Home network upgrade, advice please.

bremen1874 · 1 Apr 2015 at 22:46

Faceplate to faceplate with solid core, or stranded with plugs at each end. Choose the option that suits your situation the best for a neat installation.

If it's marked PE then the cable insulation could be polyethylene rather than PVC (i.e. external grade). If that is the case you can still use it but it's likely to be less flexible.

SimonC · 2 Apr 2015 at 13:35

Cheers, will do faceplate to faceplate, as will give me the option of move the router or switch if I need to.

Okay, yer makes sense. There's a few cameras fitted and some of the cabling is externally routed.

thenewoc · 2 Apr 2015 at 16:46

SimonC said:
Cheers, will do faceplate to faceplate, as will give me the option of move the router or switch if I need to.

Okay, yer makes sense. There's a few cameras fitted and some of the cabling is externally routed.

You'd be better off to decide on a definite position for a patch panel and the switch up front. The faceplate to faceplate is a linear approach whereas the patch panel is a star type approach. If you go faceplate to faceplate then only those faceplates would be connected to each other so the switch could only be on one end or the other. If you go down the patch panel route then whilst the switch would be best suited next to the patch panel, any faceplate could be linked to another by jumpering them on the patch panel. Thus you could link any faceplate to the faceplate that resides next to the router if need be. If you might want other rooms to have a faceplate at some point then the patch panel is best otherwise you'd end up with a growing number of faceplates next to the switch at which point this will have really determined the present and future spot for the switch anyway. If you don't need many faceplates / ports to begin with, you can get some small 12 port wall mountable patch panels which don't require a separate network rack. You could use these with a desktop switch to save having to wall mount the switch. I think that would be an easier option than cutting in pattress boxes for separate faceplates except of course on the end where you want a faceplate for devices to connect to. The patch panel way also allows you to put a link between the master socket and the patch panel as if the patch panel were a telephone extension and that way any network port can be re purposed into a telephone extension if need be.

SimonC · 2 Apr 2015 at 18:59

thenewoc said:
You'd be better off to decide on a definite position for a patch panel and the switch up front. The faceplate to faceplate is a linear approach whereas the patch panel is a star type approach. If you go faceplate to faceplate then only those faceplates would be connected to each other so the switch could only be on one end or the other. If you go down the patch panel route then whilst the switch would be best suited next to the patch panel, any faceplate could be linked to another by jumpering them on the patch panel. Thus you could link any faceplate to the faceplate that resides next to the router if need be. If you might want other rooms to have a faceplate at some point then the patch panel is best otherwise you'd end up with a growing number of faceplates next to the switch at which point this will have really determined the present and future spot for the switch anyway. If you don't need many faceplates / ports to begin with, you can get some small 12 port wall mountable patch panels which don't require a separate network rack. You could use these with a desktop switch to save having to wall mount the switch. I think that would be an easier option than cutting in pattress boxes for separate faceplates except of course on the end where you want a faceplate for devices to connect to. The patch panel way also allows you to put a link between the master socket and the patch panel as if the patch panel were a telephone extension and that way any network port can be re purposed into a telephone extension if need be.

Thanks for the extra info mate.

I do plan on having a switch and patch panel, not just a switch if that's what it sounds like I doing.

So actually yer I couldn't move it anyway once the wires are in place from the patch panel anyway, so will just have to be 100% where I want it.
I do have a room in mind, but not a place as yet as it needs knocking about.

So just to be 101% sure of what I'm doing;

Router - patch cable - faceplate - solid core cable - faceplate - patch cable - switch - from switch to patch panel with however many faceplates I plan to fit - patch panel - faceplate - patch cable - device

Sound right?

I'll probably make a little cupboard for it all to go in, and mount it high up in the room above the wardrobe, it'll make it easier if I need to add more cables at a later stage.

thenewoc · 2 Apr 2015 at 20:00

No worries.

The extra faceplate next to the switch isn't necessary, all the solid core Ethernet from the faceplate next to the router can be terminated onto the patch panel.

Router > Patch Cable > Faceplate > Solid Core Ethernet > Patch Panel > Patch Cable > Switch

The router faceplate isn't any different from any other device you need to connect with the switch. So, they can all be viewed as follows from the journey starting from the Switch.

Switch > Patch Cable > Patch Panel > Solid Core Ethernet > Faceplate > Patch Cable > Device

Inside a cupboard makes sense in a domestic environment. You can buy network rack bars or the easier option to get the spacing correct would be to buy a wall bracket and mount it to the wall through the back of the cupboard or build the cupboard around the bracket. You should also include some ventilation in the cupboard so the switch doesn't struggle to remain cool.

SimonC · 2 Apr 2015 at 22:19

Oh I see, I was under the impression I had to come from the router and into the switch first before the patch panel.

I'll start looking into equipment and brackets.

I'm right in saying that I need to feed the patch panel with individual cables from the switch, eg, 12 faceplates needed, 12 cables from switch to patch panel?

thenewoc · 2 Apr 2015 at 22:46

The faceplates connect to the rear of the patch panel with the solid core Ethernet cable. The router connects to the switch just like any other wired device in that a patch cable would go from the device / router to the nearest faceplate. Whichever port that connects to on the patch panel you would then use another patch cable to link that port from the front of the patch panel to a port on the switch. The switch handles the requests from the ports connected to it so it knows whether it is routing between LAN devices or to the outside world via the WAN provided by the router.

It's a two way street so you're feeding the switch as much as feeding the patch panel, data is flowing in both directions. If you wanted all of your faceplates to be connected to the switch then yes 12 faceplates, 12 cables from switch to patch panel plus however many you need for devices to connect to faceplates. You can also have more faceplates and ports on a patch panel than the size of switch you start with, you just decide which ports to then connect to the switch. Plan for how many faceplates you think you should have and whether some make more sense to do, to start with, whereas some may share no synergies with the work needed for the most important ones and can be done later like other areas upstairs. Don't let the switch size determine how many faceplates to have but work from the other end of the spectrum. This is why most people advise to put more faceplates in than you think as the cabling infrastructure is the bit that gives you the options of where devices need to go, is the trickiest part in terms of routing cable but can be in excess of the size of the switch because the switch is an easy item to change if need be at a later date.