Need some advice - About to network my house.

drogon

drogon

drogon

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10 Dec 2009
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Scotland, Edinburgh
Hi all,

I currently have network plugs throughout my house. They do the job for the most part but I would like to upgrade to CAT5/6. As I have some problems with the plugs dropping etc.

I want achieve my full download speed and much better transfer speeds between my networked devices.

The cable will go behind the walls and outside... So I guess I probably need a cable that is UV/ Water Proof. Do I need to go for an STP cable too?

I was just going to get Cat5e but do you think its worth going cat6? I mean there are no devices on my network that support more than a 1Gbps per second.

Thanks
Andy
 
Usually the CAT5e vs CAT6 debate is that CAT6 is better because it's more future-proof, the CAT5e is better because it's a bit cheaper and is much easier to route, and the future-proofing isn't important because 1Gbps is likely to be adequate for a very long time.
 
As above, you're unlikely to notice any difference between Cat5e and Cat6. Even Cat5e will probably support 10GBe at domestic distances.

If you're routing outside get hold of external grade cable; You just need UTP.

Make sure it's solid copper and not copper clad aluminium (CCA).
 
Thanks a lot for the replies guys. I think I'm going to go for the cat 5. But why do think I shouldn't go with the shielded?

Andy
 
Shielded will cost more and be more difficult to work with. UTP is perfectly adequate for what you're doing. It's need to be special circumstances to require shielded cable.
 
drogon said:
Thanks a lot for the replies guys. I think I'm going to go for the cat 5. But why do think I shouldn't go with the shielded?

Andy
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STP will be thicker and harder to work with, it basically has a foil wrapping around the cables and a drain or ground wire (sometimes both) it does not go round corners of walls as easy IE it is pretty rigid. Its also not 'shielded' in terms of lightning striking it, if that is what you were thinking and why you thought it better for outdoor. Its foil inner is shielding to prevent/shield from interference.

9.9 times out of 10 STP is total overkill for a residential install. Forget about CAT6A AND CAT7 also its a couple of mm thicker and again rigid, it also due to a thicker sheath coils bacl on itself making long straight cable installs a pain.

You do not need STP. UTP outdoor grade will be fine (normally outdoor stuff has either a secondary inner plastic lining or is jelly filled to prevent moisture getting in sometimes both) either of these is what you want.

Personally i prefer cat6 over cat5e, mainly because of the inner plastic spine, gives it a bit more ridgity with only slightly more difficulty running it to your location. Clips nicely to walls and is only around 0.5mm thicker than Cat5e.

Buy full copper stuff not CCA (copper clad aluminium) and buy solid core especially if running it outside.

Also fit faceplates to each room (they cost a couple of quid) you are running cable to rather than just a cable with a RJ45 plug on the end (if the clip on the RJ45 breaks you will have to cut the cable back to re-crimp it) if that happens a few times you can soon find yourself in the situation of not having enough free/slack cable left.

If you can run 2 cables to each room and fit twin RJ45 faceplates, redundancy is good, there is also more you can do over CAT5e/CAT6 cable including with a bit of tweaking 10+ metre USB extensions.

Also while you are at it buy a 8 port switch and fit that somewhere in the middle of your install, again it allows for easier expansion in the future rather than having to run another cable all the way back to the initial install point.

Once you are done (i personally say wait to the summer if you are doing outside especially if climbing a ladder) you will wonder how you lived with crap wifi and only mediocre home plugs :)
 
Patch panel and face plates are a must imo. Makes it all a lot easier and a lot tidier. i used cat5e in my house and have not had a single problem, way fast enough for what you will need it for
 
+1 for bitsNbobs regarding the redundancy.

If I had bare walls or ceilings again I'd run dedicated trunking or conduit specifically for ethernet,HDMI,speaker cables etc
 
drogon said:
Thanks so much for the advice guys :)

Your post was great bitsNbobs!

I like the idea of the redundancy... I just cant wait to get away from wifi and homeplugs :) I have been suffering with them for over 5 years in the office room :/

I looked at this cable reel http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/331166579558?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

What do you think? .. Would something like this be ideal?
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That cabling will be fine, 100M in general is normally the sweet spot in terms of amount of cable you get for your money (or price per metre) Unless you hunt around and really need a 305M reel. Team that purchase with some Rj45 faceplates (double sockets for most rooms and a quad for initial point and mid point of the install), throw in a cheap ebay bag of 50 or so RJ45 crimp connectors, a crimp tool (spend around £10 on this dont buy a 2-5 quid one) and a punch down tool (again buy a half decent one with a cutting and removing tool built in, around £5-10) for the faceplates and you will have more than what you need to get going and in future make up your own network cables from any of that reel that is left over :) Follow this and my other advice and once its done its done and should last you years.
 
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Assuming that the cable is actually as described it should be fine for your main cabling.

It would make horrible patch cords. I wouldn't bother with plugs or a crimp tool, the money would be better spend on buying decent premade cables.
 
