GE Cat5 Network Wall Plate Install
Installing Cat5 network wall plates can be a very confusing and tedious task, but with the right directions and hints you will be able to install the network wall plates in a jiffy. Before we start wiring the Cat5 network wall plates, let me tell you a story. I recently installed a couple of GE network and coaxial wall plates in my apartment, to bridge the gap between the walls between my two rooms.Â
After looking at the directions that GE provided to install the Cat5 network wall plates. I realized that they were really confusing, uninformative and plainly just piss poor directions. So I decided to write this how to guide on install GE cat5 network wall plates to make your job easier. This should also work for other network wall plate brands, just make sure that you match up the correct cable color with the right pin number.
To begin the installation of the cat5 network wall plates, you will first need to strip off about 2 inches of the plastic shield to expose the eight color wires inside. Next you will then need strip off about 3/8 to 1/2 inch of the dielectric material to expose the copper conductor.
Remember to only strip off enough of the dielectric material that you will need to work with because if you expose too much copper conductor this could create crosstalk in the cable. After you have stripped the cat5 cable to the proper length, will then need to use the following chart to wire a straight-though cable connection to the GE network wall plate.
| GE Network Wall Plate | Cat5 Ethernet Cable | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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this was exactly what i needed to wire my house for internet thank you
Perfect!. GE sells this plate at Home Depot but can’t tell you how to wire it. Bingo. You nailed it.. Thanks
why couldn’t they have done that ? Thanks for the help ! works great now …
machesked…you are a sweetheart!!! I can fix the entire house now..the electrician couldn’t even do this!! But now I can. Thanks so much!!
Thanks. I appreciate someone making some sense.
I agree with the other messages. Thanks for helping. I was surprised there was not any direction sheet in the package. They should print this site and include it in the future packages!
why couldn’t GE package designers be as GENIUS as you? I mean, I’m really glad they let me know where to put the screws, because that was SOO tricky.
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU! I have done networking for the last 10 years and I have never seen the colors they provided on the back of their connector.I wired it as if I were doing a normal straight through. I must still have a kink somewhere because according to your chart I did it correctly, but I needed to find some reference since GE did not include any – this bit of instruction was MUCH NEEDED! Thanks again,
Thank you so much! This help a lot!
Perfect!!! Saved us a lot of time!
Thanks a million! Makes you wonder how it got packaged without instructions. I have one question. I am running cat 5E to the opposite side of the house (lets call this wallplate 2). Wallplate 1 will be near my router. I want to make things look neat by coming from my router with a patch cord to wall plate 1. My question is, will my wiring be just the opposite on one end or will both be the same? Thanks
The wiring will be the same on both wall plates. If you hooked it up opposite on the other end, you would have a cross over connection.
I have fought with this for a few hours tonight and just found this site. I have 6 wires in my ethernet cable and am using 2 of them (blue and blue/white) for phone. I want to use the other 4 (orange, orange/white, green, green/white) for my network. I have this set up on another jack in the house but I did not install it and I can’t get to it as it is buried behind the TV wall unit. I followed the instructions above but am still not working. Is a 4 wire set up different than the 8 wire above? Can anyone help?
Thanks in advance.
As far as I know, you need all eight cables in the ethernet cable just for the network. A few of the cables are for transmitting and receiving data. Others will be used for power and grounding.
Thanks this help a lot. And got me out of trouble on a job site.
If I shut off “airport” on my wife’s Apple Mac Book and plug in the Ethernet cable from the wireless router to the laptop, I get an internet connection. When I plug the cable back into the GE wall plate (the wiring is exactly as you have listed, on both ends), and plug in an Ethernet cable from the wall plate to the laptop I cannot get an internet connection. Any idea what could be wrong? I even changed out the wall plates in two different rooms in case they were the problem. Can I run the Cat6 cable from wall plate to wall plate?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
You can run cat6 cable to connect the two wall plates together. Make sure that when you connect each cable to the wall plate, that the exposed copper cable is only connected to the right connector and is not touch any other connector. This could short out the connection.
THANK YOU! That was perfect! GE’s instruction was not user friendly. They assumed people are tech savvy. Thanks again.
I have cable internet and only one jack in my bedroom and the modem is connected to that jack. My question is..How can I get cable TV in my room when the only jack is being used by the modem? Tried an splitter but the internet goes down. Please advice.
The problem you are having is that the cable signal is being split too many times causing a weak signal for your cable modem. The way to run cable tv and cable internet is to place a two way splitter at the main feed. The main feed is where the cable company ran a cable from the electrical pole to your house. Once you install the two way splitter run one cable from the output to your modem, then run another cable from the other output to your tv. If you have to run multiple tv’s then you can hook another splitter to to the two way splitter. If you are only running one tv and one modem in the same room, find the splitter that the cable company installed and barrel the lines together, then move the two way splitter into that room. You could also be using the wrong type of cable or a splitter that doesn’t hold the right frequencies for you cable internet service. Make sure that you are using RG-6 coaxial cable and a splitter that hold 2150MHz.
