Fibre for Home?

[Countryman]

Out of interest, how difficult and expensive would it be to network a home with Fibre?

Cheers.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

No more difficult than running any other type of cable. 1000 ft of fibre runs $300, Cat6 is $130. I'm sure the network equipment for fibre is a lot more than standard devices used in a normal network.

 

[ScottMac]

Termination is much more expensive too. Foer example, depending on what kind of connector, and how it's connected to teh cable (via epoxy, thermal glue, camlock ...) connectors can cost from ~3.00 to nearly US$20.00 each, and they are not reusable (if you blow the connection, you toss that connector and open a new one).

The toolkit to terminate fiber run from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

It takes more skill and patience to properly terminate fiber

All of the above means that paying someone to do it will cost more, doing it yourself will cost a buttload, mostly because of the steep (and expensive) learning curve.

 

[Tsaico]

I think it is harder to run fiber. The cable is more fragile and can only be bent so far before the goodies inside break up. You need a better conduit that is clearer and without shar angles.

 

[spidey07]

The same rules should be followed with category rated cabling. Fiber is pretty tough but you can't go around yanking on it or bending it sharply. As scottmac pointed out the tools and connectors to terminate it are very expensive.

With 10 gig coming out for category 6 cabling, fiber (NOT fibre) is not really needed in the home. However if I were to rewire my house I'd just use one of the communications bundles that has two RG6, two cat6a and two strands of fiber just in case.

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: spidey07
The same rules should be followed with category rated cabling. Fiber is pretty tough but you can't go around yanking on it or bending it sharply. As scottmac pointed out the tools and connectors to terminate it are very expensive.

With 10 gig coming out for category 6 cabling, fiber (NOT fibre) is not really needed in the home. However if I were to rewire my house I'd just use one of the communications bundles that has two RG6, two cat6a and two strands of fiber just in case.

Speaking of the bundled cable, do you know of a place that sells it fairly cheaply? It doesnt look like Newegg carries it, so I don't know where to look that won't rip me off

I'd love to pull my coax for TV and ethernet at the same time. I'm not sure that I'd get bundles with fiber, but if its marginally more it's probably worth it just in case.

 

[kevnich2]

http://www.homecontrols.com/cg...Shield-Cat6-FiberOptic

 

[sjwaste]

Is that buck and change a foot a good price? I found that w/ google, but I have no reference.

 

[kevnich2]

Well considering that it's 2 CAT6, 2 coax & a fiber, I'd say it's a good price. Wiring communication cables in a house is a good investment, plus with all that cabling, your pretty much future proofed and I would assume it would up the re-sale value of the house as well for far more than you'd pay to have it installed after the walls and everything is already in.

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: kevnich2
Well considering that it's 2 CAT6, 2 coax & a fiber, I'd say it's a good price. Wiring communication cables in a house is a good investment, plus with all that cabling, your pretty much future proofed and I would assume it would up the re-sale value of the house as well for far more than you'd pay to have it installed after the walls and everything is already in.

That is a very good point. A pair each of cat6, fiber, and coax is probably all a room is going to need for a while. I'd probably use the existing gang box, remove that wiring, and wire one cat6 terminated as rj11, 1 rj45, 1 cable, and leave the others in the box until necessary.

Actually, can you buy RJ11-RJ45 combo jacks? The 11 does fit into the 45 if its notched, doesnt it?

I think I'm getting ahead of myself, but we might have a contract on a home as early as tonight. It's existing structure so running it won't be easy, but we'll have 2 and a half months between closing and when we have to be out of our apt. I need a half baked project such as this

 

[kevnich2]

a male RJ11 can fit into a female RJ45 wall plug. I've heard not to do it because it bends the pins or something but I'll be honest, I've done it and haven't had a problem. Just another idea though, with all the cordless phones and VOIP making so much progress as it is, what I did in my house was hook up a vonage VOIP adapter to my ethernet switch, hooked up a cordless phone base station to that and then have 5ghz or DECT phones spread in each room of the house. They all sound crystal clear and I don't have a problem. This way all of my jacks are data only. Just another idea for you.

 

[Lemon law]

It kinda strikes me that this is somewhat over kill. Maybe at some future date, it will be fiber optics all the way into every home. The dream of a gazillion Megabits a second suddenly a reality, making cat 5e at a mere 100 megabits a second passe and a faster cat 6e also as obsolete as the buggy whip.

But the real question really becomes, the faster fiber optics will connect to one and only one router, and thereafter it will be divided by a number N which represents the sum of the number of computers on that home network. If N becomes arbitrarily large, even fiber optics may become so divided that it can't equal the speed of cat 6e and the day of fiber optics may never come before being supplanted by something not yet invented.

 

[robmurphy]

I use a RJ45 patch bay with RJ11 plugs at work. It works fine.

The reason for using the RJ45 patch bay was that I could not find anywhere in the UK that sold RJ11 patch bays. I did notice that many of the RJ11 faceplates sold actualy used RJ45 sockets, and as we had a RJ45 patch bay available I used it.

