Building A (Serious) Home Network From Scratch 420
Casey Lang-Vie writes "THG are running an article that outlines how to build a home network from scratch. I wish I'd read this before I attempted - now I have a few (ok, 8) unsightly holes in my wall." This is the type of network that encourages home ownership rather than rental.
A drill, (When the wife is out) (Score:4, Funny)
Re:A drill, (When the wife is out) (Score:5, Funny)
So here you go.
Q3A on FiberOp
Q3A on 100B--T
Q3A on 802.11a
Q3A on 10BaseT
Q3A on 802.11b
building a? (Score:4, Funny)
Because lets face it, if you're not building a serious home network, then what are you building?
Re:building a? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:building a? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:building a? (Score:5, Funny)
For example, sitting through Titanic requires a high level of endurance and will score quite well. But if you are looking to earn enough points for a home network then you are going to have to attempt to sit through a Fried Green Tomatoes, Driving Miss Daisy Double. Even this won't get you close to earning enough points. Dishwashing, vacuuming and taking out the trash are good, but even better if you do it without being told. A romantic date to the movies is good, if dinner is thrown in even better. Dinner at Hooters is not good.
And ofcourse, beware, points can be deducted. You must be on your best behavior. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee that any points will be retained for any period longer than a month.
Good luck
Re:building a? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:building a? (Score:4, Funny)
If my woman doesn't like my computer shrine (currently 2 laptops, three desktops, 500ft of BRIGHT RED cat-v, and a WAP) then she knows where the door is. I just hope it doesn't hit her in the ass on her way out.
Seriously, the only thing keeping me from being ubergeek is my wife spending money on German Smoking Men, Italian dishes, and flannel sheets. Don't get me wrong, I love all those things, but when I say $Computer_Thing is needed in my house, money is allocated.
Re:building a? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:building a? (Score:3, Funny)
My wife won't even go in my office...
Cat 5e vrs. Cat 6 (Score:2)
Re:Cat 5e vrs. Cat 6 (Score:5, Insightful)
In other words, it's planning for the future. Sure, you can get decent runs of gigabit ethernet over cat5e tp but what about ten gig? The day will come when you'll want to use it, and if you own the house, you may actually live to see that day :)
If it's a rental, you're just going to do a temporary install anyway. For example, I needed to run ethernet to a back bedroom, so I put holes in the ceiling in the bedroom and the living room (where the firewall, and the switch are) and just ran some cat5 up, through the attic, and back down. But if I actually lived here, I'd want to cut a hole in the wall, install a box, drop the cable down in the wall, and do a nice clean professional-looking install - And I'd want to plan for the future. In my case that would mean installing some smooth-sided conduit so I could poke some more cable through later, but if you end up having to rip out walls or something then I would definitely put in cat6 and seriously consider fiber. I'd also certainly install some coax and terminate it with BNCs.
Re:Cat 5e vrs. Cat 6 (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Cat 5e vrs. Cat 6 (Score:4, Insightful)
Say it costs you $500 to lay the copper. If you lay fibre as well it comes out at say $600. If you don't lay fibre, and three years later realise you need it after all, then the final cost will be $1100.
So you have a $100 bet with yourself that you will need fibre later. If you don't, you loose $100. If you do, you win $500. Now, considering how geeky you are to be thinking about this at all, what are the odds like?
Re:Cat 5e vrs. Cat 6 (Score:2)
By using Cat6 you are gambling that it will not be bypassed, and that Cat7 will not be required for the next big Ethernet speedup.
Re:Cat 5e vrs. Cat 6 (Score:2)
Re:Cat 5e vrs. Cat 6 (Score:4, Informative)
I say run cat 6. Not only do you get more performance, but with all the interference generated in the home (office, school, anywhere), you'd benefit from the tighter twists in cat 6 as opposed to cat 5e.
Better holes in the wall, than in the wallet (Score:3, Insightful)
Just 'cos powerful folks have pumped in dollars into the WiFi thing, doesn't mean we got to rush into this latest trendy thing.
A simple UTP based LAN is more than sufficient for home needs.
Re:Better holes in the wall, than in the wallet (Score:2)
Too hard (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Too hard (Score:4, Funny)
Staples? Then you'd need a staple gun. I'm perfectly happy just having spools of cables running free around the house, behind furniture.. over tables. I think they are happier that way too.
