Networking 101: How To Punch Down Cat5/E/Cat6 Keystone Jack - FireFold

How to Punch Down a Cat5/E/Cat6 Keystone Jack
In this video, we will explain the fastest, yet a comprehensive step-by-step guideline about how you can punch down your Cat5e/Cat6 keystone jack like a professional. For this purpose, you will require a few tools and info regarding the color coding of your wires that you will match with those on the keystone jack. While following the steps as shown in the tutorial, you can set up a proper in-wall Cat5e/Cat6 connection and you’re good to go!
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Networking 101: How To Punch Down Cat5/E/Cat6 Keystone Jack - FireFold
Learn the fastest and most efficient way to punch down a keystone jack with this how to tutorial from FireFold. In this video, Daniel will explain everything you need to know when it comes to how to punch down Cat5/E/Cat6 keystone jack.
For more information, check out this link:
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Check us out on Facebook:
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[@lacksleep424]

Finally a video of someone not leaving bottom wires exposed and not needing a little holder for the jack.

[@JesseHolt205]

Using the snipped off bit of shielding to help unravel the twisted pairs change my life. Very helpful video. Thanks!

[@chrisaylingca]

Jesse Holt f xm.

[@Serious9185]

No more cuts under the nail. hurray !!!

[@archietyson5362]

instablaster.

[@BigJul]

Your comment made me look back the part I skipped, thanks brother.

[@thelurrax596]

ive been doing work like this for years, and only today have I seen someone use the shielding to untangle the cables. goes to show it doesn't matter what you think you know, there's information to be learned everywhere.

[@alexanderb4465]

Thank you so much for this, what a clear instruction. I didnt know how the heck to use the punchdown tool or even what direction to face it in. I also did not know how to use the wire stripper in my kit that you demonstrated and had been stripping the wires the old fashioned way. You have helped me tremendously. And that tip about using the tip of cable shielding to untwist the wires was worth its weight in GOLD. THis is one of the best YouTUbe videos I have ever, ever watched.

[@rb6719]

Never used punchdown keystones before, now coming up on a project where they'll be needed instead of a coupler. This instructional was easy to follow and should make my project easier to complete. Thank you!

[@HolowatyVlogs]

I just did my first ever punch down work today. Using the cable sleeve to untwist the pairs makes so much sense. My fingers will thank me in the future.

[@ferguslogic]

probably one of the most helpful videos i've ever seen on youtube. Tells you exactly everything you need to know. Great video, thanks.

[@krisyates5898]

Love the tutorial! One thing I would mention however, sometimes the Cat5/Cat5e/Cat6 shielding strippers might accidentally nick the twisted pairs, causing a short. I always teach new techs to use the nylon string to strip the plastic shielding further down the wire to avoid this. Especially useful if the cable is used for POE or gigabit connections.

[@MachoManRandall]

Still use this video to this day. Much appreciated guys and great video!

[@Hi-Def]

Using the throwaway piece of shielding to untangle the wires, that's genius! Talk about getting the most out of your garbage.

[@Steven14580]

Trying to figure out how my home builder messed up our homes cat5e wiring and looking to fix it. Thanks for this video!

[@Forsythe92]

Thank you guys so much. Quick efficient tutorial on how to do cat5 networking keystones. There should be more people like you out there...

[@bryanbryan6108]

Be the change you want to see.

[@FireFold]

Yes, the Cat5e and Cat6 pin outs are identical in both T568A and T568B pinouts. T568B being the standard for most in North America. You will be able to punchdown a Cat6 keystone jack with Cat5e cabling, although the network would only run at Cat5e. So while it is possible, we cannot guarantee the functionality of the products when used in this manner.

[@NETWizzJbirk]

@midspan28 You can untwist 1/2 an inch. What you want is to untwist the minimum amount, but you must untwist a little bit to get the keystone jack on.

[@Hamking1]

Any suggestions on alternatives if you don't have that punch down tool?

[@assili_abdellah]

Thanks a lot man, your video is amazing , i learned too much from your video

[@GregoryGuay]

What makes it “keystone”? The fact that it slides and locks into the back of that wall plate?

