How do I easily wire my office for internet?
February 21, 2019 12:44 PM Subscribe
I'm moving into a new office and for various reasons the landlord is unable to hard-wire internet into my space. The office previously was wired, but then the neighboring office in the suite pulled the wiring into his office. In short, I have the plug but no connection. Is there a simple way to split the wiring so that we can both have wired Internet? The vendor told the landlord to consider a "quick switch" but I can't find any good resources on that option. The landlord is fine with anything I want to do so long as it's disruptive or cause a lot of damage.
There's not really enough detail to go on to answer your question, but here's a shot at it.
Do you have an ISP that is able to get you connected to the internet at least somewhere in that office? Or are you without internet entirely? This is the first step to any answer, and unless you work out something with your neighboring office to share their connection (incredibly unlikely and probably against their ISPs TOS if not outright illegal), you won't be able to use their connection.
Do you have any existing wiring? How many machines need to be connected? Where are they located? It sounds like there was existing wiring, but they disconnected your Ethernet ports at some point. Depending on what's there, you may or may not be able to use this wiring. If you're ok with running some plastic conduit along the walls, you could DIY your own wiring potentially, but the "right" way to do this is to contract with a professional installer that is experienced with wiring for networking and can advise you. There is also the matter of having the right equipment at your end to get everything networked, be that routers, switches or WiFi access points.
posted by Aleyn at 1:25 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Do you have an ISP that is able to get you connected to the internet at least somewhere in that office? Or are you without internet entirely? This is the first step to any answer, and unless you work out something with your neighboring office to share their connection (incredibly unlikely and probably against their ISPs TOS if not outright illegal), you won't be able to use their connection.
Do you have any existing wiring? How many machines need to be connected? Where are they located? It sounds like there was existing wiring, but they disconnected your Ethernet ports at some point. Depending on what's there, you may or may not be able to use this wiring. If you're ok with running some plastic conduit along the walls, you could DIY your own wiring potentially, but the "right" way to do this is to contract with a professional installer that is experienced with wiring for networking and can advise you. There is also the matter of having the right equipment at your end to get everything networked, be that routers, switches or WiFi access points.
posted by Aleyn at 1:25 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: To clarify, and apologies as I don't really know the right terminology.
I have an office in a suite that offers both wifi and ethernet options to its tenants. Everything I'm describing is within this suite, and everyone uses the master tenant's server and system.
Previously, my particular office room was hardwired for ethernet, but then the tenant abandoned the space. Another tenant moved into the office space next door in the suite. He installed an ethernet plug and used the wiring that had previously gone into what is now my office. So he just turned the wiring around 180 degrees and plugged himself in.
I would now like to take advantage of the fact that there is already hard-wiring one inch from my ethernet port and have it so both of our offices, with a shared wall, have ethernet. It is not feasible to run new wiring from the server into my space.
posted by gabrielsamoza at 1:33 PM on February 21, 2019
I have an office in a suite that offers both wifi and ethernet options to its tenants. Everything I'm describing is within this suite, and everyone uses the master tenant's server and system.
Previously, my particular office room was hardwired for ethernet, but then the tenant abandoned the space. Another tenant moved into the office space next door in the suite. He installed an ethernet plug and used the wiring that had previously gone into what is now my office. So he just turned the wiring around 180 degrees and plugged himself in.
I would now like to take advantage of the fact that there is already hard-wiring one inch from my ethernet port and have it so both of our offices, with a shared wall, have ethernet. It is not feasible to run new wiring from the server into my space.
posted by gabrielsamoza at 1:33 PM on February 21, 2019
This TrendNet 5-port network switch is essentially a "splitter" for an Ethernet port. I think this device would work for your purpose, and it's cheap. You'd have to connect the switch to three cables: One that goes into the existing jack, one that goes to your office, and one that goes into the other tenant's office.
posted by alex1965 at 1:38 PM on February 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by alex1965 at 1:38 PM on February 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
You need to have the jack in your office rewired and connected to a network switch, which in turn, is connect to the ISP at the router/modem.