Not funny, INSIGHTFUL! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Too hard (Score:5, Funny)
Moreover, it does a lot more for the resale value.
Thats the difference between the "mature" geeks and the young whipper snappers. :-) It is all about the resale value baby!
Real men (Score:5, Funny)
Wall plates? "We don need no steenkin wallplates!"
Really now, why would anyone plan out a home network? That takes all the fun out ot it!
I mean what's more fun than pulling wires at the last minute when you really have to have that wire.
And then trying to untangle the whole thing when you have to trouble shoot it!
Real men have huge tangled and matted nests of wires and they KNOW what every wire is!
Re:Real men (Score:3, Funny)
Sad thing is I have over $200 worth of Quikport wall plates & cat5e, co-ax, phone, banana inserts sitting is a box. And yet I have holes in every wall with 2-6 cables sticking out.
I keep thinking I'm going to get to the finish work, but when I have free time I keep thinking of new places to run cable. The Kitchen Desk, the kitchen counter, the porch, the garage. I'll have LCD's hangin o
Re:Real men (Score:5, Funny)
Real men have huge tangled and matted nests of wires...
Horseshit, REAL MEN mod the crap out of anything they can get a computer and/or accessory into, including the house, and they know how to run cable. Real men run the cable in an organized fashion with EL wire for cable management and UV reactive paint or insulation for added decoration.
Some plexi and a 4' x 6' hole in the wall to reveal amazingly cool wiring job is a must. Top off with cold-cathodes (since you're in the wall you can run them directly from AC) and you're sure to have the coolest freakin wall decoration ever. Talk about increasing resale value! Any uber-geek or pothead would kill for the borg or trippy look respectively. If you really wanna go cool, mount your router in the window too, but only after you've replaced all the ugly yellow LEDs with blue ones and added UV-reactive fans instead of any factory ones.
Mod the World!... Am I the only one who believes that any thing with a case can/should be modded?
Re:Real men (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Real men (Score:4, Funny)
I don't read THG, (Score:5, Interesting)
They are currently threatening to sue an online journalist (who happens to be a poor college student) for libel regarding his reporting of this story. Fortunately, the friendly folks at Hardocp have stepped in to provide some legal assistance for the guy, to make sure he is not railroaded into pulling down his editorial describing THG's media shenanigans.
Do your part for Internet Free Speech. Boycott Toms Hardware Guide.
Re:I don't read THG, (Score:5, Informative)
And if you don't give a rat's ass about Internet Free Speech, boycott Tom's Hardware because they suck. Articles are spread across too many pages simply to create ad revenue, articles are poorly written and researched, the editors often seem to take a cue from Slashdot, and to top it all off THG is hardly impartial. If you want good hardware coverage, get it somewhere [anandtech.com] else [sharkyextreme.com].
Re:I don't read THG, (Score:5, Informative)
THG is visited religiously and exclusively by many computer enthusiasts, though if they cared to venture out beyond THG they'd find out that Mr. Pabst's establishment is and has been very controversial, to say the least.
Re:I don't read THG, (Score:4, Informative)
ExtremeTech [extremetech.com] (broke the story on nVIDIA 3dmark2k3 cheating, uses good benchmarking methods with the GameGauge)
FiringSquad [firingsquad.com] (good mainstream site, quicker more casual reading before getting into the really in-depth stuff)
ArsTechnica [arstechnica.com] (excellent for info on more fundamental aspects of hardware)
Sorry... (Score:3)
Really, I don't get /. citing all these THG articles. If there is a any site on the net ten years past it's prime, it's that waste of bandwidth at Tom's House & Garden.
Re:I don't read THG, (Score:4, Informative)
Boycott tom's hardware? Dude, have you seen the fascist bullshit [elektrik-sheep.com] going on at HardOCP regarding their doctored benchmarks?
Kyle Bennett mass bans longtime users of his own forum for criticizing his faked benchmarks-- How can you believe a word out of his mouth?
Cat5 Cabling Woes (Score:5, Informative)
Remember to follow spec when making your own network cables. Running the wires straight through will cause issues (signal interference). You must have pins 3 and 6 on the same twisted pair, otherwise, the cables won't work after 30 feet or so...
If I had done it correctly, I could have saved 2 trips to the store, and lots of headaches.
