We have used FIOS wireless for several years and now have the desire to plug directly into the the cat5 jacks in a few rooms (Seems more cost effective then purchasing wireless dongle for new TV which only has wired option and older xbox 360 which only has wired option). We have tried plugging an ethernet cable from the back of the Actiontec modem/router into the ONQ WAN IN port. This leaves our phones telling us "Check tel line" and cat5 connection is not active in bedrooms.
Any help would greatly be appreciated!
-Gayle
Plugging the ActionTec into the ONT is not going to enable cat5 ethernet jacks in your bedrooms.
Somewhere in your house, all these jacks must come together. That's the location you need to find. At that location you need to connect the individual cat5 connections to the ActionTec router's LAN ports (if the router and where the Cat5 cables terminate is not the same location, can you get the router to that location or do you have a spare cat5 connection running from near the router to that location?).
If you can provide an overview of where the cables run and where things are located, we can likely help you figure out a solution.
What is the ONQ ( Is that the phone ) ?
If the ONQ is the phone, what is the full brand and model of it?
Oh wait ... I see you said ON-Q and not ONT now. ON-Q is a home audio/video distribution system that happens to use Cat5 cable but is NOT ethernet although I'm not familiar with their newer offerings so maybe that have something now that can support that as well. Can you specify the make and model of exactly what you're plugging the LAN cable from the router into? Might be time to pull and read a few specs to see what you're dealing with.
The On-Q panel (which is where all the cables come together in my house) looks like this: http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r23454500-Help-With-Ethernet-Wired-Home-Network (although this is not mine)
So, that particular panel is nothing more than a telecomm distribution panel meant for telephone -- not data. Essentially it connects all "pin 1" to all other "pin 1", etc.
Assuming at each location where you an available cat5 connection that the jack is not split and using telephone off the same jack (take the wall jack off the wall and see if it's a single cable which home runs back to the wiring panel -- which should be the way is was done), the easiest thing to do would likely be to disconnect the cable from the wiring center punch downs and terminate it with a standard ethernet connector (the order of the pins is important -- so you may need to look at how they were connected at the other end and make sure you match that - it'll be one of two wiring standards EIA568A or EIA568B -- most likely "B"). You can get a crimp tool and connectors at the local home store for about $30.
For each run you then reterminate, connect it to a small switch (not router) or directly to the Verizon router's LAN ports if it's nearby. Once you connect each cable to the switch, connect one more cable (either a dedicated run from the wiring center to the Verizon router or a reterminated connection which runs to an outlet near your router) from the switch to an open LAN port on the Verizon router.
The reason the phone goes down is because the ethernet pairs being used are essentially shorted onto the same wires as the phone is using at other locations in the house by the wiring center).
The changes necessary are a bit complicated, so if you're not really comfortable with the changes necessary, this may be beyond a typical homeowner wiring job and you may want to hire a professional to do it for you. This is not your typical cable, telephone, electrician type of wiring requirement and I'm comfortable doing these kinds of things myself, so I'm sure what type of contractor to tell you to look into hiring.
@GBorgen wrote:We have used FIOS wireless for several years and now have the desire to plug directly into the the cat5 jacks in a few rooms (Seems more cost effective then purchasing wireless dongle for new TV which only has wired option and older xbox 360 which only has wired option). We have tried plugging an ethernet cable from the back of the Actiontec modem/router into the ONQ WAN IN port. This leaves our phones telling us "Check tel line" and cat5 connection is not active in bedrooms.
Any help would greatly be appreciated!
-Gayle
Just an additional thought....
If it turns out that the house is really wired for Cat 3 (telelphone) service rather than Cat 5/6 Ethernet, another solution might be an ECB2200.
The ECB2200 is a MoCA adapter. It's fed by the coax going to your TV. It's plug-n-play...no setup necessary. You'd put a splitter in line with the coax feeding your TV's set top box. The other output from the splitter goes to the ECB2200. The ECB2200 output is an RJ-45 Ethernet connector. You can feed one device directly from that connetor, or you can use a simple switch to give you as many Ethernet ports as you need....4,8.16, etc.
I'm using an ECB2200 in our TV room/den. I feed a Wii, a Roku box, an at&t Microcell, and a 802.11n WAP. They all work great and I still have a couple of unused ports for any future devices that come along.
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