It's still unclear to me the current state of the wiring in your shared wall, what ISP service is entering the facility, and where, or what "everyone uses the master tenants server" means.
posted by humboldt32 at 2:36 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
It's still unclear to me the current state of the wiring in your shared wall, what ISP service is entering the facility, and where, or what "everyone uses the master tenants server" means.
posted by humboldt32 at 2:36 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
the landlord is unable to hard-wire internet into my space
I would push back on this as their responsibility. They allowed the other tenant to mess up the connection in your office and they need to fix it. Your rent pays for internet and right now it is unusable.
posted by soelo at 3:02 PM on February 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
I would push back on this as their responsibility. They allowed the other tenant to mess up the connection in your office and they need to fix it. Your rent pays for internet and right now it is unusable.
posted by soelo at 3:02 PM on February 21, 2019 [6 favorites]
So it sounds as though you've got a common hard wall with cutouts for wall plates on each side, hopefully standard sized ones. This is pretty common. Then the guy next door snarfed the run that was supposed to go to your office, presumably to get a second run to his.
Ideally, you should push the landlord to resolve this, either by running another run to your office, or by reclaiming the snarfed run, and forcing your neighbor to resolve his issues correctly.
If that can't happen, you can find in-wall expansion switches such as the 3Com 3CNJ100, Xirrus XT-5003, etc. There's a lot of specialist stuff made especially for the hospitality industry. However, this may not be the cheapest solution.
If you have an electrical outlet nearby, the simplest fix may be to acquire a small gigabit ethernet switch such as the Netgear GS105. Place it on your neighbor's side of the wall and have him plug it into power and the ethernet drop. He can then plug his PC or whatever into the switch and have Internet access. Then, add a second jack to his plate, running a cable through the wall to the jack on your side. Plug a patch cable in from the switch to the second jack, and your side will also be live. It's a hack, but you need something there in order to be able to share a drop.
posted by jgreco at 3:48 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Ideally, you should push the landlord to resolve this, either by running another run to your office, or by reclaiming the snarfed run, and forcing your neighbor to resolve his issues correctly.
If that can't happen, you can find in-wall expansion switches such as the 3Com 3CNJ100, Xirrus XT-5003, etc. There's a lot of specialist stuff made especially for the hospitality industry. However, this may not be the cheapest solution.
If you have an electrical outlet nearby, the simplest fix may be to acquire a small gigabit ethernet switch such as the Netgear GS105. Place it on your neighbor's side of the wall and have him plug it into power and the ethernet drop. He can then plug his PC or whatever into the switch and have Internet access. Then, add a second jack to his plate, running a cable through the wall to the jack on your side. Plug a patch cable in from the switch to the second jack, and your side will also be live. It's a hack, but you need something there in order to be able to share a drop.
posted by jgreco at 3:48 PM on February 21, 2019 [1 favorite]
Just to be clear; the "right" way to fix this is for the landlord to run a new cable from wherever the center of the Internet is to your desk. That's likely expensive and rigging up a switch instead is a reasonable workaround. The hassle is doing the switch right. As Alex1965 or jgreco says you can use a consumer switch but it'll be kinda janky, 3 wires, and then you gotta poke one of those wires through the wall somehow. The in-wall switches jgreco mention look nicer.
It's crazy the landlord won't do this for you.
posted by Nelson at 5:05 PM on February 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
It's crazy the landlord won't do this for you.
posted by Nelson at 5:05 PM on February 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
I used to work pulling CAT-5 cable and this would be a permanent, less hacky way - your landlord probably needs to hire someone who knows how to do it:
1. Get something called a fish tape which is basically a reel of stiff, flexible metal.
2. Push the fish tape through the same channel where the existing cable is until it comes out at the other end at the patch panel (maybe in a phone room or utility room or something similar.) It doesn't really matter which end you start at though IIRC one of them seems to be a bit easier to start with.
3. There's a loop or some kind of hook on the end of the fish tape. Grab about 6" of the end of the cable and create a loop that you can hang onto the end of the fish tape. Wrap the hell out of it with electrical tape - if it falls off you'll have to start over. Not too much tape though or it'll be too bulky to slide back through the channel.
4. Go back to the other end - where your jack is (it's easier to do this with someone else, especially if you have walkies or another way to communicate).
