PhoCo Box Clean-Up

Status
Not open for further replies.
Update IV:
Here's my 50-pair 66B so far:
IMG_7360_zpsa03648bb.jpg

The CAT5 blue cable on the left represents the four incoming pairs from the demarc box. Though all won't be used, I punched them down anyway for backup and to allow for future expansion.

The right side is looped down to distribute VOICE to five outlets. This is plenty for my small one-story house. I ran another CAT5 cable to the demarc box for the DATA line. I'll terminate the end and plug it straight into the Westell 7550 modem/4-port router ATT supplied. Then I'll terminate CAT5 cables with RJ-45's and run these with the VOICE cable to each outlet.

I also have a Netgear N150 Wireless Router I'd used in conjuction with an old Motorola ADSL modem..which expired after overheating itself too many times. Would have made a nice coffee warmer...in Alaska.

I can conenct the Netgear with the Westell and have four more LAN ports if need be, either at the hub or on one of the distribution points. Haven't decided yet.

I also discovered an unused 4-outlet RatShack 110 power strip in the junk box I'll use to distribute power at the hub. I've already found a piece of ply to attach to the studs in the HVAC closet. I also have some 2" pvc conduit I can use to bring the two cables into the closet. I've decided to extend the conduit high enough in the attic as I intend to run the cables up near the roof to avoid them being stepped on down near the insulation. I have some galvanized wire hangers left over from an old job I'll use to hang the cables.

I also discovered some RG-6QS cable guides that should work well in routing the CAT5 cables without constricting them. My roof is trussed, so I'll have to run the cable down the trusses and secure it in place. No doubt it would be far easier to just lay it down on top of the insulation, but it wouldn't be protected and sooner or later it would be in the way...just like the big 12ga Romex the electrician laid this way! What a PITA that is at times.

My secret tool for snaking a pull rope is ball chain. Very inexpensive and very...slinky...plus it's magnetic. I have a wand with a magnet on the end and you can hit any part of the ball chain and it'll follow the wand. No more trying to snag some wire you can't see inside a wall with a hook bent the wrong direction!

I'll post more photos as I progress.
 
Update V:
Spent several hours on this project this evening. It's a pleasant 35°F in the attic, which is quite comfortable when wearing a bunny suit, headsock and a dust mask while moving from truss to truss.

I used a piece of 2" pvc conduit I found in my scrap bin that was just the perfect length to make a wire chase from the HVAC closet up through the attic floor. I carefully chose where to drill out the ceiling sheetrock as I didn't want to trip over any wires and I didn't want the conduit coming through the ceiling straight into an AC/heat duct.

I found a suitable location, bored the hole with a 2" hole-saw bit and slid the conduit into the closet from above. I added a piece of 5/8" wood behind it on the closet wall, secured it to the studs, then secured the conduit to the wood using two half-rings. This provides surprisingly firm support from below as I would have to add several inches of blocking above between it and truss support.

IMG_7365_zps9c86807f.jpg


I started with a common, interior wall between a bedroom and office to pull the first cables. I used a metal hacksaw blade in a very handy frame made by Lennox to cut through the nails attaching the electrical box to the stud. I needed access to the wall cavity and you don't need a box with a back for low-voltage.

I thought I might get lucky using the old POTS wire as a pull cable but no joy as it was nailed in place. I bored a new 5/8" hole in the (double) top plate while in the attic, dropped the ball-chain in, then made another trip down the ladder.

I tied a 10' piece of pull cord onto the ball chain, then tied the pull cord onto two CAT5 cables. Ball-chain really isn't strong enough to pull cable with. Attaching the cord between the two saves me a ladder round trip as I can pull up the ball-chain, grab the pull cord, then pull up the cable.

I ran a cable pair to the nearest truss chord, crossed some power cables at 90° and attached it to the chord with nylon zip ties and some RG-6QS guides designed not to pinch. Up at the top near the roof peak, I nailed in some galvanized wire rings to support the cable and keep it out of the way. Though this method takes longer, it's worth it to protect the cable, get it off the attic floor where it can interfere with adding insulation, can be stepped on, easily snagged, etc.

Once I had enough slack, I threaded it through, around and down the 2" conduit into the HVAC closet.

I'd mounted a piece of 3/4" plywood I had on hand to the wall, screwing it to the wall studs. Then I mounted the 66B, and an old Rat Shack 4-outlet power strip. Later I'll mount the Westell modem/router here.

IMG_7361_zps261be885.jpg


Now that I have all the necessary tools staged, the other drops will go much faster. Stay tuned!
 
