first network and a lounge setup

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 07:35

Hello there.

I'm new to overclockers but was referred by a friend h but I plan on I've spending more time on here.

To get things started I'll wish to let you know what I'm up to.

I have just bought my grandads house and am completely renovating it. A friend is starting a complete re wire for me this weekend and has suggested i network the whole house which im quite excited about.

He mentioned cat 5 however after a little reading I've seen cat 6a is available so ive ordered 100m of CAT6a F-UTP 10Gig White Shielded Cable.

I suppose my first question is. Am I OK putting this cable in?

Secondly I'm not sure of which faceplates to get to go on the ends. Could one of you good people point me in the right direction?

Finally I'm going to be setting a new home setup up in the living room first. ( got plenty of other rooms to do later and i think I'll blog it all and take the forums advice

I'll attach a link to the room as it is today shortly.

Thanks in advance for the help.

Stret

thenewoc · 6 Aug 2013 at 07:59

Hi, welcome to the forum.
Is the cable solid core or stranded?
Is it LSZH, low smoke zero halogen?
Is your friend changing all the sockets and switches too? If he is then the range you choose for those may also have euro modular type faceplates in the same style. These allow you to use euro modules that just click into the faceplate so you would then need the cat6a euro modules or cat6a keystones plus euro adapters.
You'll also want a cat6a shielded patch panel and probably just a gigabit switch to start with, both to go at the opposite end to the faceplates.

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 08:03

thenewoc said:
Hi, welcome to the forum.
Is the cable solid core or stranded?
Is it LSZH, low smoke zero halogen?
Is your friend changing all the sockets and switches too? If he is then the range you choose for those may also have euro modular type faceplates in the same style. These allow you to use euro modules that just click into the faceplate so you would then need the cat6a euro modules or cat6a keystones plus euro adapters.
You'll also want a cat6a shielded patch panel and probably just a gigabit switch to start with, both to go at the opposite end to the faceplates.

Hi. Thank you for your swift response.

I've bought this cable

http://mcldatasolutions.co.uk/cat6a-f-utp-10gig-white-shielded-cable-100m.html

I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure it's sufficient but yeah he's changing all the sockets so I can pretty much put in whati want

What you think?

thenewoc · 6 Aug 2013 at 08:17

That looks ok, it was just a little over priced for what it is. If you hadn't already purchased it I would have said the best cat6a stuff that I could find is branded Giganet and is shielded around the pairs and beneath the outer jacket. That retails around £160 for 305 meters.

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 08:23

thenewoc said:
That looks ok, it was just a little over priced for what it is. If youHadn't already purchased it I would have said the best cat6a stuff that I could find is branded Giganet and is shielded around the pairs and beneath the outer jacket. That retails around £160 for 305 meters.

Maybe I should have posted here first!

OK if you think that's OK despite me overpaying we'll start with that.

OK so I guess what I need is ends (modules I think they're called) sorry if I have the jargon wrong.

So the end that eventually goes into a router ( all In a cupboard near the front door)

Some face plates and the sockets that your tv xbox or whatever goes into. Any recomendations?

Im planning to put one behind my TV on the wall in the lounge one in the dining area and in 3 bedrooms.

Can I have a double socket behind my TV into one cat6a cable or does it need two separate?

thenewoc · 6 Aug 2013 at 09:07

Yep, start with that but if you need more I personally would stick to the same to be consistent. The cable shielding is only really relevant if you have an issue with EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference), such as from electrical cables. As your doing a total rewire job it should be possible for the network cabling to be routed such that it is segregated from close proximity to electrical cables, sockets and lighting.

The proper way of doing it is to terminate one end of each network cable to a patch panel which can be a type where the pairs are punched down into IDC (insulation displacement connector) terminals on the patch panel. At the patch panel end you would then use short lengths of network cable which are stranded cable at this point, commonly known as patch cables to connect between the front of the patch panel and your network Switch. The other end of the solid core cable that you already have would then terminate into a cat6a euro module or cat6a keystone with a euro adapter so that it can snap into a euro faceplate.

The end that goes into the router in the way your describing is better going into a patch panel first as your dealing with solid core cable for your structured cabeling which isn't designed to be flexed about. The router would have an incoming internet service then a port on the router connected to a network switch. The other ports on the network switch would then connect to the front of the patch panel using patch cables so each faceplate connected to the patch panel is then enabled via its connection to the switch. If your wanting network connections throughout the home you'll quickly run out using just a router, hence the switch which can have between 5 and 48 ports, maybe more.