Re:Cat5 Cabling Woes (2 pair vs 4 pair) (Score:2)
Re:Cat5 Cabling Woes (2 pair vs 4 pair) (Score:3, Informative)
Also you can exceed specs and have things work sometimes. 100metres is teh spec, but I've seen it exceeded. However when you jury righ stuff, like doing to signals over 1 wire, youa re asking for problems. Expect more collisions,
Sing along with me (Score:4, Informative)
Orange
Green / White
Blue
Blue / White
Green
Brown / White
Brown
When you have the connector in your hand with the pins facing you, that is the order to line them up in (left to right.)
I am not saying it is the only way to do it, but it is the only way I do it.
Wireless... (Score:2, Insightful)
Does wireless have it's drawbacks? Yes, but so do wired networks. I run 5 computers at home on a wireless network, sharing one internet connection through a Linksys Router.
I don't run WEP, but secure my network by changing the default ip address of my router and disabling DHCP. So you have to know
Re:Wireless... (Score:5, Informative)
Why not use WEP? It doesn't cost anything. Also turn on MAC filtering and turn off SSID broadcasts.
Then you can claim to have a reasonably secure environment. (As far as consumer wireless stuff goes.)
Re:Wireless... (Score:5, Interesting)
I regularly run net stumbler and the like to see if I can pick up other wireless networks. When I think I actually need better security I'll add it. For the time being though, there is nothing on any of my computers that really needs securing.
As for why I don't use WEP? I've found it somewhat buggy and it sucks up bandwidth.
Re:Wireless... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Wireless... (Score:5, Insightful)
Bad call, for two reasons. First, security is not just to protect your stuff worth protecting. Your network itself is a valuable resource to hackers. Second, you can't always just "fix whatever they broke", because you don't know what they left behind. That's why even "white hat" hackers are bad when they go breaking into other people's computers -- they really may not have done anything but added a text file saying "You have been hax0red, here's how and what to fix", but you don't know that's all they did.
This lax attitude towards security is why there are so many DDoS networks out there built from the computers of ignorant cable and DSL users.
Re:Wireless... (Score:4, Insightful)
It took me all of 2 minutes to enable WEP, enable MAC filtering, and turn off SSID broadcasts.
Re:Wireless... (Score:4, Insightful)
The way I figure it, you can spend two hours protecting your system, or you can spend two hours times N reinstalling. I'd rather take two hours up front, and have to reinstall less often because of security breaches.
Re:Wireless... (Score:3, Insightful)
People like you should not be allowed to connect to the Internet. The Internet is about cooperation, and laziness is not acceptable. You're selfish if all you think about is your network. Consider what someone could do if they gained illegal access to your network and used it to attack other people? OK, if that doesn't conv
Re:Wireless... (Score:5, Insightful)
Bad idea! If someone hacks your network and used your connection, then you could get into serous trouble
About a month ago, My next door neighbour was convicted of downloading child porn from the internet. When people in my neighbourhood read about it in the newspapers, they broke all his windows, wrote graffiti, and hounded him away.
Had I been running a wireless network, he could have easily leeched my internet connection to download the filth. Then the cops would have come knocking on my door. Even if I had been able to convince them that it was someone else, there would still be a nasty air of suspicion, from my other neighbours. Mud sticks.
After that incident, I would advise anyone thinking of setting up a wireless network to secure it well, and if they grant access to any third party, they should log EVERYTHING, as they may need those logs to defend themselves.
Likewise, an open network could be used to send spam, or hack attacks, but that is less likely to cause criminal charges back in the real world.
Unless all your equipment is wireless... (Score:2)
Wireless cards also cost 4 - 5x the same as a 10/100 card, and offer less than half the performance. When I'm copying data, or burning a DVD off of a network server, I need that bandwidth. You may not, especially if you don't
Re:Unless all your equipment is wireless... (Score:2)
Seriously, not worth it. Nice for your piddly 30k/sec internet download, not good enough for a transfer between machines on a local network.
Re:Wireless... (Score:5, Informative)
You're not "securing" your network by changing the address and disabling DHCP. You're making an attacker take an additional few seconds before jumping on your network. Sniffing your network for a few minutes will reveal what address range should be used.
A better solution:
1) disable SSID broadcasting. Note that this is simply a "good" thing to do-- SSIDs can still be sniffed in normal traffic.
