To run cables or not??

[weeds]

We are nearly ready to pull the cables for our down stairs reno........there are two TV points, an open office and a bedroom.

I am running coax the TV points....

Should I run CAT6 to where the TV points are as well?? ie tv that can connect to the internet if I ever buy one

Should I run CAT6 to the bedroom??

We currently have wifi off the modem which meets most of our needs however the kids reckon plugging a PS3 into the internet is better/faster than wi-fi ie online games??

Just figure it might best best to run cables while we have the chance...might not use them right now or is everything done via wifi these days

Thoughts.......

[slug_burner]

cable. Saves on WiFi repeaters to get over poor speeds etc.

Go and speak to the electrical cable retailers and ask them what is being put into premises these days.

[Wallaby Ted]

When I put in more tv antenna points around the house (1 to each bedroom) I also ran in 2 x cat 5 to each point as well, and also did 2 x cat 5 behind each of the existing points as well as I have devices that use the internet as well.

Currently these run on wireless but you get much better performance over wires than wireless.

If you have access I would run connections to anywhere you think you may want one in the future as the cost of the cable is negligible compared to having to try and do it later.

You should check the difference in price between cat 6 and cat 5e as both will most likely do what you want (cat 6 has slightly better specs and better resistance to crosstalk so may only be better if you want a really long run) and if cat 5e is significantly cheaper should be considered. I went cat 5e when I did home as I picked it up from a wholesaler for less than $50 a box, compared to cat 6 at the time was heaps more expensive.

Wifi I found is good for when you want to be mobile or for quick connectivity, whilst a permanent device is better on fixed. Depending on where you live and who else is using wireless around your wireless may not work real well (I have seen this lots of times in my work). If you do want to run wireless buy a purpose built Wireless Access Point which has diverse antennas, and will allow you to mount the Access Point in the best location even if its not where your internet is, the one I currently got can be powered via Poe which is very useful as well. I also installed quite a few for work and they were far better than any of the low end ones and not that much more expensive.


Richard

[Wallaby Ted]

I went and had a look for the Access Points I was installing at work and these are the ones (not that I have bought them from here):

Ubiquiti Unifi AP Wireless Access Point UAP 2 4GHz 802 11N UAP | eBay (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Ubiquiti-UniFi-AP-Wireless-Access-Point-UAP-2-4ghz-802-11n-UAP-/200967166006?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eca939836&_uhb=1)

We used to buy them in 3 packs for about $400. These allow you to place multiple point around the office/home and use the same wireless setting in each one and it will pick the best access point.

If you go to there web site you can download the management software, and if you have a scale drawing of your place it will allow you to place the location of the access point on it and it will give you a good indication of the coverage.

I found that these will go through floors quite easily if you have 2 stories and have a good coverage zone.

I would personally still run cables and use these for mobile/casual access.


Richard

[Mick_Marsh]

Yep, run two cat 6 cables to the TV points. One for the telly and one for another device such as gaming console. The bedroom could be adequately serviced by wireless but if it's easy to run a cable, why not.

[DeanoH]

At the risk of stating the 'bleeding obvious', for TV and Ethernet all cables must be run from a central point and not looped point to point as is done with the AC power wiring. :)

This is not in any way to infer you don't know this Weeds but a casual reader may be unaware of this. :o

Deano :)

PS. Don't run either of these cables through the same holes that carry power, bad for interference and safety. Also illegal.

[grey_ghost]

Personally I always run cable instead of Wi-Fi. Yes Wi-Fi is great, but you will always get faster, more reliable speeds via cable...

Yes I would run cat 6 to all of the rooms - you never know what you might want to do in the future, and it's much easier to run cable now rather than later...

That's just my 2 cents worth! :wasntme:

[Mick_Marsh]

PS. Don't run either of these cables through the same holes that carry power, bad for interference and safety. Also illegal.
Do you know which specific standard or regulation covers this?

[Basil135]

Do you know which specific standard or regulation covers this?

