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Business question that networkers might know?

mmx

Diamond Member
Someone who is buildong a house asked me to setup a network, but put in all the cat 5 cables through the wall, as they are installing it.

I want to know?

do i need liscence?
where do i get the best price on cables?
where do I get the stuff, like the ethrnet wall outlet, and etc..


thanks
 
not sure about the license, but we go through a place nearby that sells all the necessary network equipment at cheap prices. You can probably get about 500 feet of cat5 cable for around $150. If you only need like 3 or 4 wall outlets you can probably pick those up at Home Depot or something.
 
Shouldn't need a license unless the city has some retarded law on the books (forced by unions none the less) that require ALL work in the house to be done by a card carrying union member.

Outside of that remote possibility though, there should be no legal loopholes to have you install it. There is no outside power needed to be hooked up, and you can't electrify someone or burn a house down with a network cable.

As for the actual parts, you'll need a punchdown tool and a cutting blade that will probably run you close to $50 for a decent quality one. If you are going to be running cat5 cables, you'll probably want to dump them down to a patch panel which runs about $60 or so for a 12 port.

The wall jacks and face plates should run a couple bucks a pop. Stick to levetin.

You can find just about everything you need at your local Graybar for pretty cheap. 1000 feet of cat5 shouldn't run much more than $110 or so for 350Mhz stuff.
 
Call the city and talk to the electrical inspector. Ask if you'll need a building permit or an inspection. For low voltage cable, I tend to doubt it.

Cat5 will cost you around $70 / 1000ft around here.

Ask the electrical inspector if you need to install plenum grade cable.

Get the outlet boxes, etc. at Home Depot.
 
Here's a list of Graybar locations in Florida:

Clearwater 727 / 573-3553 727 / 573-4425
Daytona Beach 386 / 258-5461 386 / 252-2962
Fort Myers 239 / 332-2711 239 / 334-1526
Fort Pierce 772 / 465-6922 772 / 465-8905
Gainesville 352 / 338-9200 352 / 338-9070
Jacksonville 904 / 356-7611 904 / 356-9199
Lakeland 863 / 665-6822 863 / 666-5178
Melbourne 321 / 768-7661 321 / 984-8433
Miami 305 / 575-1100 305 / 326-0236
Naples 239 / 643-4000 239 / 643-3137
Orlando 407 / 841-4810 407 / 841-0238
Pensacola 850 / 432-3463 850 / 435-2988
Perrine 305 / 232-1531 305 / 238-4635
Pompano Beach 954 / 977-6800 954 / 971-7029
Sarasota 941 / 955-0905 941 / 365-5047
Tallahassee 850 / 575-8666 850 / 576-4026
Tampa 813 / 253-8881 813 / 259-4370
Tampa 813 / 978-8188 813 / 977-3229
West Palm Beach 561 / 683-3801 561 / 683-5845
 
One bit of advice. For every run of CAT5 you make, add one extra cable. If you're running one line, make it two; if two lines, three; if three lines, four. The reason is that later on the customer is going to realize that he needed one more line running from point A to point B. You don't even have to terminate them. Just coil them up behind the wall plate. The extra cable is cheap compared to trying to run it later when the house is complete.
 
Make sure you have a way to test your wiring before they finish the walls. You don't want to get any phone calls after the house is done complaining that something isn't working.

Check to make sure you aren't exceeding maximum cable lengths (unlikely to be a problem). The plenum cable question NogginBoink brought up is a good one.

Here's a link for you about LAN cabling.
 


<< You can probably get about 500 feet of cat5 cable for around $150. >>



Damn, man, can I sell you some cable?

mmx,

You may not need a license, but you better study the code for your city - thoroughly. In the vast majority of cases, Plenum cable is not needed but you may run in to a buttwad inspector who insists it is.

Russ, NCNE
 
Thanx guys, I knew you guys were the best for getting help.

I'm gonna talk to a contractor, and electritian tommorow. Also gonna study prices to make a list price. and if everything checks ok, than thank g-d.

Thanx again
 
you may run in to a buttwad inspector who insists it is.


I just wanted to reinterate this point in case anyone may have glimpsed over it and thought "ya, ya, it's Russ". Inspectors give you hell so make friends early. Oh and the solution to your problem was already posted before I got here. 🙂


Cheers ! 🙂
 
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