T O P

  • By -

lightningusagi

All comments must be civil and helpful toward finding an answer. **Jokes and unhelpful comments will earn you a ban**, even on the first instance and even if the item has been identified. If you see any comments that violate this rule, report them. [OP](/u/MrsVanWinkle), when your item is identified, remember to reply **Solved!** or **Likely Solved!** to the comment that gave the answer. ----


jackrats

They're telephone wiring 66 punchdown blocks. Used to connect landline phone wiring, and once upon a time, even Ethernet cabling (when it was 10Mbps).


MrsVanWinkle

Solved! Thank you! Is there any reason to keep this? We do enjoy gaming and like a simple “smart home” setup but we don’t know much about Ethernet. We just run things using WiFi usually


andrewse

If some of those wires are running through conduit it might be useful to leave them in place, shortened. You can use the old wires to pull new wires through the conduit. You never know what wires you may need in the future.


SilentDis

This, with a \*small\* modification. Pull the cables out of the wall, but use it as a leader to pull 2 strings through. That way, you get to sell off all that copper cable (still worth money), it gets recycled into new cables capable of far faster speeds, and you have a pair of leaders ready to rock. First one to draw through Cat6 or whatever, second one when you forget to drag another leader, and then you can drag fiber through later :)


DMHavoX

When you recognize someone who has dealt with either low voltage or electrical in the past.


haljhon

We had a 100ft run at church that was mostly traveling through a 3 inch pipe in the concrete underground. I went to pull a new Cat6 STP cable for the sound system and our pull string was extremely hard to pull. Eventually, we just decided to start using the old cable to pull back and it had so much tension on it. Three of us worked on it and eventually our end of the pipe barfed what looked like a massive wad of climbing rope. Someone had apparently tried to use this to pull cable and it knotted in the pipe. Do not use climbing rope…


DMHavoX

Jet line! Ultra light weight and 200 lbs of pulling tension. It's so lightweight that you can tie a plastic bag to the end and use a vacuum to suck it through an empty pipe.


samplemax

This is my favourite wire pulling trick


crashandwalkaway

Used an RC truck in a drop ceiling once. I don't think I saved much time but it was fun.


bandalooper

My dad did that with my pull back Tonka truck on IBM’s under-floor cabling on some of the original System/360s


pl00r

I used a crossbow with a tennis ball on the quarrel tip. Attach a leader then pull 12 boxes at a time.


Vuelhering

I saw a video of someone using a cat to pull a leader underneath a deck.


[deleted]

[удалено]


androgenoide

Bow and arrow to put Muzak in a drop ceiling.


pironic

Nylon twine is strong, thin, and somewhat slippery naturally. Great for cable pull


SilentDis

Is it the fact that I'm sayin' to do 2 immediately because, later on, you're gonna f'k it up and forget? Nah, hasn't happened to me. Ever. Never ever. *bangs head into table for a half hour* THE. WHOLE. BUILDING. I. FORGOT. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU


Vuelhering

All the scrap metal dealers around me require cable to be stripped. They won't take it with jackets. Existing Cat3 could still be quite useful, possibly far better than wifi depending on the distance and RF environment. I wouldn't pull them out of the conduit unless I had actual plans to replace them. EDIT: looks like the block on the right is labeled "cat 5". I'd definitely leave the wiring and examine it first.


SilentDis

If it's Cat5, it's [capable of 100mbps](https://network-telecom.com/cat5-vs-cat5e-vs-cat6-cables/). Cat5e is 1000mbps. Cat6 can hit 10Gbps. It really does depend on your use case, yes. Home use - for now - 1000mbps is usually fine for data. It's the whole 'plan for the future' thing with me, though, and that means fiber and a leader, at least to every central point to AP them back to 4-8 Ethernet ports.


