Really stupid question about home networking

[dexter333]

I feel stupid for asking this but here goes:

My parents and I are moving sometime this summer into a brand new home with CAT-5 wiring throughout the house. I have seen the homes under construction and all of the wiring goes into a central room. My question is does the house come with a hub/switch or would I have to buy it myself and install it. Also, if I have to install it, do all of the wires end in plugs or a panel that I would connect patch cables from the switch to the panel.

Thanks,
-Daniel

 

[Hoober]

Go look at the house. There's no right answer for that that any of us can give you. If the house has it then it has it. If not, you'll have to buy it.

 

[sohcrates]

it completely depends on who wired it

i'm 99% sure that there will be NO existing hub/switch/router in place

if someone who wired it knew what they were doing, then yes, all wires should hopefully go to an access panel (probably somewhere in basement)

you should be totally hooked up for broadband...just get a cable modem and a router and go to town!

so in conclusion, that was actually a pretty good question!

when i worked with someone to pre-wire my new home, they were utterly clueless and i basically had to do it for them...if your's is better, then hopefully they knew how to wire it correctly.

when you're ready to do the router thing, let us know and we can help you get it set up

 

[dexter333]

Actually, I can get the router and stuff running. I've done it many times with mine. I have no problem getting networks to work. It sucks though knowing how to set up home routers and networks. I'm ALWAYS the person people call when they have a networking problem.

I was just wondering if there was a patch panel or a switch there. If there's a hub then that's the first thing getting ripped outta that place. All of the wiring in the house does go to a central location. The last time I saw what the house was going to look like was when they were running the cabling (electrical, television cable, intercom, ethernet, phone line, etc...) in the models.

I don't even know if the foundation is poured for the house we'll move into. I haven't seen it. Thanks for your help. I'm gonna go check out the models tomorrow and hopefully be able to get into that wiring cabinet.