5. Carefully reel in the fish tape and cross your fingers that the cable doesn't come off the end.
All this is super easy. Fish tapes and cable are both pretty inexpensive. The trickier part is punching one end of your cable into the patch panel and wiring it into the jack. There's a certain color order you need to follow but there are diagrams and instructions all over the internet.
This exactly.
Just to be clear; the "right" way to fix this is for the landlord to run a new cable from wherever the center of the Internet is to your desk.
posted by bendy at 5:12 PM on February 21, 2019
1. Get something called a fish tape which is basically a reel of stiff, flexible metal.
2. Push the fish tape through the same channel where the existing cable is until it comes out at the other end at the patch panel (maybe in a phone room or utility room or something similar.) It doesn't really matter which end you start at though IIRC one of them seems to be a bit easier to start with.
3. There's a loop or some kind of hook on the end of the fish tape. Grab about 6" of the end of the cable and create a loop that you can hang onto the end of the fish tape. Wrap the hell out of it with electrical tape - if it falls off you'll have to start over. Not too much tape though or it'll be too bulky to slide back through the channel.
4. Go back to the other end - where your jack is (it's easier to do this with someone else, especially if you have walkies or another way to communicate).
5. Carefully reel in the fish tape and cross your fingers that the cable doesn't come off the end.
All this is super easy. Fish tapes and cable are both pretty inexpensive. The trickier part is punching one end of your cable into the patch panel and wiring it into the jack. There's a certain color order you need to follow but there are diagrams and instructions all over the internet.
This exactly.
Just to be clear; the "right" way to fix this is for the landlord to run a new cable from wherever the center of the Internet is to your desk.
posted by bendy at 5:12 PM on February 21, 2019
Unless the tenant on the other side of the wall is willing to give up their ethernet, or by some chance there's already a second ethernet cable running to that space, the fact that there's already hard-wired ethernet there doesn't really help you any, as each jack needs its own wire. You can get around this using an ethernet switch, like others mention above. It's a bit hacky, and it would probably require a bit of cooperation from the other tenant to get things working, but it'd probably be the cheapest option.
posted by Aleyn at 5:18 PM on February 21, 2019
posted by Aleyn at 5:18 PM on February 21, 2019
I am a structural cabling installer and I do this all the time, "this" being adding network drops in existing structures.
Unless there's something unusual about the building, it shouldn't take a competent installer more than an hour or two to get you a real, working Ethernet drop. It may take longer if the building is weird or if it's a long way to the network closet (like on another floor). No damage would be done and it would be minimally disruptive, just a worker with a ladder moving through the area opening ceiling tiles, pulling the cable, closing the tiles, and moving the ladder to the next spot. Once the cable is pulled they would terminate the cable at both ends, test it, put the new jack in a wall plate in you office and patch the other end into the network switch in the data closet.
There are other ways to get you a data connection but this would be the proper, normal way it was done in a professional environment. Cost depends on your local labor market but where I am we charge around $75/hour plus materials, so my imaginary estimate rendered here would be under $200.
posted by glonous keming at 5:47 PM on February 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
Unless there's something unusual about the building, it shouldn't take a competent installer more than an hour or two to get you a real, working Ethernet drop. It may take longer if the building is weird or if it's a long way to the network closet (like on another floor). No damage would be done and it would be minimally disruptive, just a worker with a ladder moving through the area opening ceiling tiles, pulling the cable, closing the tiles, and moving the ladder to the next spot. Once the cable is pulled they would terminate the cable at both ends, test it, put the new jack in a wall plate in you office and patch the other end into the network switch in the data closet.
There are other ways to get you a data connection but this would be the proper, normal way it was done in a professional environment. Cost depends on your local labor market but where I am we charge around $75/hour plus materials, so my imaginary estimate rendered here would be under $200.
posted by glonous keming at 5:47 PM on February 21, 2019 [3 favorites]
Unless there's something unusual about the building, it shouldn't take a competent installer more than an hour or two to get you a real, working Ethernet drop.
The second half of my comment. :)
posted by bendy at 11:02 PM on February 21, 2019
The second half of my comment. :)
posted by bendy at 11:02 PM on February 21, 2019
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posted by Marky at 1:22 PM on February 21, 2019