New house - ethernet/networking advice please!

[adamCCCCC]

Hi

Hoping to get some networking advice for my new house, we'll most likely live here for a long time so future proofing as much as possible is important.

Currently have BT FTTP internet which terminates in the living room. The plan is to run ethernet from the fibre connection to a networking cabinet (with a switch - TP-Link 8-Port Gigabit Ethernet Switch, hue bridge etc) upstairs on the landing (central to whole house - house is a weird layout).

Given we'll live here for the long term im thinking cat6a is a good choice. From googling it seems that shielded cable is unnecessary however I can only really find shielded cat6a cables.

In my previous house (6 years ago) I got cat7 cable (it was a lightning deal on amazon and really cheap) and terminated it into faceplates - please see pics. Since I've been googling a lot around this I'm now starting to think I didnt even do it right back then! Was it the wrong type of face plate? Was using the copper tape to hold back the braid correct?

In particular, im confused about grounding in regards to shielded cable - there seems to be a lot of differing opinions about this!

2 options for new cable are:

https://www.kenable.co.uk/en/networ...-ftp-reel-50m-black-010743-5054338107431.html

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Oren-Ether...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

Could someone please clarify the right way to install this new cable. The first job is to install a faceplate in an upstairs office room.

Any help will be much appreciated!

Thanks

 

[JohnStewart]

The first cable you linked to is suitable for external use, so probably overkill for internal use.

When I did my house, I used CAT 6A u/ftp cable throughout, solid core, not the stranded stuff which is designed for patch leads. If everything is short runs under 50m, you could potentially use cat 5e cable which is slightly less expensive and easier to work with.

I used the Euro twin modular faceplates in each room, the style where the ports are angled downwards and terminated them using the tool-less cat 6A keystone jacks. This saved many hours of manually terminating onto faceplates and RJ45 connectors.

As you are planning to stay there for a long time, use a patch panel in your networking cabinet to terminate each cable, again using the tool-less keystone jacks. Buy ready made cat6a cables in short lengths to connect the switch to the patch panel.

I would strongly recommend running at least two cables to each room, even if you only use/connect 1 initially. For your main TV point, run 4 as your TV, sky/BT box and sound bar can all be connected leaving 1 spare.

The 8 port gigabit switch will be fine for just now, but using cat 6A cable gives you the opportunity to get a 10 gigabit network in the future in case you want to get a high performance NAS for example. You can get 10/12 port switches with a few 10G/multi gig ports for under £200 now and prices will no doubt continue to drop in coming years as the standard becomes more widely used in offices and homes.

 

[bremen1874]

Cat6 UTP will do what you want, including 10GbE at any distance you're likely to see on a domestic install.

 

[adamCCCCC]

The first cable you linked to is suitable for external use, so probably overkill for internal use.

When I did my house, I used CAT 6A u/ftp cable throughout, solid core, not the stranded stuff which is designed for patch leads. If everything is short runs under 50m, you could potentially use cat 5e cable which is slightly less expensive and easier to work with.

I used the Euro twin modular faceplates in each room, the style where the ports are angled downwards and terminated them using the tool-less cat 6A keystone jacks. This saved many hours of manually terminating onto faceplates and RJ45 connectors.

As you are planning to stay there for a long time, use a patch panel in your networking cabinet to terminate each cable, again using the tool-less keystone jacks. Buy ready made cat6a cables in short lengths to connect the switch to the patch panel.

I would strongly recommend running at least two cables to each room, even if you only use/connect 1 initially. For your main TV point, run 4 as your TV, sky/BT box and sound bar can all be connected leaving 1 spare.

The 8 port gigabit switch will be fine for just now, but using cat 6A cable gives you the opportunity to get a 10 gigabit network in the future in case you want to get a high performance NAS for example. You can get 10/12 port switches with a few 10G/multi gig ports for under £200 now and prices will no doubt continue to drop in coming years as the standard becomes more widely used in offices and homes.

Thanks.

Yes the external cable is the cheapest I could find just, that was the only reason. Where did you purchase your u/ftp?

I'll look up these tool-less keystone jacks - I terminated all those ones above into RJ45 and it was definitely time consuming!

