One of the most aggravating infrastructure challenges occurs when you get asked to put a workstation in some inconvenient, too far, difficult-to-wire spot. If there’s a room at the far end of some unused hallway, or a shack at the edge of campus, chances are you’re going to get a request for an Ethernet port there.
Whenever you need to put a connection in one of these types of places, your first move should be to check to see if there’s any existing cable that can be adapted for Ethernet by using Ethernet extenders. Most modern buildings have unused voice-grade wires or unused coax. Additionally, many campuses have installed 25- or 50-pair telephone trunk cables between buildings. You can hijack these unused wires for Ethernet use.
Ethernet extenders are easy to set up—all you need to do is to plug in one at each end of the twisted-pair wire or coax. Sometimes you’ll also need to set a DIP switch for local or remote operation. Once the Ethernet extenders are installed, there’s nothing to configure, and the extenders are transparent to network operation.
Ethernet extenders can often save you the time, aggravation, and expense of pulling new cable. If you have the right cable already installed, Ethernet extenders are definitely the way to go when it comes to putting your network into out-of-the-way or distant locations. Best of all, when you pull off that difficult install, you look like a miracle worker!