Thanks for the reply Hans. Based on some of your info, I think I'll just
feed ethernet lines to just about every room, since the house is just being
built now and it's easy to get at everything. It's one family living in
both sides so security is not an issue.
So if I feed all the lines (maybe 10 or 12) to the basement by the
electrical box, then I need a router there to connect all lines to a network
and to the DSL modem. What is a good brand/model of router, and do I need
any other hardware to connect all these lines to the router? Or just feed
them all straight into the router?
Hibes,
I use a DrayTek Vigor router, in my case a 2500We, which also
provides WLAN connectivity. I think the DrayTek routers are just
inside my tolerance, as far as quality is concerned. Ran an SMC
7004 VBR before, and that one just didn't cut it. Had to throw
it out.
Most of the consumer routers have only 4 or, at most, 8 ports,
so you need extra switches. Fortunately small switches are very
cheap these days, like $20 for a palmtop-sized five port switch.
These can save you cable cost and volume. For example, when you
put a switch in the ground floor, you need only one Cat. 5 cable
from the basement to the ground floor, etc. You could have one
switch in each floor.
Of course you can also pull all cables from the basement to each
room. This costs more and requires bigger cable canals, but it
avoids the extra switch installation in the other floors.
The professional way to lay network cables is to have RJ-45
sockets on either side of each permanently laid cable. In the
rooms you'd have a normal socket with one or two RJ-45 sockets.
In the basement you'd have patch panels with 8 or more RJ-45
sockets.
Cat. 5 cables for the walls come with two pairs and also with
four pairs of wires. The latter feed a double socket (2 x RJ-45)
and are recommended. Doesn't cost much more, doesn't take more
room, but is more flexible.
In my house I have taken some shortcuts and wired the cables
directly to patch cable ends, using primitive rows of connectors
with two holes and two small screws on either side of each
connector. I don't know whether there's an English word for
these.
This is unprofessional, not recommended, and a little bit
embarrassing, but it works for for the shorter cable distances
used in residential houses when you keep the untwisted part of
the cable pairs short. It simply saves some money and some time
for mounting.
Ethernet cabling and mounting RJ-45 sockets requires a special
tool, some experience, and some information on the commonly used
color coding. If you know someone who has this experience, you
can save yourself some time and trouble in acquiring the
experience yourself. On the other hand it can save quite a bit
of money to do it yourself, and the experience may be worth
having. So far I don't regret having done it myself.
Hans-Georg
