Networking Help

[The Monkey]

Ok, so my apartment is theoretically wired with Cat 5e throughout. There is a Leviton enclosure in one of my closets. I currently use Verizon FIOS for my internet, phone, and TV.

The Actiontec router that Verizon gave us sits outside the closet and is connected to one of the jacks in the apartment via coax. My mac is hardwired to one of the Actiontec's ethernet ports; the rest of the 'puters connect wirelessly.

I want to light up some--if not all--of the ethernet ports throughout the house in case the wireless goes down. The problem is that none of the RJ45 jacks in the apartment are connected to the Actiontec router. I suspect that I need a switch (and a small one at that due to space constraints) to mount in the Leviton box. The HP switch is too big. But before I go off and get another switch I wanted to run my strategy by the gurus here.

Here are some pics that hopefully explain this shit better. Basically, I want to understand better what's going on.

Leviton Enclosure:

Panels:

Left Panel Closeup

Patch Panel (Right) Closeup:

FIOS crap:

Jack Example:

The jack nearest the TV is using the top coax to go to the Set Top Box. The phone is on the top ethernet jack, but I'm not sure if it is live throughout. The bottom ethernet jack I think carries the in-house intercom, but again I do not know if it is throughout.

[grawk]

How many jacks on the actiontec?

[The Monkey]

4 + 1 WAN

[grawk]

do you need more than 3 of the ports live in the apartment? Seems like jumpering from the leviton panel to the router might be the best solution. You'd just run a standard ethernet cable from the leviton jacks straight to the router.

[The Monkey]

do you need more than 3 of the ports live in the apartment? Seems like jumpering from the leviton panel to the router might be the best solution. You'd just run a standard ethernet cable from the leviton jacks straight to the router.

That would mean putting the actiontec in the Leviton enclosure, though, right?

[grawk]

Or wherever you can conveniently run the wires to.

[The Monkey]

Or wherever you can conveniently run the wires to.

And I think that's the problem. Ideally the actiontec would be in the Leviton box in the closet. But the actiontec is big, and won't fit in the enclosure, so it lives off one of the jacks in the living room. Also the wireless won't work as well if the Actiontec is in the closet. That's why I was thinking the switch idea would possibly work. Do you think it would?

[grawk]

Yah it would. Just there aren't that many small stand alone switches. But try the actiontec in the cabinet, it might still work for your apartment.

[The Monkey]

Ok, thanks Dan. I'll see if I can jam that fucker in there. Otherwise, those netgear switches are pretty small. Poor reviews, but small.