Ethernet Faceplates

Deep

Deep

Deep

Soldato
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29 Jul 2004
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Esher
Can somebody explain something to me (in laymans term preferably!)

Let's say in my Living room I have a PS3 and a computer that I want connected via ethernet cable, my router is in a completely different room of the house.

I thought the easiest way would be to have 1 cable from router to living room which then connects to a small unmanaged switch which then connects to the two components.

But a lot of people are using faceplates and I cannot see the point of them :S
You need 2 cables running from your router through to the faceplate, and then another 2 to connect the components?

Why is that better than using a switch?

Cheers for any help I just can't see why people use them so extensively
 
Maybe they think it looks neater, also you have the option of in future years doing as you say, and sticking a switch on one cable freeing up the other cable for something else (phone, alarm, home automation, speakers?).

It's not any harder to pull 2 cables than to pull 1 if you're going in the wall / trunking anyway.
 
two quick things spring to mind

1. Faceplates would normally mean that the wires back to the router are hidden in the wall and out of site so doesn't matter.

2. With faceplates, both your pc and ps3 will get maximium data bandwidth as on seperate cables whereas with a switch that bandwidth is shared.

Nothing wrong with a switch as I have one or two in use in my house. However, the new house is being wired up with cat 6 and faceplates all connecting to a main router so I will be dumping the switches.
 
simpletom said:
I am buying a house right now and looking to replace all the electrics. Is it better to use cat6 father than 5?
Click to expand...

Yep. For the extra 20% cost and double the bandwidth, why not?

Of course, nothing currently needs or uses the bandwidth of cat 6 but chances are your wiring will be in there for 10 years and you don;t want to have to rip out the cat 5 later do you?

See here for full explination:

http://www.broadbandutopia.com/caandcaco.html
 
I've got wall sockets around my house. When I bought it, before I'd moved anything in I put CAT6 runs to all the rooms and mounted them in faceplates on the wall as it looks much neater! They all run back to the cupboard under my stairs where I keep my router, gigabit switch and server so everything is tidy and out of the way.

Also its better running two cables for two devices so I can get the full bandwidth for each device and its no extra hassle to run two cables instead of one..
 
Move your router to under the stairs then run cat5e to every room. Dont forget to run a hdmi and optical cable maybe to main tv too. Stick your pc under the stairs and you'll never hear it again.

Always run more cable than you need unless you want switches everywere.
 
Just do what we did.
Cable runs underneath through the "basement" small hole in the corner of the room where the cable runs up and leaving plenty of cable left either!

But we live in a bungalow so it's all one level!
 
The other thing to remember with faceplates as opposed to just running the wire is that you can replace a short cable from the faceplate to the PC, much easier than you can rerun a cable from one room to another neatly.

If you've got at least one faceplate you can add a switch if needed :)
 
LiGhTfasT said:
Move your router to under the stairs then run cat5e to every room. Dont forget to run a hdmi and optical cable maybe to main tv too. Stick your pc under the stairs and you'll never hear it again.
.
Click to expand...

Just run everything over Cat6. No need for separate audio/video cables.

I don't have the option of cable drops. Solid brick/stone walls even the interior ones but if I could I'd use faceplates. Much neater.

As it is I have to hide cables behind skirting boards to the rooms I can run gigabit to. Everywhere else is 802.11n wifi. Even power line isn't an option.

Welcome to the joys of owning an old...sorry...ancient property. Still I'd rather have these issues than own a new build.
 
So get a double plate put in each location, terminate under stair and you're sorted? Okay, I will ask him to use cat6 for future-proofing.

I guess a gigabit switch at the terminal end will then be needed?
 
I belive it's because people use solid cat5e as it's cheaper and more reliable for fixed cabling but isn't as resilient to wear and tear like stranded cable is, so they would run solid cable then terminate into a wall socket.
 
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