Building a New House

[cpals]

Yes, it has to do with computers...

My friend is building a new house and the construction manager said that he could go in and wire the house with ethernet cable for the internet. My suggestion was to just go all wireless since the speeds are pretty good with 802.11g and such and it would be a lot less messier than cabling.

Do you think it's worth it to cable the house or just go strictly wireless?

 

[frankie38]

I would wire the house. He has a one time low cost opportunity to do so while the house is being built.
Note there is no guarantee that wireless will work good due RF interference from phones, other wireless networks, microwave ovens, etc.

I would also wire the house for cable/satelitte as well. Wire for Home theater system too.!

Good luck

 

[Matthias99]

Wire the house with CAT6 (you can run it to the same wall plates as your cable and phone jacks), or at least put in the wire guides (PVC piping in the walls that makes it MUCH easier to add any kind of wiring later if it's desired). It really doesn't cost much while building the house, but adding it later is a huge pain.

For a home network (if you want to do anything more sophisticated than surfing the web), GbE (or even 100Mbps ethernet) is much better than wireless; way faster, lower ping, more reliable over long distances. You'd be lucky to get 20-30Mbps on an 802.11g connection, and that has to be shared between every device using the AP. Plus, if it's a big enough house, you'll need multiple APs for good coverage, and you need a way to wire them all together.

 

[Tarrant64]

i always tend to think of wireless as an 'add-on' to cabling. In my experiences there has always been times when I need/wanted to use cable, and it's always there when i need it. i use wireless mostly for laptops in my home that are constantly being moved around. desktops and what not are always just plugged right in.

use both.

 

[Hajime]

As other people have said, wire it with Cat6.

This is the only chance he'll get to wire the house for cheap. Plus, wire is significantly faster and more secure then wireless - and it doesn't have any of the nasty reception problems.

 

[sfgtwsac]

Have your friend look at the various structured wiring products available. These products generally included two RG-6 cables and two Cat-5 or mostly likely Cat-6 cables (which also double as phone cables) sheathed together -- I believe some are available with other products such as fiber optic. I had a product like this installed in my house when it was built 5 years ago and its terrific. The best part is that all the wires run to a central control unit that make it easier to change the sources being fed to a given outlet. I also had speakers built into various rooms, which all feed from a wallplate near my stereo. I did not get pvc routes put in, but it couldn't hurt.

 

[ukDave]

Originally posted by: Hajime
As other people have said, wire it with Cat6.

This is the only chance he'll get to wire the house for cheap. Plus, wire is significantly faster and more secure then wireless - and it doesn't have any of the nasty reception problems.

ditto.

if you can't justify the cost of Cat6, Cat5e will do but for futureproofing (this is what houses do remember...) Cat6 is the best choice.