Just bought a townhouse and need to network, easiest and most cost effective solution?

[LiQiCE]

I just bought a townhouse and I'm planning on getting DSL. I would like to be able to share the DSL with the rest of my house. I am wondering what the best way to do this would be? Obviously wireless would be the easiest, but I know wireless has some limitations in terms of distance. If the DSL was on the 3rd floor of my townhouse, I would want to make sure that my X-Box in the basement would still be able to access the network (via an Ethernet to 802.11b bridge).

I was also looking at powerline networking, but I heard that this is not very reliable since turning on the A/C could potentially lower your bandwidth from the advertised 14mbps to more like 2 or 3 mbps.

I know the cheapest and of course most cost effective way is to just run Cat 5 or Cat 5e Ethernet, but it would be a bit of a pain to run the cabling (although it would be the fastest)... Also, can Cat 5e carry Gigabit Ethernet? I dont anticipate needing to goto Gigabit anytime soon, but in 5 years, who knows if 100Mbps will be enough

Any suggestions on good longer range wireless solutions that are reasonable in cost, or any phone line networks that will work without interfering with DSL is appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Kell]

I generally always use Ethernet hard lines for everything but laptops. Sometimes I even use hard lines for laptops, just because it's cost-effective speed.

Cat5E is the minimum rated standard to carry Gigabit. I'd personally recommend Cat6 or greater--you have to keep in mind that when you go to all the trouble to run horizontal and riser cables, you want some room to grow without having to re-run cable later.

One possibility (an expensive one) is to just run riser cabling straight up and down, in the style of stacked telecom closets, to a wireless access point on every floor.

If you plan to have network access from every room, doing it all with hard lines becomes a hell of a lot of work. You would probably need more than one switch/hub, a few repeaters, and possibly fiber backbone cabling to overcome physical limitations like length and number of ports.

 

[LiQiCE]

Well, my townhouse isn't that large, and I only really plan to run wires to 3 different rooms. The problem is just that there's one room on the 3rd floor (nice and easy to do with Cat 5e) and then there's 1 room on the 2nd floor and one room on the first floor... I don't think I'll exceed the physical length limitations of Cat 5e since the townhouse is so small, and most of the cable running is going to be vertical (with roughly 9 foot ceilings, a drop from the 3rd floor to the first floor shouldnt be more than 50 feet at most, and horizontal cabling shouldnt exceed 100 feet in a small townhouse like I have...

Also, I haven't read up on any Gigabit Ethernet cabling... Is Cat 6 backwards compatible with standard 10/100 Ethernet? I can't afford to buy a Gigabit switch for Cat 6, looking at something more like the Linksys 10/100 Cable/DSL router.

Also is there any benefit if I do Cat 5e or Cat 6 to go with shielded cabling, or should UTP totally serve my purpose (I dont recall if shielded cable has any compatibility issues either).

Thanks!

 

[Lord Evermore]

I don't think I'll ever use wireless networking for my home for anything except possibly a laptop, on which I don't expect to need any sort of bandwidth, and when I do need bandwidth I'd connect it via wires.

In order to actually run a secure wireless network, you end up losing a large amount of the bandwidth due to encryption. So you go from the not-really-good 11Mbps down to 8Mbps or less of actual data throughput. Granted, that's plenty for most Internet connections, but it's a PITA when you want to transfer files on your LAN.

Wiring your house really well may be a pain and take a while, but if you do it right it could make the house worth more in the future. Nice clean Ethernet jacks with a fibre backbone would make ME more likely to pay a few bucks extra compared to the same house without the wiring. And in the meantime you have the best type of network for your own use.

 

[LiQiCE]

Well, I think fibre is out of the question for me. It is always a possibility in the future, but after buying this house, I don't have the sort of money to spend on fibre equipment, I was even wondering if I needed to buy the equipment for wireless which is a few hundred. I think I can do a 10/100 network with the possibility of upgrading to Gigabit (maybe Cat 5e or Cat 6) for maybe $100-150 depending on how much I spend on the cabling, and if I get a cheap 10/100 Cable/DSL router. (I can most likely borrow the equipment I need to do punchdowns, crimps, etc) ... Is making Cat 6 wire any different than making Cat 5e? I really dont know anything about Cat 6, so I dont know if it has more wires, or anything. I can make Cat 5e wires really easily (did that all one summer for custom wires in a few wiring closets), and in the short-term if I needed to, I could even just leave the wires hanging out of a hole in the wall with heads on them and eventually shorten them up and put them on punchdowns. (Thats how I did it in my parent's house because it was the most cost effective way to get my brother and my parents wired).

