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My father literally chopped off his internet connection (pawb.social)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

6 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Title. While doing some other work, he realised that underneath the console where his TV went, there were a bunch of cables from past-inhabitants-of-this-house's cable TV setups.

He reasoned he'd solve this by sawing off those unseemly white cables, thus opening space for new stuff.

Except... The ethernet cable that connected the internet router to the Switch that routed it all over the house, connecting to our shared family homeserver and such? Yeah, it was also white, and also down there.

So. My dear ol' dad took a saw to his internet. And chopped it down. Now he'll need to call someone to run the cables through the walls again (this is Brazil. Walls are solid concrete. Running new cables through walls is NOT easy!)

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The connector is soldered to the boards at each end at the device. Should we stop the world and redo all of them. There is no magic in copper traces or wires. Solder is far better than multiple mechanical connections with nickel plated pins to multiple connectors. That is a great way to attenuate signals massively. Every connector in the path is a problem.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No, Ethernet cables aren't soldered into boards; they plug into jacks which are.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It is all the same! I design and etch circuit boards because it is easier than point to point wiring. There is no magic here. The connector is soldered to a copper trace but that trace is not magic. It is only a wire that is easier to sort and organize with the complexity of the circuit. I can and have replaced those traces many times with point to point wires. It makes no difference.

What makes the most difference is the mechanical point to point contact through whatever grime and junk is present combined with oxides and the very limited contact surfaces.

I have made Ethernet devices and circuits many times in hobby circuit board projects. This is a none issue.

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

Yeah, I do all that too, personally and professionally.

I've also run Ethernet through three different houses.

Anyway, the main point is that it's going to be a lot easier to attach some connectors than to solder some bare solid wires hanging in midair.