Ok guy's,this is written on our costing's,unsure what it all means,i have to go to our next meeting alone & i need help!

What is this,what does it mean & will it be suitable to add onto eg like an alarm etc!

Telecommunications package:Coppper/ADSL

Provide Telstra Velocity Package including 1 phone point,1 data point,1 TV point,1 single GPO to garage,run in to house & fit off ONT & PSU(CAT 5 cable for phone & data & RG6 for cable TV.
$700 (this amount seems fine)

They also have $300 for phone run in.

Also an amount of $$935 for a meter box at the front boundry in accordance with Western Power,a meter box is already on the house,so whats this??

And an amount of $2,300 for Power run in.

Are some of these amounts for the same thing?

I just want to go in alittle armed as they say,thanks for any help,coz i need it

Cheers

Someone,anyone

the part in Bold is your FTTH Lead in and the parts supplied in that.. if you want it connected to anywhere else in the House you will need the builder (to arrange)/sparkie/ comms tech to wire that up for you.

meh second parts is in relation to power meters and such so i have no idea

It just looks like they've broken up what is normally standard in a house.

As pugs said, the Velocity package is for Fibre to the home, so its your internet, phone line and TV rolled into one. Confirm that the phone run to the house is the actual phone run and not just the conduit. It lines up with what Telstra charge ($300 for running a new connection to a house if conduit has already been laid).

You'll likely add more TV and possibly more data points when you go to the meeting.

The power stuff is normally just incorporated in building costs but I guess they just itemise everything. And from what you said, if power is already on site, it probably has been included as standard already so get this confirmed. The two items aren't the same thing though, one is connecting power from the street (which I thought would be something the electricity company takes care of) and the other is for the meter box on the property. Maybe call the power company and ask them about new installations.

Thanks guys

Sheepdog,thanks for explaining it that way.
These are added costs so not supplied as standard from what i can gather from the paperwork.
They have not given itemised amounts for all the other bits.

I will go off & have another read,maybe more questions yet

Thanks heaps

The 'Telstra Velocity Package' (more reduntant technology)... Makes me ill seeing this rolled out into homes. This is just telstra being proprietary and running cable into peoples homes for their services (foxtel, phone ect). Stupid pricks.

if you had half a clue just generalising here:
You would run cat6 for TV's at least a number of points, one for TV as they have ethernet ports built into them, one for the likes of apple tv's, media center, google tv ect. You should have a central point for this setup which could include a Nas Drive or an apple or microsoft server (example a mac mini or PC, which stores the content and aggregates it)

I would really be careful with dealing with builders especially the big ones as they have very little understanding about technology and just do the same old thing that they have been for the last 10 years. Times have changed and they are struggling to keep up at the moment with the revolution, just remember the technology in the home is what makes the house liveable not the fixtures and fittings that make it pretty.

"I haven't half a clue" thats why i'm here asking

So if we say no we do not want that deal, can we add the bits in after???

I have also rang Western Power & they said that no it is not a requirement off theirs about the extra meter box.
Said that its up to the sparky,sent them a email after talking to them just to get it confirmed.

cheers

Thats the secret kerry-ann get as much cabling in as you can anywhere in the future you think you will have a TV put at least 3 cat6's and one RG6. Anywhere you think you will have a computer put a cat6, anywhere you think you will have an Xbox PS3 put another cat6. Even if you dont think its a good idea at this point in time DO IT ANYWAY i cannot emphasis this enough you need as much cable around your house as possible.

Ill tell you a secret by the time you move into your home and spend a few years living there you will spend 3-5% on the technology in the home compared with the value of your home and land. To make sure the technology you buy connects (when you eventually do purchase it) run cable.

Anything the builder or electrician tells you to do in relation to the technology in the home bypass it, i havent meet one builder who understands the revolution that microsoft, google, especially apple, and intel are pushing in the home.

Thanks Pugs,
I have gone through that post & others,even asked afew questions.
It goes over my head at times.
We do want to be prepared for later up-dates etc but are on the last branch of our money tree.
This block & build is costing a bomb but will have extra $$$$ in hand when this place sells.