That cable as long as what you get is what is pictured is fine, its made in Hong Kong plain white box stuff but is solid copper (NOT rubbish CCA though be careful that brand also do a CCA version but it says so on the box like this... http://i.imgur.com/V60cgUj.jpg). i used 2 305m boxes of the FULL copper stuff at work and it gave no issues.
Branding on the reel inner ring normally is named "Regal" cable.

Crimping is also easy if you buy the right plugs, cat 6 rj45 plugs have a staggered pin arrangement rather than straight, the ones that come in 2 or 3 parts are also better for cat6 cable. like this...
http://i.imgur.com/T6l5Lhn.jpg far easier as cat6 cable is thicker.

Those types of plugs will do stranded and solid cable with no issues (half the issues people have are either cheap crap crimping tool or wrong plugs IE trying to put cat5 plug on cat6 cable, cores of cat6 are thicker so do not fit easy in a cat5 plug, single piece plug the pictured connecters can be used with either cat5 or 6 solid or stranded).

Buy a decent crimp tool with ratchet design also, i personally use one of these http://i.imgur.com/14Wge1g.jpg cost about £10.

Premade patch cables are fine but learning to do your own properly if you need more than half a dozen will save you money especially if you have tens of metres of cable left over. You also know what quality the cable is, some premade cheap things believe it or not are CCA or worse full aluminium, rarer nowadays but still happens, see.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojFPdg7DGvk for examples of some of the rubbish cables (including premade halfway through) which are on the market.

Do it all once
Do it all yourself
Thats my personal opinion, skimp in some manner and you will have to do something again. Though again premade cables are fine as long as you know what you are buying, oh and obviously buy cat6 ones if the rest of the hardwired DIY network is cat6. Using cat5 premade patch cables over a DIY cat6 cabled network would kinda defeat the object.


PS with regards to punch down tool this is what i use....
http://i.imgur.com/k9aWhuM.jpg
Its a mid range thing, cost about £4-£5 (can be had cheaper if you really look) first thing that goes on them is the cutting blade, normally after about 70 of so punchdowns you have to start pressing twice for thicker cable to cut, the punchdown side of things works 110% fine. For the cost its an ok tool, the next step up will cost about £15-£20 and to be honest you are not likely to need to punch down more than 70+ cables. (or around 9 full network cables to sockets in a home).
 
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joelk2 said:
sorry for the little hijack. wheres the cheapest place to buy 100m solid cat5e cable?
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Not necessarily cheapest, but at work we use Fruitycables and Universal Networks - have had all sorts of Cat5e/Cat6 cables, fibre patch leads and even preterminated fibre from them - never had any issues.
 
bledd. said:
bNb.

I'd highly reccomend this one over the Trendnet crimper (we have both in work) Crimper

The trendnet only gets used for 6pin now.

This is an awesome addition Cyclops cable stripper

Along with a nice set of side cutters.

EngineerInc side cutters

Super overkill for a home install, but seems a good place to mention them.
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Duratool actually do a clone of the trendnet crimpers also...
http://cpc.farnell.com/duratool/d03025/modular-3-in-1-crimping-tool/dp/TL08739
to be honest what you mentioned and the trendnet style version there is not much difference both will do a good job especially for any home user. Ratchet style rather than just spring or even worse no spring ones are what the user should go for. Ive had my trendnet crimps for 4 years and im happy with them.

The really good crimps that you can not find easily anymore had an adjustable tensioner rather than just being sprung loaded and the ratchet mech was similar in design to those straps used on lorrys, they used to cost £30 and up though total overkill but bomb proof, you could throw them on a concrete floor in frustration and they would not even scratch.

Ive never needed a separate cable stripper myself i find the blade stripper in the crimps easy enough to use. Though agree its a nice addition to have especially for newbies.

As for cutters, those are nice but you can also save a bit there... Pop along to superdrug or similar and buy a pair of nail clippers which do the job just as well, my nail clippers as basically the same as those side cutters and cost me £4.99 :D though if ordering bits online its probably easier to just get it all at once.

bledd. said:
Stick to CCS or Excel cable.

http://www.netstoredirect.com/cat5e-cable/62-excel-cat5e-utp-cable-pvc-outer-sheath.html
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For the OP do NOT buy that cable for your personal install. Its good quality nothing wrong with CCS or Excel cable infact both brands are good but that is PVC sheathed which if using outside within a year or two the outer sheath will become hard and brittle and crack. Outside rated cable typically has an LDPE outer sheath which will not go brittle from UV (IE sun) and water (IE rain).
If you have ever seen an old scabby white phone line extension on someones house all hard and cracking to bits thats what you can expect long term if you use PVC sheath cable outside.

If you are going to buy CCS or Excel buy the external version which IMO from both companies is overpriced and will offer no real benefit over what has already been suggested.
 
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Which faceplates have people used?

I don't like the euro module style ones as they just look like they're straight out of an office.

Anyone recommend any more home friendly versions? Possibly brushed metal or something and without the label holders. I've found some but they're really expensive for what they should cost.
 
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