Home wiring advice...

[kwo]

OK, I've been inundated with all the terms thrown around and what I need for wiring my house.

First, what I want to do: Wire my house with Cat5e (and RG6/Cat3 for coax and telephone) for eventual GigE (knowing that my DSL will never get there and that I'll need to upgrade my routers/switches...etc...)

My plan: Start with a Leviton Patch panel from which I'll filter out my DSL signal then send to a Netgear Router, then to a couple of switches located throughout the house and eventually to wallplates. (Yes, the switches/routers are just 100mps now....).

My question: what type of cable is best for this?

1. Cat 5e seems fine - I don't need the extra expense of Cat6. But, *what* type of Cat 5e?

2. CMP ~ plenum, which I don't need as this is just simple residential wiring and not through airspaces, venting, ducting, etc....

3. So, I thought I'd need riser (CMR rated), which is still PVC, but has a doped jacket with somewhat slower burning properties (am I right on this?).

4. Solid is better than stranded, from my reading, so now I want CMR rated solid Cat5e.

5. But, shielded or unshielded? from my research, most of the wiring in the U.S. is unshielded (UTP) and in order for the shield to work properly and not become a big antenna, *ALL* components of the run must be properly shielded. So, that means I should go with unshielded.

6. I'm running both horizontally *and* vertically (across the basement, up to the second floor, etc....) I've read that different cables can burn at different rates depending on what orientation they are in. Thus, "riser" is relatively good at slow burning when run vertically, but *not* horizontally. Is this true?

7. Collectively, it seems that riser (CMR rated) solid UTP Cat5e is what I should go with for my whole house. Does this conclusion seem valid, or am I missing something?

Finally, anyone have good suggestions where to buy bulk CMR solid UTP Cat5e?

Any thoughts/comments/corrections would be much appreciated before I begin this endeavour.

Thanks in advance....

 

[Goosemaster]

DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT..I repeat DO NOT run them through your heating vents unless you want to die.

Honestly, find some cat5e UTP at home depot and use it. There really isn't much to it. The Switch should take care of the grounding. I don't know what you mean by burn, but at least in terms of IDCs and such, this seems like somethign small, so only one switch should be needed.

As for a router, I would spend a little more and get something nice.

In addition, think about WDS /multiple APs and such for wireless coverage

 

[netsysadmin]

Another suggestion for you would be not to use multiple switches scattered around the house. Use one switch that is next to or integrated with your wiring panel. Much cleaner and it makes troubleshooting much easier later.

John

 

[skyking]

riser rating has to do with strength, not combustion properties.
cat5e riser will do it all for you. do use one central switch, even if it is somewhere remote from the main router.
For example, if you have a couple of computers and a network printer in an office, and a 4 port router, put the modem/router there.
Use those ports, and run a wire from there to the most logical location for a central switch.
Keep in mind that the switch location will need power.

 

[kwo]

This is great. I much appreciate the thoughts/comments

I'll actually have....2 Imacs, 1 laptop, and 3 desktops on the network (plus 2 printers soon). I was going to mount a switch on the 2nd floor (2nd floor has kneehigh walls with half-height door access to the eaves - perfect for mounting hardware and access to the walls for mounting wallplates).

I have a leviton patch panel with a DSL filter and a 6 port switch. i was going to mount as follows:

telephone line -> DSL filter (w/ unfiltered DSL modem jack) -> DSL modem -> Netgear router -->: one line to upstairs switch for 2nd floor access & 2nd line to office switch (3 comps, 1 PAP2 VOIP adapted, 2 printers) and 3rd line to spare bedroom on 1st floor.

Another question y'all brought up: is it better to have long home runs directly to a central switch mounted in the basement or to have shorter runs that go through local switches.

For example, I was going to have 4 wallplate mounted Cat5e jacks on the 2nd floor. To accomodate, I was going to run one Cat5e from the basement router to a switch in the eaves from which I would distribute the 4 lines for the 2nd floor. Wouldn't that be better than running four separate lines all the way down to the basement?

 

[netsysadmin]

Longer runs back to a central location is the preffered method.

John

 

[Muhadib]

Or you could F the whole idea and try wireless to see if it fits your needs.

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: Muhadib
Or you could F the whole idea and try wireless to see if it fits your needs.

ummm..yeah..I could - but I don't want to rely on wireless.

