How do I Ethernet my house?

[iball]

I am trying to convince the head of the house to run ethernet through the walls. How would we go about doing that..any tutorials? Do we get Cat5..6..Z?

Also what other hardware do we need?

 

[bendsley]

ethernet in house

I currently have my whole house wired with at least two drops in each room. Everything is run down the walls, through the attic and back into the coat closet where I have a punch down block. All of my stuff is Panduit, a little pricey, but it looks nice. I used Cat5e because that's what I had. If you're going to buy stuff, get cat6 because the cost is completely negligible.

I would also tell you if you're going to run ethernet cable, I would do two drops per area, room or wherever you're running it into. This makes it easy for multiple connections, etc. It would be easier to have two boxes of ethernet cable to do this with, but not necessary (just a huge time saver).

Wireless in the house is good, but if I stream Bluray ISO files across the network, Wireless N just doesn't cut it. However, gigabit ethernet does just dandy.

Basic needs would be:
Cat6 cable spool
Patch panel (for where all the cables converge)
Punch down tool (not if you use Panduit stuff)
Cable jacks and face plates for them
A 10/100/1000 switch for the cables to plug into from patch panel

I would suggest getting parts online at monoprice.com or looking at Graybar Electric or a Border States electric if they're in your area. Monoprice is hella cheap though and great stuff. The reason I went with Panduit is becasue of their minicom line of products. These are modular face plates with ethernet jacks, RG6 (coax), RJ11 (phone line), audio and video jacks, etc.

Pictures are included of my setup.

 

[Jeroen1000]

Nicely done. My compliments.
Jeroen