Update VI:
The last few days have been rather warm...not to mention in the attic. Yesterday it hit 81°F! I was sweating in the attic while drilling the top plate for the kitchen wire drop. Not used to that!

I had a heck of a time finding the right wall cavity and it finally occured to me to remove the fir-down (soffit) cover I installed a few years ago to block off cold/hot air from getting inside the open space.

Lo and behold, there was another "header" down below that my drill couldn't reach. I slid in a 6' glow-rod, and once downstairs found it in the opening. Success! I tied a pull cord to it then the PC to a pair of cables, climbed back in the attic, then pulled them through.

I added a few more wire rings where necessary to support the cables and extended it over to the wiring closet.

IMG_7370_zps2d6b877f.jpg

The top white jack is for Voice and the bottom red one for 100baseT LAN.

Today I plan on staying out of the attic (and heat), terminating cable inside. It'll be nice to have this all buttoned up.

BTW, any suggested tests to run (besides speed) to compare my temp wire to the new?

Thanks for reading....
 
Depending on the modem, you may be able to get some useful statistics from it like RCO, attenuation, SNR...etc.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Depending on the modem, you may be able to get some useful statistics from it like RCO, attenuation, SNR...etc.

From your other post, I thought you might be out shooting today! I enjoy shooting as well...since I was about 5. No longer have any ranch land in the family though and I miss it.

Back to the topic at hand....just finished terminating several cables and I'm now connected via my new wiring/filter/connections, etc! All is working well. Now just need to hook up the Voice line.
 
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Depending on the modem, you may be able to get some useful statistics from it like RCO, attenuation, SNR...etc.

From your other post, I thought you might be out shooting today! I enjoy shooting as well...since I was about 5. No longer have any ranch land in the family though and I miss it.

Back to the topic at hand....just finished terminating several cables and I'm now connected via my new wiring/filter/connections, etc! All is working well. Now just need to hook up the Voice line.


Had two of the kids today (wife took the other to a party) and so we couldn't go out into the bush. Only ended up firing off the .22
frown.gif


Wanted to take the .308 out today, so I was rather disappointed that I couldn't.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Depending on the modem, you may be able to get some useful statistics from it like RCO, attenuation, SNR...etc.

From your other post, I thought you might be out shooting today! I enjoy shooting as well...since I was about 5. No longer have any ranch land in the family though and I miss it.

Back to the topic at hand....just finished terminating several cables and I'm now connected via my new wiring/filter/connections, etc! All is working well. Now just need to hook up the Voice line.


Had two of the kids today (wife took the other to a party) and so we couldn't go out into the bush. Only ended up firing off the .22
frown.gif


Wanted to take the .308 out today, so I was rather disappointed that I couldn't.


The VOICE line is now hooked up and working! I'm currently paying for 6Mb/sec down, however a recent speedtest with new wiring indicates only 5.1Mb/sec. Would be nice to have it a bit faster...closer to 6.

I can quickly go back to the 'way it was' to do comparisons, which will be interesting. For now though it's great to be able to close the office window and remove the rotted foam and celebrate checking this task off of my 'get 'round to it' list.

Yee Haw!
Cheers & Beers!
10.gif
 
Appropriate, as I just cracked a Holsten, LOL!
cheers3.gif


Do you know if your modem can give you any of the information I mentioned earlier? I think I asked you about the make/model before but I'm too lazy to go back and look
grin.gif
 
ATT issued me a Westell 7550 ADSL2+Router. Model # is B90-755025-15.

I did check the 'tech info' tab inside briefly. I'll check again when I have more time and let you know.

Thanks for the support!
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Do you know if your modem can give you any of the information I mentioned earlier?

Current ATTN DR (Rx/Tx) 7644/996
___"___SNRM _________24.2/14
___"___LATN____________20/16
___"___SATN__________20.6/16
___"___TP____________15.7/11.9

Unable to find "RCO". What is it?
 
RCO is the percentage of available line space you currently occupy. I'm at 99%, LOL
wink.gif


So for example if you are able to synch at 14Mbit but are rate limited to 7Mbit, you'd be using 50% RCO
smile.gif


SNR looks decent, I was able to drop 2dB with the install I did that was similar to yours. Any idea on what it was before the revamp?

To give you examples, here's my current sync (VDSL2):
VDSL2.JPG


Sync before I went VDSL2 (ADSL 2+):
comtrend01.jpg


I'll see if I can dig up the Cisco one, as it looks a bit different (when I was using an ADSL2+ HWIC instead of the stand-alone modem).
 
