French Wiring - RJ45

[hertsman99]

I have been helping a friend with a new build in France.
He is doing the electrics. Got the general wiring sorted and we now see that we have to put RJ45 sockets in all the "principal rooms".

Isn't the use of RF45 a bit old-fashioned since I distribute internet access in my house in UK with a wireless router and could do much the same with my 'phone or even TV, if I wanted to and don't have to pull CAT5 cabling everywhere.

If the regular electrics are OK but there's no telephone connection and hence no modem, how would the inspector check that the RJ45 wiring is in place and capable of use.

Has anyone got direct experience in this area?

 

[Monkeh]

If by old fashioned you mean secure, reliable, fast, and cheap.

I'd just go ahead with it, it's well worth the effort.

Also, I'm curious. Is the official wording 'RJ45 sockets'? If so, that's another reason to glass France.

 

[hertsman99]

Not that interested in observations about whether miles for copper wire with fiddly sockets versus simple well-proven wireless are better. We know what we wouild like to do, anyway the wireless kit we use is much faster.

The question was about getting a sign-off for a new build's electrics without any signals on the RJ45 sockets with no telephone, internet, TV or whatever.

I really would appreciate observations from folks who have actually been thru' the French Consuel inspection given that we have a post 2008 "permis de construire" that makes the rules mandatory and that without sign-off, EDF absolutely won't connect. So the data circuits in the house can prevent the regular mains being provided.

This isn't intended to start a debate about "whether", it's about getting thru' the French Regs.

 

[Monkeh]

Fair enough, but I just have to say: No, your wireless kit isn't faster. There is no wireless standard, especially with consumer availability, which is faster than a wired connection. Fixed equipment (desktop PC, TV, etc) should never be connected wirelessly. I'd use powerline networking over wireless if I couldn't run some cat5e or cat6.

.. actually, that's an idea. Perhaps you should enquire if powerline connectivity is sufficient?

 

[OwainDIYer]

Is anyone actually going to check whether these sockets are connected to anything?

 

[solair]

Basically, the French building / wiring regulations have a bit of forward planning for future services.

It's obligatory in new build under Norme NF C 15-100 (2003)

They have to go back to a "Coffret de Communication" (A communication distribution hub/distribution centre). Typically, this looks rather like an electrical distribution panel i.e. it's on DIN Rails.

They do not have to be connected, but there has to be the possibility of connecting a router there.

There are standard units, these will also contain the demarkation point for France Telecom (An RJ11/45 socket with test point) and also your local cable company (if any)

Video explains a lot : (Cover removed from the Coffret de Communication)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBpJm6-YHBY

This one goes into a bit more detail :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC98hRaUcms&feature=related

Wireless technologies are not as fast, nor as reliable as CAT5E / CAT6 networks. If you want to stream video for example, a wired network is vastly superior to wireless.

Also, many French towns and cities have widely available fibre-to-home, which is not available in the UK other than in a few experimental pilot projects with BT/Virgin. So, it's quite possible that the CAT6 wiring will be very necessary if you want to take advantage of some of the speeds those fibre services can deliver to your home.

Also, I'm not entirely sure, but I think France Telecom / Orange is changing away from those enormous "T" connectors to RJ11 the same as the US, Spain, Ireland etc.

It's possible that they use RJ11/RJ45 combination sockets (they have guides that accept either 6-way RJ11 (telephone) or 8-way RJ45 (Data) plugs. This means that the sockets can be used for structured wiring for analogue telephone service too, depending on what you wire up.

To be quite honest, if I were wiring my own house from scratch, I would definitely whack in RJ45 sockets, and also a good load of satellite grade / cable TV grade Coax to a few points around the building too.

If it's in the wiring regs in France, there's nothing you can do about it other than to install it.

If you want to use WiFi, nobody's going to stop you, but having CAT6 infrastructure in place is a fantastic bonus in any building.

It's standard in France in new build and to be honest, I think it's a fantastic idea! It should be the same everywhere

 

[Monkeh]

It's possible that they use RJ11/RJ45 combination sockets (they have guides that accept either 6-way RJ11 (telephone) or 8-way RJ45 (Data) plugs. This means that the sockets can be used for structured wiring for analogue telephone service too, depending on what you wire up.

An 8P8C socket physically accepts a 6P2C (RJ11) connector anyway. RJ11 and RJ14 (6P2C and 6P4C connectors) are electrically compatible with T568A or B (meaning you wire it up the same way anyway, and just change what you plug in). RJ45 is not involved (and physically wouldn't fit an ethernet port anyway)..

 

[solair]

Well, some 8P8C sockets are adapted to hold an RJ11/RJ12 plug stably. E.g. the telephone sockets used by Eircom in Ireland for example accept both.

Some 8P8C (RJ45 for shorthand reference) won't hold the smaller plug stably.

(Socket with DSL splitter plate fitted)

RJ11 on the right, RJ45 on the left, however both plugs are RJ11

Our phone jacks are actually 6P6C here, but the plugs are usually 6P2C for standard voice connections. There are various wiring options for privacy circuits, ISDN, office systems, 2nd and even 3rd lines etc which can use the other pins on the 6P6C socket.

Older style 6P6C socket (most common type found in Irish homes)

New French DTI socket (Demarkation point with test socket)

 

[mointainwalker]

What they actually call for is a communications socket

Prises de communication
Voir page 4 et 17
b 1 socle de prise de communication par
pièce principale et cuisine

so put in what you like.

That apart I have heard that the inspectors don't bother with them anyway as is not electricity, but that may vary area to area.

If guy is very conscientious he would count sockets but no testing.

They don't test everything in the regs e.g light pendant supposed to be good for 25 kg load, but they aren't issued with a 25 kg weight to test.

 

[mzee]

Greetings from a first time user.A simpler but related question:In the communications panel, as well as the DTI block, I have a telephone distribution block in the form of 12 banks of 4 interconnected "wire pinch" connectors. How do I use this? I need 4 outputs. Do I : Allow 1 contact on the first 2 strips for the incoming twisted-paiir input, use the next 2 as outputs, bridge to the next pair of strips,and then continue with more outputs? Strange as this is, its the only scheme I can come up with. If you would like to help but find my description confusing, please say so, and I will try to find out how to post a picture of the block in question. Thanks in advance,