Hey thank you so much for this information, Internet works fine now in all rooms thanks to this advice
We will never understand why GE doesnt use the same color code then in the Network Cables, so dont waste you time time thinking about that, just do the wiring like its listed here 
I have GE Network WallPlate connected to one end of the CAT5 and wired the same as the above screen shot. However, what i would like to know is how to wire the other end of the cable using the RJ45 jack (male) so that i can connect it to a Router?
I tried to wire the RJ35 jack male as follow:
White/Orange
Orange
White/Green
Blue,
White/Blue
Green
White/Brown
Brown
However it doesn’t seem to work. Can you please give me some ideas how to wire it on the male end?
thanks in advance
Traitimmapu
This wrote this article to show how to wire two ethernet wall plates together, plus I forgot that not all people use switches in their house. You might need a cross over cable to connect your pc to your router, you could either rewire the ethernet wall plate, or the connector.
1. White/green
2. green
3. white/orange
4. blue
5. white/blue
6. orange
7. white/brown
8. brown
Thanks, machesked – the set of crossover wiring instructions was exactly what I needed. The GE wall plate did the trick, but only after I located your insight! For anyone else interested: I needed to run a wired ethernet adapter from my tivo to the back of a GE wall plate. One end of the cat5e is an RJ45 (plugged into the linksys adapter) and the other to the wall plate. Using the crossover version of the diagram – I was able to make the connection.
I have a GE wall plate on one end and a Leviton RJ45 receptacle on the other end. Should I use the T568 A or B wire pattern on the RJ45? Which color pattern should I use on the GE wall plate? Thanks!
Use the T568b wiring standard.
It is very interesting am amazing about this web believe me I spend like 45 minutes to try to know about the ge network wall plate installation and thanks Gad that you provide this information for every one thanks
Thanks Machesked for the update.
I’m still confused. If I’m using Ethernet CAT5 cable to connect from the Wall plate to my computer. I would wire the wall plate as the same as the above. But for the other end of the Wall Plate wire I would wire as you mentioned below to connect this end to the router correct?
1. White/green
2. green
3. white/orange
4. blue
5. white/blue
6. orange
7. white/brown
8. brown
Thanks
Traitimmapu
Yep. By wiring one end according to the original document and then the other end according to what I wrote yesterday, you will create a cross over cable.
Thanks machesked!
I will try it out and let you know if it works or not.
Not a problem.
Hi Machesked,
I tried the wiring you sugguested and i’m not getting connection.
Thanks
A wire has to be hooked up wrong or you have a defective product somewhere.
Thank you for writing this guide. I just purchased these wall plates and found the directions as you put it “piss poor” also. You saved the day for me and eliminated a lot of trouble shooting for me I am sure. Thanks again!
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
Thank you so much for your help. Can’t believe they didn’t put instructions in the package. Swore we had the wrong product because of it!
Hey, I bought one of those GE wall plate and was having trouble for a day and a half with no connection. The package simply said to connect the wires according to the color coded wires, well…that didn’t work…I came across your wire chart for what wires go where, tried it, and lo and behold…IT WORKS..! I now have blazing fast speed on my xbox 360…!
Thanks for posting your wire chart. It was a big help…!!!
Thanks a million! GE ought to be paying you!
would this be the same if i use a cat6 instead of cat5e?
Yeah this should work with a cat6 cable.
I just bought a house that was supposed to be wired for Ethernet, but each wall outlet has a coax cable connection and a phone connection. I questioned the builder who argued that it is cat5 cable going to the phone connection and if I want cat5 outlet I have to rewire the faceplates, so I bought these GE faceplates and found this site (thank you 1000x over for this site!), but now when I take the faceplates off the wall I have 2 sets of cat5 wires for a total of 8 white wires with no color stripes. 2 sets(4 wires) were joined together, leaving 2 sets unpaired.
Any suggestions on how to complete the wiring? It is Christmas day and I am trying to get my son internet in his room above the garage that gets crappy wireless reception and has 2 of these (supposed) cat 5 outlets installed in the wall.
Any help is appreciated!
I think I understand it now a little better after looking at the wires further up the wall. The white wires aren’t actually stripped, they are just twisted with another color, so if I look further up into the wall I can see where each white wire comes wrapped around a specific color, then I just refer to the chart to connect it, right? I hope I solved my own dilemma…
It doesn’t matter what wire pairs that you decide to use, but as along as they are consistent between the wall plate and the cat5 connector.
awesome – the package did suck, no directions at all -
You rock
I need to go from my modem to the wall plate, then the wall plate into my router in the attic, where I will split the wired signal between two more wall plates. I am completely lost, but I have the crimpers, connectors, and wall plates. HELP!!!!
Just wire one room at a time. So wire the wall plate where your modem, then wire the wall plate in the attic that will connect to your router. Take a laptop up there and make sure you are getting internet. Then your should be able to run ethernet cables from your router and connect to the other walls that go to the other rooms in your house. All the wall plates will be wired according to the diagram.
Sounds great, so how do I wire the ethernet connectors? I tried “A” but it did not seem to work. I already tried the laptop in the attic. The router in the attic is wireless, but I will run wired connnections out of it.
You need to use 568-B standard on both ends.