[@LEIFPCGENIUS]

thanks, im a school network admin, and i couldnt explain to the board how this would work. thank you!!

[@djsixottawa]

Thanks a lot for all the detailed steps!

[@mobayguy]

Thanks! Hadn't done one of these in a while - Great refresher 👍🏻

[@rodnymh]

Thanks for explaining the A and B

[@shalamigri]

Not sure what happened @ 4:00, but that brown wire didn't look like it was pushed down at all.

[@davidjsullivanwpsk12oitser62]

Well done. Ready to rock. Thank you.

[@FD-is1ug]

Can I piggyback another set of wires over the existing to run a keystone Jack in another room?

[@BB..........]

Exactly, leave as much twist as possible. It varies epending on the manufacturer but usually they say not to untwist more than 1/2". Sometimes that little bit of untwist will be the difference between it passing spec or not. I leave the pairs twisted and just get them lined up with where they need to be landed and give them a twist to open the pair slightly so they can be landed easier.

[@AlanDike]

after cutoff, hes got less than half an inch untwisted... That whole jack is only about half an inch long, maybe an inch when you include the actual punchdown part of it. His blues and oranges are probably in the neighborhood of .25" from where it leaves the sheathing to where it gets pushed through the vampire taps...

[@BB..........]

@@AlanDike It's still more than needed, and it could easily be the difference between pass and fail. The blue is fine, but the amount of untwist on the orange and brown pairs is excessive.

[@stratanreviewsfixed3321]

Legend, you saved my day!!! good man!!

[@ppyromaniac]

Very clear and straight to the point! Thanks for sharing!!

[@nefariou5]

I like the untwisting trick with the scrap cable casing, I'll have to remember that.

[@ChristopherWarrington]

Your punch down tool looks like it punches much easier than mine. I was hoping I was using it wrong. Maybe it is the keystone I’m using. Tighter connections?

[@monono954]

Brilliant - thanks for this!

[@Serious9185]

I just learned its called a keystone jack. Hope the folks at home depot know what it mean

[@nvidiasniper]

Very informative video done in detail. Great stuff man

[@Ezzequiel2517]

IMHO I wouldnt use the wire stripper, even tho its design for this purpose, it could accidentally nick one or more of the pairs... The nylon thread is there for a reason, as you may know its used to "peel" the shielding thus guaranteeing zero nicks on the pairs...

[@prasanthn3814]

Hi. i have an Ethernet cable with colors like light pink, green, black, blue, light green, white, orange, green. But none of the wires have combination of two colors. I just need to know in which category it belongs to? Pls reply

[@dwalutay1720]

Thanks for tutorial Daniel

[@Howcast26]

I want to know if it's okay to use the dull side of the retractable knife to use as a punch down tool. The reason I use the r. knife, is so I can cutoff the nylon coat. But anyways, it fits, it makes the clicking noise like a impact tool, it just doesn't cut excess, and the jack works anyways!

[@damull07]

Great video

[@maltadress]

I have my router 4 ports full up and I want to connect another connector Rj45. It is possible to make something like a Y. Another question if I made a wall mount like you did I should have one end Rj45 through the router and the other question , as you have shown in can I loop the wall mount connector to another single wall mount internet . Best Regards Wayne Mizzi Ungaro Malta

[@staxston]

I did a “DIY”... cut the jack off of a CAT 6 commercial electric (Home Depot I think) and I am currently attempting to put a keystone on one end while the other end still has its original jack. Any help is appreciated. I’m hoping the only issue is the punch down it came with is cheap and not making a solid connection.

[@adagio1986]

Can u put two cat5e wires in one keystone jack from a loop after cutting the loop

[@scooty46805]

Can you punch down two cat5 cables in one jack?

[@XLIVLP]

Great Video! 162 people only disliked it because it still seems too difficult for them 😑.

[@thedispenser8301]

I conected a cat6 cable to a cat5e port and it doesnt work, do I need to buy an cat6 port?

[@Scythr174]

thx u so much :,D i have competitions coming up and this cleared up everything i was confused about ^^!

