Wiring my house

[WhiteKnight]

I'm moving into a new house in the next month or so and I'm planning on wiring the majority of it with at least Cat5e and RG6 for ethernet and TV. I'm only in my 20s but my wife and I are planning on being in this house for a long time. I push a lot of video around my network and wireless just won't cut it for my desktop PCs. I can't decide whether I should just run Cat5e and RG6 or if I should run fiber as well to handle any future needs, even though it won't be used now. There are some very nice, but expensive, composite cables available that carry 2x cat5, 2x RG6, and 2x simplex fiber. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Edit: One question regarding coax wiring: Is it ok to run a single cable to the second floor and then split it, or does proper wiring practice dictate doing all the splitting at a central point, i.e. close to the entry point?

 

[FoBoT]

put the cat5e/rg6 into small PVC pipe with fish line in place so that you can pull fiber or anything later easily

 

[Goosemaster]

Cat5e is fine man. Cat6 if you are anxious.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

It really depends on how easily accessable everything is. If you have conduit and/or can easily get to the wiring, then just go with CatV. By the time you actually need fiber, it will be cheaper and of a higher quality.

 

[XZeroII]

Definitely do the pipe thing. It makes running cable so much easier in the future. It's more work to set up sometimes, but worth it if you are going to be staying there for awhile. Then run Cat5e or 6.

 

[Fritzo]

I push video through my wireless network fine. If you get Wifi NIC's and routers from the same manufacturer, you can get like 108mbps performance.

I considered wiring my house with network cable, but since I work in the ISP industry and know what's coming, I didn't bother (Google Wi-Max).

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

does this house have a basement? If so, then re wiring in the future is no big deal/

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I push video through my wireless network fine. If you get Wifi NIC's and routers from the same manufacturer, you can get like 108mbps performance.

I considered wiring my house with network cable, but since I work in the ISP industry and know what's coming, I didn't bother (Google Wi-Max).

not really

Wires are still unbeatable these days, but it really depends on what you are doing with it.

 

[WhiteKnight]

Thanks for the suggestion with the PVC, I'll definitely plan on that.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: Fritzo
I push video through my wireless network fine. If you get Wifi NIC's and routers from the same manufacturer, you can get like 108mbps performance.

I considered wiring my house with network cable, but since I work in the ISP industry and know what's coming, I didn't bother (Google Wi-Max).

not really

Wires are still unbeatable these days, but it really depends on what you are doing with it.

Again...check out Wi-Max. I attended a demo of it- 10 mile range and gigabit performance. Should be out at the end of the year/beginning of 2007.

 

[acemcmac]

Make sure you check your phone system. Mine turned out to be Cat5e making the whole issue of running new wires moot

 

[cpals]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
Make sure you check your phone system. Mine turned out to be Cat5e making the whole issue of running new wires moot

Explain?

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: cpals

Originally posted by: acemcmac
Make sure you check your phone system. Mine turned out to be Cat5e making the whole issue of running new wires moot

Explain?

Open up a phone drop and look how many wires are in there. If you have 4 twisted pairs, you will probably have cat3, but could also have cat5. Phones only use one pair, but most places run cat5 nowadays because it's cheaper/easier than having two boxes of cables all of the time.

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
Make sure you check your phone system. Mine turned out to be Cat5e making the whole issue of running new wires moot

that only helps if the drops are "home runs" all the way back to the closet. Most installers daisychain the wire, and it would be worthless for networking.

 

[WhiteKnight]

One question regarding coax wiring: Is it ok to run a single cable to the second floor and then split it, or does proper wiring practice dictate doing all the splitting at a central point, i.e. close to the entry point?

 

[WhiteKnight]

bump

 

[skyking]

Originally posted by: WhiteKnight
One question regarding coax wiring: Is it ok to run a single cable to the second floor and then split it, or does proper wiring practice dictate doing all the splitting at a central point, i.e. close to the entry point?

do yourself and everyone who follows you a big favor.
make every drop in the house a 'home run'. That means an uninterrupted, unspliced wire from the wall plate to a central closet.
Drag two of everything to each room.
a 1000' box of rg6 quad is more than enough, same with cat6 and cat3.