From phone to Ethernet

Upgrading my home network has been one of those "I'll get to it someday" projects for way too long. With fiber finally making its way into the neighborhood, I figured it was time to stop procrastinating and get more wired connections set up before the big switch to fiber.

I’ve already got a TP-Link Deco Mesh WiFi running, but a few rooms still had painfully slow, unreliable connections. While the house had some Ethernet access points, there were only three—one per floor! Meanwhile, all my computers and consoles were stuck using WiFi, which, let's be honest, wasn’t cutting it.

My Media Panel

It’s ugly and boring…except for nerds like me.

So, I took a closer look and discovered the media panel down in the basement. Turns out, those old telephone cables were actually Cat5e Ethernet cables (all those yellow ones up top), capable of handling speeds up to 1000Mbps. Jackpot! One of those cables is the demarc, which connects my property to the outside world—can’t mess with that—but the others? Fair game.

Why repurpose them? Well, who uses landlines anymore? I switched to magicJack ages ago and haven’t looked back since.

After making sure each wall jack had all four wire pairs intact (the whole cable, not just two pairs like with most phone lines), I was ready to put my plan into action. It was time for an upgrade!

My mission: upgrade on the cheap, reusing as much of the existing setup as possible. For the wall jacks, I swapped out the old phone connectors with RJ45 keystone jacks but kept the wall plates. Easy enough.

In the media panel, which is an OnQ model, I found an Ethernet module that fit perfectly and came with keystone jacks. That took care of most of the connections, though I needed a few extras for the wall plates.

At this point, my ISP modem was handling routing and switching duties, but with 10 Ethernet cables now in play, it was clear I needed more ports. Plus, when I do switch to fiber, the modem will change, and I'd rather not rely on whatever hardware the ISP throws at me. Better to get a solid switch in place and just connect that to the modem when the time comes.

After some research (and a colleague’s recommendation), I landed on the MikroTik CSS610-8G-2S+in switch. This thing is a steal. It’s got two SFP+ ports for up to 10Gbps each and eight 1Gbps Ethernet ports. Sure, its max non-blocking throughput is “only” 28Gbps, but for me, that’s way more than enough.

Final result

Cat5e cables now attached to new Ethernet module.

Hard to tell but the MikroTik is behind the DSL modem.
I’ll get rid of the phone module that takes all the space at the top. That’s for Upgrade 2.0.


This basic Network Phone Cable Tester is a lifesaver for making sure you’ve punched down all the wires correctly. It comes in two parts—one for each end of the cable. Plug them in, and the LEDs will light up in sequence from 1 to 8. If any LED doesn’t light up, you’ll know exactly which wire needs attention.


There are two main ways to terminate Ethernet cables, but Keystone Jacks are usually the go-to choice. You can find plenty of options on Amazon or at Home Depot, but this set stands out because it includes a punch down tool that doubles as a cable stripper. Sure, there are fancier tools out there—some even trim the wires automatically after punching them down—but for most home projects, this kit does the job just fine.


The MikroTik CSS610-8G-2S+in (terrible name) is an incredible switch. As a longtime Netgear fan, I wasn’t familiar with MikroTik until a colleague recommended it, so I decided to give it a shot. Turns out, this Latvian company knows their stuff, offering high-quality network gear at surprisingly affordable prices. This switch boasts 2 SFP+ ports (each supporting 10Gbps) and 8 Ethernet ports at 1Gbps each—plenty of speed for most home setups.


The MikroTik S+RJ10 (another terrible name) is an SFP+ module designed to plug into the SFP+ port of the MikroTik switch I mentioned earlier, allowing you to connect an Ethernet cable to your ISP’s modem or router. With a Cat6 or Cat6a cable, you can unlock the full 10Gbps potential of that SFP+ port—assuming your modem/router supports 10Gbps and you’re lucky enough to have 10Gbps fiber!


This is very optional but if you like things a little bit tidy, zip ties help a lot with cable management.

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