The euro faceplates come in single and dual gang, the former being capable of holding 2 euro modules and the latter holding 4.

Each euro module needs its own cable, so if you want 4 I would suggest behind a TV then you need to run 4 lengths of network cable from the patch panel to the faceplate. The reason I suggest 4 is that Smart TV's, Blu-ray players, games consoles all use them and Sky may use them in future, so better to have more than you may need initially.

As your doing all of your faceplates I'd look around for something quite swanky, like chrome or stainless steel in a range that is comprehensive enough to also have matching euro faceplates.

Here's an example of what I'm doing but this is because I'm matching what is already here in a new build Wimpey home, otherwise I would go for something better. Page 17 shows you some euro style faceplates and modules.

http://www.detaelectrical.co.uk/dow...- 2012 Wiring Accessory Catalogue Section.pdf

I'm not sure with cat6a whether you can get a euro module or whether you will need to get a cat6a keystone and then fit it into a euro adapter to enable it to then fit into the euro faceplate.

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 19:21

thenewoc said:
Yep, start with that but if you need more I personally would stick to the same to be consistent. The cable shielding is only really relevant if you have an issue with EMI (Electro-Magnetic Interference), such as from electrical cables. As your doing a total rewire job it should be possible for the network cabling to be routed such that it is segregated from close proximity to electrical cables, sockets and lighting.

The proper way of doing it is to terminate one end of each network cable to a patch panel which can be a type where the pairs are punched down into IDC (insulation displacement connector) terminals on the patch panel. At the patch panel end you would then use short lengths of network cable which are stranded cable at this point, commonly known as patch cables to connect between the front of the patch panel and your network Switch. The other end of the solid core cable that you already have would then terminate into a cat6a euro module or cat6a keystone with a euro adapter so that it can snap into a euro faceplate.

The end that goes into the router in the way your describing is better going into a patch panel first as your dealing with solid core cable for your structured cabeling which isn't designed to be flexed about. The router would have an incoming internet service then a port on the router connected to a network switch. The other ports on the network switch would then connect to the front of the patch panel using patch cables so each faceplate connected to the patch panel is then enabled via its connection to the switch. If your wanting network connections throughout the home you'll quickly run out using just a router, hence the switch which can have between 5 and 48 ports, maybe more.

The euro faceplates come in single and dual gang, the former being capable of holding 2 euro modules and the latter holding 4.

Each euro module needs its own cable, so if you want 4 I would suggest behind a TV then you need to run 4 lengths of network cable from the patch panel to the faceplate. The reason I suggest 4 is that Smart TV's, Blu-ray players, games consoles all use them and Sky may use them in future, so better to have more than you may need initially.

As your doing all of your faceplates I'd look around for something quite swanky, like chrome or stainless steel in a range that is comprehensive enough to also have matching euro faceplates.

Here's an example of what I'm doing but this is because I'm matching what is already here in a new build Wimpey home, otherwise I would go for something better. Page 17 shows you some euro style faceplates and modules.

http://www.detaelectrical.co.uk/dow...- 2012 Wiring Accessory Catalogue Section.pdf

I'm not sure with cat6a whether you can get a euro module or whether you will need to get a cat6a keystone and then fit it into a euro adapter to enable it to then fit into the euro faceplate.

Thanks for the advice, a lot to think about and take in, but some useful stuff.

So some of these

http://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6a-modules-outlets/114-cat6a-ftp-rj45-module-euromod-size.html

and some of these?

http://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6a-.../115-cat6a-ftp-tool-less-keystone-module.html

and something like this?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/10inch-12...stone-Jack-Cable-Management-Bar-/260906643851

Your help is greatly appreciated...

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 19:31

Heres my front room after today...

I plan to mount my tv on the chimney

thenewoc · 6 Aug 2013 at 20:03

You'd only need the modules from the first link as they have the means to terminate the pairs on them and would fit into some euro style faceplates. Having said that I'm not a 100% sure if they are right for your cable as you have F/UTP so best to clarify that with them to be sure.

The keystone modules in the second link would only be required if you bought a patch panel that required them and wasn't already supplied with them.

