Mystery of an ethernet cable

My sister just moved into her house so im currently the 'tech' guy sorting everything out. Near where the previous owners had their router there are 2 ethernet cable that comes out from the wall. One has a blue casing tge other grey. I assumed they had this installed so they can have a wired connection to a TV/PC/console in an another room

Ive found where one of the ethernet cables comes out (main bedroom), but ive been around the whole house and no where does the blue ethernet cable come out of the wall. It must lead somewhere but cannot find the other end

Edited by bobble_bob (Sun 31-Jan-16 13:55:33)

Tried using a cable finder to see where it is heading off too.

No not yet. Previous owners seemed to have most of the house wired up with phone cables and tv aerials going into most rooms. Just cant find this one

I thought cable finders were just for power cables?

Various modes usually, i.e. can set to detect live cables or metal usually.

Have you tried the Loft/Attic, Garage, Cupboards, Basement etc.

Regarding the Cable Finder, keep in mind that most are mini metal detectors, helping to find nails, metal water pipes etc.

Where is the master socket and what's on the back of the faceplate?

How do you know this location is where the router was? Is it possible it really was a router, not a modem/router, and a modem was near the master? Particularly if it was FTTC.

Another possibility is it leads/led to a WAP in the loft.

Not checked the loft yet, other places i have

The previous occupants kindly left a a few notes saying they originally had 2 phone lines, but then went back to 1 line and had FTTC installed with one of them filtered faceplates, and this is where the enternet cable is

There is a master socket near the main door of the house, this then had a cable coming from within the box to another socket in the living room which is the filtered Openreach faceplace

Edited by bobble_bob (Sun 31-Jan-16 14:44:05)

If the cables have been routed so that they are hidden (under floorboards etc), one possibility is that a second spare cable has been run as a backup in case the first has a problem and the end is still under the floorboards at the termination point. Another possibility is that the cable has been run somewhere for future use and to save pulling up floorboards etc at the time, has been left ready to be pulled through when required. I've done this myself when needing to lift/replace carpets and left the cable pushed under the floor of the next room. Normally I mark all network, telephone and power cable routes on the floorboards with marker pen, together with a note what they are for.

Edited by deleted (Sun 31-Jan-16 14:51:18)

The blue is probably the feed from the modem to the router then. It won't be wired to the A/B unfiltered terminals on the interstitial, as that would present a phone socket or plug at the blue end, rather than an Ethernet connector.

Having said that, what is on the ends at all locations? Ethernet plugs, or non-mounted sockets?

The other cable that runs to the main bedroom is terminated with ethernet

My sister will be getting Sky to do a change of address on Tues. She has a built in modem/router from Sky. Is it best to plug it into tge master socket or will the filtered faceplate in the living room be ok?

In reply to a post by eckiedoo:

Regarding the Cable Finder, keep in mind that most are mini metal detectors, helping to find nails, metal water pipes etc.

Many years ago I had a socket in the living room and wanted to find out where the connection led to. I had a signal generator tuned to just below the LW band, and a homebrew signal strength meter. Was relatively easy to trace it up into the loft where once it must have connected to an aerial.

Impossible to advise. You started with Ethernet cables coming out of walls, which may have Ethernet plugs or loose Ethernet sockets (normally for extending Ethernet cable runs) on the end, but now you talk about filtered faceplates that may or may not be on master sockets and "terminating with Ethernet. In a house that has had FTTC.

I have no idea what your wiring layout is from your descriptions sorry.

These Ethernet cables that come out of the wall - have they had wall-mounted sockets on them that have been removed by the previous owners - taking them with them?

Sorry not great at explaining stuff. Dont know for certain but no i dont think they had wall mounted sockets on them.

Will try again with abit more detail - as you enter the house through the main door on the floor there is a master socket. Turn right and enter the living room there is another master socket (possibly for when they had 2 phone lines). Then on the other side of the living room there is another socket with a filtered faceplace. The note the previous owners left said they plugged their fibre into this socket (not sure if it was modem/router combined tho).

