Problem - Home network using house phone sockets.

I am having a problem setting up a home network using the house telephone
wiring as the connecting medium. I want to share an internet connection as
well as sharing a printer and files.



PC1 is a Tiny running Windows XP Home edition which has a Speedtouch
external modem attached to give me a broadband connection to my ISP. The
modem has a connection to a USB port on the pc and a second connection to
the wall phone socket



I have put an AMD PCnet-Home based network adapter card in this machine.
The card has an Ethernet socket that I am not using and 2 x RJ11 sockets,
one marked 'line' and the other 'phone'. I have connected the card as
follows: - the 'line' socket directly to the phone socket on the wall and
the 'phone' socket' to the 56K modem card in the pc because I want to keep a
non-broadband connection option open.



The Device Manager indicates that the device is working properly.



On the Network Connections page there is an icon for a 'Network Bridge' that
says 'Network Cable unplugged MAC bridge miniport'.



A second icon 'Local Area Connection 3' says 'network cable unplugged. AMD
PCnet- Home based network adapter card'



I have disabled the Ethernet connection..



PC2 is a Fuji running Windows 98 into which I have put another AMD card.
Again Device Manager tells me that the device is working properly.



The network card 'line' socket is connected to the phone socket and the
'phone' socket is connected to the pc's 56K internal modem.



Where am I going wrong?



Dave

> The card has an Ethernet socket that I am not using
>
> The Device Manager indicates that the device is working properly.
>
> A second icon 'Local Area Connection 3' says 'network cable unplugged.
>
> I have disabled the Ethernet connection..
>
> Where am I going wrong?
>

You need a Network card in each PC
You need a cross-over cable between the two PCs, connected to the network
cards.

David Jones wrote:
> I am having a problem setting up a home network using the house telephone
> wiring as the connecting medium. I want to share an internet connection as
> well as sharing a printer and files.
>
>
>
> PC1 is a Tiny running Windows XP Home edition which has a Speedtouch
> external modem attached to give me a broadband connection to my ISP. The
> modem has a connection to a USB port on the pc and a second connection to
> the wall phone socket
>
>
>
> I have put an AMD PCnet-Home based network adapter card in this machine.
> The card has an Ethernet socket that I am not using and 2 x RJ11 sockets,
> one marked 'line' and the other 'phone'. I have connected the card as
> follows: - the 'line' socket directly to the phone socket on the wall and
> the 'phone' socket' to the 56K modem card in the pc because I want to keep a
> non-broadband connection option open.
>
>
>
> The Device Manager indicates that the device is working properly.
>
>
>
> On the Network Connections page there is an icon for a 'Network Bridge' that
> says 'Network Cable unplugged MAC bridge miniport'.
>
>
>
> A second icon 'Local Area Connection 3' says 'network cable unplugged. AMD
> PCnet- Home based network adapter card'
>
>
>
> I have disabled the Ethernet connection..
>
>
>
> PC2 is a Fuji running Windows 98 into which I have put another AMD card.
> Again Device Manager tells me that the device is working properly.
>
>
>
> The network card 'line' socket is connected to the phone socket and the
> 'phone' socket is connected to the pc's 56K internal modem.
>
>
>
> Where am I going wrong?
>
>
>
> Dave

The whole concept, back to the drawing board, all you need is another
network card and a cross wired network cable, most local PC Shop sell a
pair of half decent 100baseT PCI ethernet cards and a long crossed wired
cable with rj45 ready fitted for a tenner or so.
Better still also ditch the awful Speedtouch USB and buy a 40 quid
Conexant/Mentor/Origio 4port adsl router. At a pinch you could even get
away without buying another network card as it can connect to to one
computer via the USB port, so all you would need is a long straight
patch cable.

