You can always find professional help regarding network setup, but why spend extra money on the setup process when you can easily do it yourself at home. It is quite simple, and with some guidelines, you can do it yourself.
Some things to take care of
Before starting, you should decide which type of cable wire you use. There are various types of network cables, most commonly used cables are unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cables.
These UTP cables to have varied according to the usage, different types of UTP cables are
- CAT5: – nowadays these are replaced by a new upgrade with name CAT5e, these are high-performance cables providing speed up to 1 Gbps, these are the most common variety of network cable used for home networking.
- CAT6: – These cable wires are an upgrade for CAT5e cable, these provide better speed and performance than CAT5e with a rate of 1 Gbps for 100-meter range and ten Gbps for 55-meter range. These are commonly used in organizations with the need for high-speed connections.
- CAT7: – They were launched recently, providing a lightning speed of 10 Gbps for the range of 100 meters; they are not in everyday use yet.
After choosing a cable wire, you need to collect specific tools for the installation of network cables. Necessary tools required are
- Crimping tool
- UTP patch cable
- Cable tester
- Modular connector (8P8C plug)
This Modular connector (8P8C) has eight pins, marked 1-8, starting from left to right. The cable has four pairs of twisted wires which have to be untwisted and connected to modular connector’s (8P8C) pins. The key to perfect connection is inserting the correct wire in the right pin. There are two most common connection schemes used, T568A and T568B.
With this, we are ready to carry forward our network setup procedure.
Step 1
Without giving too much stress on your cable, remove it from the spool, spread it down, and remove the protective covering of the wire for about 1.5 inches from the starting.
Step 2
After stripping the protective covering, you will see four pairs of twisted wire. You have to untwist the braided wire and carefully separate each of the cables without damaging it.
Step 3
After untwisting, group the wire in any one of the connection scheme orientations and place every wire to its correct place according to the pins in the modular connector (8P8C). Refer to the tables provided above to avoid mistakes.
Step 4
Carefully cut the tip of the grouped wires to align them at the same level.
Step 5
Check the grouping of wire one final time and insert them altogether through the modular connector in such a way that each wire passes through its designated pin. Make sure you don’t damage any wiring in the process; any broken cord can cause connectivity issues.
Step 6
After successful insertion of wires inside the modular connector, carefully put the connector in the crimping tools and press it with appropriate force. Make sure it’s tightly fitted, but don’t apply too much power, or it will break.
Step 7
Now repeat the same steps for the wires at the other end.
Step 8
To make sure both ends are aligned correctly, use a cable tester on it. If everything goes smoothly, you are ready to go.
Make sure you perform every step carefully if you have to make crossover-type connections simply align one side of the cable in T568A configuration and another in T568B configuration. If, by any chance, you have any broken cord then fix it by following simple steps. Make sure the connections are tight enough, and there are no kinks or bends in the cable as these can alter the conductive and electric properties of the wire, which can result in reduced efficiency of your network and data transfer rate.