# Ethernet wiring question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-wiring-question/655435 "2013-04-11T19:22:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-wiring-question/655435/21 "2013-04-12T15:37:51Z")
The other points are excellent - Cable coax is not the same as 10Base2 RG59(?) It’s been a LONG time since I worried about that - does anyone actually have/use coax 10-base-2 anyway? (Was there a 100Mbps coax?? I don’t remember any). If you’re doing 10Mbps why bother? An adaptor might work, but it is nonstandard. if the setup dies in a year or 3, can you buy replacement parts? Good luck with pulling a cable using the existing one. 50-50 that the cable was installed when the house was built, then the cable is stapled to the stud somewhere inside the wall. If you do punch down your own ends, remember ethernet twisted pairs are colour coded (Blue twisted around blue white, green around green-white, etc.) The pairs are punched down as 1-2, 3-6.4-5. 7-8 (not 3-4 5-6 !!!) Usually the socket puch-downs nowadays are colour-coded so you should be Ok. Sockets (female) are a lot easyer to punch down than the clear plastic male connectors. (Knew an amateur who wired his dad’s business. He wired the pairs wrong 3-4 & 5-6, the 10-foot cabel run worked, to 40-foot ones did not…) ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-wiring-question/655435/22 "2013-04-12T22:10:00Z")
> [@Dog80](#): > > I can’t see what the advantage of such a connector would be. After making 5 or 10 crimps you’ll be able to judge the correct wire length by sight, before inserting it into the connector. Because, even having made thousands of crimps, I still have to inspect the wires to make sure that all of the wires bottomed out in the well. It’s amazing how often a single wire pushes it’s way back up into the jacket. But based on **pmh** ’s experience, I might avoid them, although others have had good luck. ---
**Author:** ![Terry\_Kennedy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@Terry\_Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terry_Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2013, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-wiring-question/655435/23 "2013-04-13T07:52:12Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > It’s been a LONG time since I worried about that - does anyone actually have/use coax 10-base-2 anyway? Not really. What few devices exist and are being sold as new are media converters to connect expensive “legacy” devices. > [@](#): > > (Was there a 100Mbps coax?? I don’t remember any). Not as part of any standard. A few vendors might have come up with proprietary solutions, but they’d have been rare even back in the day. Do you remember thickwire Ethernet? Orange cable with black rings showing where you could install “vampire taps” to connect devices. Probably the weirdest thing in old-school Ethernet was the DELNI - this was a box that let you attach 8 devices via their AUI ports, eliminating the need to have any coax cable at all. It suffered from a bunch of weird incompatibilities with other equipment, including some from the same manufacturer. > [@](#): > > An adaptor might work, but it is nonstandard. if the setup dies in a year or 3, can you buy replacement parts? That’s why I suggested the DirecTV DECA / Cinema Connection Kit - it is likely to be manufactured for many years, and it is a standard technology - MOCA. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ethernet-wiring-question/655435.md?page=1)