Wiring home questions

[mrbg07546]

i am buying a new house and I am planning to wire cat6 with face plates around the house.

I do have some questions.

1) in some rooms I can easily see myself using 4 Ethernet cables (behind tv) would you wire loose or with a face plate.
2) should I just wire 1 wire from switch cabinet and use another switch behind to, or just feed 4 wires from cabinet switch?
3) I presume I will have a isp router connected to a switch with about 16 ports, any limitations with his? Will I be limited by the 1 wire between the switch and the router?
4) as I plan to use a separate wireless ap connected to the switch. I didn't want to invest in a expensive wireless router. So will using isp router while disabling wifi on the router a ok solution?

 

[pete y testing]

2) should I just wire 1 wire from switch cabinet and use another switch behind to, or just feed 4 wires from cabinet switch?

i would do this as you are never going to use more than 1 device at a time are you so would be a waste to run 4 ethernet cables to the location

3) I presume I will have a isp router connected to a switch with about 16 ports, any limitations with his? Will I be limited by the 1 wire between the switch and the router?

depends on what you mean by limited , your internet speed will be the limiting factor , if all the devices are connected to the switch / s you will see very little limit between them

4) as I plan to use a separate wireless ap connected to the switch. I didn't want to invest in a expensive wireless router. So will using isp router while disabling wifi on the router a ok solution?

depends on how big the coverage area is and where you will locate the access point

 

[CaptainSTX]

i am buying a new house and I am planning to wire cat6 with face plates around the house.

I do have some questions.

1) in some rooms I can easily see myself using 4 Ethernet cables (behind tv) would you wire loose or with a face plate.
2) should I just wire 1 wire from switch cabinet and use another switch behind to, or just feed 4 wires from cabinet switch?
3) I presume I will have a isp router connected to a switch with about 16 ports, any limitations with his? Will I be limited by the 1 wire between the switch and the router?
4) as I plan to use a separate wireless ap connected to the switch. I didn't want to invest in a expensive wireless router. So will using isp router while disabling wifi on the router a ok solution?

One reason to run multiple cables to some or all locations is for redundancy in case one cable fails.

With Cat6 cables and current inexpensive unmanaged switches which support Gigabyte links there probably won't be many locations with enough devices that would saturate a Gigabyte connection on a single cable. As technology evolves and the prices of hardware fall Cat6 cables correctly installed will handle multi Gigabyte connections and throughput.

Having only a single connection between your router and the switch won't be a limitation until such time as your ISP starts offering multi Gigabyte speeds and you have the applications to use them. At that time buy a new router and a new switch.

 

[KenZ71]

I say if running one cable just as easy to run one plus a pull string & pull 2 more cables.

Crazy stuff happens, cables fail or get damaged. Try to sheild the cables - I had two running through my garage along the ceiling until one somehow got ripped off.

 

[coxhaus]

Another reason for a second wire which has not been discussed is to support an ISP VOIP phone system incase you want a phone or fax, maybe security if not cellular. The second wire will need to bypass the back end switch to hook to the phone system.

 

[JoeJoe]

i would do this as you are never going to use more than 1 device at a time are you so would be a waste to run 4 ethernet cables to the location


depends on what you mean by limited , your internet speed will be the limiting factor , if all the devices are connected to the switch / s you will see very little limit between them



depends on how big the coverage area is and where you will locate the access point

I would ignore a lot of these answers.

If you are running 4 Ethernet connections to a 4 port wall plate, that gives a great place to connect...4 devices without using a switch.
A TV/PS4/Xbox/Bluray/Roku, etc.

The internet (ISP) connection is NOT the only use of LANs.

Get multiple APs in a large house, Look at Ubiquiti Unifi.

 

[pete y testing]

A TV/PS4/Xbox/Bluray/Roku, etc.

obviously a cabler and one with deep pockets

and how many of these devices are you going to use at once ? the simple answer is !!!! ONE and thus no need for 4 times the back haul or cost

The internet (ISP) connection is NOT the only use of LANs.

you are correct but again you would only stream or transfer to one of these devices at once and again no need for the extra cost or wastage

yes multiple wireless access point are the way to go but be aware you only need a 20% overlap in wifi transmissions and flooding access point in an attempt or belief it will be better is incorrect

 

[KenZ71]

Being an open online forum opinions are plentiful.

Ethernet cable is cheap, about $5 for a 50 foot cat6 pre-termed. Running one or 4 is about the same effort. Having a switch is just one more item to plug in & conceal. Who wants to see the LEDs of a switch blinking while watching TV?

 

[CaptainSTX]

Being an open online forum opinions are plentiful.

Ethernet cable is cheap, about $5 for a 50 foot cat6 pre-termed. Running one or 4 is about the same effort. Having a switch is just one more item to plug in & conceal. Who wants to see the LEDs of a switch blinking while watching TV?

