Where to locate router in new home

OpenToSuggestions · 28 May 2018 at 16:27

Hey all.
I am moving to a new build later this year, which is a fairly typical 4 bed layout.
There is a media tray in the corner of the living room, which is also on the corner of the house. This is where the internet will be coming in, and hence the location of the wireless router, which may not give me a strong 5ghz connection.

As the house is yet to be wired, I can have a cat6 (£50) or cat7 (£80) port placed anywhere in the house. This would all be done pre-plaster.
One of the bedrooms will be where my gaming PC resides, which will likely be at the opposite side of the house to where the router would be. As I do not know the exact room nor location of the desk I am hesitant to go for a hard wired port to the PC directly, but I am considering a port somewhere where I can place the router in order to give good overall coverage.
One option is to use the airing cupboard as the router will be out of sight and the walls will only be stud walls.

Whilst I realise that I need to upload photos of the floorplans, I am interested to see what others in a similar situation have done.

Thanks in advance

.

Deleted member 77746 · 28 May 2018 at 16:58

In the centre? or use power plugs or access points dotted around the house above doors e.t.c

Randomface74 · 28 May 2018 at 17:07

Cat 6 every room.

peige · 28 May 2018 at 17:09

Cat 6 in every room. Router can go in the cupboard, it won't matter which port your gaming pc is on.

Minstadave · 28 May 2018 at 17:10

peige said:
Cat 6 in every room. Router can go in the cupboard, it won't matter which port your gaming pc is on.

This is what I’d do. Would let you locate your NAS out the way if you ever go that route.

Destination · 28 May 2018 at 18:53

peige said:
Cat 6 in every room. Router can go in the cupboard, it won't matter which port your gaming pc is on.

Just on this, if say someone has run of cat6 to each room, in a new build, and i think the plan is to possibly use them as some part of a thermostat system, is it a difficult thing to utilize the connection for more than one thing.
Basically do you need a switch of something? do these come in socket based, as in light fitting style?

Sparx · 28 May 2018 at 20:14

Definitely Cat6 the house up all the way! Also make sure if they use a sparky/monkey to wire the house, they use proper Cat6 cable and terminate it properly as well...

With the house wired up, it will all terminate somewhere and need to go into a patch panel and switch. Which you would then connect to your router/modem for internet access. So the router/modem will need to be wired to the same place where the cables are terminated.

You would need to discuss and decide the best place for this with the builder/workman. It could be in the airing cupboard, under the stairs, in the loft, in a spare room within a cabinet on the wall etc...

Randomface74 · 28 May 2018 at 20:21

Destination said:
Just on this, if say someone has run of cat6 to each room, in a new build, and i think the plan is to possibly use them as some part of a thermostat system, is it a difficult thing to utilize the connection for more than one thing.
Basically do you need a switch of something? do these come in socket based, as in light fitting style?

You get an ethernet port on the wall, kinda like a phone socket. You can plug straight into it, or get a hub/switch and connect multiple things to that.
Mine all lead back to a bunch of ports on the wall under the stairs, from there I patch them all into a hub/switch, and then into the router.