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, "David Jones" doj@martindale-
jones.fsnet.co.uk says...
> I am having a problem setting up a home network using the house telephone
> wiring as the connecting medium. I want to share an internet connection as
> well as sharing a printer and files.
>
>
>
> PC1 is a Tiny running Windows XP Home edition which has a Speedtouch
> external modem attached to give me a broadband connection to my ISP. The
> modem has a connection to a USB port on the pc and a second connection to
> the wall phone socket
>
>
>
> I have put an AMD PCnet-Home based network adapter card in this machine.
> The card has an Ethernet socket that I am not using and 2 x RJ11 sockets,
> one marked 'line' and the other 'phone'. I have connected the card as
> follows: - the 'line' socket directly to the phone socket on the wall and
> the 'phone' socket' to the 56K modem card in the pc because I want to keep a
> non-broadband connection option open.
>
>
>
> The Device Manager indicates that the device is working properly.
>
>
>
> On the Network Connections page there is an icon for a 'Network Bridge' that
> says 'Network Cable unplugged MAC bridge miniport'.
>
>
>
> A second icon 'Local Area Connection 3' says 'network cable unplugged. AMD
> PCnet- Home based network adapter card'
>
>
>
> I have disabled the Ethernet connection..
>
>
>
> PC2 is a Fuji running Windows 98 into which I have put another AMD card.
> Again Device Manager tells me that the device is working properly.
>
>
>
> The network card 'line' socket is connected to the phone socket and the
> 'phone' socket is connected to the pc's 56K internal modem.
>
>
>
> Where am I going wrong?
>
At a guess the ADSL filters on the phone line are killing the network
connection. Set up a proper Cat5e network, it's much less hassle in the
long term.

Lads, Thanks for the suggestions. The reason I want to use the phone line
as the connecting medium is that the pc's are upstairs and downstairs and I
(well actually my wife!) don't want to trail cables all over the house.
Hence the simple direct connection solution is not acceptable at the moment.
The AMD network cards I have put into each pc already have an ethernet
connection so I am half way there I suppose but surely someone has managed
to get a network running over the phone lines? The XP network wizard has it
as one of the options for a home network.

I will try Rob's suggestion of bypassing the filters to see if that helps.

Thanks for your input,

Dave

the pc's are upstairs and downstairs and I
> (well actually my wife!) don't want to trail cables all over the house

Wi-fi would seem to be fitting the bill then?

On Thu, 5 Aug 2004 15:52:28 +0100, "David Jones"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Lads, Thanks for the suggestions. The reason I want to use the phone line
>as the connecting medium is that the pc's are upstairs and downstairs and I
>(well actually my wife!) don't want to trail cables all over the house.
>Hence the simple direct connection solution is not acceptable at the moment.
>The AMD network cards I have put into each pc already have an ethernet
>connection so I am half way there I suppose but surely someone has managed
>to get a network running over the phone lines? The XP network wizard has it
>as one of the options for a home network.
>
>I will try Rob's suggestion of bypassing the filters to see if that helps.
>
>Thanks for your input,
>
>Dave
>

I suppose it MIGHT be possible to do a bit of rewiring of the phone
sockets. If you feel confident enough:

Check there are two unused pairs in the phone cable, connect these to
the orange and green pairs on two rj-45 wall sockets. Connecting green
on one to orange on the other (and vice-versa).

Install a network card in each machine and set them both to use 10
Mbps (you might get lucky and have 100 Mbps work but it most likely
won't).

Connect each machine to the RJ-45 sockets using a straight wired patch
lead.

No guarantees, others on this group may be able to offer more of a
promise as to if it will/won't work.

On Thu, 5 Aug 2004 13:34:40 +0100, "David Jones"
<(E-Mail Removed)> strung together this:

>Where am I going wrong?
>
Everywhere, your enter key appears to be sticking for starters.
Next up, you'll never a network functioning by not using the network
ports, all you've got (as far as I can tell) is two sets of two modems
in series connected in parallel.
You need to use the network ports, not the modem ports, and using the
phone wiring is a bit hit and miss.
I think your two options are,
1) Get someone in to do it, you're obviously not all that PC savvy.
2) Go wireless, although I'm not sure I'd recommend setting up a
wireless network to a beginner.
--

SJW
A.C.S. Ltd

On Thu, 5 Aug 2004 13:34:40 +0100, "David Jones"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I am having a problem setting up a home network using the house telephone
>wiring as the connecting medium. I want to share an internet connection as
>well as sharing a printer and files.
>

I brought a kit like that back from the US.

It seems US houses are wired for two telephones therefore the RJ11
sockets are wired with 2 pairs, I believe 1 pair on 2-3 the other on
1-4. If I connected the PC's with a flat 4 way RJ11 cable it worked.

This conflicts with our 1 pair + bell wire set up. Plus the presence
of ADSL signals plus the microfilters adds up to a dogs dinner.

As Colin says think WIFI. The 11b kit is very cheap now and fast
enough for t' internet, you can get a wireless ADSL modem/router for
£40-55 and WIFI cards or usb dongles for a few pounds on the web.

The performance will be much better than a usb modem and ICS and all
the PC's won't depend on the main PC being up and running for internet
access.

DG

Lads,

Thanks for all your comments. I think I'll abandon the phone line idea and
go for wi-fi.

Thanks again,
Dave