 

[bremen1874]

You claim you’re planning for the long term and your main criteria is how cheap the cable is?

 

[adamCCCCC]

You claim you’re planning for the long term and your main criteria is how cheap the cable is?

clearly my main criteria wasnt how cheap the cable is, in that case id get cat5e

i meant the external cable wasn't more expensive than non external cable

 

[bremen1874]

External grade cable will be a pain to work with. Leave it for its intended use.

I'd use Excel or Connectix (CCS) Cat6 UTP. Connectix cable is available from Cable Monkey. I've used Comms Express for Excel.

 

[adamCCCCC]

External grade cable will be a pain to work with. Leave it for its intended use.

I'd use Excel or Connectix (CCS) Cat6 UTP. Connectix cable is available from Cable Monkey. I've used Comms Express for Excel.

Thanks ill check out cable monkey now

 

[JohnStewart]

Thanks.

Yes the external cable is the cheapest I could find just, that was the only reason. Where did you purchase your u/ftp?

I'll look up these tool-less keystone jacks - I terminated all those ones above into RJ45 and it was definitely time consuming!

I used the connectix cable and keystone jacks from cable monkey. I think I may have got the faceplates etc from there as well.

The keystone jacks make the job much easier, just have to make sure when you trim the ends that the ends aren’t left too long to ensure they don’t touch the metal casing when you close it.

 

[Rainmaker]

As above, stick to plain UTP cat6 or cat 5e (which will do 10Gbps over any reasonable distance anyway). Shielded cable needs grounding, or the foil shield just acts like one huge antenna and attracts interference.

 

[Sparx]

To echo the above, 100% just stick with plain Cat6 UTP cable. In a domestic setting you don't need anything else, it's capable of 10Gb up to ~100m.

I'd use this stuff for your cable... https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-cable/13839-ccs-cat6-utp-cable.html#/33-length-100mt

Then if you want some nice faceplates, the likes of either these single or double gang plates, with these Cat6 modules are good to use imo - they also have the quarter/half blanks as required.

 

[adamCCCCC]

All ordered, thanks for all your help folks.

The 'cabinet' im aiming to create will only be about 12cm deep, the bannister upstairs is quite chunky so the plan was to cut into this and build a small cabinet with a mesh like door for airflow (theres really nowhere else all the stuff could go - ive got young kids so I'd prefer it to be well hidden!)

I was thinking as long as everything is mounted flush vertically it should just about be enough space?

I know the patch panel is about 13cm but I dont think id necessarily need to use the cable management tray, could make something similar with wood that wasnt as long

 

[Participant]

As above, stick to plain UTP cat6 or cat 5e (which will do 10Gbps over any reasonable distance anyway). Shielded cable needs grounding, or the foil shield just acts like one huge antenna and attracts interference.

To echo the above, 100% just stick with plain Cat6 UTP cable. In a domestic setting you don't need anything else, it's capable of 10Gb up to ~100m.

I'd use this stuff for your cable... https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/cat6-cable/13839-ccs-cat6-utp-cable.html#/33-length-100mt

Then if you want some nice faceplates, the likes of either these single or double gang plates, with these Cat6 modules are good to use imo - they also have the quarter/half blanks as required.

Hi both, what's your view on using normal UTP Ethernet cable on an outside run round the side of the house?

Or is using exterior grade cable non negotiable?

 

[Caged]

It depends how long you need it to last for. If it's on a south facing wall you might get six years out of it before the UV light degrades the jacket.

 

[Avalon]

If you must use internal grade cable externally, use conduit, but the price difference on actual external cable is that minimal, it’s generally just cheaper to buy a 25-50m reel and be done with it.

 

[Participant]

Ok cheers both.

If it's external it looks like they're mostly shielded, whereas someone above is saying to use unshielded to avoid it picking up noise?

 

[Avalon]

Ok cheers both.

If it's external it looks like they're mostly shielded, whereas someone above is saying to use unshielded to avoid it picking up noise?

They’re technically 100% correct, but it’s highly unlikely to be an actual issue in reality, just like running next to power cables is bad practice but unlikely to be a problem.