[@sheveioncallender2428]

Thanks man great video

[@djrelic247]

Always get into epic arguements with my boss in regards to me calling these 'keystones'. I call them keystones because they lock into a wall plate or surface mount box. I'll say Im installing RJ-45 Keystones in this wall jack and he goes " YOU MEAN DATA JACKS?!?"

[@FireFold]

You will need a switch that will expand your network capabilities. You would run one cable from the router to the switch and then you would have connections through all the other ports on the switch. Can you elaborate on your second question?

[@Windman58]

You can also use a small screwdriver to separate the wires. Just insert the screwdriver between the wires (where the wires come out of the sheathing) and pull up towards the end of the wires.

[@izagury]

What if i want the other end of this cable to have a male plug? Does it have to be also B(T-568B) or it has to be A, like crossover? I wanna have 4 jacks in different walls around the house and all of them coming to the same place as male plugs to connect direct to the router. Thanks in advance!

[@RickBurson]

One more thing because i ran out of room. When putting the keystone into the wall plate make sure it is facing the correct way. Both the plate and the jack have the word UP imprinted on them. Make sure to them both matched up. If you do not the jack will either not go in or break the faceplate if you try to force it.

[@derrickmorrison5832]

I was wondering the same thing. Thanks!

[@Generation3electric]

Nice demo. Thank you for the video

[@Edp445Junior]

is there a difference between Cat5e/Cat6 keystones? I have a cat6 cable and when I conect it through the keystone cat5(I think) the speed drops to 95 Mbps. Help pls.

[@angelbar]

oooh my God... that brown wire... Y will not sleep tonight!

[@Snowy57]

Thank you. That was a very clear instructional video.

[@okaythen001]

I am trying to instll this female cat6 jack, but the cable is cat5e,jack is cat6, crimper is cat6, so use cat6 method and wiring?

[@pops8855]

Informative :)

[@evald80]

Hello, one strange scenario. Cables from one side ends to a Patch panel cat6 and on the other side are rj45 connectors. Using the tester, all pins are ok but when connecting with computer, again everything works but some links are 100mbits and some other 1gbs. What can be the issue?

[@DIYTelecom]

Nice work Daniel. The scissors seemed out of place, but I think you were considering that your audience were going to be lay-people and not telecom peeps. 😆

[@jesseszypulski8545]

@FireFold What brand is this keystone jack? Thanks!

[@alahandiahdi7758]

Thank you brother pefect

[@SeanQuinn4]

Generally speaking it's best practice to minimize the amount of untwisting with the wire pairs. Otherwise thanks for this info!

[@dreamtheater_92]

I have a 66 block in my new home, terminated only with blue/orange from cat5e for voice. I am trying to tone out the block to find which run goes to a specific jack so I can use that cable for ethernet. When I tone the 66 block, the whole thing sounds hot. Is it possible that the block is run in series? I tried holding the probe behind my back and running my finger down the block, but touching every bridge clip produces tone. Is there a trick to doing this, or do I need to yank all the runs?

[@dgb5820]

That is very well done

[@chickerd4928]

Nice video. Correct me if I'm wrong. You said in the video that you were using cat5 cable but it looks like cat6 cable based on the plastic separator in the core of the cable.

[@ShoresOfHelll]

I have a question. On the other side I am attaching a regular RJ45 ethernet jack. Do I need to arrange those wires in same order as A,B,C,D on this or follow some specific sequence?

[@lipsticksteve9156]

Same on both ends. Crossover ethernet cables haven't been needed for a long time. Look up Auto MDI-X.

[@arifjay6756]

On the other side (if using B standard) you’ll make it Orange white / orange / green white / blue / blue white / green / brown white / brown

[@RickBurson]

Good Video but i have a couple of pointers: 1. When using the wire stripper only go around once. More than that and you can cut the pairs inside and cause a short. 2. When using the punch down set it on low impact not high as he suggest. The high impact setting can break the keystone. 3. Also cut or burn the nylon wire inside the cable. This can get tangled up with your wires when you punch them down and cause it not to connect properly.

