What sort of cable from router to wall socket ?

Hi all
This might be a bit of a dim question, but it's something I haven't realised before, so grateful for guidance please. I have to replace the cable connecting my router (Netgear DGN2200) to the BT wall socket. Now:
1. At the router end, the connection has a small plug - Netgear tell me this is an RJ11 and that this is the industry standard. The existing cable has an RJ11 on both ends.
2. At the wall socket, I have a BT faceplate incorporating all the filtering stuff (I think it's called an NTE5 faceplate ?). This has what looks like an RJ45 socket, so apparently I seem to have been happily running my broadband for many years with an RJ11 stuffed into an RJ45 socket.
Questions:
1. Does this matter ? Should I really be looking for a cable with an RJ11 on one end and an RJ45 on the other (haven't found any so far !) ?
2. If the faceplate socket is designed to accept both RJ11 & RJ45, is this specific to this socket design or can I expect any RJ45 socket to accept an RJ45 plug without problem ?

Does the faceplate only have one socket? If so it has no filtering. That doesn't necessarily matter, though it does in many cases.

Have you a landline phone or Sky box connected to any socket? If yes, does that have its own filter?

Even if you have no phones connected, are there any extension sockets anywhere - used or unused?

The faceplate has two sockets, one for the phone, the other for the ADSL. All the filtering is done within the faceplate, I have no filters anywhere else in the house. There are landline phones connected to other sockets elsewhere.

Not sure I understand the relevance of the questions here ? I was asking about the compatibility of RJ11 plugs in RJ45 sockets ?

A standard lead is RJ11 to RJ11. Broadband only uses the middle two contacts so it still works when you put an RJ11 plug into a RJ45 socket.
I think the sockets were deliberately intended to accept RJ45 plugs for when a more robust cable was required as I've seen a broadband extension kit and that did use a RJ45 plug..

Hi obroad

Many thanks, that's helpful. Looks like I was worrying about nothing, but it's nice to have that confirmed.

An RJ11 to RJ11 lead is what you want.

The rj45 socket is compatible with RJ11 plugs because the connectors are part of the same family.

One other question.

How long is the cable? If it is just 0.5m to 1m then almost any will do. If it starts to get longer than that and you could have 5 to 10m then it might be best to find one that uses twisted pairs rather than flat untwisted as it will offer improved noise rejection especially if it runs near other electrical equipment.

Even a twisted pair one will be quite cheap, just don't fall into the HiSpeed/HiSpec/GoldPlate hype and claims on some cables which come with ridiculous price tags.

In reply to a post by ColBla:

2. At the wall socket, I have a BT faceplate incorporating all the filtering stuff (I think it's called an NTE5 faceplate ?). This has what looks like an RJ45 socket, so apparently I seem to have been happily running my broadband for many years with an RJ11 stuffed into an RJ45 socket.

Something odd here; the RJ45 socket on the faceplate is for the phone and it is normally wired so broadband is filtered out on it, you use the RJ11 for the modem, so your setup shouldn't work ?! However there is an alternative setup for the faceplate with no filtering, which would work but really needs an external filter.
It could be I'm misunderstanding you, but you might be loosing performance ! Try RJ11 to RJ11.

In reply to a post by JGO:

Something odd here; the RJ45 socket on the faceplate is for the phone

RUBBISH - it would be helpful if you made accurate and not incorrect statements.

NO

The RJ45 socket is the one on the left for both the models shown at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/images/iplate/bt-adsl-...

The phone socket takes a 431a connector

All

Thanks for your help, I've now done what I need to and replaced the cable with an RJ11-to -RJ11, plugged into the RJ45 socket as before. Definitely NOT plugged into the phone socket. FWIW, my faceplate looks like the right-hand image of the two posted by MrSaffron, and the RJ45 is definitely the socket on the left.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

NO

The RJ45 socket is the one on the left for both the models shown at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/images/iplate/bt-adsl-...

The ADSL socket looks like it is an RJ11 socket as it is narrower than the BT phone socket. If it was an RJ45 socket it would be almost the same width as the BT phone socket.

All the routers that I own have both RJ11 and RJ45 sockets. The RJ11 socket is for ADSL. The RJ45 sockets are for 10/100/1000-Base-T Ethernet

The ADSL v1.0 faceplates had an RJ45 socket for the ADSL/broadband, I know as we had this discussion years ago and actually have plugged in an RJ45 lead to prove it.

In reply to a post by Michael_Chare:

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

NO

The RJ45 socket is the one on the left for both the models shown at http://www.thinkbroadband.com/images/iplate/bt-adsl-...

The ADSL socket looks like it is an RJ11 socket as it is narrower than the BT phone socket. If it was an RJ45 socket it would be almost the same width as the BT phone socket.

All the routers that I own have both RJ11 and RJ45 sockets. The RJ11 socket is for ADSL. The RJ45 sockets are for 10/100/1000-Base-T Ethernet

Appearance's can be deceptive. As I sit here I am looking at a filter faceplate with a RJ45 plug in the modem socket.

Filter faceplates all accept RJ11/45 plugs. The reason is so that a network patch lead could be use to add the signal on to an already existing network, in much the same way that on some networks a telephone fitted with an RJ11 plug can pick up a phone line from a RJ45 socket.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

The ADSL v1.0 faceplates had an RJ45 socket for the ADSL/broadband, I know as we had this discussion years ago and actually have plugged in an RJ45 lead to prove it.

I should have done that as well before I wrote the post!