Re: Home Ethernet wiring

["Tom Metro-12" <user=71@nabble.blu.org>]

 Matthew Gillen wrote: 
> I've been toying with the idea of wiring most rooms in my house with 
> ethernet jacks... 
... 
> Do you have any advice on where to get supplies... 

You Do It Electronics has already been mentioned. They're pricey, but 
put common items like 12-port patch panels go on sale for a reasonable 
price fairly regularly. If you get on their mailing list, they send out 
coupons a few times a year. This month they've got a bunch that give you 
$10 off on a $25 purchase, which comes close to getting mail order 
prices on small purchases. 

Typically I mail order network hardware. PI Manufacturing 
(http://www.pimfg.com/) is a good pick if you want reasonable quality 
for a good price. 

As others have mentioned, use keystone jacks for the wall outlets. That 
way they're modular and you can buy the jacks and plates in quantity and 
configure them as desired for each outlet. In places where wall plates 
won't work, you can use surface mount boxes. You can even use the 
keystone jacks for your patch panel, though a panel with fixed ports 
might be more cost effective. 

The modularity may be overrated, though. Everything is converging on 
twisted pair wiring these days, if not Ethernet. (Even if you aren't 
using video over IP, you can get adapters to run video over twisted 
pair.) And similarly for phone use, you can get little adapters to 
narrow an RJ-45 jack to the width of an RJ-11/12 jack, to accept a 
standard phone cord. So you can just terminate all wires in an RJ-45. 

You can get even get "tooless" keystone jacks for a slight price 
premium, that avoid the need for a punch down tool. They seem to work 
fine. Good choice if you're doing just a handful of outlets. 


> ...general dos and don'ts? 

I'd recommend one of the few books on LAN Wiring: 

Lan Wiring : An Illustrated Guide to Network Cabling 
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/007065302X

I bought the first edition, and it seemed pretty good. 

The best advice the book offers was to always terminate your fixed 
wiring on punch-down blocks, rather than trying to use connectors 
(crimp-on plugs). And in general, any time you need a plug, just buy a 
commercially manufacturer cable. Many novices make the mistake of trying 
to crimp a plug onto a piece of solid CAT5, and while they do make plugs 
for that purpose, they rare. Most are designed for use with stranded 
wire, which is not the stuff most people have. So buy your patch cords 
and punch-down your "horizontal" fixed wiring. 

This means resisting the temptation to run your cables directly to a 
switch/hub. Instead run them to a patch panel. Then use patch cords to 
connect the panel to the switch. 


> Is there any reason to use Cat6 vs. Cat5 for home use? 

As Dan and Mark mentioned, the incremental cost of the better cable is 
small compared to the effort to install it, so always go with better 
wire. The jacks and other hardware can fairly easily be upgraded later. 

I'd also recommend running two cables to each jack. The effort and cost 
is minimal, and it provides greater flexibility. 

  -Tom 

-- 
Tom Metro 
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA 
"Enterprise solutions through open source." 
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/

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