If you have four Internet capable devices connected you are going to have plenty of blinking lights even if they aren't powered up. If the additional lights on the switch are a problem tape them over.

If you use multiple cable runs back to your wiring closet you are going to need a larger switch to plug all the cable runs into with higher power consumption and more waste heat at that location.

Small unmanaged switches are inexpensive and can easily be concealed or mounted on the back of the TV using velcro or two sided tape.

If you already are using multiple devices (more than two ) in a media cabinet you probably have had to use a power strip anyway so finding a place to plug in a switch shouldn't be a problem. If it is look at using POE. I power one of my switches using a POE adapter/injector I got for less than $5.00 and it gives me a gigabyte link.

The only Ethernet run in my home that I would not want to share by using a switch is for my NAS

 

[Ois]

I am building currently too and have had plenty of time to think about this...
I concluded that more cables is better. Adding additional cables is much cheaper than buying additional switches and providing them with electricity for years to come! (especially if or when I eventually move to 10Gbe or similar , new switches would be needed everywhere!)
More cables provide redundancy and also offer the chance to use them for other applications in the future.

I have four ethernet connections to my tv area too - I hope I can avoid using a switch with 4.

Also, I decided to go with Cat7A wiring instead of Cat6. I chose the better wire for a few reasons.....I will probably use PoE at some stage, Cat7 reduces the voltage drop on the line due to an increased cross section. I will also probably switch to 10Gbe at some stage in the future, and I know Cat6 is likely to be fine, but I want it to work as well as possible.
The other reason is that, even to wire my entire place (~40 ethernet lines) the cable itself is really pretty cheap no matter which type I use, therefore I just chose the best.

 

[CaptainSTX]

I am building currently too and have had plenty of time to think about this...
I concluded that more cables is better. Adding additional cables is much cheaper than buying additional switches and providing them with electricity for years to come! (especially if or when I eventually move to 10Gbe or similar , new switches would be needed everywhere!)
More cables provide redundancy and also offer the chance to use them for other applications in the future.

I have four ethernet connections to my tv area too - I hope I can avoid using a switch with 4.

Also, I decided to go with Cat7A wiring instead of Cat6. I chose the better wire for a few reasons.....I will probably use PoE at some stage, Cat7 reduces the voltage drop on the line due to an increased cross section. I will also probably switch to 10Gbe at some stage in the future, and I know Cat6 is likely to be fine, but I want it to work as well as possible.
The other reason is that, even to wire my entire place (~40 ethernet lines) the cable itself is really pretty cheap no matter which type I use, therefore I just chose the best.

Currently most smart TVs, video streaming boxes don't even come close to saturating a fast Ethernet connection much less a gigabyte connection. Will there ever be a need for 5 Gig or 10 Gig connections? If yes then to future proof your self perhaps you should pull fiber to each drop location just in case you need 100 Gig connections.

As for electricity use you probably save some by not having several small switches but how much? If you are using a 16 port switch vs an 8 port switch and two 4 port switches what is the energy differential? With the green design of many current switches newer equipment if fairly efficient.

As for cost a five port unmanaged switch can be had for $25. A sixteen port switch can be had for $85. On a per port basis not much difference in cost.

 

[pete y testing]

Will there ever be a need for 5 Gig or 10 Gig connections?

with respect to keeping up with wireless AC the answer is yes as we are now hitting 110MB/s over wifi , so the ethernet will need to improve as to not bottleneck the lan / wlan environment

but i do maintain there is no need for multiple runs to the same location unless multiple devices are used at once , eg an office with a few comps and stuff

entertainment centers may have 3 or 4 ethernet capable devices like amps and tv and recorders and media players / consoles but in EVERY case you can and would only ever use one of these at once so only have demand on one device and thus its bandwidth at any point in time , eg you wouldnt be streaming on your tv while using your xbox to play games now would you

 

[Ois]

cable costs almost nothing....it's a no a no brainer really.
~1 euro/dollar per meter even for the best cable - peanuts.

True, fibre would probably be better, I don't know know much about fibre so I picked the best LAN cable available instead.

 

[Dusky]

cable costs almost nothing....it's a no a no brainer really.
~1 euro/dollar per meter even for the best cable - peanuts.

True, fibre would probably be better, I don't know know much about fibre so I picked the best LAN cable available instead.

Agree. The minimal cost of cable makes pulling mutiple cables an easy decision especially if it's new construction. I pulled a minimum of 4 cat6 to every room (1/wall). Media room has 12. In most cases, I pulled all the cables to a room simultaneously in a single pull. We often have multiple wired devices running in a room. In addition to internet, some of the cat6 is for landline phone, access points and securtity cams. This was my first network wiring attempt and I can now say that most anyone can do it if they have the time/interest. I havent regretted "over-wiring" for a second. Im certain I would have regretted pulling a single cable per faceplate. I also took the same approach with RG6. I pulled a similar number with half dedicated to cable and the others to OTA antennas.