140___Current Rate: ____6016
142___DSL Max Rate: 716029

My Max allowed speed is 6016. Speedtest reveals I'm getting about 5100 so RCO would be 85%. Correct? Not sure what line 142 is. 716Mb/s?

I did check some previous stats and they were very, very close. 6/8 were the same number. Remember that I previously used a straight CAT5 cable from the modem/router, out the window to the demarc box about 6m away. It would be very hard to improve on that.

I had to completely give up on the 33yr. old POTS 2-pair wire in the house as it began to short in places as the Texas heat & ozone degraded the wiring insulation. It would just crumble in your hands. Even a wired phone sounded horrible. My ADSL just went Tango Uniform one day, thus the quick, emergency wire-out-the-window solution.

I'll pull a few more drops for both Voice and LAN, though the former might be unnecessary. Might as well while I'm in the attic and have room on the punch-block.

I'll post more 'old' info if I run across it. Thanks.
 
Would make more sense if 142 was 7,160
21.gif


You can't use the speedtest results to determine RCO. There's always some loss over sync speed vs observed speed due to the PPPoE encapsulation.

If we pretend the 7160 is your max line speed, that gives us an 84% RCO FWIW.
smile.gif
 
When connecting a Netgear N150 wireless router to the above Westell, is it as easy as connecting the yellow "modem" port on the N150 to one of the 4 ports on the Westell? What I want to do is 'chain' the two together so I'll have 4 more wired ports via the N150.

I've been looking over the N150 manual and haven't seen this discussed. Then again I'm not sure what you'd call this either.

My office has a Dell dsktp I rarely use. When I do light it though and wish to print, I have to connect it to my main dsktp where the printer is. Previously, this meant about 10' of cable as the Westell router was close to the main dsktp.

Now it's away in a closet. I've considered pulling another cable to the office and installing another jack for it. Or I could set up the N150 in the office per above if it's possible to chain these two routers together.

Please advise.
 
No, you will want to disable the DHCP server on the Netgear, assign it an IP in the same subnet as the Westell, and then plug one of its LAN ports into the Westell, not using the WAN port.
 
OK. Glad to hear this is possible. Thanks. I have one more room to pull, then I'll be done and I can cross this task off of my to-do list.
cheers3.gif


Then I can get back to more 'ceiling sealing' and laying down fiberglass in the attic. That'll really be nice to finish that one.

Received yet another cold front from your way last night...it was 28°F here this morning...after being 75°F a day or so earlier! Weather changes faster here than dogs run in West Texas...
 
You could put some in cold storage, then send it air-mail along about July! Talk about a breath of fresh (cold) air! It's always nice to have an unexpected cool front down here during the Summer!
 
Update VI:
I've now finished pulling all the wire and terminating the ends. All outlets have been tested and work.

The last task was to tap into 110VAC. Fortunately, the door bell transformer was close at hand just above the inside AC unit in the same closet I was working in. By removing the transformer and installing an outlet, I'd be all set. Don't really need the doorbell anyway in a small house.

IMG_7371_zpsee994ad4.jpg


IMG_7372_zpsec6a0323.jpg


IMG_7376_zps8db2005d.jpg

Here's my finished installation. I pulled cable to the entertainment center for future use, leaving it coiled up above. The punch block makes for a neat wiring installation and distribution of the VOICE lines. I can also easily add other drops as there's still room. I can also disconnect the house wiring from the PhoCo here to isolate any problems and during an electrical storm, simply by removing the two bridge clips at the top of the block and removing the cable to the modem/router.

For now I decided not to install the Netgear modem/router as the additional ports are not needed. There is plenty of room though 'on-the-board'.

IMG_7378_zps2ae72655.jpg

I used up quite a bit of room in the 2" conduit. You can see I left a glow rod in place to make it easier to pull any additional cable through it. For now I've stuffed a piece of foam into the end to restrict airflow from the attic. Not sure if there's a better way to seal this open end.

IMG_7379_zpsdb7fd4cb.jpg

Lastly, here's an updated photo of the DeMarc box showing the xDSL splitter installed. Pink is DATA and blue is VOICE. Very glad to have this project behind me, be able to fully close my office window and have new, updated info-wiring installed!
 
Wow. Really nice work.

I've been trying to get ATT to repair my NID so that I can sign up for basic DSL.

I have tried and tried and tried, and even though this home is in the ATT ordering system and is in a residential development with lots of other homes wired for ATT service I CANNOT get them to repair the NID. I'v tried to get service twice over the past several years 2011, and currently.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top