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What is this? (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hi all, moved into a prewired house (built in 2003) and am trying to get my office connected to my router. The office has one of these green wires terminated at a wall jack while the rest of the house has the blue, which I just put new terminals on and plugged into a 10 port switch, then my router without issue. Question is, what is this thing that all the green CAT 5 wires connect to? The bulk of the wiring is strung through the attic space and drops down into the access panel in my closet. Do I need this thing or does it serve as some sort of bus? I just see wires come in and wires going out. Do I need to disconnect it and identify the office wire or can this be used somehow?

Thanks and any help would be appreciated!

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Its called a 66 block and was used alot for telephone systems. There are several configurations, iirc yours is a 66m-50.

Each row is divided in half. 25 pairs of cable could be connected to the first and last columns leading to 50 pairs. The silver clips in the middle are bridge clips, which connect the left half to the right half.

Along the right side of the block there appears to be a pair of jumper wires that go from row to row. This is connecting a signal (probably a phone line) to each of the cables on the right half of the block, and the bridge clips connect the cables on the left side

If you had multiple phone lines you could connect them to various devices with different jumpers and wires.

While it was never recommended, I made cables with an RJ-45 plug on one end and bare wire on the other and used a punch down tool to connect the cables to the 2nd and 3rd columns, then plugged them into my switches back in the 10MB days, and I think it worked OK for 100MB.

There is a 66 block made with RJ-45 jacks that you might be able to replace that with, and use jumper cables. The correct block to use would be a 110 block, or even better would be to connect directly to a patch panel id you have enough slack.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Thank you for the great explanation! I don't use POTS, just a VOIP so I most likely won't need this.