Pin 1 = White/Orange
Pin 2 = Orange White
Pin 3 = White/Green
Pin 4 = Blue/White
Pin 5 = White/Blue
Pin 6 = Green/White
Pin 7 = White/Brown
Pin 8 = Brown/White
Excellent. 3 wall plates wired as you say above, and 3 connectors in the attic wired with the “B”. One is input (from one wall plate to the attic), the other two go out to the 2 remaining wall plates. Thanks!
No problem just remember if you ever trying connecting a ethernet switch to another switch you will need to make a cross over cable to connect them.
Going from cable modem out to wall plate (store bought ethernet cable). Then from that plate into the wireless router in the attic. From the router I am going to run two out back to wall plates. So I am just wiring 3 wall plates and 3 connectors in the attic. Starting now, will let you how it goes. Can’t thank you enough for the help.
Thank you so much for this outstanding contribution and fix. Can’t believe GE wouldn’t include your chart with their packaging. Many, many thanks!!!
On the wire that I got from where I work, I found that none of the wire colors corresponded to the colors in the wall jack. I took one end of the wire(cat 5 plug still attached)plugged it into the GE jack. I cut the other end off and stripped back the wires. I then took an ohm meter(from the cut end to the screws in the jack) and matched up each of the cable wires to which screw in the jack they were connected to and recorded this info on a sheet of paper. Apparently the manufacturer is too ignorant to tell you that there are many different wires out there and it is very simple to match them up.
It would be nice if they showed a diagram, im guessing since there are so many standards they don’t bother. Probably cost one more cent in manufacturing. : )
Thanks,This info was excactly what I needed.Shame on G.E. for not including this in their packaging.
I have connected the wall plate per your color guide. Thank you. I now need to connect the other side to mine 8 port switch. Which color scheme do I use on the switch side? Thanks again.
Mike
You should be able to use the same wiring scheme.
Saved me the time from having to chart this out myself. Thanks!
I read in one of your comments that one of the wires is used as a ground. Does this mean that that wire terminal does ‘not’ run through the Cat-5 but simply stops at the wall? The Cat-5 is just copper wires that carries a signal from one end to the other…right? Why can you not just use any wire combination on any terminal as long as they are wired on the same terminals for both wall plates?
You can use any combination that you want as long as they are the same on both ends, it is about standardization.
Excellent doc….worked sweet.
Thank you very much! Very helpful.
I couldn’t believe that this wall plate didn’t use standard wire colors. Thank-you for providing this!
I’m quite surprised that this wall plate is marketed for cat6, let alone cat5e. I saw this thing at Home Depot recently and just about fell over!! As a professional network technician with many years of commercial, industrial ,and has working knowledge everything from EIA TIA specs all the way to complex routing protocols, these jacks WOULD NEVER pass a cat6 let alone a cat5e cable test. When cat 5e cables are terminated you are only allowed maybe 1/4″ of pairs being untwisted, even less for cat6 It is VERY IMPORTANT to maintain the pair twist right up to the point of termination. I have installed thousands of cat5 and cat6 terminations as well as many miles of cable and based on what I saw at the store(and this website) there is far more than 1/4″ of untwisted pairs, also wires from different pairs are running against each other not maintaining any type of proper twist. This jack would certainly fail a cross talk test as specified under EIA TIA standards. As a professional I would never use these!! The Leviton keystone quick ports are a much better alternative and cost wise not much different. Anyway my .02..
Thanks a lot. Would not have figured this out without your guide; was totally easy with it!!
Thank you so much. This was a huge help. I’m so glad we found this. We had to do the crossover connection and the instructions worked perfectly.
Hi there..how do you know whether the wiring on an RJ45 connector is straight through or cross over?
A straight through and cross over are two ways you can wire a rj45 connector
More then likely you will need to wire a straight through connection. You would wire a crossover connection forlike devices, for instance switch to switch or pc to pc.
Thanks, worked like a charm. Per a previous post, shame on GE for neither using the right colors nor bothering to explain it.
I need help using the same cat 5 cable for both Phone and ethernet. My blue and white and orange and wihite are being used for phone line. Can I use the other 4 wires ( Brown, Greeen abd theirrespective stripes for ethernet using the GE wall plate.
Thanks in advance.
I could not have said it better than everyone before. GE should pay you for making their equipment work.
That jack didn’t work for me, in fact it cost me a lot of time and grief. I re-bought using Leviton the 2nd time and all my problems vanished. The GE is a nice looking connection but there is no directions and the color-coding makes no sense. Leviton, while not as nice looking, had complete wiring directions and a much simpler wiring connection.
Wow, thanks!
This was an excellent how to guide. I was racking my brain for days over this stupid jack system. I reset my network thinking it was that, and it wasn’t. It’s the bean pushers at GE, thinking that network installers wouldn’t need the normal Cat5 coloring. Thanks so much.
Your a genius! Along with everyone else who looked at this site I have been really confused about how to go about wiring this face plate. Thank you very much!
Thank you sooooo much!
Thank you soooooo much !!! It’s amazing that they, “GE”, could not have done that. My wire and wall plate connections work fantastic now.