YOU CAN NETWORK THROUGH REGULAR PHONE LINES!!!

I was told by more than one person that you cannot run Ethernet signal through ordinary phone line. Being the kind of person that I am, I pulled the phone jack from the wall, connected the four unused wires of the phone line (newer homes give you 3 pairs) to the four wires that you need for Ethernet (see article on CAT5 on this site)and BAM I was up. In fact, I am running a MAC downstairs and am receiving faster downloads through the home phone line network. Maybe I just got lucky, maybe it is the cable modem. Sure was cheaper than running CAT5 cable outside the house or using wireless LAN.
After reading about CAT5 cable. Give it a try....at your own risk of course.

1. RE: YOU CAN NETWORK THROUGH REGULAR PHONE LINES!!!
lbyard Jun-06-00 02:03 PM
In response to message 0

I need to clear up a couple of things here... One cannot normally network with telephone wire. This especially true for the kind of flat, untwisted wire available in hardware stores, etc. However, one can network with twisted-wire other than CAT 5 UTP. There are other categories of wire that will allow networking at lower frequencies.
CAT 2 – 1 Mhz – Telephone wire
CAT 3 – 16 Mhz – Ethernet 10BaseT
CAT 4 – 20 Mhz – Token Ring – 10BaseT
CAT 5 – 100 Mhz – 100BbaseT
I prefer to use CAT 5 (or CAT 5E) cable and connectors for all new installations.
In this particular case we do not know what category of cable has been used. We do know that a cable MODEM operates at a much lower frequency than an Ethernet. We do not know if the cable MODEM has a 10BaseT or 100BaseT Ethernet interface. We don’t know how long a cable like the one used can be and still work reliably with a cable MODEM. I would guess, from my work many years ago with RS-432, balanced voltage connections, that it would be a significant distance. In mid 80’s we connected a DEC PDP/1170 min-computer to the forerunner of the Internet in Germany balanced voltage amplifiers at 56K for about a 1/2 mile through a very noisy, relay-operated telephone system built in the 1930’s.
All in all this experiment is interesting and might save some work and money when wiring a cable MODEM. It is easy enough to do and I would certainly try it before running CAT 5 cable between two floors of a house. If anyone else has luck trying to connect a cable MODEM this way, we would certainly like to hear about it. Larry

2. RE: YOU CAN NETWORK THROUGH REGULAR PHONE LINES!!!
lbyard Jun-06-00 02:22 PM
In response to message 1

Ooops. I need to qualify my statement some more. One can network on telephone wires with a Phoneline network such as Intel's Anypoint (http://duxcw.com/digest/Reviews/Network/intel/anysum.htm) and D-Link's DHN-910 Phoneline Network in a Box. I should be posting a review of the DHN-910 today. Larry