[@lastshots300]

I wouldn't untwist the pairs like that.... or at least if you do try to keep the twisted part as close as possible to the termination point...

[@tekuniversity]

Well done, thank-you for the clear instructions!

[@trevormasterson8035]

Can you use the same punch down blade on cat 6 cable !

[@LavaLux]

Yes you can !

[@louis7052]

Thanks so much for the video! :)

[@aboynoir1]

Great video. Thanks!

[@eryador]

excellent tutor!

[@ferozsiddiqui7924]

it really helped me. thanks

[@jasonadams2]

So, I don't need to strip the individual wires?

[@idrisapatira172]

Nice Job

[@daniel25184]

As other people have said, don't untwist the pairs, leave the twists in as close as possible to the connection. Unless 10MB/s is good enough for you, of course.

[@zoeboifresh1000]

Thanks for the video

[@roberts5150]

Thank you for sharing!

[@toxic_snoopy8285]

Thx

[@fairbanksbrian]

The brown wire does not look seated.

[@ewancrawford365]

So I could put one of them on each end then plug an Ethernet cable into each end then plug one onto my Xbox and the other into my wifi router and it would work?

[@BrokeCanadian]

Yes. You would want to wire both keystone jacks as T-568B (or A.)

[@raulcarreon5386]

I'm a bicsi and I have my rcdd and if you are making this kind of videos you should know that you never need to take of the twist because It may affect the cable performance.

[@4skin4sale71]

Very helpful! I’ve just started doing data cables and keystones For Cabs and it’s been hard to find more info!

[@ayanff5000]

good job

[@canadasb1]

you dont have to strip the colored wires?

[@sjcreationsdubai3102]

very good one thank you ....

[@jerrywilson1507]

What were the scissors for?

[@GhostscoperHD]

Jerry Wilson cutting the excess wires that hang off of the jack after you punched down.

[@ericpaine2225]

That's friggin funny 😂

[@1stFlyingeagle]

Never ever take the outer jacket off and not pull the string to expose more wire. 1 nick in the wire and failure is close at hand. I have enjoyed the lesson of the failure due to nicking the wire.

[@ellenboyd9287]

Robert w Sieburg what happened? How did you identify it failed?

[@1stFlyingeagle]

@@ellenboyd9287 Orange white broke. Dressed the wire again and used the same keystone and never had a problem with it since.

[@googleevil]

Hey! Thanks a lot!

[@ronnieam33]

What did I need those scissors for ???

[@fastacker2]

In case you are attacked by a piece of paper. Always be ready.

[@MrDesertPinhead]

I followed these instructions to the letter, and not one wire made connection. Weird, huh? What can ya do, right?

[@igrewold]

spiritual backup for other tools! :D

[@bitanarch]

@canadasb1 No you don't. The punchdown tool takes care of that - the blade in the jack will make contact with the copper core automatically.

[@zaidiraq7048]

Cooooool, thank you.

[@macster1457]

can I use a cat6 keystone jack on a cat5 cable?

[@FireFold]

Yes, you can! It won't make the Cat5E cable operate any faster, but it will work the same as a Cat5E jack.

[@macster1457]

i've read that if you use cat5 cable on cat6 keystone jack, the wires will not be as tight in the punch hole because the cat6 wires are thicker than cat5.

[@FireFold]

They will work fine. We actually have a customer who only uses Cat6 jacks no matter what, and he regularly mixes Cat5E and Cat6 cable.

[@plumeater1]

lmao I'm glad I watched this just recently had a scrape on my finger de-twisting those pesky twisted-pairs!

[@BenjaminPerez]

great!

[@jootoole1089]

you are right thats cat6!

[@TomZ23]

That brown wire looked sketchy.

[@KushDaily69]

Agreed

[@Artanis667]

For sure, I'm guessing the dust cover might had pushed it into position after capping, looked pretty bad. I'd like to have seen a pinout test

[@conradpius2895]

@@Artanis667 QQQQqqqq

[@conradpius2895]

QQQ

[@jerryjackman1657]

The dust cap will not push that in.

[@IzaiasTrancoso]

muito bom gostei.