Page 1 of 2
We're currently building a new house, up to wiring etc before they gyprock.
Just after some basic advice on phone/network cabling for it, at the place we're in now we only have the one phone socket and have the adsl splitter on it (phone and modem are on the same desk). In the new place we have 3 phone sockets - one in study, living where computer will be and another in the kitchen.
We have adsl and want to be able to access the internet at 2 of the 3 phone points.
To do this would we need to run network cabling?
If so would it just need to have the two points or is it better to put in others for the future? And if this was the case where would you put them
We dont have much idea about network or cabling in the house, pretty much the only thing we need it for is the internet. I dont see us using it for anything else but then with all the changes in technology we are wondering if we should think about it a little more given its easier to put in now. Or our other idea was to run conduit so it can be done later.
and we have probably left this rather late to think about given they are meant to be gyprocking the end of next week.
Any help would be great, but it needs to be basic or I dont understand
Hi naddis01,
I could spend 3 days explaining different possibilities, but at the end of the day there are 2 options. Wired or Wireless.
Wireless is easy. Your ADSL modem sits in 1 spot (it can plug into any active phone point) and all your devices connect wirelessly anywhere in the house.
Wired, your modem sill sits in 1 spot (you don't want to move it all the time) and all your devices plug into that. What you usually do here is to have the modem in a location (a cupboard for example) and then have network cable running from that point to all locations in the house you may want to plug into. Then you plug all the points you want active into the modem, and you can plug into any point in the house. Most modems have room for 4 connections at once. You can get bigger ones, but usually you add a switch, which is basically like a power board for your modem. This is essentially how a corporate office is cabled.
Wireless is clearly a cheaper, and easier solution.
As a last thought, you may want to prepare for the NBN. Basically when this network is ready, you will have 1 cable running into your house (fiber). This one cable will provide your phone, internet, tv, pay tv etc etc. I'm not going to try to explain it here, but all your cabling will need to go back to 1 point in the house (the garage is a good option) and the fiber will go to that same point. Then a device will split the services to the relevant cabling in the house. (smart cabling).
hope that helps.
Milesy
I'm a techie who has done home networking for 10 years or so, and all we have in our new house is 2 cables up to the "computer room", and one cable to behind the tv, all terminated at the top of the broom cupboard. We don't use the one behind the tv but I expect we will in future. The rest is wireless. The ADSL modem and wireless router are in the broom cupboard.
The advantage of cables is that you get guaranteed speed and reliability, which is useful for streaming high quality video. But for anything else wireless is good enough. So that's why we have cables going to the computers and to the tv. Wireless is good enough for low quality video and audio like skype and youtube.
The big advantage of wireless is of course that there are no cables
after thinking about it today we we're thinking of having a point in the study and one in the lounge where the other computer will be so they could be wired, have the modem in the study and plug it to the wall so we can have internet at the computer in the lounge area. then anything else could be wireless (not that we use anything at the moment)
so i guess that is similar to how you have it btherl?
Yeh that's pretty much what we have. All our computers are in the same room which simplifies things. If your modem is not a switch you may need a switch as well. A home switch looks like this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_switchBasically it lets you plug one device into the modem, and then your other devices into the other ports on the back, then you can access the internet on them all, as well as share files between them all. These days you can get a modem, switch and wireless router all in one device.
Regarding wireless, it's better if it's located near the center of the house, so you get better connections. And wireless N is better, I would avoid wireless G. Once you've got some wireless devices (laptop, blu-ray player) it'll make a big difference.
Agreed with everything said, Wireless certainly is easier..
But if your plaster hasn't been done yet, and you've worked out something with the builder to run the cables. .I would encourage you to consider running cables to as many points throughout the house as possible.
Ie, behind the tv, study.. etc etc..
You never know when you might need it ,and it's certainly more secure / reliable.
If the house has been wired up in the past couple of years then it could use cat5e cable for the phone and this could be wired back to a central location in a star configuration rather than in parallel. If this is the case then you could easily reuse this cable by replacing the jackpoints with RJ45 ones and running this back to a central switch or router.
Wire it. Wireless is crap.. I will be wiring up 3 / 4 rooms of our house and running it to the garage and putting all my network gear in there. If you're at the pre-plaster stage as you mentioned, do it now.
Maz78, can you elaborate on "wireless is crap"? What problems did you have with wireless, and what hardware did you use? We use wireless (N, 2.4ghz) for our laptop and we haven't had any trouble with that. And it's a huge advantage that our toddler can't eat the network cable.
Cat5 or 6 cables aren't all that bad for toddlers i suppose, and cheap to replace when they do get chewed! I'd be more worried about the cords that carry current!
It depends on what you use it for, but you're always going to get better bandwidth with the wired option, so if you're sharing files or downloading lots, streaming video or anything like that you'd be far better off with cat6 throughout rather than wireless access points. If you're just surfing and grabbing your emails then wireless is probably sufficient.
I fully cabled our home last time we built and will be doing the same this time. However, I understand most people are not as geeky as me. However - at a bare minimum, EVERY new house should:
- have your incoming phone line terminate in a central spot - an office or closet
- from here, run 1x cat5/6 cable to each computer or TV location.
That is bare minimum. A better idea would be 2x to each room and 4x to the "high use" areas (computer room or behind main TV location).
It's a lot cheaper to do while the walls are down!