I personally would go for a 24 port patch panel and if its going in the cupboard you mentioned then just a bracket to attach it to the wall or a patch panel with integral wall mount fixings. You can get different sizes of bracket too, some of which may also allow you to mount the network switch in it too. The other option is a small network cabinet that you can mount on the wall but I feel this may be a little overkill for a domestic install where you already have a cupboard. You can run more cables btw than you terminate at a wall socket, and you don't have to connect them all from the patch panel to the network switch. The cable running is the worst part to do so it's better to have more done than you need to start with.

Is it ADSL or Fibre that your getting? Is your BT Master socket also near where the router is going, in the cupboard?

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 20:16

thenewoc said:
You'd only need the modules from the first link as they have the means to terminate the pairs on them and would fit into some euro style faceplates. Having said that I'm not a 100% sure if they are right for your cable as you have F/UTP so best to clarify that with them to be sure.

The keystone modules in the second link would only be required if you bought a patch panel that required them and wasn't already supplied with them.

I personally would go for a 24 port patch panel and if its going in the cupboard you mentioned then just a bracket to attach it to the wall or a patch panel with integral wall mount fixings. You can get different sizes of bracket too, some of which may also allow you to mount the network switch in it too. The other option is a small network cabinet that you can mount on the wall but I feel this may be a little overkill for a domestic install where you already have a cupboard. You can run more cables btw than you terminate at a wall socket, and you don't have to connect them all from the patch panel to the network switch. The cable running is the worst part to do so it's better to have more done than you need to start with.

Is it ADSL or Fibre that your getting? Is your BT Master socket also near where the router is going, in the cupboard?

OK that makes a little more sense now, I think i'm going to ask to run one cable to the middle of the chimney head high which can go into the back of the tv..
I then need to think of some clever way to store my skybox and xbox and amp to hide them somewhere and run two cables to there.

I have fibre at my current property however my new house's exchange doesn't support it until the start of next year (I can live with ADSL until then)
The main socket is roughly 4 feet from the cupboard I discovered today, I may have to get that relocated.

Stret

thenewoc · 6 Aug 2013 at 20:17

I bet you won't recognise it once its been done.

Got two flat screens to wall mount here too but both in bedrooms, the lounge one we have on a glass media table.

Made a start on my network project today, just put some electrical sockets in, well one in the loft bedroom cupboard which is going to be my network cupboard, at the top of it anyway. One also next to this cupboard on the outside as it needed one next to bedside cabinet. Also a pattress box in the ceiling of the cupboard as I'm going to bring my network cables in through a brush plate attached to the front of that pattress box.

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 20:21

thenewoc said:
I bet you won't recognise it once its been done.

Got two flat screens to wall mount here too but both in bedrooms, the lounge one we have on a glass media table.

Made a start on my network project today, just put some electrical sockets in, well one in the loft bedroom cupboard which is going to be my network cupboard, at the top of it anyway. One also next to this cupboard on the outside as it needed one next to bedside cabinet. Also a pattress box in the ceiling of the cupboard as I'm going to bring my network cables in through a brush plate attached to the front of that pattress box.

Good work... post some pics once you get it up and running.

on last question, the port patch say. like this

http://www.belkin.com/uk/p/P-F4P600-24

and i have say 12 cables connected to the different parts of the house whats the best way to then wire this to the router?

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 20:28

Right, i'm considering cancelling my order for this cable after speaking with your good self.

Would you be kind enough to advise me on a cable type and corresponding modules?

Sorry for all the questions

Stret

thenewoc · 6 Aug 2013 at 20:32

That patch panel seems fine but I think you can get them for about half that price. You'd need some brackets or a cabinet to mount it though.

You won't have 12 ports on a router, at least i've never seen one if such a thing exists. You'd connect one port from the router to a port on a network switch and other ports on the network switch would then connect to the patch panel depending on which ports on the patch panel you want enabled. You could run 23 cables throughout you home and have these terminated on the patch panel and just connect the ones you want enabled to the network switch. You don't necessarily need to start with a 24 port network switch if you don't think you'll need that many sockets enabled throughout your property. Its a good idea to terminate all the cables you've run on to the patch panel though.

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 20:34

thenewoc said:
That patch panel seems fine but I think you can get them for about half that price. You'd need some brackets or a cabinet to mount it though.

You won't have 12 ports on a router, at least i've never seen one if such a thing exists. You'd connect one port from the router to a port on a network switch and other ports on the network switch would then connect to the patch panel depending on which ports on the patch panel you want enabled. You could run 23 cables throughout you home and have these terminated on the patch panel and just connect the ones you want enabled to the network switch. You don't necessarily need to start with a 24 port network switch if you don't think you'll need that many sockets enabled throughout your property. Its a good idea to terminate all the cables you've run on to the patch panel though.