2) Use MAC filtering-- i.e. set your access point to only allow the mac addresses for the cards you have. This helps, but does *not* prevent others from stealing your mac for acccess.
3) Use the lame WEP
4) Use a VPN. Have your wireless in your DMZ (behind a firewall) and in front of another one. Have the internal firewall allow though the port(s) required for for your laptops to authenticate to your internal VPN server.
You can use IPSEC, CIPE, OpenVPN, vtun, or even PPP over SSH (not recommended). I personally like OpenVPN, although there is no Windows client at the moment (there is for IPSEC and CIPE though).
Configure your externally facing firewall to NOT
allow packets out from your wireless-- instead those packets need to come from your VPN server.
If somebody gets access to your wireless network they then cannot access the internet nor can they access your home network.
Running something like arpwatch looking for new MAC addresses is a nice thing as well, but if you're using mac address filtering it should be impossible for any other mac to authenticate on your network anyway.
Every single wireless network... (Score:3, Insightful)
To assume otherwise is irreponsible.
...wishful thinking... (Score:2, Informative)
I'd like to see an article about the unique ways in which geeks acquire used hardware...the kind of stories where people who don't understand why on earth some computer savvy indivi
He hired a Contractor! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:He hired a Contractor! (Score:4, Insightful)
I have a side business where we do a lot of network cabling. We avoid residential, and basically refuse to do it except for a few cases where we are asked by a contractor who gives us a lot of commercial work. Hiring a contractor for something like this isn't all that bad of an idea. The main reason why I say this is because good contractors have a huge array of tools to do the job correctly. And they know how to use them.
Running network cable in a commercial environment is usually trivial. Running network cable in a home is always a hassle, and you had better know what you are doing. You also had better know how to fix a problem when you create it.
If you get queezy thinking about sawing holes in drywall and then patching it up (not just sloppily -- correctly so it looks like there was never a hole there), then yes, you should hire a contractor.
But be very careful, since most good contractors won't do residential. Homeowners whine a lot, don't want to pay much, and expect too much.
As far as this article, I don't really see the point, either.
Re:He hired a Contractor! (Score:3, Insightful)
You have cables running hidden in the walls of your house, cables that CAN catch on fire. Are they the right kind, that won't burn up and toxically kill your family in a fire? What if some bunk gear sets them on fire?
Are they too close to power lines? What are the code regulations regarding this?
Are they installed in the right places?
Sure, it's not nearly as important as installing power or other utilities... and I would bet you don't need a contractor to put in cat5..
True Story... (Score:3, Funny)
However, a few well placed posters and a lenient landlord helped
All in all, it was a nice reliable, albeit co-ax, network.
Nowadays I have a nice neat network, using lots of cable ties, packing tape and lots of Cat5. I am currently doing free computer work for a sparky friend in the hope that I can get some Cat5 installed for free when I buy my own home.
Re:True Story... (Score:2)
Poor bastards. (Score:2)
http://www.apple.com/airport/
In all seriousness, not to sound "640k is enough..." but why not just go wireless for a home network? IF you have the sw security in place, what's the need for all the speed? Wouldn't an 802.11g setup be enough for downloads, gaming, vnc, p2p, whatever? Seems a lot easier than doing cable drops unless you want to stream DVD's. Wouldn't Divx streaming be fine at 802.11g speed too!?!
Re:Poor bastards. (Score:4, Interesting)
Shared files on 10 mbit were fairly slow, and print jobs for the new printer were taking minutes per page to spool on complex pages.
10/100 card, $8/port.
16 port switch, $90. 7 ports used, $13/port.
Wall plate / jack, $8/port.
Cable: Had leftover partial spool of 5e, free.
price per port for switched 100 mbit? $29
7 port wireless:
Price
Access point, varies, $80 for an okay one. $11/port.
Price per port: $71 / port for shared 11 mbit that goes down anything someone turns on the microwave.
G wasn't widely available when I put the 10/100 in, but current prices seem to be:
Did I include time to run the wire and terminate it? No.
I built a computer from scratch, too! (Score:4, Funny)
an article not worth reading (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:an article not worth reading (Score:5, Funny)
Damn it! The one time I decided to RTFA and it's a dud. I swear I'll never read an article again!
