New Home Setup

[mindovermaster]

We (me and my two parents) are building a new house. We got a builder to build it, based on our requests.

Now, I want to do this thing right, since I can DO this.

OK, all ethernet connections, plus phone base, will connect to basement, by the power box. So we can set our modems there. (Internet and phone modems)

This is a draw-up I made of new house.

Now, as you see, in kitchen, I want to set up my wireless router as an AP.

So our router and/or switch will be downstairs.

so:
AP
modems -> router -> switch (?) -> |
| Etho1,2,3
Phones

I do have this that I bought a week ago:

Would you suggest I get this router? https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA2F83373335

People have been telling me to stop getting those routers in plastic and those with a lot of antennas. I do have an ASUS RT-N66R that I plan to turn into an AP.

Any questions, please do ask. This is going around my head, hopefully I got everything.

 

[JimKiler]

I would suggest you get another Asus since they do firmware updates quite regularily so you know it will not be hackable in 6 months. While i do like TP-Link, they do not do nearly as many updates as Asus. What is your reason for picking that TP-Link router?

Also why is there no ethernet in the bedroom & garage? I would add the wires, you may want to use them later. Are you really putting phones in those rooms or just Cat 5e/6 for the ability to have phones?

I did something similar when i built my house. I ran Cat 6 everywhere and on the recommendations of others here put at least 2 Cat 6 connections in each room just in case. I also have my switch and modem in the basement but my router is on my second floor for maximum wireless coverage. A neighbor says my signal is stronger than his inside his house. My connection go from the fiber to the switch in the basement, up to the router then back to the basement to the switch and everything works great.

 

[mindovermaster]

I bought the TP-Link because it was recommended by 3 of my friends, who are highly within networking. Says it was good. (also is the cheapest under $100, that is greatly mentioned)

There is no Ethernet in master bedroom and garage, as they are not needed. All our computers, mine, my mom's, my dad's, will be in left 2 bedrooms. Bedroom 2 is mine. Bedroom 3 is parent's computers and guest bedroom.

From what I heard, builders are going to run Cat 5e. Not "every" room, but to most.

 

[mv2devnull]

Also why is there no ethernet in the bedroom & garage? I would add the wires, you may want to use them later. Are you really putting phones in those rooms or just Cat 5e/6 for the ability to have phones?

I did something similar when i built my house. I ran Cat 6 everywhere and on the recommendations of others here put at least 2 Cat 6 connections in each room just in case.

This. There is no reason not to draw cables everywhere now. Two per room is better than one. (Even two is not always comfy enough).

There is that famous misquote of "640K ought to be enough for anybody". Guess what? It wasn't. Situations and plans do change over time. They always do. It is easier to put cables now than later.

Rather Cat6 than Cat5e. The price difference is not significant.


A 24-port switch? How many cables will come to it? Does Eth[0-3] count as four or eight? One more from router and you are still way under 24.


Mount AP to ceiling, i.e. draw a Cat6 on the ceiling to central location. https://www.newegg.com/Wireless-AP/SubCategory/ID-335


"Cheapest router"? So is https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0XK-000W-00080
Depends what features you do need/appreciate.

 

[mindovermaster]

To add, I can take back the 24-port if it is not needed. I have like 3 more weeks before I can't send it back to Newegg.

 

[mindovermaster]

This. There is no reason not to draw cables everywhere now. Two per room is better than one. (Even two is not always comfy enough).

There is that famous misquote of "640K ought to be enough for anybody". Guess what? It wasn't. Situations and plans do change over time. They always do. It is easier to put cables now than later.

Rather Cat6 than Cat5e. The price difference is not significant.


A 24-port switch? How many cables will come to it? Does Eth[0-3] count as four or eight? One more from router and you are still way under 24.


Mount AP to ceiling, i.e. draw a Cat6 on the ceiling to central location. https://www.newegg.com/Wireless-AP/SubCategory/ID-335


"Cheapest router"? So is https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0XK-000W-00080
Depends what features you do need/appreciate.

Well, I can ask about getting it into every room. As it isn't built yet anyway. And 6, at that. I dunno if they only support 5e or that's their norm.

About that picture above, there would 1 in each room (5 rooms) +1 if we put one in garage (don't really see a need, but...)
I can run switches in each room if more than 1 connection is needed.

I do not think we'd need a POE AP. I can just use my ASUS router as an AP.

When did I ever say "cheapest"? The Ubinqi (sp?) one for $50 is enough...

 

[JimKiler]

Well, I can ask about getting it into every room. As it isn't built yet anyway. And 6, at that. I dunno if they only support 5e or that's their norm.

About that picture above, there would 1 in each room (5 rooms) +1 if we put one in garage (don't really see a need, but...)
I can run switches in each room if more than 1 connection is needed.

