# Ethernet question



## Authur (Jan 20, 2010)

I'm not sure whether I should be asking this in Bits and Bytes, or in Three Frags Left, but...here goes.

My PS3 and Wii are two floors up from any sort of wireless access point in the house, meaning the router is in the office, which is in a rather nice basement. Let me repeat that: Pretty much the only way I can go online with my PS3 and download cool shit is TWO FLIGHTS OF STAIRS AWAY. This is very ungroovy and I don't like it, and neither does my PS3.

So after discovering a rather conveniently placed phone outlet in the same room as the PS3 and TV, I decided to get an ethernet cable in order to directly wire the PS3 into the internet. Here is where my newbie question comes into play:

How do you connect to the internet from a PS3 with an ethernet cable, how much do they usually cost, and are they compatible with the PS3? I already get the fact that it has 8 pins, is designed like a phone jack, and is apparently Category 5e.

Before replying, make a very important note that I have the big ol fat PS3 that stores up to 80GB, and have no idea where the ethernet port is.


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## fwLogCGI (Jan 20, 2010)

Authur said:


> I'm not sure whether I should be asking this in Bits and Bytes, or in Three Frags Left, but...here goes.
> 
> My PS3 and Wii are two floors up from any sort of wireless access point in the house, meaning the router is in the office, which is in a rather nice basement. Let me repeat that: Pretty much the only way I can go online with my PS3 and download cool shit is TWO FLIGHTS OF STAIRS AWAY. This is very ungroovy and I don't like it, and neither does my PS3.
> 
> ...









Find some at Best Buy or Walmart.


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## Carenath (Jan 20, 2010)

Okay.. the short and sweet of it first:
The phone jack provides a 4-wire RJ-11 port. Ethernet uses an 8-wire RJ-45 port.
So you won't be able to use the internal telephone wiring at that port to run an ethernet signal along.

What you'll be looking for, is a way to run an ethernet cable between where you have the PS3, and where your router is.


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## Runefox (Jan 20, 2010)

As Carenath says, you won't be able to use a phone outlet for ethernet; You'll need to run the cabling up those floors, which either means a bit of drilling, or a lot of cable.

As for the cabling, you won't need CAT6; CAT5e will work just as well for anything in your home, including gigabit ethernet (which you won't need to worry about anyway). The computer stores around here charge about $0.25/ft, though the box stores usually charge around $50 for a 50ft cable (whereas the same cable can be had at a local computer shop for about $20). Not sure what kind of distance you'd really need, but I think 50ft should be enough to run up two floors and have enough leeway to get where you need to go. I wouldn't risk having less cable than that, though ideally you should measure what you need to be sure. Running it up flights of stairs can be trickier and a lot messier, and more than likely you might need to get a cable made in excess of 100ft (the largest I've seen pre-packaged). The maximum length before the signal starts to degrade is about 328ft (100M).

The Wii won't be able to connect this way, though. While the PS3 has a rather nice gigabit ethernet port on the rear, the Wii requires a USB adapter to connect directly via ethernet, which runs about $20 or so for a third-party adapter (which unlike many third-party wireless adapters you might find, won't have any different performance or really any difference at all between them, so feel free to grab the cheapest Wii-compatible adapter you can find).


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## Piscin (Jan 20, 2010)

Another option to consider might be Ethernet Over Powerline.  There are several adapters that you can plug into a wall outlet and it makes it an ethernet connection.  This is NewEgg's page of adapters.  These can be a little pricey, but might be easier than running CAT cable through your house.


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## Runefox (Jan 20, 2010)

Power line adapters can be flaky, too, depending on what's going on in the lines and how well (or poorly) shielded they are. It's a lot easier than running straight cable, but it's slower and less reliable, and in some buildings not usable at all.

But your mileage may vary; Just make sure the store offers a return on it if it doesn't work.


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## AshleyAshes (Jan 20, 2010)

I'm suprised that a wireless router can't get through two floors of a house.  In my apartment, sure, but this place is made of concrete, houses are made of wood on the other hand.

...Have you considdered just putting the router in the MIDDLE of the house?


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## Irreverent (Jan 20, 2010)

Carenath said:


> Okay.. the short and sweet of it first:
> The phone jack provides a 4-wire RJ-11 port. Ethernet uses an 8-wire RJ-45 port.
> So you won't be able to use the internal telephone wiring at that port to run an ethernet signal along.



*shakes his cane at the young dragon* It is entirely possible to run 10BaseT over 4wire USOC cat3 cable using TIA568B-to-USOC converter cables, provided that the phone ports are home run'd and can cross-connected at the demarcation point.    If the house is loop-wired, the OP is pretty much hooped.  Very common in new construction to have cat5 or cat5e pulled back to a bix block in the basement.  OP, if you house is less than 5 years old, it may be doable.  Poke around in the basement where the phone line comes in.  If all of the wires are terminated on a 2 or 4 post lightning arrestor, move on.



AshleyAshes said:


> I'm suprised that a wireless router can't get through two floors of a house.  In my apartment, sure, but this place is made of concrete, houses are made of wood on the other hand.



A lot of new construction uses tiled floors and/or in-slab heating in the floors, which duplicates the conditions in an apartment building.



> ...Have you considdered just putting the router in the MIDDLE of the house?



Or possibly running some cat5 down a cold air return duct, to another 802.11b/g/ repeater, hub or switch?


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## AshleyAshes (Jan 20, 2010)

What I'd honestly try first is a bigger antenna for the router honestly.  Seems like the cheapest and simplest first solution.

You can buy after market antennas at most stores that carry computer stuff.


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## ToeClaws (Jan 20, 2010)

AshleyAshes said:


> What I'd honestly try first is a bigger antenna for the router honestly.



That's a very "honest" opinion. 

I would agree though with Ashley's point.  You may be able to extend the wireless enough to solve the problem without having to go into trying to string cables or work with power-receptacle type systems.  Potentially re-arranging the setup was another good idea.


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## AshleyAshes (Jan 20, 2010)

ToeClaws said:


> I would agree though with Ashley's point. You may be able to extend the wireless enough to solve the problem without having to go into trying to string cables or work with power-receptacle type systems. Potentially re-arranging the setup was another good idea.


 
In their normal position most wifi antennas focus their signals and reception from more lateral angles than vertical, don't they?


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## Irreverent (Jan 20, 2010)

AshleyAshes said:


> In their normal position most wifi antennas focus their signals and reception from more lateral angles than vertical, don't they?



Depends.  Some are omni's and more recently, internal patch-type.  A lot of the newer Linksys models don't have external antenna's to augment, and a lot of the cheaper off-name brands and *cough* junk *cough* that are shipped by the ISP's have externals that don't come off.


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## Carenath (Jan 20, 2010)

AshleyAshes said:


> In their normal position most wifi antennas focus their signals and reception from more lateral angles than vertical, don't they?


Depends on the model, but it would be to little use, if the router is unable to pick up a possibly much weaker signal transmitted back from the PS3.

@Irrev: Funny enough, I was going to suggest just that.. but I had it in my head that 10BaseT required 3 pairs (6 wires) and thus, would not be compatible with typical four-wire telephone cable.


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## Runefox (Jan 20, 2010)

The absolute best case scenario from a networking standpoint is to go with running the CAT5e, but it may not be entirely possible to drill holes/run that much cable, depending on what your accommodations are and how willing you are to put some work in. Wireless would have been the easiest way (though again CAT5e = better, always), and really, a high-gain antenna might help quite a bit. Power line adapters would be my next course of action if those are both out of the question, and then finally that business with the phone jacks (which really has too many variables to be a reliable course of action, neat though it may be).


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