Home network set-up - different quotes

robatwork

It's the wrong question.

The question is why wouldn't you put in current technology?

To put it another way - these are cables that will be embedded in your walls for 10, 20 or 30 years.

Within 10, devices that you or the people you sell your house to will want to avail themselves of the superior speeds that cat6 provides.

For info, there is also cat7 cabling but that is overkill and expensive.

The only thing your "professional" needs to be aware of with CAT6 is the angles they can bend it at - ie. be careful going around corners.

FreeBear

dunroving wrote: »

Do you mean multiple electric cables to each point?

I meant run multiple lengths of CAT5/6 cable to each wall box - If you plan on having single ethernet sockets on each faceplate, run a second length of CAT5/6 cable down so that you have the option of installing a second ethernet socket in the future.

But if you plan on having two ethernet sockets on each faceplate, no point in running extra cables to the wall boxes.

dunroving wrote: »

My plan is to mainly just access internet via Ethernet ports (are you suggesting having double Ethernet ports in each location, because it isn't much more expensive

The cost of labour is going to be way more than cables & (ethernet) sockets - Your installer will probably buy a 300m drum and bill you for all of it even if he only uses 150m. Sockets are only a few pounds each, so not a huge expense when compared to the total cost.

fezster

dunroving wrote: »

I'm going with Virgin Media as they have optical to the house (not just the cabinet). Won't they supply the router? (Sorry, being a bit ignorant!)

My plan is to mainly just access internet via Ethernet ports (are you suggesting having double Ethernet ports in each location, because it isn't much more expensive - similar to having double power sockets?)cabling and only occasionally have WiFi turned on, if that makes a difference to the recommendations. There are health reasons why I'd rather not have WiFi bouncing around the house 24-7.

The virgin media router is notoriously rubbish with WiFi. I have it myself. You can switch off the router/wifi within it and have it act just like a modem. You then plug this into your own router/wifi. The Ubiquiti kit I sent you the link to above is very highly rated and I can personally vouch to how good it is. It's more complicated to setup than your standard consumer gear, but once it is, you don't need to touch it and it "just works". The LR version I sent the link to also provides very good range and signal strength and you will probably find you only need one of them (unless you live in a massive mansion!).

Yes, double ethernet ports, because it's just running a second cable. As said by others above, you can get dual port single gang faceplates, so there's no additional cost there.

TheCyclingProgrammer

FYI there are no health risks from WiFi. So in the name of money saving, why not get yourself a WiFi mesh system?

SplanK

Whilst people have said install CAT6 or Cat 6A ... IMHO, Cat5e still has a very long life span to exist.


I do not see consumer grade kit utilising 10Gb ethernet any time soon so CAT5e will give a good service life. Geez, we barley use 10Gb ethernet at work and 10Gb equipment is very expensive compared to 1Gb.


There is simply limited need for most homes to be anything above 1Gb as most peoples interenet is still subb 100Mb!!!


The best thing I can suggest, spend the money on good quality cable and its installed by people who understand how to install and test it. Always double up where possible, and consider locations where you may want telephone points or CCTV. I would much prefer to install good quality CAT5E cable over a lower grade (such as CCA) CAT6 type cable!


On a side note, I would be interested to hear why you are concerned about the 'health issues' surrounding the use of wifi? There have been plenty of studies to show that consumer grade equipment does not pose any detectable health effects.

dunroving

SplanK wrote: »

Whilst people have said install CAT6 or Cat 6A ... IMHO, Cat5e still has a very long life span to exist.

I do not see consumer grade kit utilising 10Gb ethernet any time soon so CAT5e will give a good service life. Geez, we barley use 10Gb ethernet at work and 10Gb equipment is very expensive compared to 1Gb.

There is simply limited need for most homes to be anything above 1Gb as most peoples interenet is still subb 100Mb!!!

The best thing I can suggest, spend the money on good quality cable and its installed by people who understand how to install and test it. Always double up where possible, and consider locations where you may want telephone points or CCTV. I would much prefer to install good quality CAT5E cable over a lower grade (such as CCA) CAT6 type cable!

On a side note, I would be interested to hear why you are concerned about the 'health issues' surrounding the use of wifi? There have been plenty of studies to show that consumer grade equipment does not pose any detectable health effects.

I think the only way to really know if microwaves (WiFi, mobile signals, microwave ovens, x-rays, MRI, airport scanners) have long term health effects is to do long term studies, and most of these things haven't been around long enough for epidemiological evidence to exist. Reducing my 24-7 exposure to WiFi is at least one step to reducing my overall exposure to microwave signals. Plus, I get splitting headaches almost daily after a TBI 3 years ago and I'd like to at least try to see if removing WiFi in my house helps. The headaches almost always reduce when I'm away from urban areas but that could simply be due t being outdoors and exposed to the natural environment. But worth a try.

Another reason I favour wired is because of 11 years very bad experience with poor WiFi where I currently live. Thankfully, my new place has optical to the house, but I've found wired is much more stable and reliable.

So, short story, no compelling evidence but also, I'm getting the walls chased into anyway so why not install Ethernet while I am at it?

dunroving

fezster wrote: »

The virgin media router is notoriously rubbish with WiFi. I have it myself. You can switch off the router/wifi within it and have it act just like a modem. You then plug this into your own router/wifi. The Ubiquiti kit I sent you the link to above is very highly rated and I can personally vouch to how good it is. It's more complicated to setup than your standard consumer gear, but once it is, you don't need to touch it and it "just works". The LR version I sent the link to also provides very good range and signal strength and you will probably find you only need one of them (unless you live in a massive mansion!).

Yes, double ethernet ports, because it's just running a second cable. As said by others above, you can get dual port single gang faceplates, so there's no additional cost there.

Just out of interest, I have a spare BT Smart Hub from my last house ... could that be used as a secondary wireless access point? I do plan to ask whoever I go with, but want to avoid sending them daily questions when I haven't decided (but almost there) who I'm going with!

onomatopoeia99

dunroving wrote: »

Was asked the question by someone else, "What do you plan doing that requires cat6?" I generally would stream TV and movies to my television, and would occasionally have visitors also streaming similar content. I'm wondering (a) whether cat6 is a lot more expensive (is it just different cables? Or also different infrastructure?), and (b) what sort of use would cat6 benefit - online gaming? If (a) is yes, and (b) is yes, maybe I do just need cat5e(?)

If you run more than about 40 simultaneous 4k netflix streams (so you and 39 other guests all trying to watch 4k video over the internet at once) then you will exceed the capability of cat5e and cat6 would benefit you. That's assuming you have an ISP that provides a >1Gbps connection so you can actually draw that much data down at once.

dunroving

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

If you run more than about 40 simultaneous 4k netflix streams (so you and 39 other guests all trying to watch 4k video over the internet at once) then you will exceed the capability of cat5e and cat6 would benefit you. That's assuming you have an ISP that provides a >1Gbps connection so you can actually draw that much data down at once.

Thanks - that definitely gives me a context I can understand! As my shelf life will be another 20 years if I am lucky, maybe cat5e will do me.

Pdbaggett

Seems overkill but I guess if the walls are getting chased anyway it makes sense.

Use cat5e, get the electrician in to do it and use a simple switch like he suggested anything else is just overkill for your needs.

Then get a mesh WiFi set up like the BT whole home WiFi or Google WiFi .