Cat5 + Coax + RJ-12 (Score:5, Informative)
It is bundled Cat5, telephone, and coaxial, and comes in a tight package not much larger than heavily shielded (RJ-6 coax?).
You can easily run central distribution of phones, video on demand, networking...etc...
Kill 3 birds with one stone....
Re:Cat5 + Coax + RJ-12 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Cat5 + Coax + RJ-12 (Score:3, Funny)
Also, by attachin a used yoghurt pot to each end of the string, it can double as an inexpensive room to room intercom system.
Wireless (Score:3, Interesting)
Rus
Better use plenum cable in the walls. (Score:4, Informative)
Plenum cable is pretty much the same as regular CAT, except it's more expensive and more fire resistant.
Regular CAT in a fire can act like a fuse, moving the fire from one part of the house to another inside the walls.
Re:Better use plenum cable in the walls. (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, no- it's not required in-wall. The only cases where plenum is required is in air ducts, hence the name, plenum cable. Want to guess why? PVC gives off extremely toxic fumes when it burns. Plenum is a little more fire resistant, and a little less toxic.
Try googling around, you'll find what I found:
"Plenum Cable: A cable with flammability and smoke characteristics that meet the safety requirements of the National Electrical Code® (NEC®) that allow it to be routed in a plenum area without being enclosed in a conduit. See plenum."
Regular CAT in a fire can act like a fuse, moving the fire from one part of the house to another inside the walls.
This is bullshit. It's not a "fuse", but regardless- plenum would eventually do the same thing- it's a little more fire-resistant than PVC, but it'll still burn.
Are you seriously arguing against plenum in homes? (Score:4, Informative)
Oh, and yes, non-plenum cable can indeed carry fire from one part of a building to another.
Re:Are you seriously arguing against plenum in hom (Score:3, Interesting)
If your network cable is burning, you already have far bigger problems on your hands. You realize that most insulation will burn as well, not to mention the drywall and wood that your house is essentially built out of. Yeah, it's all firetreated, but when it does burn it gives off far more noxious smoke than cat5 will.
Your original statement is
Installing - an easier way (Score:2, Informative)
A few years ago, I thought ahead, and decided that it necessary in the future to install ethernet at home. Therefore, without the permission of the builder or subcontractor, I just snuck in some wire and stapeled it like they did. Apparently, the subcontractors that did the plastering and sheetrock had no blueprint
tip number one (Score:3, Informative)
Right off the bat, I see one very evil problem with the article- they show cables with those $@#!ing boots.
I'm gonna make this as clear as possible:
NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER BUY ETHERNET CABLES WITH BOOTS.
Why? Because you can't plug them into switches/hubs/routers unless the device has spacing to allow for the boot. Many, many devices don't! The boots also do a great job of interfering with the case of many systems with builtin ethernet.
Oh, and here's another tip for the readers, a VERY common myth- I didn't see if they mentioned this, but you CANNOT just do "same color order on both ends". The whole point behind twisted pair is that the twisted pairs reduce loss from magnetics. In order to take advantage of that, you have to use the pairs properly- ie, you need to put the pairs on the rx and tx pairs on the connector, or you've got a signal flowing over different pairs, and that's WRONG. I had to correct several coworkers at two different jobs, who were wiring cables any old way, just making the ends the same. Surprise, the cables worked like shit. Folks- 100BaseT spec only allows for ONE INCH of untwisted wire on the entire cable, so don't go making really long untwisted leaders into the connectors. It's a pain to get the hang of it and getting 'em all lined up right, but it needs to be done properly!
Re:tip number one (Score:3, Informative)
Aww, what the hell. I do the Google search for you.
Excellent resource, but it's a large PDF. [levitonvoicedata.com]
Also, if you're in the middle of some renovations and your walls are being shifted or otherwise opened, run all of your cable in conduit! Thi
Re:tip number one (Score:3, Informative)
The method you recommend is a pain because you're doing it wrong! (It's also something I would have recommended a few years ago when many of my cables would not work or work well.)
At that time, I met a phone installer. After going through cable aft
Re:tip number one (Score:3, Informative)
Why people DON'T have home networks (Score:4, Insightful)
Now there's WiFi, and even the cheap 802.11b hardware is fine for sharing files, printers, and broadband. Buy a USB adapter for each remote computer and you don't even need to open the cases. You can have everyone connected in an hour. Now THAT is practical home networking.
