Ignore the colours in use on the phone module, and yes, it is 'standard' 6-wire telephone cable untwisted. I am aware of the potential loss of performance but you will see the problem my dear builder gave me from this thread.

So in essence you are saying that the left row, bottom to top goes pin 1,2,3,6? That is one bizarre way of numbering!! I would never have guessed that assignment.

Thats what the colour codeing seems to suggest, great if you're wiring to twisted pairs cat5 type cable, damed confusing for what you're trying, think the makers are trying to be oh so helpful connecting to the "odd" sequence in the rj45 plug itself for you, go for it, providing the telephone wires are sorted you should'nt do any damage, it just wont work!! Still would be nice to meter it to confirm beyond doubt.

rickity

Ta - off to see No 1 son this PM to use his RJ45 crimper and his IT brain to help!

So, BOAC - did it work?

Steady lad! Just back and we have the pin numbering sorted. It was 568B and runs 3,6,1,2 from bottom left to top left. It will be a few days before I get to wire it up due to some flying, so you'll ALL have to wait!:)

Onwards and upwards (or should that be downwards?)

Some good news and some bad news. Finally back in the land of home and I have the RJ45 connection working - BUT the speed is poor. I guess that is the result of using untwisted wires.

Thanks to all for the help in trying this, and I'll leave the swanky RJ45/BT plate on the wall. My laptop is giving me a 5 bar wifi signal while the desktop alongside is showing only 2, so I guess the next step is to buy an extension aerial for the desktop to improve the speed, since the dinky little aerial on the PCI card is right at the base of the rear of the PC.

A useful exercise for me, anyway, in 'education':).

Before you tinker with "alternative antennas" on the PCI card, try plugging a USB WiFi into a USB extension cable, and move it around a bit to see what signal you get. My daughter thought she was going to need an RJ45 cable from her study to the lounge (other end of the house), until an RF "sweet spot" was found.

The USB WiFi hides behind a picture on the wall, and gives four out of five bars.

The laptop is as good a guide as any? I've had a 'wander' around with the USB but No1 son informs me he has a gash extension aerial knocking around - just hope it is the right connection = RP-SMA

Is it too late to suggest a couple of ethernet over powerline boxes? Netgear, for example? I'm putting a couple in my place because faster than wifi is always faster than wifi: up to about 85Mbps on a 200Mbps connection. Also supports QoS very easily, so streaming stuff can be given the priority it deserves.

Bush - I have ruled that out for the time being as I think the wifi reception can be 'made good' and apart from the fairly high cost I understand there can be problems with ring main layouts/adjacent interference and others. Looks promising, though - and whatever happened to b/band via the National Grid in the UK?

Hopefully consigned to the dustbin of technology where it belongs. It would mean an almost total clobbering of most of the MF/HF frequency spectrum (denied, of course, by those who stood to make lots of money out of it).

But anyway...

If your laptop gets a good WiFi signal when parked next to the desktop, the desktop is going to do likewise sooner or later - the only question is where on the list of "things to try".

My feelings too. Started with the 'swanky' wall plate, and next will be the extension aerial, I feel. At the moment I'm running a USB wifi plugged in the front bottom panel and that is only giving a 'low' signal strength:confused:

Eee! Its a right mystery, this wireless stuff:)

Maybe too late for BOAC but a tangential solution and one we used to run the mandatory phone line from the telephone to the Sky Digibox.

Ran the cable around the roomand used a blunt prodder to 'feed' the cable under the skirting. It is trapped twixted skirting and carpet. If there is no skirting gap then you could add a quadrant and hide the cable behind that.

Nah, it's totally consistent and always follows the rules of radio propagation - except when I'm within 1000 miles of it.

If you have a "USB extension lead" (matching plug and socket on the two ends) then plug the USB WiFi into that and move it around a bit...

Wader - had that 'flash' too, but cannot get a wire down to the skirting board.

Keef - I'm using the lappie as a bell-wether (comes from bellewether and refers to the practice of placing a bell around the neck of a castrated ram (a wether) in order that this animal might lead its flock of sheep) - thoughts of builder come to mind - please pardon the evil thought, Keef :)

Sorry to re-open this, but I would appreciate someone 'wot nose' advising on the length of telephone wire in use v. the loss of signal.

If I can shorten the actual distance the signal has to travel on untwisted wire could I expect an improvement in speed or does ANY untwisted run degrade the signal regardless?

I should advise that progress is going to be patchy on this issue for me as Mrs B has some significant medical issues which are taking my focus.

I've only used it up to twenty feet, but this was on a 10 Mbit/sec network in the olden days.

I'm afraid it's going to be empirical - but the shorter the distance, the less interaction can take place.

Ta again, boguing - I guess the plan will be to run RJ45 from router as far as I can to the drop point for the BT wire and see if that improves things.

Any chance you could use the phone wire to pull a cat5 cable through? Perhaps not the whole way but maybe in segments (if you can access the wire at various places) that could then be joined with a coupler? Not ideal but probably better than the phone cabling.

It's also possible to get WiFi repeaters/extenders. Stick one of those somewhere with a good signal that's between the WiFi router & the poor signal area.

Thanks Tins, but the earlier part of the thread covered my excellent builder and the wifi bit is/will be ok.