Patchbays - what's the point?

[gypsymoth]

Hi all

I'm about to embark on some Cat 6 cabling around my house while I have builders in - considered powerline etc but fancy getting max network speed and future proofing

I'm planning on getting a master socket into the basement, modem attached then serving the rest of the house with internet. Essentially, all the boxes will be below ground

In a number of home network guides, they talk about using a patchbay. What's the benefit of this to someone (like me) who only plans on putting 4 ethernet faceplates around the house that's only got 3 people in it? Don't need a massively hardcore networking solution - just needs to be be tidy and easy to maintain

Wouldnt a simple gigabit switch with cabling going up into the walls do the same job or am I missing the point?

Cheers, G

 

[gypsymoth]

Patch panel wouldn't be of much benefit in a home environment. Face plates would be fine providing you maybe put 2 ports per face plate, just in case of expansion.

Patch panels (or patchbays) are basically just large face plates. They do the exact same thing, just have many more ports on them. Of course, this would then require a large switch to handle it all.

Thanks for replying

So essentially you're saying...

-- Get a bigger gigabit switch
-- Take cat 6 cable pairs from the switch to dual faceplates in each location?

So assuming I have 4 faceplates dotted around the house, i'm looking at trailing 4 x 2 cable pairs around the house?

Cheers

 

[gypsymoth]

This is great. Many thanks guys

L