Networkcabling in a new house...

[VJ]

A friend of mine is currently building a new house. The idea is to prepare it for high-speed internet access (either through cable or adsl).
Currently, the plan is to put Cat5 UTP cable from several rooms to the point where all communication comes in. The idea being that an ADSL or cable modem could be placed there, and then there would be internet access in all of those rooms.

Any comments ? Is the Cat5 a good choice, or would it be more interesting to opt for gigabit cables ?


Jörg

[Paddy]

cat5 is more than enough IMO.

My house is covered with the stuff... I intend to go wireless in my next one though!

[rugger]

Use cat6e or whatever the latest stuff is.

Cable costs are insignificant compared to labour costs of getting it replaced at a later stage when he wants to move to gigabit.

In fact, the only reason I don't say go fibre is that optical coverters cost very large sums of money.

[Sasq]

Yup go with the latest, and also arrange that draw strings are included + pvc tubeing in the walls to make it eaiser to draw cable later. so its eaiser to upgrade

Dan

[Jammrock]

CAT 5e will support up to 1 Gb ethernet connections. CAT 6 merely does it with a better tolerence and has some future-proofing built in. If he can afford good CAT 6, go for it; otherwise, CAT 5e will do.

Just make sure he buys cabling that meets building codes and standards. It would be really bad if he would need to rip out all the cable after the house is already built because it didn't meet code.

Jammrock

[Wombat]

Conduit.
Conduit.
Conduit.

[SteveC]

Remember to seperate the CAT5 from the mains cabling too! I think it may well be against some laws if you don't run them in separate conduits.

My old house (parent's) where I lived up until Feb this year I ran CAT 5 all over it - it was easy to lift up all the floorboards and run cables. I put a network point in all rooms upstairs, the loft and a couple downstairs - make's life easier for LAN games

Where I am now though, I'm not allowed to do anything like that, so it's wireless here now (Wireless Access Point on router, Wireless USB adapter for my main PC, Wireless PCMCIA card for my laptop). Also Wireless keyboard/mouse. 2 Wireless (DECT) Phones. And I'm about to get (when I can find them!) wireless phone point extenders for my TiVo.

I'm being fried alive!!

[Dr Mordrid]

Using cat5e with conduit here. Won't go wireless since the house is already wired, but I will go gigabit ASAP. Have to get a 10/100/gigabit switch then run an uplink to my Linksys Cable/DSL router though. Probably Linksys's EG0801W.

Dr. Mordrid

[cal]

hi
just finishing my house. dual cat 5 in kids rooms and 3 cat 5 lines in the computer room. using the second line for phone conedtion. the 10/100 switch is in the mechanical room. it was just cheeper to buy one box of cat 5.the phone system goes to an "a" block with rj45's just in case i need to unplug or upgrade to extra computer lines (teenagers). also run dual video lines to every room. if he's building it himself it's a big job , took me two years and i still have little things to do ie: the deck

luck to him
cal

[VJ]

Ok, sort of what I thought of... He already started cabling (which I didn't know of), and is using cat5e, in a conduit (together with TV cable though - I knew about not putting together with power cables )).

Thanks,


Jörg

[Dilitante1]

if you are willing to spend up front, why not use the all in 1 cable i have seen out there? it has cat5e,fibre,cable(tv),phone,speaker and a few others built in......
this is similar:

http://www.cablesamerica.com/product_list.asp?cat%5Fid=2701

I saw it a year ago at a local electrical supplier and want to play with some someday

[UtwigMU]

Consider small server/ISDN/lan/communications room (2-4 m^2). Consider cooling, rackmount ...

If I'd be planning a house I'd certainly consult IT expert for LAN and computers requirements.

Consider that houses generally last 50-100 years or even longer and network standards will certainly change = conduit.

Also make sure you mount wall outlets for lan and overspec it. Also consider enough sockets.

I currently have 2 lights, 1 computer, printer, scanner, zip drive, speakers, monitor and cell phone charger = 9 plugs and 3 wall sockets.

[KvHagedorn]

We do this for a living.. trust me, there is no such thing as futureproof, unless it is conduit. A one story house with a high roof so there is lots of attic space is ideal (most of the houses we do are like this) so conduit it simple to do. Use PVC pipe.. it is kinda difficult to run but is usually easier to work with once it IS run. Make it at least an inch in diameter and run a pull wire through it.

If I were doing my own house (hey, I just did) I would use Cat 6 wire, simply because it is reasonable overkill. I have a cat6 run directly from the phone service box through a surge protector and into my dsl modem.

Check out www.leviton.com and look at products/integrated networks. They have some good stuff available. I would run all your ethernet lines to a patch panel in a media box, where you can put your router and dsl/cable modem. From there run direct to the service feed. We usually run all RG6 and cat5/6 cables to one big box so they can be connected however they need to be. Phones, video, and cable all go to the same spot. You can connect a huge pvc pipe to the top of the box if you want to, to facilitate running more/different cables into the box at a later date. My advice is just run everywhere you think you could possibly need an outlet. Don't forget by the bed and at the breakfast table.. lots of people plug laptops in there. We usually run ethernets to the refrigerator and sometimes other appliance areas for use by smart appliances, too.

[RedRed]

I had my hous re-wired in May (it was built in the '50's, and without the work, I couldnt get a mortgage.....)

I put cat 5 in most of the rooms, but plastered over the boxes I dont intend to use for a while....

I did make one mistake though. I used standard D cable ppe for the wires.... Its not big enough, really.... I can increase the cables by tacking in 2 to the original cat5 and 'pulling through', but some of the bends are a bit tight. Lesson: use the biggest conduit you can fit. I had problems as the house is two floors, and the ground floor is solid walls all round (most of the first floor too), which meant it was a real bitch to track in the walls.....

I needed to replaster much of the ground floor anywar, so that wasnt a problem.

All my points meet in the flored part of the roofspace, and it looks reasonable. My cable modem port is on the first floor, and when I get round to it, I will run the tap cable up there and through my router setup.....

RedRed