Home Network: Purchasing a new home

[StarsFan4Life]

My wife and I sign on our first home in two days. w00t w00t!

I having been trying to figure things out in this house and one is the home network. Every room was pre-wired with CAT5e cable (two terminals per outlet) that then return to a patch panel in the master bedroom closet. What is the use of the patch panel?

I have FIOS being installed this Saturday and am trying to figure out if I need to put my gigabit switch in the master bedroom closet and terminate the CAT5e cables there and take out the patch panel....

 

[racolvin]

If I read this correctly then you're correct: the patch panel in the closet is where all those runs come back to. You'd put your gigabit switch in that closet and use short patch cords to go from the switch to the patch panel - typical structured wiring stuff.

Of course you'd have to get the ethernet connection from your FIOS box to that same closet ...

 

[bobdole369]

You mount your switch near the patch panel, and patch from the panel to your switch with short cables - those that you want to activate.

You might question - well why the fuck do you have a patch panel when you could just terminate the ends with rj-45's and be done with it - its for reliability. You certify cables end to end - from patch to jack. The rest is left up to the IT department (in your case homeownwer). Its also done for flexibility. Perhaps you are running phone cables over CAT5 or AV control signals or HDMI and maybe you want a diff connector. THis way the runs stay certified as the installer left them and you are free to connect as you wish. Not to mention its terribly tacky to have a bunch of rj-45's going straight to a switch.

 

[spidey07]

The worst thing you could possibly do is take out that patch panel. Just put a gigabit switch in the "wiring closet" and then patch from the panel to the switch with store bought patch cables.

Then you can plug whatever devices you want into the wall outlets - FIOS modem/router, access points, end devices.

 

[StarsFan4Life]

This all makes PERFECT sense. I was worried I would be flamed for such a question.....

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
This all makes PERFECT sense. I was worried I would be flamed for such a question.....

Why would you take out the patch panel you idiot? You're wanting to take out a perfectly installed category 5e cabling system and fuck it up by shoddily crimping ends? What's wrong with you!!!?

 

[StarsFan4Life]

Originally posted by: spidey07

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
This all makes PERFECT sense. I was worried I would be flamed for such a question.....

Why would you take out the patch panel you idiot? You're wanting to take out a perfectly installed category 5e cabling system and fuck it up by shoddily crimping ends? What's wrong with you!!!?

Thanks!


I guess this all makes sense on why a patch panel is installed in the first place.

Now, my next question.....why would there be two cat5e terminals per outlet in the rooms throughout the house. Is it one wire coming to the outlet that splits to two terminals....or would it be a single wire to each terminal on each outlet?

 

[spidey07]

There should be a single cable to each outlet. I hope for your sake they didn't "split" a single cable between two outlets (two pair to each). Each cat5e cable has 4 pairs of wires and all 4 pairs are supposed to be punched down on each outlet and each port on the patch panel. You can check this by looking at the back of the patch panel or pulling one of the outlets out.

 

[StarsFan4Life]

So if a single cable has 8 wires (4 pairs), how would they be able to wire both terminals on the single outlet from the single cable and it work right? I would think it would need a cable for each terminal.

 

[racolvin]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
So if a single cable has 8 wires (4 pairs), how would they be able to wire both terminals on the single outlet from the single cable and it work right? I would think it would need a cable for each terminal.

It can be made to work but its REALLY bad practice to do so. You'd have to match the split back at the patch panel.

The reason for two outlets in every room however should be obvious: expansion.

Cat5 connections can be used for ethernet networking but can just as easily be used for a telephone, so in any given room you could have both a computer connection and a phone. Also, if the products used at the termination points were the right kind, you can replace the RJ45 jack with something else entirely, say a balun for cable TV.

Structured wiring is a wonderful thing when done properly

 

[StarsFan4Life]

I guess once we close I need to really get in there and see how it was wired and why it was done the way it was...

 

[BriGy86]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
I guess once we close I need to really get in there and see how it was wired and why it was done the way it was...

Screw that, find that out now. If it was done improperly you may be able to knock some money off. I would hope they used a single cable for each jack otherwise you wont be able to get gigabit speeds.

As for the patch panel and your switch, are you using a rack mount switch? I assume that would be a bit noisy for a bedroom?

 

[StarsFan4Life]

The home is a brand new model home from Ryland........im not worried about whether they did it wrong or not because it is under warranty.

I am thinking since I have a small Linksys 8 port gigabit switch, I would just put it in there or beside it somehow.....another damn thing I have to figure out!

 

[BriGy86]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
The home is a brand new model home from Ryland........im not worried about whether they did it wrong or not because it is under warranty.

I am thinking since I have a small Linksys 8 port gigabit switch, I would just put it in there or beside it somehow.....another damn thing I have to figure out!

Super. To make things easiest you'll want the data line coming into the house installed into that closet to keep all your devices in one location... On the other hand as long as you have the data line installed near a jack in the house you can plug in the modem and then in the rack patch it to the switch/router and then it can service the rest of the house from there.

How many new houses come with this option? Sounds pretty slick.