Don't make it too complicated (Score:5, Funny)
Go onto EBay and get some nice US Robotics Courrier HST modems, one for each room. Next, find some speedy 486DX-50 (not DX2-50) boxen, also one per room.
As you add more and more 486 and HST modems, both your compute speed and comm throughput tends towards infinte.
This is the beauty of the Home Beowulf Network!
Ethernet is for wussies. Real Men (tm) do it at 16.8k.
What I've done and recommened for wiring. (Score:5, Informative)
Knowing your house plan is important as well as plan plan planning.
With DSL you have a bit of room to play. If possible (and environment permitting) I like to tap the phone line right where it comes into the house (usually the basement). Setting a nice shelf on the wall for your modem and (mandatory) router. A small 12" patch panel (larger if you want to do a phone retrofit). With Cable you are sometimes more tied to where the cable comes in, and thats not always the basement.
But planning is the key. Find where you want to be the heart of the network and try to run stuff there. If possible split the incoming broadband only once before the downlink device (modem).
Now comes the big question mark that hangs over most people's heads.. how to I do the jacks? Most people are just plain not familiar with the products in this category. There are several manufactures of this stuff I have experience, and happen to like the Panduit mini-com line of products. Most of the vendors have similar competing products. These jacks are not cheap. Try not to skimp and use low quality product. These are modular jacks that snap into not only the patch panel but also wall units that mount into standard electrical boxes (use the blue plastic ones please.. don't slice your data lines). The jacks are color coded and then snap together. You (almost) cant mess it up.
Now nearly all of your do-it-yourself people will not have a proper TDR (time domain reflectometer) to do exhaustive testing with. If you buy one of those 15 buck line continuity tester and if you use the (nearly) mistake proof jacks, you will probably be just fine for your updated geek home of tomorrow.
PS. Just because I like to my self I recommend that you run 2 lines if you are going to run one. The cable is cheap and you are already committed to the effort of running it.
PPS I'll leave the cable choice discussions up to other threads and the article. But if possible, match your jacks to the type of cable you choose.
I've also done thin-net installations, I can answer a few questions there if someone is a masochist:)
Let me tell you... (Score:5, Funny)
This is my
(next)
story about how
(next)
I thought I was a
(next)
Real Man for hiring
(next)
a contractor to do my
(next)
manly work. Call me 404.
Come on (Score:3, Funny)
Paid ad? (Score:4, Funny)
Here's Mr Green, he's so serene, he's got a TV in every room
Aren't all articles from THG (Score:3, Interesting)
Seriously, I agree, why get a contractor and why write an article about it. I use contractors at work, but every metre of Cat-5 at home is mine.
Tips and tricks for running copper/fiber (Score:5, Informative)
- first place to check is your basement. Older homes might have had duct work for forced air heating but since switched to steam/hot water. I have helped my friend wire his whole house using the old ducts as pathways for running the cable.
- IF you want to run cable through the walls the outer walls of your home are filled with insulation thus making it near impossible to pull cable. the next best walls are walls inside your home that both side of the walls are inside your home. they are hollow and can easily have cable pulled through them.
- Closets are your friend as you can drill holes in them without having to worry about people seeing them. I have a cable that runs from my basement to the second floor closet through a hollow inner wall and then through the closet floor into the ceiling into the attic where I pulled the wire along to another room and drilled down through its closet to run the cable.
- If you want to know where studs are inside the walls of your home the standard spacing is 16 inches from the nearest corner. most any tape measure will have 16 inch markings for stud locations. But be aware this method isn't always 100% as some times they might be a much as 2 inches off.
- attics are also another great place to run cable. locate the room below you want to run cable to and drill from the attic to that rooms closet if it has one to conceal the cable.
- most homes have a molding around the floor. you can remove it with a pry bar without damaging it and cut holes into the sheet rock or plaster and run wire through them. Replace the molding to cover up the hole. always remember to not make the hole higher then the molding otherwise you just made a mess. This is a good way to get cable from one room to adjacent room/closet.
- If you do have forced air heating/cooling you can run cable inside the ducts. If you do decide to do this make sure you use plenum rated cable to stay compliant with local/national building codes.
