Home Network noob

ryantcb

Few days on youtube and a trip down to Maplins I now want to wire my house up with ethernet connections. No more wireless where possible!
Now I have never done this before so have a few questions. Mainly technology advances so fast and a 2010 youtube video may be obsolete and I wouldn't know.

Ok to the questions.

1. Is a Patch panel purely a way to extend multiple ethernet cables?

2. If I connect my router to a switch have I merely extended the ports on my router. So anything I plug into my switch would be as if plugged into router?

3. Can I add more than one switch to my router?

4. Can I add a switch to a switch?

5. If connecting all computers and printers to the switch will they all share the internet connection?

6. Will internet speeds be effected dramatically?

7. Apart from being managed / unmanaged / more ports switches vary considerably in price. Why?

jbainbridge

1. Is a Patch panel purely a way to extend multiple ethernet cables?
- It's a tidy way of managing the cables.

2. If I connect my router to a switch have I merely extended the ports on my router. So anything I plug into my switch would be as if plugged into router?
- Your adding additional ports - yes, they will appear to be plugged into the router.

3. Can I add more than one switch to my router?
- Yes, but if it's just for home probably best to buy one with enough ports.

4. Can I add a switch to a switch?
- Yes.

5. If connecting all computers and printers to the switch will they all share the internet connection?
- Yes.

6. Will internet speeds be effected dramatically?
- All the devices will share the connection - so it depends what they are all doing. If they are just surfing the web, emailing etc. you won't notice. If you're trying to watch several films at the same time it will be overloaded.

7. Apart from being managed / unmanaged / more ports switches vary considerably in price. Why?
- More ports means more electronics - more cost.

Cycrow

1. Patch panels are designed more to keep all the cables in one place and tidy, they arn't extenders.

2. Not quite, every switch you plug in can extend the network, so you can have lots of switches all connected together with different computers plugged into different switches but will all appear on the same network, and work as if they are all plugged into the same switch. The main difference however is the amount of data than can be transferred between them (ie the speed)

3. You can plug as many switches together as you like. The ports in the router is just another switch that happens to also be connected to a router

4. Yes

5. Assuming they are all setup correctly, then yes.

6. its unlikely you will notice any difference in internet speed, internal networks are considerably faster than an internet connection

7. Like most things, price can depend based on make, build quality, etc. If you dont go for managed/smart switches, then different makes tend to be comparable

ryantcb

Thanks so much. Appreciate your replies.

Cisco001

Why do you need to wire it up?
I think powerline adapter is good enough...

StuC75

Powerline adapters will have come a long way since a 2010 youtube video.. Will be a good way to bridge those distances without running Ethernet all over the house - unless you really are that inclined...

also depends how many devices you have to connect and how you want them working..

I have my bt fibre modem \ homehub in the room - where Sky box, Xbox one and raspberry pi all connect to the bt homehub (10/100 ports). The Gigabit port is used for an Ethernet cable that runs under the floorboards into the kitchen pantry, where it connects into a Netgear gigabit switch (8 ports). where my HP Home Server is plugged in for files & media access..

3 Ethernet cables also connect into this that cover the raspberry pi on the kitchen tv, spare port that runs into the conservatory (should I put a tv there), and the other cable runs out to the garage (from when that had new electric points added).

In the garage there is a old Linksys router that I switch on in summer when it helps to have wifi coverage out in the garden..

back in the pantry there is also a homeplug connected into the switch, with then a 3 further homeplugs used up in the bedrooms for pi's and xboxs that can be hard wired in.. this saved trying to run Ethernet cable right into each bedroom..

if your using switches for multiple devices - then you do need to ensure you have gigabit ports so that the 'shared' cable between the switch and modem\router has more bandwith should you have multiple devices running at the same time streaming media from within the house..

ryantcb

Cisco001 wrote: »

Why do you need to wire it up?
I think powerline adapter is good enough...

mainly cost. I think it be cheaper to wire rooms than to put the adapters in. Plus wires can be hidden and away whilst adapters are not so.

Cisco001

ryantcb wrote: »

mainly cost. I think it be cheaper to wire rooms than to put the adapters in. Plus wires can be hidden and away whilst adapters are not so.

They are just £25 a pair or £37 a pair for AC through version...

I would have though that is a much easier option than spend time wiring.

Also, what happen if you want to move your desk?

Cycrow

Cisco001 wrote: »

They are just £25 a pair or £37 a pair for AC through version...

I would have though that is a much easier option than spend time wiring.

Also, what happen if you want to move your desk?

There still more expensive than wiring up the house.

If you are able to, then properly wiring up the house is always going to be better.

Powerline adapters are good for those who dont want to spend the time or effect to cabling

RumRat

Cycrow wrote: »

There still more expensive than wiring up the house.

If you are able to, then properly wiring up the house is always going to be better.

Powerline adapters are good for those who dont want to spend the time or effect to cabling

Not if you factor in your labour.......;)

kwikbreaks

If you are just piping an internet connection around the house then with current internet speeds powerline adapters will cope although you'd need at least 500Mbps ones to handle the top cable speeds - if you check the 200Mbps ones you'll find the ethernet connector is only 100Mbps.

If you want to transfer large data volumes across your network (e.g. for backups) then even the fastest powerline adapters won't come close to gigabit ethernet.

Ethernet isn't only cheaper if you don't count your own labour costs it can be a lot faster too unless you are shortsighted enough to only use 100Mbps switches in which case speeds will be similar.