Then this cost came up on the costings sheet,thought we maybe able to get so much installed & then later put the extras on.

Thanks guys,

then just get the basics done in araes you need it and then get coduits installed to be abel to have it done later on

Thats again Pugs.
I think that maybe best.

Also think i will ring a sparkie that has done some work for us before.
I will tell him what you suggest,cheers!

Kerry-ann, don't get too fussed about data cables. If its gonna cost you an uncomfortable amount, its not worth it because anything you can't live without is available in wireless. I'm pretty gadget-minded and I still haven't used the data points in my house outside of my study. Nor has anyone else I know that went through the trouble doing data cables. If its a single story, you can run anything you want afterwards with a bit of messing around, if its a double story, extra power points is a biggest priority.

Honestly, this is not very good advice at all and ill explain why. The mainstream Wireless Networking Technology to this stage is only compatible to hold one High Definition stream (1080i) and i wouldnt really be wanting to do this around corners or double brick walls. As australia moves to digital technology in the home and TV's are now coming with built in hard drives and networking ablity giving you the advantage of streaming your content to your TV from your computer, tablet, and or phone it is really absolutely imperative that you run the cable for this technology as its only going to really devalue your house as the public becomes more aware. There is a reason the government is rolling out the NBN and phasing out analogue TV. Also the amount of bandwith you can shovel through network cable compared to wireless is really incomparable.

Im going to be blunt with this sheepdog obviously you haven't lived in a solid brick home or a reasonably sized home in general.

Plus infinity.......

Wow, reasonably sized home in general? Yikes, assumptions or maybe just a dig? [Edit: Removed some personal information, suffice to say, I've lived in large homes with and without cabling.]

Put simply, the only thing you can't do over wireless is transfer blu-ray quality video and most people don't bother because MOST people don't rip their blu-rays due to the huge amount of storage (and time) they require in lossless format. In my experience, people who stream are generally streaming dvd rips, dowloaded tv shows, foxtel or FTA and they aren't in anywhere near the quality that would require cabling.

Cabling by a professional is expensive pretty much, its great if you think its worth it but if you're building a home, you know how expensive it gets and realisitically, its not nearly as useful as most other things. Also, fibre to the home does not imply that each terminal in your house will be a data point, its specifically designed to be retrofit to co-ax which is why it terminates into co-ax.

But like I said, study and TV points might be the exception for data but even then, all mid-range+ Samsung TVs (as an example) that are currently being released in 2011 (being released this month) have built in wireless. And that is absolutely fine for streaming most available content.

Lack of data cabling will never devalue a house and its nonsense to say it would. Put simply, for every person who cabled for data and is using it, I can show you 10 who have cabled and don't use it. And thousands who didn't bother at all.

Now i'm really confused

Play nicely boys

Sorry about that Kerry-anne. Pugs has a good point with running conduit if you're stretched on budget as thats handy for lots of things in general. My point was simply to not feel you *need* to add this stuff straight off because as you know, the cost of building goes up very quickly and some things are more important - like having enough power points.

Did you end up getting any more info on what the builder is charging you and why regarding your velocity/power package?

Hi ya,nope,i sent off quite afew questions to him but got an auto reply that he was out off the office for the end of the week (well i hope he is out & not hiding from me OH GOD HERE SHE IS AGAIN )

So i have to wait it seems.
We wont to have bits done so we can have a fab TV/THER rm,add a Video Alarm & poss music through the house later.

Our build/block will be costing approx $700.000 at the end & we refuse to go over,when our other house sells(fingers crossed) we will have some extra cash in hand to spend,so its important we stick to our plan.

If the basic's are there so we can add to later we will be happy

My man is into gadgets,knows all most nothing except that he likes them,give him a car in bits & he will rebuilt it beautifully ,wires blah blah NOPE

Thanks

Just remember the cost of blinds/curtains! Hah, I know its stupidly off topic but I didn't really factor it in and its a bit of a kick in the *cough ahem* after the build

Well good luck with everything and be sure to keep us posted with how it goes for any other velocity people out there