 

[Kell]

Cat6 is, for the most part, backwards compatible with Cat5e. The only physical difference is that cat6 is rated for better transmission characteristics and, in order to meet these requirements, is usually of heavier gauge wire (about 23AWG). The only caveat when going with Cat6 is to make sure your termination can accept 23AWG. Punch-down jacks, even those manufactured before the existence of Cat6, can handle 23AWG with little or no problem. RJ45 tips usually can't unless they're designed for it.

Also, if you're in the habit of punching your cat5/5e cables using only two of the pairs (a bad habit), that habit can't carry over to Gigabit. 10/100 Ethernet uses only two of the four pairs, but Gigabit uses all four pairs. If you follow the 568A or 568B pinout standard, you won't have any problem in this regard.

If you keep your cable lengths within 100 meters, you should be fine and should even have room to grow. It would be a good idea to have your switch/hub, DSL router, and other server equipment all in a dedicated computer room (or at least a sufficiently air-conditioned closet).

A couple of helpful links for running your own cable:

http://www.cabletesting.com/
http://www.cablingdirectory.com/

 

[Lord Evermore]

Keep in mind that in order to comply with regulations, you'd might want to use Plenum-rated wiring. Depends on your local regulations and the parts of your house it will run through. It may or may not make a difference in the future if perhaps your house is inspected and doesn't meet regulations.

 

[LiQiCE]

Cool thanks for the info. So I guess there really isnt any good alternatives to good old wire runs for Ethernet huh?

I was thinking about the whole "wiring closet" idea and I guess I really have to think about where I want the wiring to go. There is a walk-in-closet in my master bedroom that I could dedicate some of the area to a wiring closet (it also is the only access point to the attic right now), but I dont know how popular that idea would be for re-sale on the house. It would be stupid to run all the wires to my computer desk (which would be in the master bedroom) and house the DSL modem there in the event that someone else buying the house doesnt want their computer there

Guess I'll have to think about it and see... Or maybe I'll splurge on 802.11a and save myself the effort of running wires

 

[ScottMac]

The veritcal runs can go in the space where the "stack" (vent pipe) is run; it's usually a clear space. You will want to avoid running cable in the common wall(s) ..it's usually a code issue, even with "low voltage" cabling and usually MUST be in conduit.

If you can get the cable down the stack space (not in the stack), then may go with surface mount cable raceway (like Panduit) just above the baseboard.

The laundry / utility areas are usually a good spot for the central patch area / equipment. Chances are that's where the other cabling (phone, cable TV) lines are routed anyway.

As long as you're in a cable-pulling mood, pull some RG/6 along with the data cable. In the event that you put up a dish, or get a cable modem, you'll already have media in-place. There are several companies that have an integrated cable with two Cat5/5e/6 UTP and 2 RG/6 in the same sheath, so it's like pulling one (much bigger) cable.


Good Luck

Scott

 

[jkoXP]

if i lived near you, id come and run fastCat5e or Cat6 for ya, I love doing that stuff! id go with fast cat52 (.15 a foot at circuit city) for fast cat5e cables........ just bought a 500' spool for my house (just wired it up too).

 

[jimmyhaha]

HPNA 10M phoneline networking
if u plan to have a always on pc as a host for internet sharing

v. cost effective and no rewiring or ugly cat5 cable
10M speed though

$10-15 for PCI adaptor and 20-30 for USB adaptor on ebay....

otherwise stick with Cat5 for speed or wireless if u have $$$

PM me if u want more info

 

[LiQiCE]

jkoXP,

Thanks for the offer Too bad you dont live closer! haha. Thanks for the info on the Cat 52, 0.15 a foot isnt bad ... I'll have to consider the price difference between Cat 5e and Cat 6 before making a final decision. It does sound like the best way to go at this point, since a lot of the alternatives seem fairly costly and don't give you much in terms of speed although the 10Mbit phoneline network that jimmyhaha mentioned is nice if it works with DSL!!

jimmyhaha,

Will the HPNA 10M Phoneline network work along side DSL? I was under the impression that DSL would conflict with these phoneline networks since they both use the "spare" bandwidth that the copper provides you.