Networking in a new build house

HungryHippos · 23 Mar 2013 at 15:51

Hi all,

Figured this is the best place for this.

I am getting a new build house, it's a 2 bed place with your normal array of rooms. I have a choice of getting networking put in as it's built which I'd like to take advantage of as the cables can be out of sight.

Each point costs money, so I don't want to overdo it.

At the moment I'd need enough networking to support:

Router
NAS
Media PC
Normal PC

I am thinking I really just need 2 networking points, one in the second bedroom, and another in the lounge.

The Router/NAS/PC can all stay in the second bedroom/office space, then just a networking connection between the Router and the Media PC in the lounge. At the moment I can't see a good reason to attach any more networking points.

Does this sound like a plan, or should I get a couple more put in just in case I decide to get any other devices later?

I've decided not to bother getting any networking into the master bedroom as I'm not intending to put a TV or anything in there, I want to keep the master bedroom for sleeping in really.

bremen1874 · 23 Mar 2013 at 16:05

As you have the opportunity I'd, as a minimum, put a double outlet into each room. In larger rooms I'd put a double outlet on both sides of the room to give some flexibility on furniture placement. Somewhere near planned power outlets would be sensible.

Network cable and face plates are cheap. In any cabling job to main cost is the labour, but if you can get in before the plastering is done it shouldn't take more than half a day to cable a 2 bed house. Compared to the overall cost of the build it should be peanuts.

MissChief · 23 Mar 2013 at 18:33

I think a point in each major room is enough. If you need more then even a Gigabit switch is less than £15 these days and you won't need a cabled connection for every device. Wireless is fine for general usage.

He hasn't said what the charge is for each point.

CaNsA · 23 Mar 2013 at 19:29

Ask them if they are using Cat5e or Cat6 cable.

The latter would be better.

HungryHippos · 23 Mar 2013 at 22:09

Hello all thanks for the responses thus far!

The charge per point is £50, so I don't mind getting a few, but clearly going overboard could wind up costing a bit. I would normally agree that liberal networking points everywhere works well if you are doing it yourself however, but doing it during the build avoids having to thread cables through walls.

My understanding of networking beyond the basics is not so good, but I believe that for each point it needs to be in a "pair" right? one in one room to match one in another? They aren't going to do any switching or routing of the cables, and it has to be terminated somewhere right?

I would be happy with wifi if I had a laptop, or even powerline if I needed something out of the way, I am most interested in keeping the most used devices on a solid cabled link as i've had nothing but problems with wireless in this house I am in now, and I'd like to be able to stream HD video from the NAS over the network without buffering.

Powerline has been working OK for me but it requires the devices to be attached to sockets which I could better use for normal power.

So if I wanted to make the spare room the "central hub" with two connections going into the lounge/dining room and one into the master bedroom, then I'd need a total of 6 points? 3 in the spare room, 2 in the lounge, and one in the master bedroom?

Regards CAT5E versus CAT6 I've asked the question. They say CAT5E but I am asking if they can do CAT6 instead.

CaNsA · 24 Mar 2013 at 11:20

Good man.

2 people streaming HD video and another gaming soon starts to chew up network bandwidth.

bremen1874 · 24 Mar 2013 at 13:37

You'd usually have all of the network points wired back to some out of the way central location. A cupboard under the stairs would be good.

You then need to make sure that there's mains power available so you can easily power the equipment.

You also want to make sure the telephone master socket is located somewhere it can easily be connected to the network.

Shad · 24 Mar 2013 at 17:06

And wherever they do run everything back to make sure there's plenty of excess. All too often cables get installed with too little left to actually patch into anything and you have to do the whole lot again.

-=Vect0r=- · 26 Mar 2013 at 21:48

Interesting read.

As I'm looking to buy a new home myself and was wondering whether the developer would consider networking the house for me.

May I ask which housebuilder you are buying from?

HungryHippos · 27 Mar 2013 at 09:02

Sure, it's Taylor Wimpey. I advise getting down the sales office early so you can pick a decent plot you like before they sell the best ones!

Regards patching in or running to a single point, that single point is likely to be where my router goes, which is where I will put the central hub devices (router/NAS etc).

I am not planning to put in any crazy networking racks or anything, too much noise for me, and I mainly want the wired networking to improve the connectivity between my PC, the NAS, and any other devices connected to the NAS.

Five_Star · 27 Mar 2013 at 15:40

If you have accessible loft space get them to patch back to the loft, somewhere near the access hatch / door and get a double power socket put in along with a light.

That way you can keep all the networking switch gear, router, modem, NAS etc out of sight. Plus if you want to use the 2nd bedroom as an actual bedroom in future whoever is in there won't really want to share with a load of network equipment.

Cat6 is also overkill for home use, Cat5E will do 1GB no problem and is much easier to fit than Cat6 without damaging cables, although if they are professional cable fitters I'd hope they'd respect cable radius bends etc, although if the same price it won't hurt I guess, its just overkill.

Will they terminate into a patch panel and do continuity testing and confirm the cable performance or are they just pulling cables?

ecksmen · 27 Mar 2013 at 21:34

CaNsA said:
Good man.

2 people streaming HD video and another gaming soon starts to chew up network bandwidth.

A 10th perhaps, complete bluray is only designed for 50Mbps, so two complete streams is only 100Mbps and then online gaming is KB/sec, heck I'll be generous at 1Mbps. So 101Mbps on a home network, but even then if all that traffic flows over the same cable which is doubtful unless its from the internet. Home gigabit is more than enough for some time to come.

HungryHippos · 28 Apr 2013 at 15:01

Five_Star said:
If you have accessible loft space get them to patch back to the loft, somewhere near the access hatch / door and get a double power socket put in along with a light.

That way you can keep all the networking switch gear, router, modem, NAS etc out of sight. Plus if you want to use the 2nd bedroom as an actual bedroom in future whoever is in there won't really want to share with a load of network equipment.

Cat6 is also overkill for home use, Cat5E will do 1GB no problem and is much easier to fit than Cat6 without damaging cables, although if they are professional cable fitters I'd hope they'd respect cable radius bends etc, although if the same price it won't hurt I guess, its just overkill.

Will they terminate into a patch panel and do continuity testing and confirm the cable performance or are they just pulling cables?

Update for y'all.

I asked about CAT6 but they don't do it.

I'm getting 6 x CAT5 points run back into a cupboard space so it will be out of sight/mind. In that space there will also be power and the BT Master Socket. The points will be distributed as follows:

2 to the Lounge/Dining Room
2 to Bedroom 1
2 to Bedroom 2

I did ask about the ceiling but they said they'd need to board it all up for health and safety, and it's more hassle than it's worth. The cupboard space is out of the way enough for me anyway.