The jacks should be color coded for 568A and 568B (eg., http://duxcw.com/about/rj45jack.htm). If you wire the back of the jack according to the color code for 568A, then you wire the plug for 568A also (see bottom of http://duxcw.com/digest/Howto/network/cable/cable7.htm). And that is exactly the way my network is wired. I have jacks wired 568A in my Wife's and Son's offices and plugs at the other ends wired 568A, which run about 100 feet each and plug directly into a router/switch.I do not like patch panels or punch-down blocks for small networks. Other than esthetics, they usually serve no useful purpose, cost money, and add more things that can break, be wired wrong, add insertion losses, and labor to a network. I often don’t use jacks either for the same reasons (however, they work fine if properly installed). Of the six computers presently on my network, only two of them have jacks in the line. Larry
