Simple Networking Advice Please

Snubber

Snubber

Snubber

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Joined
9 Aug 2004
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Location
Plymouth, UK
OK…just want to bounce some thoughts on a proposed network for my house.

We are currently having our house refurbished. Typical 1960’s 10m x 10m 2-storey semi-detached house. Have Virgin 50Mb cable service. Broadband cable currently enters house in the loft space.

The plan:

• Mount the Virgin Superhub in the centre of the loft.
• Run an 8 port switch off one of the Superhub ports.
• Run 7 Cat5 network cables from switch to rooms below terminating in socket outlets in wall.
• Use these 7 sockets to connect Xbox, PS3, 2 x PC’s and TV

Superhub in loft will provide wireless access throughout house for wireless devices.

Is it simple as that…or am I missing something?

Cheers
 
Pretty much but a better way to do it would be use short, ready made patch leads from the switch to a punch down patch panel, then solid conductor cable from the back of the patch panel to the rj45 outlets in the rooms

You'll probably get told to run fibre or cat6 or something but cat5e will see you right for gigabit Ethernet.
 
It sounds like a reasonable plan.

As suggested I'd punch down both ends of the cables, but it doesn't really matter. Using faceplates at both ends rather than an actual patch panel can work well in a domestic install.

Cat5e will obviously be fine. If you're installing it into the walls install a few extra cables just in case.

I'm not sure Virgin will install a router into the loft, so you may need to extend their coax yourself. Given the superhub's wireless performance you should probably allow for having to install an additional router and/or access point at some point.
 
monkeyspank said:
Pretty much but a better way to do it would be use short, ready made patch leads from the switch to a punch down patch panel, then solid conductor cable from the back of the patch panel to the rj45 outlets in the rooms

You'll probably get told to run fibre or cat6 or something but cat5e will see you right for gigabit Ethernet.
Click to expand...

Thanks...could you quickly explain why incorporation of a patch panel is a good idea. And also what is solid conductor cable? Is this the normal Cat5 cable...guess not.

Cheers
 
bremen1874 said:
It sounds like a reasonable plan.

As suggested I'd punch down both ends of the cables, but it doesn't really matter. Using faceplates at both ends rather than an actual patch panel can work well in a domestic install.

Cat5e will obviously be fine. If you're installing it into the walls install a few extra cables just in case.

I'm not sure Virgin will install a router into the loft, so you may need to extend their coax yourself. Given the superhub's wireless performance you should probably allow for having to install an additional router and/or access point at some point.
Click to expand...

Thanks...yep, struggling to understand the benefits of a patch panel compared with faceplates at both ends.

Virgin coax is already extended up into the loft. When we had it installed 7 years ago VM ran the cable up side of house and into loft. We then dropped the cable down into one of the 1st floor bedrooms where we had our main PC.

For the past year the Superhub has been on the first floor and we get an excellent signal throughout the house. I'm hoping that moving up into loft (only 2.5m higher) but in a more central location won't reduce signal strength that much. But if it does I'll install a WAP.

Cheers
 
In many network installs you'll have installed cabling that isn't in use. It's tidier if the cables terminate at a patch panel rather than hanging loose. In a loft this probably isn't much of a concern.

The other reason is that you usually install solid core cables. These are designed to be punched down rather than taking plugs. They will take plugs, but not as well as the stranded cable you'd use for making patch cables.

Edit: misread your post. There's no functional difference between using a patch panel or having faceplates at both ends. A couple of 4 way 2 gang face plates will allow you to neatly terminate the switch end of the cables. Choose whichever approach suits your situation best.
 
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