Cant remember the actual Standard, (AS3000 maybe) but, from memory, there has to be a minimum of 300mm physical separation between power & data.

This also applies for mains voltage, and low (think 12v) cables.

So, make sure you plan your cable runs, as the electrician that does the final connections wont, or shouldn't, pass it if it doesnt meet the regs.

[WhiteD3]

I'd run the CAT6 cables for sure while you have a chance.

Having said that, I've just built a new gaming PC for No2 son and put an "n" dual band wireless card in it ($45) to match the "n" wireless router they have at their end of the house. The connection speed is 300mbps! The best you get from the CAT6 is 100 unless you've got a gigabyte router.

[bee utey]

Nowadays I'd investigate running smooth conduit between your wiring points, put in your cat 6 cable now and use it to draw through whatever upgraded product turns up in 10 years time.

[Homestar]

Do you know which specific standard or regulation covers this?

AS3000 covers this, but I don't have my copy with me. There are minimum segregation requirements between data and mains, as there are with coax and mains power. You used to be able to get a double GPO with an antenna outlet in the middle, but there were a couple of deaths associated with this, so rules have changed.

It's not as far apart as you think though - I think it just has to be on a separate wall plate. All our new office partitions have data and power not far apart, but the exact distance I'm not sure of.

[austastar]

Hi,
I built in 1986, and ran smooth conduit every where from one access point in the garage, on someone's advice at the time. I was imagining some sort of intercom or security system, network in houses was unheard of at the time.

One of my better moves; now the modem lives in the garage and all the bedrooms have cat5.

cheers

[RVR110]

Cables are soooo '90's. Having said that, my approach is to pick the top 3 or 4 candidates - either:

bandwidth hogs
critical/core devices
devices that don't have wi-fi

and cable only them, providing they are unlikely to move. Everything else can go wi-fi. Eventually there will be no cat6 in the home...
In my home, the following have cat6:
IP Phone base station
My PC (doubles as media server and AULRO client)
Wife's work laptop (saves me investigating "potential" wi-fi issues if her VPN drops out!)
The most-used Apple TV
Other PCs, laptops, TVs, Blu-ray players, phones, iPads, printers, xBox etc are all on wi-fi.

FWIW, my WiFi router is bolted upside down to the ceiling in the centre of the house up stairs in an out-of-sight location. It gives me great coverage in and around the house. The power is fed through from the roof cavity.

[Wallaby Ted]

AS3000 covers this, but I don't have my copy with me. There are minimum segregation requirements between data and mains, as there are with coax and mains power. You used to be able to get a double GPO with an antenna outlet in the middle, but there were a couple of deaths associated with this, so rules have changed.

It's not as far apart as you think though - I think it just has to be on a separate wall plate. All our new office partitions have data and power not far apart, but the exact distance I'm not sure of.

I don't remember the exact measurement that is needed for segregation when going down the wall, the reason I believe you could run them in the office is because they have separate channels for the different cables.

Richard

[Wallaby Ted]

I'd run the CAT6 cables for sure while you have a chance.

Having said that, I've just built a new gaming PC for No2 son and put an "n" dual band wireless card in it ($45) to match the "n" wireless router they have at their end of the house. The connection speed is 300mbps! The best you get from the CAT6 is 100 unless you've got a gigabyte router.

You get 300mbps until you connect a second device or there is a lot of wifi in your area, then it will drop off really quickly.

Unless your internet is 300mbps you wont get that either, you will share 300mbps to your access point only.

My network at home is a mixture of gigabit ethernet, 300mbps wireless and ethernet over the power lines as well, I still get better throughput on the ethernet connections streaming high definition. When I go to the internet the limiting factor is the ADSL2 which only syncs up at about 10Mbps.

Richard

[slug_burner]

Don't know about this separation requirement for power and signal. In office buildings workstations have a cable tray where power and cat5 or 6 cable is run. It may be a case of what insulation rating you have?