I do not think we'd need a POE AP. I can just use my ASUS router as an AP.

When did I ever say "cheapest"? The Ubinqi (sp?) one for $50 is enough...

They will charge you $100 or more for each run so it will add up quickly. A lot of builders will also charge extra for Cat6 but mine did not (although i laid 90% of the wire). I do like the recommendation to put it high. You could get an outlet and put the router on top of a cabinet assuming they do not go to the ceiling.

 

[mindovermaster]

They will charge you $100 or more for each run so it will add up quickly. A lot of builders will also charge extra for Cat6 but mine did not (although i laid 90% of the wire). I do like the recommendation to put it high. You could get an outlet and put the router on top of a cabinet assuming they do not go to the ceiling.

I'll ask, but don't get your hopes up. We aren't millionaires here...

 

[aigomorla]

If your house is getting built, i would have all the wires meet inside the garage, and install a small closet for your networking stuff.
You can have the cable / fiber provider install a line in that closet, and then have your modem there as well.
Make sure you also run a coax line from that closet to your living room if you intend to run a cable TV or some sorts.

I would also if possible run it though conduits because if the wire ever gets damaged, u can always pull a new one using the old one as a fish line though a conduit.

Even tho it is going to cost you a bit extra i would try to do it this way because if you intend to keep the house for a while, it will most likely save you in the long run if a line needs replacing.

I would not mikey mouse on a lan wire job if its a new house being built, because u have the freedom to do it right at the start when there are no walls then later on.

If you cant afford runing a conduit, then i would have no less then 2 lan lines per room incase one fails, and i would run CAT6 over CAT5, and make sure the CAT6 is a solid copper wire, and not CCA, copper clad aluminum.

Again, you really want to do this right, because once the walls and beams go in, you wont get a second chance without it costing a lot more.


I know you are trying to save money on cost, but having a good infrastructure backbone is not cheap.
If you cant do it right, then honestly dont do it at all and run the cables from the outside.

Yeah i know it may sound a bit mean, but think of it this way, to repair a cable which was stapled down you would need to destory the wall and then patch it up again.
And to run a new wire though, you would need to drill holes though each post which costs more money then if you had done it via conduit.

If you do a sloppy job, you wasted money, and repairing a sloppy job will cost more then if you had done it right at the beginning.
So again if you cant afford to do it correct, dont do it, and just run the cable outside and tack it on the walls, as it will be MUCH easier to fix/repair if the cable should fail.

 

[mindovermaster]

If your house is getting built, i would have all the wires meet inside the garage, and install a small closet for your networking stuff.
You can have the cable / fiber provider install a line in that closet, and then have your modem there as well.
Make sure you also run a coax line from that closet to your living room if you intend to run a cable TV or some sorts.

I would also if possible run it though conduits because if the wire ever gets damaged, u can always pull a new one using the old one as a fish line though a conduit.

Even tho it is going to cost you a bit extra i would try to do it this way because if you intend to keep the house for a while, it will most likely save you in the long run if a line needs replacing.

I would not mikey mouse on a lan wire job if its a new house being built, because u have the freedom to do it right at the start when there are no walls then later on.

If you cant afford runing a conduit, then i would have no less then 2 lan lines per room incase one fails, and i would run CAT6 over CAT5, and make sure the CAT6 is a solid copper wire, and not CCA, copper clad aluminum.

Again, you really want to do this right, because once the walls and beams go in, you wont get a second chance without it costing a lot more.


I know you are trying to save money on cost, but having a good infrastructure backbone is not cheap.
If you cant do it right, then honestly dont do it at all and run the cables from the outside.

Yeah i know it may sound a bit mean, but think of it this way, to repair a cable which was stapled down you would need to destory the wall and then patch it up again.
And to run a new wire though, you would need to drill holes though each post which costs more money then if you had done it via conduit.

If you do a sloppy job, you wasted money, and repairing a sloppy job will cost more then if you had done it right at the beginning.
So again if you cant afford to do it correct, dont do it, and just run the cable outside and tack it on the walls, as it will be MUCH easier to fix/repair if the cable should fail.

I agree with you wholeheartedly, I'll figure out the cost for this. It shouldn't be all that much more. I don't know the whole story, so I'm playing by ear here...

 

[mindovermaster]

OK, to have wires (just one in each room) is $15/each.

CAT 6 over 5E will be an extra $50.

I asked my Mom and Dad about this, and they think it's a bit extreme. But like I said above, we don't have that much money for extra things like this.

What we currently have (above) is good enough. I'll try to coax them, but I'm afraid we don't have that much of a choice.

 

[JimKiler]

OK, to have wires (just one in each room) is $15/each.

CAT 6 over 5E will be an extra $50.

I asked my Mom and Dad about this, and they think it's a bit extreme. But like I said above, we don't have that much money for extra things like this.