Rob

 

[Countryman]

Thanks guys. Whilst it seems that the bundled cable is a very good way to go for new houses terminating the fibre (NOT fiber LOL) is still not for the amateur.

Cheers.

 

[sjwaste]

Yeah, I think I might save some money and just get the 2xRG6 and 2xCAT5e bundle. CAT5e handles 1000 mbit, right?

I'll take my chances on skipping the fiber

 

[spidey07]

Yes, but if you're putting in new copper it REALLY should be cat6 or cat6a. 10 gig on copper is just around the corner.

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Yes, but if you're putting in new copper it REALLY should be cat6 or cat6a. 10 gig on copper is just around the corner.

Well, I've taken your advice on shoes in the past. I guess I'll take your advice on this too.

Anything else you can help me with? Haha.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: sjwaste

Originally posted by: spidey07
Yes, but if you're putting in new copper it REALLY should be cat6 or cat6a. 10 gig on copper is just around the corner.

Well, I've taken your advice on shoes in the past. I guess I'll take your advice on this too.

Anything else you can help me with? Haha.

Make sure your cabling is properly grounded and bonded. If your fiber has a metal strength member or is gopher rated, make sure that is grounded and bonded as well. When I talk grounding/bonding I'm talking about a common ground with proper bonding for all cabling - coax, fiber, UTP, whatever you have.

Laugh all you want, this is the difference between a true professional installation and one that is not. I have seen 100 million dollar data centers have communication/EMI/noise problems because some amateur thought they didn't need to follow spec.

When it comes to the home the same principles apply. Grounding/bonding properly is so dirt cheap there is NO reason not to do it.

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: sjwaste

Originally posted by: spidey07
Yes, but if you're putting in new copper it REALLY should be cat6 or cat6a. 10 gig on copper is just around the corner.

Well, I've taken your advice on shoes in the past. I guess I'll take your advice on this too.

Anything else you can help me with? Haha.

Make sure your cabling is properly grounded and bonded. If your fiber has a metal strength member or is gopher rated, make sure that is grounded and bonded as well. When I talk grounding/bonding I'm talking about a common ground with proper bonding for all cabling - coax, fiber, UTP, whatever you have.

Laugh all you want, this is the difference between a true professional installation and one that is not. I have seen 100 million dollar data centers have communication/EMI/noise problems because some amateur thought they didn't need to follow spec.

When it comes to the home the same principles apply. Grounding/bonding properly is so dirt cheap there is NO reason not to do it.

Interesting. This will be my first time doing it entirely on my own, and I figured that would be an issue, but I'd figure it out as I went. Do both ends of the shielding need to be grounded, or just one end? What methods do you recommend for an in-home install?

I'm going to google this and have a look.

 

[anothermacuser]

It is hard, annoying and pointless to run fiber for distances less than about 400 feet

 

[ScottMac]

Originally posted by: anothermacuser
It is hard, annoying and pointless to run fiber for distances less than about 400 feet

Nope, it's not.

If you're already pulling, fiber is no harder than UTP. Even if you don't terminate it right away, it's there, and at some point in the future, it might come in handy. Multimode 4pr isn't that expensive, or if you're by buying composite/hybrid cabling bundles it's not that much more.

I work in a networking industry, so it's also nice for me to be able to play with production equipment at home.

I've moved some of my networking connections to fiber to free up one or more RJ45 Jacks in some rooms. I have 2 Cat6 (actually, Anixter Level 7), two RG-6 Quad, and two pr of 62.5/125 to every location in my house, including closets, kitchen, balcony, and garage. In the bedroom I use as a workspace / computer room, I had an additional loc pulled (three locs in that room versus 2 locs in all the other rooms).

So, don't do it if you don't want to, that's fine. Please leave your broad, pointless generalizations at the door in the way in.

 

[NickOlsen8390]

Originally posted by: ScottMac

Originally posted by: anothermacuser
It is hard, annoying and pointless to run fiber for distances less than about 400 feet

Nope, it's not.

If you're already pulling, fiber is no harder than UTP. Even if you don't terminate it right away, it's there, and at some point in the future, it might come in handy. Multimode 4pr isn't that expensive, or if you're by buying composite/hybrid cabling bundles it's not that much more.

I work in a networking industry, so it's also nice for me to be able to play with production equipment at home.

I've moved some of my networking connections to fiber to free up one or more RJ45 Jacks in some rooms. I have 2 Cat6 (actually, Anixter Level 7), two RG-6 Quad, and two pr of 62.5/125 to every location in my house, including closets, kitchen, balcony, and garage. In the bedroom I use as a workspace / computer room, I had an additional loc pulled (three locs in that room versus 2 locs in all the other rooms).

So, don't do it if you don't want to, that's fine. Please leave your broad, pointless generalizations at the door in the way in.

I agree,
I also work in the networking industry and having the fiber there when you need it is great. Specially when play time rolls around the corner. Planing for the future never hurt anyone. Also you can never have to many drops, less switches come lan party time is always a stress saver.