Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA
Thanks, John. I'm not a nerd*, and our modem sits near the computer, while phones are scattered around the house. Our existing wiring has old-style junction boxes fastened to the sides of joists here and there, as I extended the original, one-line wiring around. These are not weatherproof. The AT&T box has, if I recall correctly from opening it earlier this week, space for four connections. Are there patch boxes/junction boxes suitable for crawlspace installation that would allow me to run one cable to a central point and then radiate out from there?

Put another way, can you suggest the sort of retailer from whom I'd buy this kind of stuff? Radio Shack was the source of the "you don't need but the old cable" advice, and I don't find anything in the local Yellow Pages that points me in any obvious direction as to where to get materials.

*My sons would beg to differ.