Anyone wire their house for data/voice/video all at the same time?

[MichaelD]

How did you run the cables? All at once?

IOW, did you have the reel of CAT5, the reel of RG6 right next to each other, tape them together and pull that way?

Just trying to get all the knowledge together as I plan on wiring my house for everything, all at once.

Thanks.

ALSO: I know how you distribute data (with a switch), I know how you distribute video (distribution amplifier). But how do you do the same with voice (i.e. phone)?

 

[ScottMac]

Yes I did. It was new construction, so it was easy to have the cabling pulled.

Typically, all of the cables ae pulled at once. If you have two runs of Cat5 and two runs of coax, you'd pull from four spools as one pull.

There are hybrid cables that already have 2 UTP and 2 RG6 coax in one jacket (some have more / other stuff in there too ... like fiber)....makes it easy.

Phone is "distributed" with a "bridge." The most basic bridge would be a "66 block" with a jumper pair connecting all the rows together. If you use two phone lines, then the easiest thing is to jumper every-other-row as line one, with the opposite rows being line 2. Some structured cabling manufacturers make "phone bridges" that basically do the connections (with breakouts) on a circuit board. Leviton or Lutron ... sold by Home Depot ... has a phone module that'll bridge and offers each pair broken out as a separate (bridged) connection.

Good Luck

Scott

 

[MichaelD]

Hi Scott,

Thanks for that info. I have seen that "all in one" cable at Home Depot; it's $375 for a 500-foot roll...just "a bit" out of my league. 500 feet seems like a lot, but when you're talking about wiring 7 or so rooms to a central distribution point, 500 feet suddenly becomes about a foot and a half!

Not nearly enough and way out of my budget...especially considering that this will all mostly be a one-man job. I.E. ME. <--I can do it! <---pep talk for me

This will be quite the learning experience for me, that's for sure.

Thanks for the help.

 

[tcsenter]

Could someone explain why it is preferred or even desirable to use voice over ethernet vs. just having a POTS RJ11 jack for each room? Is it typical to run a second UTP cable (for voice) in addition to having a standard phone jack or in place of one?

I am learning about home network/multimedia wiring options because my parents are starting construction on a new home in about four months. I've seen these wall-plates with like 2xRJ45 and 2xCoax jacks. What do people typically use all those jacks for?

1 UTP/RJ45 = LAN
1 UTP/RJ45 = Voice/other
1 Coax = Cable TV
1 Coax = Cable internet?

Is that right or am I clueless?

 

[reicherb]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
Could someone explain why it is preferred or even desirable to use voice over ethernet vs. just having a POTS RJ11 jack for each room? Is it typical to run a second UTP cable (for voice) in addition to having a standard phone jack or in place of one?

I am learning about home network/multimedia wiring options because my parents are starting construction on a new home in about four months. I've seen these wall-plates with like 2xRJ45 and 2xCoax jacks. What do people typically use all those jacks for?

1 UTP/RJ45 = LAN
1 UTP/RJ45 = Voice/other
1 Coax = Cable TV
1 Coax = Cable internet?

Is that right or am I clueless?

It's better to use the same drops for voice and data because then you have more flexibility. You can easily switch from 1 data and 1 voice drop to data or two voice just be repatching the drops in your wiring closet.

That could be how some people would do it, but here is my plan. 3 voice/data and 1 CATV. As suggested in another related thread, I may also run composite and/or speaker drops. Generally you wouldn't run coax for cable internet to every room, you'd just run it to a central location, install a router there and then distribute the connection over Ethernet.

 

[tcsenter]

It's better to use the same drops for voice and data because then you have more flexibility. You can easily switch from 1 data and 1 voice drop to data or two voice just be repatching the drops in your wiring closet.

Hmm, I'm not sure I totally understand what you just said.

That could be how some people would do it, but here is my plan. 3 voice/data and 1 CATV. As suggested in another related thread, I may also run composite and/or speaker drops. Generally you wouldn't run coax for cable internet to every room, you'd just run it to a central location, install a router there and then distribute the connection over Ethernet.

That's what I was thinking. Even with 2xRJ45 per room you could use one for LAN, the second for internet (obviously requiring two NICs in your computer), then for voice just use the POTS RJ11 phone jack.

I guess I am just not understanding why the POTS RJ11 has become 'obsolete' or something and why people want to use UTP/Ethernet for a phone line.

 

[reicherb]

Hmm, I'm not sure I totally understand what you just said.