- Buying cable can sometimes be a problem as you do not know what type or brand to buy. there are two basic cable types regular jackets which most likely be PVC or plenum rated. Plenum cable is designed to give off little or no toxic smoke when burned. this is used inside buildings that use the space inside a drop ceiling as an air duct as well. Also if you plan to run the cable inside an air duct you must use plenum cable to comply with national building codes. So if its just the inside of your home walls the cheap PVC is fine. Also don't go overboard and buy expensive beldin cat 5e stuff. I bought a roll and found it difficult to work with when it came to making patch cables. The crap they sell at the Home Depot is just fine and works good even for gigabit.
These are good ways to conceal cable and do it the same way an electrical contractor would. Some of you might be a little nervous knocking a hole on a wall or ripping up floor boards but if you want to do it yourself and save big bucks you certainly can. I have personally ran over 500ft of cat5 in my home to 10 different computers in 5 different rooms in my home. And if you ever saw the work you would think a contractor did it.
A number of Good Points (Score:3, Insightful)
First: Choice of plate terminators, angled is good! THG said it, they keep out dust, and in a home with kids this is a very good thing.
Second: finding cable runs is a very good thing. You can't go wrong if you choose where your cable is going very carefully. Just think, that 50' length of expensive Cat6 you just cut won't reach to the one place you need it, like the office upstairs where your Significant Other wants to place his/her computer because he/she likes the view. Also, stringing cable outside means that you could be letting in bugs (ants, termites, wasps and bees come to mind, all of which are detrimental to any home owner) and rodents (mice can easilly tear open a hole if they get a handhold).
Third: Neatness factor was a plus. Those nifty cable loops that they used to string the cable around the basement means no holes. Not boring holes in load-bearing joists and studs can save your bum if you are moving in say... a grand piano and your movers drop it right on that critical spot.
Mentioning some of the hardware used: great! I like seeing hardware mentioned. This means I can go out and look up honest-to-god reviews of it elsewhere if all the information isn't available on the first review I check. Also, pointing out the cable tester they used was important. When/if I decide to wire my own home I'll deffinitely look for a similar tool.
Cable versus DSL et al: another good point, find out who supplies what in your area and can you use it? Also, how much does it cost? Personally I would not have opted for DirecTV and just gone with cable all-around. But that was his choice.
I agree, overall this review could have used alot more meat in the "why'd we choose this bit of kit over that." department. However, as we all know the internet has an almost unlimited supply of information on any topic, just go look it up!
However, consulting with a contractor can be a very useful tool, even if you decide not to use the services of that contractor, they can provide you with useful information free of charge! If we all could do spot-on wiring of our houses the first time through we wouldn't need contractors for anything. On top of that, if you all missed it, the article mentioned that the writer and his family were prepairing to move in to a new home. As anyone who has moved in to a new home, and supervised its construction, knows that getting other people to do grunt work is a good thing.
Renovate (Score:3, Informative)
At that time, I put in the cabling. It all goes to a patch-panel in my under the stairs 'wiring closet'.
Holes in wall (Score:5, Funny)
Worst of all, it was a wireless network. *rimshot* Thank you. You've been a great crowd.
Airport Base Station - Top 10 why to say 'yes' (Score:3, Funny)
Top 10 statements, if you use a wireless Airport network, you will not prefacing with "I'm sorry for...":
Airport Base Station - Top 10 why to say 'no' (Score:3, Funny)
I have a home network... (Score:5, Interesting)
Plus I got 100mbit ethernet instead of 11mbit wireless, and it meant that in the future I was able to add a networked printer in another room without having to buy yet more wireless gear.
While I'm more than capable of doing the wiring myself (I have done in many north american homes), in Australia many homes, such as mine, are all brick, instead of stud and dry-wall. This makes installing the points a significantly difficult task, so for A$1400 all up (US$700 at the time), I think I got out of it pretty well. This also included a 8 port switch and signal amp for the TV signal.
I don't trust wireless security to the point of wanting my own access point, thanks muchly. I can put it in my insecure DMZ, but someone might use my bandwidth and monthly data allowance, which just costs me more
Wireless? (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, I've got about both. My first day on the job as a High-Speed Cable installer, I ran my drill through a power main. Knocked me on my ass, and I had to buy a new drill and pay to have the customers house re-wired. Not a fun experience. What did I learn? Look on both sides of the walls, and always ask the customer if they'd like their jack there.
