of my usual patch cable box that were Cat6A and very stiff, thick. I should have perhaps used some that are a bit more flexible.
« Last Edit: July 14, 2018, 12:04:32 PM by Weaver »
Logged

burakkucat

  • Respected
  • Senior Kitizen
  • *
  • Posts: 38300
  • Over the Rainbow Bridge
    • The ELRepo Project
Re: Modems now wall-mounted
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2018, 05:03:27 PM »

Thank you. That looks quite neat. :)
Logged
:cat:  100% Linux and, previously, Unix. Co-founder of the ELRepo Project.

Please consider making a donation to support the running of this site.

chenks

  • Kitizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 1106
Re: Modems now wall-mounted
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2018, 06:33:48 PM »

the trailing ethernet and power cable would trigger my OCD.
i'd have them neatly tacked to the wall or trunking installed.
Logged

sevenlayermuddle

  • Helpful
  • Addicted Kitizen
  • *
  • Posts: 5369
Re: Modems now wall-mounted
« Reply #7 on: July 14, 2018, 07:19:43 PM »

See pic, as promised.

I used ethernet cables out of my usual patch cable box that were Cat6A and very stiff, thick. I should have perhaps used some that are a bit more flexible.

Is there any advantage in Cat 6A over basic Cat 5 or, if needs be, Cat 5e?

I have never used anything other than 5 or 5e for patch cables, whichever are available as good brands at good price, and never had any problems.  Nice and flexible, in-obtrusive, and everything that’s capable of gigabit works at gigabit.  Retransmission counters invariably zero even after weeks or months, as long as connected equipment is healthy.

Of course, if the cable run is very long or if you want 10Gbps, that would be different...

Logged

Weaver

  • Senior Kitizen
  • ******
  • Posts: 11459
  • Retd s/w dev; A&A; 4x7km ADSL2 lines; Firebrick
Re: Modems now wall-mounted
« Reply #8 on: July 15, 2018, 01:51:41 AM »

Is there any advantage? No, definitely not in this case, these are just what I had in stock. These cables are very stiff and awkward to use. It is probably not even gigabit physical layer ethernet protocol in use in this particular case, could be mere 100Mb for all I know.

I always buy cat6a cables in case I need to end up lying next to any mains, but in this case there is not much chance, I don't think, as they are short and have been run carefully. I decided ages ago to only ever buy the highest spec cables I could get so that I do not end up with a stock of inferior cables that presents a nuisance if at some point I should ever finally able to get a 10G switch. That looks really unlikely now anyway, as it does not look as if I will be getting any kit with a 10G copper NIC in it. I suspect if I ever had any kit capable of high speeds it would be optical anyway. Some high end WAPs that I have seen have two 1G copper ethernet NICs in them.
Logged

banger

  • Kitizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 1186
  • TTB 80/20
Re: Modems now wall-mounted
« Reply #9 on: July 15, 2018, 03:02:56 AM »

VMG-1312-B10A LAN ports are 100m as can be seen in the Status GUI page. :)
Logged
Tim
talktalkbusiness.net & freenetname
Asus RT-AC68U and ZyXEL VMG1312-B10A Bridge on 80 Meg TTB Fibre

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/speedtest/1502566996147131655
 

anything