What we currently have (above) is good enough. I'll try to coax them, but I'm afraid we don't have that much of a choice.

Those are actually really cheap rates specially if it is a total of $50 more for Cat6 but you can still with Cat 5e. Most places are $100 for each port and after doing it i get it. you generally run them one at a time so there is no labor savings.

 

[aigomorla]

can u buy the cable yourself and have them install it for cheaper?

You can get 1000 foot rolls at monoprice cat6 CMR for 90 dollars.
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=8103

Keystone jacks:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=5384

Wall plates:
https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=105&cp_id=10517&cs_id=1051703&p_id=6728&seq=1&format=2


At the most i see your needing 2 rolls of 1000 foot... maybe not even the 2nd 1000 foot, if we calculate 100feet x 2 dual line x 4location should come out to 800 foot of cable.... i just use 100 foot, you probably wont even need 100 foot for the close locations.

Because to me 50 dollars upgrade is too excessive.
Hell, tell them you will even supply the wall plates and the keystone jacks, and just get those at mono price too while your at it.

Also i would NEVER trust a contractor to use proper wiring for anything.
Ive worked with too many of them to know that they will cut EVER LAST CORNER in material expense.
They seriously think every penny saved is a penny in their pocket, so they will cheap out on materials which aren't in view to the naked eye.

I would ONLY trust a electrician or a professional installer with materials.
So my advice is YOU supply the wires and have him install it, or i bet you, he will cheap shot you and drop in CCA cabling, which is actually against fire code.

 

[Eric Fazekas]

I had a custom home built and did the network cabling myself. You can see my post here: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/my-home-wiring-closet.2509775/

Would your contractor allow you access to the site over a weekend to do some cabling yourself? I've heard that some won't (maybe most). Are you comfortable climbing around ceiling joists looking down 9-10 feet?

There's a lot of post on here and other places that talk about future-proofing your home. Of course, there's really no such thing, but just the fact that Amazon started offering a hardwire adapter for their Fire TV/Fire Stick tells me that current wi-fi isn't cutting it for the high-definition streaming we have right now. I tried to install a Cat 6 connection wherever there was going to be a TV.

I actually feel like that's more important that getting connections to computers or laptops (right now)....if nothing else, make sure you have one behind your TV. Your parents may not need to be connected, but since you're here you probably do.

 

[Mike64]

OK, to have wires (just one in each room) is $15/each.

CAT 6 over 5E will be an extra $50.

I asked my Mom and Dad about this, and they think it's a bit extreme. But like I said above, we don't have that much money for extra things like this.

What we currently have (above) is good enough. I'll try to coax them, but I'm afraid we don't have that much of a choice.

You might try pointing out how much (i.e., ≥ numerous hundreds) it will cost in a couple-few years to to run the new cables they'll be sorry they didn't spend $100-200 on in the first place...

 

[rchunter]

I agree go run the cable and do it yourself if you can. You can terminate with jacks and install wall plates later after the house is totally done. Just get the cable run before the drywall goes up. A 1000 ft spool of Belden 2412 CAT 6 will cost you about $200. It's good cable.

 

[mindovermaster]

Thanks all, I will keep those in mind. I will need to ask my Mom, as she is the task force behind this. I'll try and tell her these things.

 

[simas]

Set up a budget , write out the list of goals , rank them
- use conduits
- CAT6 is fine no need to cheap out on much older tech here . the wire will serve you longer then other components
- write out the list of functional pieces you want to have, i.e.
router and/or firewall
switch
wireless access
centralized storage, server or NAS
etc
- figure out how you will cover the list above, i am a big fan of having things do what they are designed for vs going for crappy all in one junk that you can not upgrade/replace . Let router route, switch do switching ,etc.
- set up centralized location now for writing (where, how, what power it would get). rack/mini-rack for equipment, patch panel for wiring,

onto specific components
- TPlink 24 port is fine. no need to go lower than this port count now. However, if I were doing this now I would have went for this https://www.servethehome.com/mikrotik-css326-24g-2srm-review-cheap-24x-1gbe-2x-10gbe/ or the ubiquity equivalent. The one from mikrotik has SFP+ ports and if you want , you can hook it up with say QNAP NAS going over SPF+ . Are you planning to centralize your media?
- for the router you linked, what is the ISP you are planning to use in terms of up/down speeds? would you do any form of packet inspection? do you need multiple WAN ports (dual IPS, failover/ load balancing ,etc) . i currently use mikrotik hex3 which is similar price range and would scale up higher than what you link. unifi has its own equivalents in the unifi security gateway (USG/USG Pro) if you want convenience solution
- is this a single level house? if not, you may want an access point on each floor.
Summary - set up a budget , write out the list of goals , rank them