 

[StarsFan4Life]

I am sure I will be putting the FIOS modem in the master bedroom closet next to the rest of everything. I am 90% sure that the two cat5e cables that are outside on the wall (where FIOS's terminal will be installed) come into the patch panel......I think. This would be the correct way they would have done it, correct?

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
I am sure I will be putting the FIOS modem in the master bedroom closet next to the rest of everything. I am 90% sure that the two cat5e cables that are outside on the wall (where FIOS's terminal will be installed) come into the patch panel......I think. This would be the correct way they would have done it, correct?

If possible put the FIOS drop right next to the patch panel. That way all networking equip is in one room, and all in an easy to manage/change setup.

If you can't do that, then you could put the FIOS in whatever room (and router can be either with the switch, or with the FIOS. I would do it with the switch personally. If you do it with the FIOS, hook it up like normal to the FIOS modem and take port (whatever you want non-WAN) and hook that into the wall jack), hook it up into the wall, take that connection at the patch panel and put it in your router WAN (or if you put the router in another room with the FIOS, the switches uplink) port, then hook the router to the switch like normal, and the switch back to the patch panel ports. If you do it this way, I would *strongly* suggest getting different colored cable for the cables from the FIOS>Router>switch. This makes it easy to know what is the WAN connection, and which is LAN. If you add phones in this as well, I'd use different colors for those cables as well.

If you don't want different colored cables (which is IMO the best option), use different colored electrical tape wrapped around the cable at both ends.

 

[StarsFan4Life]

If the two cat5e cables that are dangling outside are used for the FIOS terminal, they should run back into my house into the closet where the patch panel is, right?

How far will Verizon go to help me determine what is what here?

 

[Gillbot]

I did my old house and I just ended the wires. Yes, it was terribly tacky but I didn't have a patch panel available to make the terminations to.

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: StarsFan4Life
If the two cat5e cables that are dangling outside are used for the FIOS terminal, they should run back into my house into the closet where the patch panel is, right?

How far will Verizon go to help me determine what is what here?

I'd say it depends on the tech, but be nice and ask if they can help you with it.

Are these two cables that go into the wall instead of into a jack (like just holes in the wall with the cables ends hanging loose), or are they two cables plugged into jacks? I'm just confused by what you mean by "dangling outside". If you have 2 cables that are hanging outside the house (exterior walls) I'd find out where they go and unhook them at minimum, but would personally just pull them out due to the security/weather risk. So could you clear up what you mean by "outside on the wall"?

PS I don't know if this helps, but I was bored in class and thought this was what you were asking a minute ago Text. If they are just terminated ends like Gillbot mentions, then they should be terminated at the patch panel, and you should be able to hook one into the FIOS/router gear (look at the diagram I did) and just use the terminated cable.

 

[sswingle]

I would love to have a house wired like that, but why the heck wouldn't they bring everything together in the basement?

 

[DisgruntledVirus]

Originally posted by: sswingle
I would love to have a house wired like that, but why the heck wouldn't they bring everything together in the basement?

Maybe they don't have a basement?

 

[StarsFan4Life]

I don't think a lot of homes in Texas have basements.....which actually baffels me.....but no, we don't have a basement.

 

[bobdole369]

Same in FL - but probably different reasons - in FL because the whole state is at like 4 ft above sea level, and the water table is inches below the ground.

 

[bobdole369]

So if a single cable has 8 wires (4 pairs), how would they be able to wire both terminals on the single outlet from the single cable and it work right? I would think it would need a cable for each terminal.

Oh for the love of god. I really hope they aren't "split" (i.e. using the unused 2 pairs (br/brw, bl/blw) for the second jack). I'm hoping that perhaps there is a phone patch somewhere and the second jack is for that, or maybe the second jack is unterminated.

As spidey said - look at the patch panel and see if 4 wires, or all 8 are on each jack on that patch. If 4 - find the guy who did it and punch him in the mouth. No way to do gigabit that way and 100mbit is gonna suffer BAD.

 

[kevnich2]

I highly doubt they used one cat5e cable for both terminals, this is very out of spec and any electrician worth anything wouldn't have done it this way. They put 2 jacks so you have the option to use one for data and one for phone. It's good practice to have it all come to a patch panel, that way you can easily plug what you want, where you want it. Honestly, you can put your FIOS router in any room. However, if you say there is one or two cat5e cables "dangling", these were probably put there to use for FIOS (one cable for data, one cable for phone). You plug one of these into the ONT's data jack and you attach one of the pairs of the other cable to the phone part of the ONT and on the other end, you plug into the WAN port of your FIOS router and the other cable goes to your phone jacks. Then plug the LAN side of your FIOS router into the same switch that you have the cables from the patch panel. Structured wiring is truly a great thing when done correctly. Gives you plenty of options, expandability, etc.

I hired an electrician to run 4 data drops in my house but I'm thinking of having him come back and hooking up the other rooms in the house. I like wireless but I don't use wireless for anything "critical". I just prefer wired for most of my devices where possible. Only use wireless for laptops and things like that.