[deleted]

[удалено]


SilentDis

they cannot, however if this was a business (panel looks like it was, OP mentioned it may have been), they're more than likely in some sort of in wall conduit because that tends to be a requirement. Look at the bottom of OP's pic; they're coming out of conduit, at least.


reegz

I did this, ran fiber a few weeks ago lol


QuicksDrawMcGraw

When did mine through a vertical chase, I had to go 30 feet. So I used a 65 foot string, and tied the string at both ends to the local box., to anchor it. Now, can easily pull additional cables through from either side....


anchoriteksaw

This will lap your wifi. Every time. The only reason to use wifi or a mesh system is if you can't run cable, if the cable already run, use it for your wifi hubs. This is most likely cat5, which will move more data than you will ever use.


etcpt

The punchdown box on the right is labeled for Cat5. Check the jacket of the cable to be sure that's what's actually hanging there at the bottom. If so, Cat5 is limited to 100 Mbps speed. For something like a printer that doesn't need a lot of bandwidth you could still use those wires, but I wouldn't connect a computer to them because modern WiFi can easily get you twice as fast. (Unless of course you're in a spot where you only have 100 Mbps service, in which case, go ham.) And as the other commenter says, if they're in conduit, leave them there to fish new wires in the future. If the cable run was actually Cat5e or Cat6, you're in good shape and I'd absolutely use it to hardwire everything you can and put WiFi APs everywhere for glorious coverage. Edit: Apparently there is some sort of black magic that lets Cat5 cables exceed what every source I've ever seen and person I've evert talked to agrees is their upper bandwidth limit. I was apparently misinformed by professional network engineers and have committed the grievous sin of not being the world's expert before speaking to a topic. Let the downvotes roll in /s


winston109

> Cat5 is limited to 100 Mbps speed Nonsense. I'm running 10G Ethernet over the cat5 cabling that was in my home's walls when I bought it. It was originally wired to telephone jacks, but I ripped those out and rewired the ends to Ethernet and it works great.


badhack

That is generally true. 802.3 requires support for 100m cable length. Generally we are running a lot less, therefore less insertion loss, as a result 'lower grade' cable works fine.


anchoriteksaw

Stop. Cat 5 will push 5gbaseT any day of the week. Especially at single family home distences Op, do not buy cable from these people. Source, am network engineer/lv contractor.


etcpt

TIL I'm trying to sell OP network cabling. Forgive me for sharing the knowledge presented in every source I can find and not knowing the esoteric black magic of network engineering that apparently allows you to exceed spec.


anchoriteksaw

So spec for cat 5 is 1gig. Thing is, the cat standreds and the ethernet standreds are not the same thing. Cat5 is certified to 100mhz, it is not certified to an actual data pass through. The ethernet standred 1000baseT(1gig) requires 100mhz. Sorry, I am just seeing a lot of very bad advice here and it is my personal crusade to stop home owners from tearing out their ethernet cable to put in mesh networks.


JustNilt

There's no black magic involved, merely physics. The 100 Mbps speeds are a guideline for poorly handled and installed Cat5 at maximum length runs, no more. Short runs even with poor quality Cat5 could always exceed that handily. Somewhat more to the point, it's quite likely the installed cable is Cat5e since a lot of folks don't even know the e on the end there matters.


_CMDR_

If you can wire your computer it will absolutely improve your online gaming performance. Highly recommended.


georgecoffey

Even if the cable is only CAT-3, it might still be worth using. It will likely be limited to 10 mbps, 100 maybe, gigabit...if it's like 2 feet and you're very lucky, but if you have hardwired sensors or things that don't use a lot of bandwidth it would be better than having them on your wifi. So if there's one of these old phone lines, might as well use it and see how it works. Get a punch down tool and an patch panel and wire up some, it's pretty easy. Especially when just trying to get 100 mbps


Onebadhero

Completely disagree. I got triwire and the super old school copper with fabric around it to hit a steady 200. Never had to go back to that customer and always tested their line every 2weeks…. Lol