Ok makes sense

Thank you

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 20:41

thenewoc said:
That patch panel seems fine but I think you can get them for about half that price. You'd need some brackets or a cabinet to mount it though.

You won't have 12 ports on a router, at least i've never seen one if such a thing exists. You'd connect one port from the router to a port on a network switch and other ports on the network switch would then connect to the patch panel depending on which ports on the patch panel you want enabled. You could run 23 cables throughout you home and have these terminated on the patch panel and just connect the ones you want enabled to the network switch. You don't necessarily need to start with a 24 port network switch if you don't think you'll need that many sockets enabled throughout your property. Its a good idea to terminate all the cables you've run on to the patch panel though.

What do you think to my prior post mate?

thenewoc · 6 Aug 2013 at 20:57

Cable wise it depends on talks with the person doing your rewire but I'll suggest two scenarios...

Option A, your rewire is being done to the extent that cables for networking can be sufficiently spaced from electrical cables and lighting;

I've gone for some slightly more basic cable than you chose as I'm just doing a Cat6 install, which should still be capable of 10 GbE over the lengths involved in my install as these don't exceed 20 meters, in theory it is meant to support 55 meters. This is unshielded because I'm confident my cable runs down the boxed in soil pipe enclosure and across the lounge ceiling can be kept away from electrical cables. This cost me around £95 including VAT and delivery for 305 meters.

http://www.blackbox.co.uk/gb-gb/fi/1235/13221/GigaTrue-550-CAT6,550MHz-LSZH-Bulk-Cable/

You will only get 10 GbE if you are also investing in a 10 GbE capable network switch and network interface cards in attached PC's or devices that have these.

Option B, if you really want to future proof and think you'll be in that property for some considerable time.

This option would therefore be for Cat6a and if your doing it and want to eliminate as much risk of electrical interference then the best value Cat6a cable that I have come across to date is from Giganet and is F/FTP so is therefore shielded beneath the jacket and around the inner cable pairs. This can be had for a little over £150 but I don't know if delivery cost is extra.

http://www.giga-net.co.uk/cat6a.html

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 21:09

thenewoc said:
Cable wise it depends on talks with the person doing your rewire but I'll suggest two scenarios...

Option A, your rewire is being done to the extent that cables for networking can be sufficiently spaced from electrical cables and lighting;

I've gone for some slightly more basic cable than you chose as I'm just doing a Cat6 install, which should still be capable of 10 GbE over the lengths involved in my install as these don't exceed 20 meters, in theory it is meant to support 55 meters. This is unshielded because I'm confident my cable runs down the boxed in soil pipe enclosure and across the lounge ceiling can be kept away from electrical cables. This cost me around £95 including VAT and delivery for 305 meters.

http://www.blackbox.co.uk/gb-gb/fi/1235/13221/GigaTrue-550-CAT6,550MHz-LSZH-Bulk-Cable/

You will only get 10 GbE if you are also investing in a 10 GbE capable network switch and network interface cards in attached PC's or devices that have these.

Option B, if you really want to future proof and think you'll be in that property for some considerable time.

This option would therefore be for Cat6a and if your doing it and want to eliminate as much risk of electrical interference then the best value Cat6a cable that I have come across to date is from Giganet and is F/FTP so is therefore shielded beneath the jacket and around the inner cable pairs. This can be had for a little over £150 but I don't know if delivery cost is extra.

http://www.giga-net.co.uk/cat6a.html

Will def have a look at that, strange you cant buy it from their site directly

Stretlow · 6 Aug 2013 at 21:16

Reckon ill get that cat 6a cable, can you tell me which modules go with it please

thenewoc · 6 Aug 2013 at 21:28

I think if you google 'giganet cat6a cable' it will be one of the first results but I can't link to them directly as they sell stuff that would be seen as a competitor of OC's.

Giganet do a Cat6a keystone module for it and I believe they do a euro module adapter that the keystone goes into so the whole lot then fits into a euro style modular faceplate.

http://www.giga-net.co.uk/catalogues/cat6a/CAT 6a System Catalog.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5s65RTjtUic

I'm not a 100% sure but I think you can use these euro adapters with the keystone above, but its best to check with where ever you buy them from.

http://www.giga-net.co.uk/catalogues/faceplates/Giganet_Faceplates_Euro.pdf