In my 'house,' Each 'Data box' has 2 Cat5E, a fiber, 2 2-line phone jacks, and 2 Coax. I use this so I can provide a secure/DMZ, have the ability to upgrade, as well as send signals (e.g., videocams) to other devices in my house. The only reason that I use wireless is so I can use the occassional Free Access point that's floating about, and war-driving. My WAP in my house is on, however, it's on a seperate vlan, and no one really uses it.
Stay away from wireless--sure it's easy, but, do you really want your data out there for the world to see? For the effort that you use to run your wire and make sure the job is done right (e.g., use Mini-Com's from Panduit, make sure they're snapped down all the way, and make sure you've punched down everything/terminated your fiber right), you'll have the satisification that you've done a job right, and that your data is safe and secure.
Re:Wireless? (Score:3, Insightful)
The wired network connects all of my servers together and allows me fast networking when I need it.
The wireless network allows me to check my email from the sofa or the garden or anywhere else I'm comfortable. Yes there is a chance that someone may see the packets on my network but I'm a) not that parnoid and b) aren't prepared to give up the convience of wireless.
In short: wireless for ease of use, wired for speed.
Home Networking (Score:5, Interesting)
I was fortunate in the fact my walls are of plasterboard construction so I had no problems running cable down them, except between floors. I put a switch and a wireless router in the attic.
What did I learn?
a) If doing it again I would use some conduit pipe to make rewiring easier. However I did put 4 CAT5 ports in each room, which is enough for any small house!
b) buy a big roll of cable and make your own cables - its much cheaper that way.
c) Plan and check before you knock holes in walls
d) I'm a good network installer but a terrible plasterer, put any holes in walls where they'll be most hidden
What REAL Real Men Do (Score:5, Funny)
Worried about the landlord? Screw that! If you can afford more than one computer then you can afford to lose the security deposit.
Oh... and then do what I did. Move to New Zealand. Mwahhahahahaha
My Experience (Score:3, Interesting)
For what it's worth, I documented my experience wiring my home for network and phone here:
http://spookyworld.dnsalias.com/bhjp/d/74 [dnsalias.com]
Note: This article is now two years old, so technologies like wireless and gigabit ethernet were out of reach.
I would love an article... (Score:3, Interesting)
I would love an article that deserved the title "Building A (Serious) Home Network From Scratch". This isn't it.
I want to see how to open my wall with the least destruction. How to snake it up to the attic. How to snake it up to the plywood under the carpet in the second floor. Then, how to patch drywall.
I want to see how to effectively route wires from all over the house to a punchdown block in a closet. I don't need to see ethernet cable connectors every step of the way, we're talking about a serious network. PUNCH DOWN BLOCKS! There is, of course, a discussion of conduit. People who have done it and found a need, along with a few sentences about people who have spent (how long does it take?) a few hours to do it and found it to be a waste of time. Eventually, because it's only a Home Network, we probably just go with wires and no conduit, but we've at least thought about conduit and feel better for it.
This Serious Home Network probably also has jacks to tie in the neighbors for bandwidth sharing or LAN gaming, or possibly some other fancy stuff, but we're not wasting our page views on how to cut down a rack. We can figure that stuff out.
Re:I would love an article... (Score:3, Interesting)
So, at home I've done a hybrid of everything mentioned in this thread. While
Sunny, Bankrupt California (Score:3, Funny)
I spent hours shuffling around and lying in that tiny space, hooking up cable and tacking it to the structure. The payoff was that the only holes inside the house were for the wall jack. I came up inside the walls from underneath.
I got to know the wildlife down there very well (there's less than you might imagine). I still trade emails with some Black Widows I met.
Re:Crazy. (Score:2)
"Only one remote hole in the default install, in more than 7 years!"
OpenBSD is one of the most trusted OSes of our generation. You've got REAL guts if you can say that about Windows v.anything. (Not bashing windows - it just has some common issues with security)
Re:Hey Ma! Don't forget the firewall! (Score:2)
Re:Homeowneritis (Score:3, Redundant)
So true. The very same thought turned a 10-minute repair into a five-hour ordeal on my back underneath the eveaporative cooler on my roof last weekend.
The next most dangerous words are, "That can't be too hard. It might even be fun."
-schussat