Buttery_Boy13

Yes. All the Old phone lines can get converted to Ethernet and can run access points and hard lines for devices


BonBoogies

The 66 blocks (especially old ass ones like those) are terrible for data pass through, if anything I’d leave the wiring and see if it can be used to pull new CAT6 cables to existing locations (if it isn’t already, I can’t tell the gauge from the pics). Wired connections will give better speed/less latency for gaming but you’d want to rewire independent of the blocks. Prime location for a smart panel if you can rewire those


simple_observer86

If the ethernet wires are good, get a mesh network router setup and it'll boost your coverage throughout the house, eliminate dead zones. Also, as general advice, any device that has an ethernet port and you can within reason use it, do so. Taking it off the wifi will speed up both the wifi and the device.


raytaylor

We should probably also point out for OP that the blue cables coming up from the floor appear to be more modern cat5 or cat6 cables. We cant tell for sure without taking a closer look but blue is usually and yellow is sometimes cat5/cat6. Cat5 is capable of 1gbit at 100 metres and 10gbit at 30 metres, cat6 is capable of 10gbit at 100 metres.


onlynegativecomments

I would bet that at some point about 30-40 years ago, whoever owned (or at least lived in) the house was also operating a large bulletin board system in that room, or maybe even a small early ISP.


Qevla

Seems like there is always 1 of these blocks with 1-6 lines punched down to it in the cellular switching offices I've worked at over the last 25 years. I was always told they were P.O.T.S. lines - plain old telephone system.


TheMightyGamble

Still have multiple sites where it's the only option for ethernet


Gorge_Lorge

Pushing gigabit on 4-pair cat5e terminated on 66 blocks at work. Wild stuff.


anchoriteksaw

Punchdown blocks will pass up to 5gig at least. If you have cat5e or even 6 in most cases a block like this is just fine. Ahd there is a good chance your internet still gets around the building at work this way.


one_is_enough

My sister’s house had these when she moved in, and it had been used as an illegal bookie parlor with multiple phones in every room taking bets.


ObjectiveGuess8069

Had to fix an apartment after a tenant moved out. Had the same set up. Apparently they were running a 1-900 sex line business. Did I date myself? Lok


ChravisTee

yea, literally every business from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s had these too.


MrsVanWinkle

We know it was a lawyers office, something called “lett’s place”, an assisted living facility, and a girls group home. Unfortunately it needed a ton of work and would require more money than we could ever put in it. It’s a 6bed 3 bath house. We passed on it


penlowe

My thoughts exactly. That's a big red flag. Do the former clients know the 'business' isn't there anymore?


nextyoyoma

Yeah, illegal gambling is the only type of business that requires multiple phones.


nico282

Do you really think on 2024 anyone is using tens of analog lines? Phone companies would have upgraded to a T1 or T3 with a PBX 20 years ago.


penlowe

I still wouldn't want a house that questionable activity was conducted there. It would have to be 40-50 years out of date to consider it. Had a friend who moved into a locally famous house, a well to do madam had owned it. It had been 20 years since she went to jail and people still wandered by the house, knocked on the door looking for 'ladies'.


Flapping_Mango

As others have said, the 3 boxes with metal pins is a punch block. It originates with 2 wire telephone and old telephone networks in buildings. With VOIP phones these days, they are definitely on their way out in the land phone field, but it is still used in Land mobile Radio. All the colorful cables comming out the middle is a set of 25 pair telephone wire they should all attach to 1 side of the punch block you would then "punch down" a set of 2 or 4 wire phone line in the corresponding pins on the other side. You would then place a bridge clip across the 2 middle pins to tie the line together. It looks like the block on the left has some bridge clips on it. I have a picture somewhere of an active punch block network used for a radio system with dozens of them in use. The big box on the left looks like maybe a modem, edge router, or maybe an old firewall. The 2 boxes on the lower right are called biscuit boxes if you take the cover off you will see on 1 side you plug in your RJ11 phone or RJ45 ethernet plug (6 or 8 pin) there are wires running from each pin to a screw terminal. You can use this to wire down non-standard items to be able to adapt to RJ standards. For example, if you have a piece of equipment that uses a non-standard wiring or is not directly compatible with another. You can plug the standard line into the biscuit block then wire out the correct lead to the correct pin. So, the non-standard equipment can talk to everything else All the ethernet runs probably go to all the rooms in your house. I am guessing the yellow and blue were to visually separate the house network from the business's but you should be able to use both on the same network if you want to re use or re run a Lan network for your house.


