Cat5 Cabling for Home

[Wexfordman]

yes and wireless networks will evolve to be able to for all these issues.

I beg to differ, wireless in the home is a stop gap, a solution where you cannot run wires, nothing more, it will always be bandwidth limited and prone to interference and losses based on other devices and the construction of your building. 20 years ago, most houses had 1 telly in the living room, probably RTE and rte 2, and the phone in the hall. THe internet was never heard of and computers were for work, and/or the old commodore 64 for games. Look where we are now, not too far from Broadband TV, FTA Digitall TV, VOIP, High speed BB, multiroom audio and video, and pretty much everything in the house will communicate over IP. If you are building/renovating and you think that wireless will cope with all of that, I wish you luck.

Wexfordman

 

[sse]

intercoms???? in a house?

well how else is one supposed to order another Pimms from the butler whilst one is reclining on the verandah?

Lord SSE

I meant cameras etc. to the gate, plus you can record CCTV etc.

 

[Tom0815]

@Mickman,
I guess you are one of the guys who don't mind living under a high voltage power line and who will but a mobile phone mast on their rooftop

You are right, everything is possible with wireless, it only depends on the RF emittance your wireless device uses. After all, you could X-Ray a concrete wall NO future wireless device will be capable - for obvious technical reasons - to reach every corner of the house by using enhanced algorithm to transmit more data. Ensuring full coverage, no matter what the building material is, can only be established with higher emittance output. Ask an physician and he will explain better than I do.

Wireless is an excellent addition, but if you do build new wire is the way to go. And there again, use the best product on the market today as the house is build for the next 50 to 100 years. Using plain old Cat5 - which is an industrial standard of the 70th and was followed by at least 5 new standards by now - is not future proof and not good for multimedia application in 20 or 50 years. So the better the quality today the longer you will be within new technical developments.

Just consider that not only the EU but also governments are tightening regulation on RF transmitions for domestic use. SO the better you protect today the better you protect yourself and your family in the future.

Just my few ct's of thoughts

I like Wexfordman's link to IrishHomeNet.

 

[mossym]

who does all those things in their house at the same time in all fairness

me. HTPC in the cinema room, streaming movies and music from a NAS. wife in the other room cathing up on some work over vpn. add in a voip phone, and the 360 downloading content in the corner. wireless network would be crumbling under the pressure. not trying to insult, but if you're not aware of the possible uses you shouldn't really be recommending wireless.

agree with all above. if the chance is there wire is the best option. no wireless network out there can match a wired network. a wired network means you can also add a wireless access point anywhere you want. in the distances of cable run in most houses cat5e will get gigabit speeds easily.

 

[Tom0815]

mossym,
Cat5 will take Gigabit, but consider the usage of other protocols or signals that is possible over a shielded cable versus the unshielded Cat5. Sure we see IP for "everything" in the future. But looking at technological developments ALL technology has a lifespan of 10 to 15 years. A house has a longer one.

Just look back to the Sony walkman which was the gadget when brought to the market, yet 10 to 12 years later a Discman was state of the art. And today there are the MP3 players.
Same timeframe applies to any technological are such as TV, I just mention black and white, colour, terrestrial analogue, digital satellite, digital terrestrial and IPTV coming up now. We went from b/w to IPTV in about 60 years.
I don't even want to got the Internet connection way from 300 baud to todays broadband. I have seen homes last year connected with 40 megabit - no, not in Ireland

I'll stick with it, the better the cable the better you are prepared. On an investment of 300000 for a new house, additional 700 or 900 Euros for a good cabling infrastructure is a bargain. If you buy new wireless devices or other converters for 150 Euros every 3 to 5 years to cope with development you spend more.

 

[mossym]

tom, sorry, wasn't recommending cat5e as the best cable to use. Just as a minimum as a much better and robust solution over wireless.

depending on your needs then you can step up to whatever cabling you need, but definitely go wired. not wireless.

for example, with a cat5e system i can distibute hdmi around my house. i might need converters or baluns on either end of the cable, but it is easily done. Can anyone recommending wireless show me a wireless solution?

 

[cybermate]

would share all the sentiments that if you are doing a new build or rewiring it is an absolute no brainer that you install Cat6 cable. A 300 metre roll from an electrical wholesaler is about €80.

Okay, you think you might not use it now but for the sake of €80 why limit yourself in the future? Wire will always win out over wireless for the reasons given earlier.

If you want to keep the cost down just run the cables but leave the ends behind the plasterwork until such time as you need them, the cost of the RJ45 sockets/jacks can build up alright so don't bother putting them in now if your worried about cost.

I would recommend running at least two runs of Cat6 and a run of coax to each room, bring all the cables back to a central point where you will have access to a power socket.

 

[mossym]

would recoomend taking the coax back to the attic, but having a power socket beside it. that way you can add a distribution amp if needed. also, for the main vieiwing points run at least 3*coax, and make sure it is ct100 type cable. 2 of the coax for incoming lnbs for sky+ or equivalent, and 1 for a return feed for the distribution amp.

for the network, take all back to a more convenient location, i brought mine back to beside the fuse box. gigabit switch is there. Make sure you have a phone line there as well for broadband. my broadband modem sits on top of my gigabit switch which means i have internet access in every room. don't upt this in the attic as you'll need access to it more often than the coax runs