floor up - lay ethernet cabling?
Discussion
we've got some work where we'll have the floor taken up in the area between one end of the house and the other. I won't bore you with the details on the shape and type of the house, but suffice to say we struggle extending mesh across the distance. The signal is fine to ground floor and second floor, the challenge has been distributing on 1st floor from one end to the other. There isn't a way to put an intermediate node along the way really. We currently use devolo mesh which uses powerline backhaul, and whilst it's OK it is really inefficient. I figured just laying a cable across that distance will solve that challenge, but what else do i need? I don't just want an ethernet cable poking up from the floor... is there a way to make this neater? Also, is it just as simple as plugging the cable into the switch hard-wired to the mesh on one end and the other node at the other end or is there more to it? I guess I can also use some higher cat cable given where it will be situated, so there is some future proofing there to a degree? Interested to know thoughts. Thanks
Always handy to have some wired connections in - I'd say pull at least two, as it's barely more effort than one. IIRC you can get a four-way network socket in a single gang plate, which is a fairly neat way to present the connection(s).
Cat5E is enough for gigabit, but I imagine someone will be along to say that fibre is the minimum you need these days.
Cat5E is enough for gigabit, but I imagine someone will be along to say that fibre is the minimum you need these days.
I’d probably go for Cat6 just in case you ever need it and as the previous poster said, run two cables, just in case. If you’re putting down trunking then maybe even a drawstring too.
Re the wireless network, you should just be able to plug it in, but it might be better to pick up a small Ethernet switch so you can run other devices if you need to.
Re the wireless network, you should just be able to plug it in, but it might be better to pick up a small Ethernet switch so you can run other devices if you need to.
At very least, lay some conduit and a pull through. 
As for your distribution problems, what are your floors made of? Rather than thinking about the distribution of the signal horizontally, have you looked at vertically too? You could even install the boxes in the loft, with a view to radiating downwards.
Just a thought.
M
As for your distribution problems, what are your floors made of? Rather than thinking about the distribution of the signal horizontally, have you looked at vertically too? You could even install the boxes in the loft, with a view to radiating downwards.
Just a thought.
M
Sporky said:
Always handy to have some wired connections in - I'd say pull at least two, as it's barely more effort than one. IIRC you can get a four-way network socket in a single gang plate, which is a fairly neat way to present the connection(s).
Cat5E is enough for gigabit, but I imagine someone will be along to say that fibre is the minimum you need these days.
having done some info searching yesterday evening, it seems that everything is gigabit because if you needed faster than that you need specific sub-types of the cable standards involving higher frequencies... even some cat7 cable is rated at gigabit! It's a bit like this whole bullsCat5E is enough for gigabit, but I imagine someone will be along to say that fibre is the minimum you need these days.
t with USB-C cables all being totally different.camel_landy said:
At very least, lay some conduit and a pull through.
As for your distribution problems, what are your floors made of? Rather than thinking about the distribution of the signal horizontally, have you looked at vertically too? You could even install the boxes in the loft, with a view to radiating downwards.
Just a thought.
M
the distribution is totally fine up and down as it's a barn conversion and the floors are not excessively deep, but the odd shape of the house is the issue. It's the east/west that's the issue and always has been either with wireless backhaul or powerline. As for your distribution problems, what are your floors made of? Rather than thinking about the distribution of the signal horizontally, have you looked at vertically too? You could even install the boxes in the loft, with a view to radiating downwards.
Just a thought.
M
Blown2CV said:
having done some info searching yesterday evening, it seems that everything is gigabit because if you needed faster than that you need specific sub-types of the cable standards involving higher frequencies... even some cat7 cable is rated at gigabit! It's a bit like this whole bullst with USB-C cables all being totally different.
CAT6A and CAT7 should be capable of 10Gbps at 100m. Potentially more at shorter distances. But it's harder to work with. I don't see any point in going beyond CAT6A in a current domestic setting - that should last a typical user decades.t with USB-C cables all being totally different.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC_11801#CAT7
Blown2CV said:
the distribution is totally fine up and down as it's a barn conversion and the floors are not excessively deep, but the odd shape of the house is the issue. It's the east/west that's the issue and always has been either with wireless backhaul or powerline.
That's why I'm thinking the loft space could be used for the backhaul (assuming it's an empty void).M
When we renovated our house (8 years ago) I ran a series of Cat5 to key rooms that all ran to a cupboard. I had grand plans to network it all up, but they remain there u connected..
The sparky at the time didn’t know how to connect the cat5 to the inlet plugs, and I recall looking and thinking that yes, it looks pretty tricky as there were a lot of colourful wires. Is a specialist tool need to ‘crimp’ to the socket?
Did I do it wrong? Should’ve I simply ran a Cat5 cable that already had two connectors from the router to points around the house? Surely not
The sparky at the time didn’t know how to connect the cat5 to the inlet plugs, and I recall looking and thinking that yes, it looks pretty tricky as there were a lot of colourful wires. Is a specialist tool need to ‘crimp’ to the socket?
Did I do it wrong? Should’ve I simply ran a Cat5 cable that already had two connectors from the router to points around the house? Surely not
camel_landy said:
Blown2CV said:
the distribution is totally fine up and down as it's a barn conversion and the floors are not excessively deep, but the odd shape of the house is the issue. It's the east/west that's the issue and always has been either with wireless backhaul or powerline.
That's why I'm thinking the loft space could be used for the backhaul (assuming it's an empty void).M
B9 said:
When we renovated our house (8 years ago) I ran a series of Cat5 to key rooms that all ran to a cupboard. I had grand plans to network it all up, but they remain there u connected..
The sparky at the time didn’t know how to connect the cat5 to the inlet plugs, and I recall looking and thinking that yes, it looks pretty tricky as there were a lot of colourful wires. Is a specialist tool need to ‘crimp’ to the socket?
Did I do it wrong? Should’ve I simply ran a Cat5 cable that already had two connectors from the router to points around the house? Surely not
It’s not too bad. You can get a kit from Amazon that has everything you need. Then just watch a few YouTube videos and I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it. The sparky at the time didn’t know how to connect the cat5 to the inlet plugs, and I recall looking and thinking that yes, it looks pretty tricky as there were a lot of colourful wires. Is a specialist tool need to ‘crimp’ to the socket?
Did I do it wrong? Should’ve I simply ran a Cat5 cable that already had two connectors from the router to points around the house? Surely not
Just take your time. And try and get a kit that includes a tester so you know all 8 wires are crimped correctly.
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