 

[Muhadib]

Originally posted by: kwo

Originally posted by: Muhadib
Or you could F the whole idea and try wireless to see if it fits your needs.

ummm..yeah..I could - but I don't want to rely on wireless.

I completely understand.

 

[bruceb]

You seem to misunderstand how to use the DSL Filter

1): It Never gets installed between the Phone Line & the DSL MODEM
Your modem will Not Work that way

2): You MUST put one (1) DSL Filter in between Every Phone Jack
and Telephone Set .. any sets with out it will hear DSL Signal
noise & May cause Interference with your DSL Modem

3): Make sure all your Telephone Connections, especially BEFORE
it connects to the MODEM are Clean, Secure & Tight .. this also
applies to where the Phone wire comes into your home

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: bruceb
You seem to misunderstand how to use the DSL Filter

1): It Never gets installed between the Phone Line & the DSL MODEM
Your modem will Not Work that way

2): You MUST put one (1) DSL Filter in between Every Phone Jack
and Telephone Set .. any sets with out it will hear DSL Signal
noise & May cause Interference with your DSL Modem

3): Make sure all your Telephone Connections, especially BEFORE
it connects to the MODEM are Clean, Secure & Tight .. this also
applies to where the Phone wire comes into your home

Whoops - you're absolutely right. The line goes to the filter unit which has an *unfiltered* jack for the DSL modem...downstream is filtered for all the telephones. I mistyped that.....

As to your second note - the beauty of the patch panel DSL filter is that I can filter out the DSL signal *before* the house telephone wiring - thus negating the need for any filters but the one.

Thanks for the heads up...I'll revise that.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: kwo

Originally posted by: Muhadib
Or you could F the whole idea and try wireless to see if it fits your needs.

ummm..yeah..I could - but I don't want to rely on wireless.

dude..I need to buy you a beer for that one

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: kwo

Originally posted by: Muhadib
Or you could F the whole idea and try wireless to see if it fits your needs.

ummm..yeah..I could - but I don't want to rely on wireless.

dude..I need to buy you a beer for that one

done! send one Sam Adams to worcester, MA.!

 

[pookguy88]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT..I repeat DO NOT run them through your heating vents unless you want to die.

Honestly, find some cat5e UTP at home depot and use it. There really isn't much to it. The Switch should take care of the grounding. I don't know what you mean by burn, but at least in terms of IDCs and such, this seems like somethign small, so only one switch should be needed.

As for a router, I would spend a little more and get something nice.

In addition, think about WDS /multiple APs and such for wireless coverage

i have my network cable running through my heat vents, no problems

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: pookguy88

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT..I repeat DO NOT run them through your heating vents unless you want to die.

Honestly, find some cat5e UTP at home depot and use it. There really isn't much to it. The Switch should take care of the grounding. I don't know what you mean by burn, but at least in terms of IDCs and such, this seems like somethign small, so only one switch should be needed.

As for a router, I would spend a little more and get something nice.

In addition, think about WDS /multiple APs and such for wireless coverage

i have my network cable running through my heat vents, no problems

...dude...when that stuff starts heating up the fumes are toxic.

 

[Rab]

...dude...when that stuff starts heating up the fumes are toxic.

What about the plenum rated stuff? Any difference there?

 

[kwo]

Originally posted by: Rab

...dude...when that stuff starts heating up the fumes are toxic.

What about the plenum rated stuff? Any difference there?

Exactly. Plenum (CMP) is different from riser (CMR). See this article for more info.

 

[pookguy88]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster

Originally posted by: pookguy88

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT..I repeat DO NOT run them through your heating vents unless you want to die.

Honestly, find some cat5e UTP at home depot and use it. There really isn't much to it. The Switch should take care of the grounding. I don't know what you mean by burn, but at least in terms of IDCs and such, this seems like somethign small, so only one switch should be needed.

As for a router, I would spend a little more and get something nice.

In addition, think about WDS /multiple APs and such for wireless coverage

i have my network cable running through my heat vents, no problems

...dude...when that stuff starts heating up the fumes are toxic.

really??
how much does it have to heat up?

 

[fargus]

Don't use CAT3 for phones, use 5 for everything. Using 3 will only save you pennies; by using 5 you can repatch any jack at your central panel and use it for phone or data as your needs change. Yes, you can plug the RJ11 phone plug right into that big ol' RJ45 jack. Do a web search on "structured wiring" and you'll get some good leads.