Just by switching where to cable connects to on the other end, you can easily change it from being a phone drop to a network drop. If you used RJ11 and/or cat3/phone cable, you wouldn't have that option.

That's what I was thinking. Even with 2xRJ45 per room you could use one for LAN, the second for internet (obviously requiring two NICs in your computer), then for voice just use the POTS RJ11 phone jack.

You could do it that way but probably wouldn't want to. You would use the second drop for a second device needing a network connection. You would get your Internet connection and from the same connection you use to access the rest of your network. You would just have to install a router to share the internet access.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: reicherb

Originally posted by: tcsenter
Could someone explain why it is preferred or even desirable to use voice over ethernet vs. just having a POTS RJ11 jack for each room? Is it typical to run a second UTP cable (for voice) in addition to having a standard phone jack or in place of one?

I am learning about home network/multimedia wiring options because my parents are starting construction on a new home in about four months. I've seen these wall-plates with like 2xRJ45 and 2xCoax jacks. What do people typically use all those jacks for?

1 UTP/RJ45 = LAN
1 UTP/RJ45 = Voice/other
1 Coax = Cable TV
1 Coax = Cable internet?

Is that right or am I clueless?

It's better to use the same drops for voice and data because then you have more flexibility. You can easily switch from 1 data and 1 voice drop to data or two voice just be repatching the drops in your wiring closet.

That could be how some people would do it, but here is my plan. 3 voice/data and 1 CATV. As suggested in another related thread, I may also run composite and/or speaker drops. Generally you wouldn't run coax for cable internet to every room, you'd just run it to a central location, install a router there and then distribute the connection over Ethernet.

Yep, that's what I'm planning on doing. One coax for cable TV and two or three ethernet drops to each room.

QUESTION: AFA the faceplates/wallplates go; I know the RJ45 Keystones just snap into the hole on the plate. Do they make Coax Keystones that just snap in too, or do I have to get a special plate?

 

[reicherb]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: reicherb

Originally posted by: tcsenter
Could someone explain why it is preferred or even desirable to use voice over ethernet vs. just having a POTS RJ11 jack for each room? Is it typical to run a second UTP cable (for voice) in addition to having a standard phone jack or in place of one?

I am learning about home network/multimedia wiring options because my parents are starting construction on a new home in about four months. I've seen these wall-plates with like 2xRJ45 and 2xCoax jacks. What do people typically use all those jacks for?

1 UTP/RJ45 = LAN
1 UTP/RJ45 = Voice/other
1 Coax = Cable TV
1 Coax = Cable internet?

Is that right or am I clueless?

It's better to use the same drops for voice and data because then you have more flexibility. You can easily switch from 1 data and 1 voice drop to data or two voice just be repatching the drops in your wiring closet.

That could be how some people would do it, but here is my plan. 3 voice/data and 1 CATV. As suggested in another related thread, I may also run composite and/or speaker drops. Generally you wouldn't run coax for cable internet to every room, you'd just run it to a central location, install a router there and then distribute the connection over Ethernet.

Yep, that's what I'm planning on doing. One coax for cable TV and two or three ethernet drops to each room.

QUESTION: AFA the faceplates/wallplates go; I know the RJ45 Keystones just snap into the hole on the plate. Do they make Coax Keystones that just snap in too, or do I have to get a special plate?

They make all kinds of connectors that snap info faceplates. RJ45, RJ11, RG6, Composite, S-Video, etc.

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks Reicherb. I think you and I are the only ones up this early. Did you remember to Spring Forward?

 

[reicherb]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Thanks Reicherb. I think you and I are the only ones up this early. Did you remember to Spring Forward?

Yeah, I remembered to lose an hours sleep...

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: reicherb

Originally posted by: MichaelD
Thanks Reicherb. I think you and I are the only ones up this early. Did you remember to Spring Forward?

Yeah, I remembered to lose an hours sleep...

I didn't........ GAH!

 

[skyking]

tscenter-
think of each run you install as just a cable with rj45 jacks on each end. You can then either plug a jumper to your switch, for data, OR plug a jumper to a bunch of live ports on a patch panel, whcih are connected to your phone system.
Now let's say you make two runs like this into a room. for a while, you have one jumpered for voice, and another for data. You never end up using the one for voice at that location, because of you cordless phone, etc.
All you need to do to use it for data is plug a jumper from that port in your closet to the switch.
If you had wired it as a POTS run, using cat3 and rj11 standard jacks, you'd be out of luck, and dragging another data wire through the walls if you needed it. Phone wire plugs right in to rj45 connectors, so there is no rewiring or anything to switch back and forth.