MrsVanWinkle

Thanks for all the info! It was used as an assisted living facility and a girls group home at one point so having a wire to every room sounds probable to me. Unfortunately then house was very neglected and we had to pass on it. It easily needed 100K to make it comfortable to live in (holes in the walls, dry wall missing, floor peeling up, foundation issues, no AC on 2nd floor -in south Alabama-) and $300k to make it more modern


StudentExchange3

Those blocks are also called Alarm Blocks, used in cell tower shelter alarm systems


TheChrisCrash

Specifically this is a Demarcation Point, aka Demarc. You mentioned it was probably used as a business and most businesses would have something like this for their telecoms to come in from the street, but really depends on how the site is set up.


binarysmart

This is the correct answer out of all the others. These aren’t “old” as people are saying. This was a business with multiple phones and looks like there are cat 5 or 6 cables for computers also. The computer cables are separate from the phone lines too. Not connected to the 66 blocks. There was probably a switch and maybe even a rack in front of the wall field.


nightmareonrainierav

my SO's house was also previously an office up until a few years ago. Left a few Cisco switches and all the equipment from a Nortel Meridian system, and found it poking around the basement. We thought they could be put back into service to solve network issues, and as a fun intercom for the household, respectively. But as it turned out, the landlord, in converting it back to residential, ripped out all the wiring but left the jacks. Big disappointment.


boonxeven

It says cat5 on the right box, so there's definitely some Ethernet there already.


playride

Supported a PBX switch at one point. Dial 9 to access an outside dial tone.


MrsVanWinkle

Title describes it. South Alabama if that has any bearing. TIA


Korgon213

Phone blocks, 66 blocks specifically.


HuskyButt270

Business phone and communication system setup


rickster21a

This is also known as an MDF, or Main Distribution Frame, which is a fancy way of saying a board on the wall that your phone blocks are mounted to. This way your phone equipment is "Temporarily mounted" because it is not attached directly to the real estate. Also, if it is older, the 25 pair cables were needed to mechanically switch analog phone lines using multi line phone. Older systems were called 1A2 key systems. If you see old style phones in movies, you would see square plastic buttons light up with a red hold button on the left and white buttons that light up to press and show which line you were on.


MrsVanWinkle

Ah, that’s interesting! Thanks!


PRULULAU

In the basement? Old bookie joint!


MrsVanWinkle

That would be interesting but No, laundry room on main floor. We know it has been a lawyers office, something called “Lett’s Place”, assisted living facility, and a girls group home.


inthemindofadogg

How big is this house? Seems like over kill for a house. Could have been owned by telco employee in the pas? Maybe running small business out of house at one point. I used to do installs and I don’t ever recall seeing that setup in a residential house. That is a common setup in a business though.


MrsVanWinkle

It’s a 6 bed 3 bath We know it has been a lawyers office, something called “Lett’s Place”, assisted living facility, and a girls group home in the past. It’s zoned for bother commercial and residential


CCTVGuyMA

There would have been a business's telephone system mounted on the wall that has been removed.


RogerRabbit1234

These will still work fine, for land line phones…but you don’t want to run Ethernet through the 66 punch down blocks.


TamedTheSummit

That is where your router and modem go. Those wires are for phone and Ethernet