Take a look at this guide:
http://www.telstra.com.au/smartcommunit ... y_0509.pdf .. although it is targetted at installers for Telstra's fibre optic service, the general gist is appropriate to ADSL2+ or future NBN usage - especially the diagrams from pages 34 onwards, they give a great example as to how you can start with something simple and expand it to make an extremely flexible and powerful setup!
I am an IT pro and absolutely agree with Chuq and triply.
The concept of 'structured cabling' isn't just for business anymore. Its increasingly finding its way into new and existing homes.
The basic idea is to have the network points around your home wired back to a "Patch Panel". Into this you can plug in your phone cable or leads from your adsl modem. This means any network port around your home can interchangeably become a internet or phone outlet. Also, as traditional phones get replaced with internet/skype phones, you'll already have the infrastructure in place. If you're thinking about a security system down the track many of these require phone/network ports to transmit video and alarm signals.
We are increasingly seeing entertainment devices wanting to connect to the home network too. Soon a network connection will be more important to TV's and stereos than an aerial connection. Video and the increasing number of devices spread throughout the home is where wireless just doesn't cut it. Wireless still has its place providing the internet in places you don't want leads like the couch or kitchen bench.
I am currently wiring my small home with the following outlets going back to a small 6RU cabinet in the garage.
2 in the lounge,
2 in the bedroom (1 for tv, 1 for phone),
4 in the study, (phone, computer, printer etc)
1 in the ceiling (for wireless)
Chris.
Another thing to point out is that network ports aren't just for computers. Connected to our network at home I have:
Wired:
1x desktop PC
1x NAS (central file storage device)
1x Sony Playstation 3
1x FetchTV box (pay TV over the internet)
2x Sonos speakers (plays music from NAS, Internet Radio etc)
1x Envi-R power monitor (monitors power usage, uploads directly to Google Powermeter)
Wireless:
2x laptops
2x iphones
1x Nintendo Wii
We also have a DECT cordless phones which all connect back to a central base station, which uses the network cabling (as mentioned by chris.ryan above) but technically isn't connected to the network.
In our new house we will have these devices plus another couple of Sonos devices, also some IP cameras (security cameras which connect to the network). Not to mention as the kids get older, there will be more computers/phones/who knows what else in 10+ years time!
Another thing to look out for is HDBaseT - a protocol which allows audio/video signals to be connected using the same style of cabling.
It's crazy that even a basic form of this (as mentioned in my previous post) isn't standard for every new house.
I'll just share my experience to see if it can help any one.
My aim with the home network was to have access to the network and the internet in any room in the house. I have a 15 port rack at home wired by Cat5e. I can turn any of those ports into a phone port and currently 2 of those ports are phone.
The rack is supported by a managed gigabit switch with 10 ports currently active. I also run a wireless network parallel to the wired off the router. So the router only does routing and wireless duties and none of the heavy switching (~300GB/h). The network is currently 11 wired, and 7 wireless devices.
Most rooms in the house have a single port running to them, and if I could have my time over I would have gone doubles or triples - it's annoying to have to run a switch just because you have two computers in a room instead of one, or in the future decide to have a network printer and a computer. Some rooms I would go up to 4 points, like the computer and games rooms. I could probably redo all the wires in the future a lot easier due to the fact that the runs are already complete and they would only require a pull through sacrificing the old wires (probably when I want to go to Cat6).
So my advice - think of what you will need and double it. Also think about power points to service those devices.
This is such useful information! I too is building a new house, and want to have every room to have at least on wired port and all wired up to a central location.
I just want to make sure I understood what I need to do:
1) have my incoming phone line terminate at a central location
2) connect the ADSL/Cable modem to that incoming phone line
3) connect a router to the ADSL/Cable modem
4) have ports/outlets install in all my rooms with cables running from these rooms to my central location
5) connect my router to these ports
Is this right?
Just more questions, if I may.
1) What's the differences between Cat5 or Cat6, is it just speed and the cost?
2) What is the best place should this "central location" be? Comments above seems to be either a cabinet or garage, I was thinking of maybe the living room, as most of the device I need to be wired up PS3, TV, DVR, Apple TV are all in the living room.
Many thanks in advance.
This is such useful information! I too is building a new house, and want to have every room to have at least on wired port and all wired up to a central location.
I just want to make sure I understood what I need to do:
1) have my incoming phone line terminate at a central location
2) connect the ADSL/Cable modem to that incoming phone line
3) connect a router to the ADSL/Cable modem
4) have ports/outlets install in all my rooms with cables running from these rooms to my central location
5) connect my router to these ports
Is this right?
yes
Quote:
Just more questions, if I may.
1) What's the differences between Cat5 or Cat6, is it just speed and the cost?
2) What is the best place should this "central location" be? Comments above seems to be either a cabinet or garage, I was thinking of maybe the living room, as most of the device I need to be wired up PS3, TV, DVR, Apple TV are all in the living room.
Many thanks in advance.
1) Cat5 < doesn't excist anymore... it is Cat5e...
Cat6 offers better crosstalk/ line noise reduction then Cat5e. also Cat6 will be 10GigE compatible
2) personal choice somewhere out of the way and you don't mind having flashing lights/ fan noise all the time best to keep all the gear out of view of everyone... ina nice wall mounted garage enclosure or if you want on the top shelf of a WIR
Totally agree Chuq. I love cabling. The best thing we did for our house I think. Love being able to to sift through movie collection in the theatre room....all running through the cabling from a central port. Love it.
One thing I will add to pugs advice is that usually, the modem/router is a combined device. You can do it separately but not that common in residential situations.