Best Way to Install Ethernet Cabling from router?

[timsoles]

I have recently had Virgin Digital Broadband installed and the Wireless Super Hub works well with very reasonable wireless speeds.

However, our two desktops are on the opposite side of the house to the router and I intend to install Cat5e or Cat6 cabling around the house to the desktops and also install ethernet sockets in the bedrooms to fully benefit from the available cable broadband speed.

There is currently a double coaxial socket near the router with the cables going up to the loft where they were originally connected to TV and FM ariels. It should be straightforward to replace these with ethernet cabling to the loft, and then down to the rooms with the desktops.

My questions are:

1) Is there any benefit in running 4 cables to the loft from the 4 router ports or will the performance be the same with a single cable to the loft and a decent switch to split to the various rooms?

2) If I wire 4 cables to the loft, does it make sense to have an Ethernet Patch Box in the loft as the distribution point for the various rooms, or are there any other options?

3) Are there any other practical tips from those of you who have been down this route already?

Cheers,

Tim

[Hom3r]

If you do install cables I'ld go for Cat6 and get a decent quality one.

[timsoles]

Originally Posted by Hom3r

If you do install cables I'ld go for Cat6 and get a decent quality one.

Yes, I will probably go for external quality cable given the extreme temperatures in the loft.

[Hom3r]

I forgot to say Welcome to the forum.

Others with better knowledge in home networks will be on soon so hang around.

[Graham M]

Originally Posted by timsoles

I have recently had Virgin Digital Broadband installed and the Wireless Super Hub works well with very reasonable wireless speeds.

However, our two desktops are on the opposite side of the house to the router and I intend to install Cat5e or Cat6 cabling around the house to the desktops and also install ethernet sockets in the bedrooms to fully benefit from the available cable broadband speed.

There is currently a double coaxial socket near the router with the cables going up to the loft where they were originally connected to TV and FM ariels. It should be straightforward to replace these with ethernet cabling to the loft, and then down to the rooms with the desktops.

My questions are:

1) Is there any benefit in running 4 cables to the loft from the 4 router ports or will the performance be the same with a single cable to the loft and a decent switch to split to the various rooms?

2) If I wire 4 cables to the loft, does it make sense to have an Ethernet Patch Box in the loft as the distribution point for the various rooms, or are there any other options?

3) Are there any other practical tips from those of you who have been down this route already?

Cheers,

Tim

1) One drop cable with a switch at the top for distribution would probably do depending on what you are planning to do with the bandwidth around your house, 100MBPS goes quite a long way still these days unless you plan on copying large files around all day.

2) Entirely up to you, but I would say for the sake of 4 cables, a patch panel is a bit over the top for a home network, just run a single cable up to the attic and place a switch and connect any network cables from the separate rooms to that IMO.

3) Nope, it's pretty straight forward - for the sake of neatness you could fit sockets in all of the remote locations and also where the drop cable would go and then use short patch-leads from the sockets to the devices.

[Taf]

I used a kit that comes with all you need from B&Q.

The main router is upstairs, with one cable going through the wall, another up to the attic then down into another bedroom, and the last one through the floor to the downstairs setup.

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.js...isSearch=false

[MovedGoalPosts]

A patch panel sounds a bit OTT, but it can be easier to wire with a punch down tool to the patch panel than it is to put the plug ends onto the cable itself, and if you are feeding cable through the building you won't necesarily want them with pre made ends.

If you have a router in one location, and then an additional switch, unless the router doesn't have enoough ports for your combined network, you will be adding to your energy costs over the years. Whilst more awkward to physically do, running multiple cables could be cheaper than the cost of the switch especially if you've bought a large reel of cable.

[qasdfdsaq]

There's no point to 4 cables, you cannot use more than one cable between two devices without specialized equipment, it'll just break things.

As for the cable type, I wouldn't bother with Cat 6, it's utterly useless and there's no point to its existence at all.

[timsoles]

Thanks very much for your helpful comments.

The majority view seems to be a single cable up to the loft with a switch to the various rooms, although I accept Rob's comment that the running costs would be slightly higher over a period of time.

It might get a bit hot in the loft for a mains powered switch but it wouldn't be a problem to drop that down into a bedroom and perhaps locate it in the top of a wardrobe.

From what I have read elsewhere Cat6 does not offer any significant performance improvement over 5e at the present time, but with Virgin already offering 100mb broadband, and the likelyhood of faster speeds in the future, it seems to make sense to try and future-proof any installation now with the best spec available cable.

With that in mind, I will also get a Gigabit switch, as my desktops have Gigabit cards, and I anticipate any increasing transfer of data between my PCs and probably a Media Player when the house is properly wired up.

Tim

[qasdfdsaq]

I don't think you quite understood what I meant by Cat 6 is utterly useless. Cat6 won't do any future proofing, it's a waste of money. All current and future speeds that will run on Cat 6 also runs fine on Cat 5.

You can easily run 1000mbps over Cat5, you don't even need Cat5e for it. There's no point to Cat 6 at all, as all future standards (i.e. 10gb+) require Cat6a or above.

As for the electrical costs of running a switch, you're probably looking at about £5 per year or less, not the amount I'd worry about

[Graham M]

I don't think you'd run into any problems running a switch in the attic, they hardly put out any heat at all and I don't think you'd see any noticable effect from the temperature in the attic, and as errr him above said, there's very little involved in running costs, they are usually powered off of a low voltage transformer

I go to customer sites where the switches are in racks running full of hot kit. Yeah your attic will get hot in the summer but I think these are designed to cope with fairly hot temps.

BTW - if you do put one up there get a fan-less switch - you don't want a fan clogging up over time and it getting even hotter!

[Graham M]

I run 3 £10 TP-Link cheapo jobbies around the house and they do the job just fine

[Jonnymeg]

The only reason i could see to use 4 cables instead of a switch would be power in the loft.
If you have a mains socket up there then a switch is fine. If not then run 4 cables.
Also bear in mind accessibility if you need to reset your switch (very unlikely, i never have had to do that in the five years mine has been running).

[qasdfdsaq]

If there is no power, running power over ethernet using the network cable is also fine (not sure how well it works with gigabit mind you)