About 30cm from this filtered faceplace there are 2 ethernet cables coming out from the wall - one grey and one blue. The grey one goes upstairs and is plugged into a Sky Box that the previous owners left. The blue one i dont know where it ends up

When you say "comes out of the wall", what do you mean? Just hangs there with bare wires showing? It's very unusual having wires out through the plaster.

How long are they?

Theory begins to look like modem + router or a combo modem/router on a table where those wires are, both cables plugged into the router LAN sockets. Blue one as a couple of us have suggested perhaps to a WAP (Wireless Access Point) in the loft.

One of the master sockets presumably has the Openreach FTTC filter plate? I expect that feeds the extension socket they used from the A/B terminals on the front of it - you would be able to see this if you gently remove the ordinary faceplate of that master.

Edited by RobertoS (Sun 31-Jan-16 17:53:22)

When you say "comes out of the wall", what do you mean? Just hangs there with bare wires showing? It's very unusual having wires out through the plaster.

Yeah. Im not there now to take a picture but its quite crudely done (suspect they had a table or something in the corner so couldnt see the hole in the wall). Both cables have the ethernet ends so can connect into a router, but they're about 15-20cm long out from the wall.

There are 3 wall sockets in total. The 1 near the floor next to the front door and the one just as you enter the living room look like this. The one at the other end of the living room is the one that has the Openreach FTTC filter plate and looks like this

Not sure why 1 of the other 2 didnt just have the filtered faceplate fitted rather than having a 3rd socket on the wall

Edited by bobble_bob (Sun 31-Jan-16 18:04:14)

In reply to a post by bobble_bob:

Not sure why 1 of the other 2 didnt just have the filtered faceplate fitted rather than having a 3rd socket on the wall

Because of where they wanted the modem & router to connect those other cables . It might have been an ordinary extension previously with ADSLx running happily there.

I would be looking inside the other two masters, (or just the one that still has a phone connection if either does), to make sure you haven't got two active masters. The one they used and the one it is connected to.

Has your sister got the phone connected and working? If so, does it work in the third one?

She isnt having a landline phone in the house so unless i go over tomorrow with a phone no way to test yet, and fibre doesnt get activated at her address until Sky come out to the cabinet on Tues to switch it over. Although she is having calls with Sky too so suspect they may activate them both together?

If she isnt having a landline would it be best to plug the model/router into the master socket near the main door of the house, or the filtered faceplate in the living room?

Edited by bobble_bob (Sun 31-Jan-16 18:41:32)

If there have been two lines before, the problem is which physical one will be used.

One will be connected through one of the two original masters to the third one the previous people used. The other will go to the other master. Unless someone has done some really esoteric wiring.

How is she going to have Sky calls if she isn't having a Sky landline? Are they letting her have the line rental with someone else for some reason?

Or do you just mean she isn't having a physical landline phone to plug in anywhere? If so, it is a very good idea to get a cheap corded one from Argos, Maplin, B & Q or wherever - typically under £7, and stick it in a cupboard out of the way. For diagnostics now or in the future if there is ever a problem.

Re which to use, back to my earlier post as well as this one. We don't know what socket(s) will be live. So nobody can advise.

Cheers. Yea she got a broadband/calls/TV package but wasnt intending to have a phone connected up.

So when the service goes live on Tues, its going to be a case of plugging the router into all the sockets and see which one works?

With luck it will be the one the previous people used. Or is that inconvenient for her and one of the others is preferred?

The problem is that it won't require an engineer visit I don't expect, otherwise it could be connected as desired at the entry point to the house.

Is she going to want TV in her bedroom?

The one the previous people used is ideal as its in the corner of the room and near a table so out of the way

She has a TV in the bedroom but it isnt a smart tv or anything. The main one downstairs is a smart tv so can connect through wifi