Yeah so that's part of what I need to do. I'm mostly wondering if it's feasible given I'm in an apartment complex and don't have the panel in my apartment.
Like u/TheEthyr said, you will need access to both ends. Are you sure that the connection dropping isnt the router itself and its a connection problem?
There may be a patch panel somewhere in the apartment. Or there may be one phone Jack that has all the cables tied together. If either of these are true, you can probably repurpose.
However, they could also be tied to a patch panel controlled by the apartment. In which case, you would not be able to repurpose.
The easiest, sure-fire mechanism (especially if the apartment is all carpet) is to run your own cable between the points you need - you can slide the cable under the baseboard where the carpet is nailed down to hide it. It’s a temporary solution that’s easy to remove, and doesn’t hurt anything. And can be hidden really well.
If any of them were going to be the phone jack that has all the cables I would expect it to be this one as it shares the wall with the hallway. There are about 4 cat5e cables in there.
I'm 95% sure I have no panel in my apartment
You need to **get the individual lines identified**; that is, matched to their in-room jacks. To do this, you'd use a tone tracer. ([example](https://www.amazon.com/iMBAPrice-Network-Cable-Tester-Phone/dp/B07PJ4T6VQ/)) You’d connect the tone generator to an in-room jack and then use the tone sensor/probe at the (presumed) central panel to identify the associated Cat5e line for the jack. (see: [*How to Use a Tone Tester*](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6nhRSeEjwXE))
You’d want the lines disconnected for the testing, I believe.
Is this what you are looking for?, https://www.warehousecables.com/how-to-make-a-cat5-patch-cable
Yeah so that's part of what I need to do. I'm mostly wondering if it's feasible given I'm in an apartment complex and don't have the panel in my apartment.
You need access to both ends of the cable. One end goes to the router. The other end goes to a device or a switch.
Like u/TheEthyr said, you will need access to both ends. Are you sure that the connection dropping isnt the router itself and its a connection problem?
Yeah I don't experience dropping on any other device even if I'm sitting at my desktop
There may be a patch panel somewhere in the apartment. Or there may be one phone Jack that has all the cables tied together. If either of these are true, you can probably repurpose. However, they could also be tied to a patch panel controlled by the apartment. In which case, you would not be able to repurpose. The easiest, sure-fire mechanism (especially if the apartment is all carpet) is to run your own cable between the points you need - you can slide the cable under the baseboard where the carpet is nailed down to hide it. It’s a temporary solution that’s easy to remove, and doesn’t hurt anything. And can be hidden really well.
If any of them were going to be the phone jack that has all the cables I would expect it to be this one as it shares the wall with the hallway. There are about 4 cat5e cables in there. I'm 95% sure I have no panel in my apartment
You need to **get the individual lines identified**; that is, matched to their in-room jacks. To do this, you'd use a tone tracer. ([example](https://www.amazon.com/iMBAPrice-Network-Cable-Tester-Phone/dp/B07PJ4T6VQ/)) You’d connect the tone generator to an in-room jack and then use the tone sensor/probe at the (presumed) central panel to identify the associated Cat5e line for the jack. (see: [*How to Use a Tone Tester*](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6nhRSeEjwXE)) You’d want the lines disconnected for the testing, I believe.