Running wires between floors 1930 Semi

[Martin]

Sooner or later every electrical device in your home will want an internet connection (the next 5 - 10 years, or now if your prepared to pay for it) and Wi-fi just wont be able to cope (even the new 802.11g 54 Mbps version), especially as you are sharing bandwidth with your neighbours. Also Wi-fi is not the bandwidth is says on the box 11 Mbps or 54 Mbps these rates can only be achieved in open spaces without obstacles like walls. Inside a house you'd be lucky to achieve a 1/4 of that. So your not likely to achieve DVD quality between a video server and your TV. Admittedly Broadband (ADSL) connections are currently only being made available at 1 Mbps but the technology is capable of much more than that, its the backhaul network that limiting it.

I agree if your house is completely decorated and your looking for a short term fix then use Wi-fi, but as soon as you get the opportunity run as much CAT5 as you can. At least 2 cables to the 4 corners of every room. CAT5 can also be used for telephone lines and alarm systems.

Then there is the issue of health, the carrier frequency of Wi-fi is 2.4 GHz this is the same as your microwave. Clearly the Tx power levels of Wi-Fi are a fraction of the Microwave but its the same debate about mobile phones only with Wi-fi laptops on your lap your putting the transmitter closer to sensitive skin. I have no evidence to support this its just my own opinion.

I might be tempted to install Wi-fi outside so I can work from the garden and when cars have Wi-fi the car could upload maintenance data to my PC.

Martin.

[JohnB]

Oh I know the feeling.

The challenge of planning mains wiring so that no matter where 'the boss' moved the furnature there were still handy mains sockets meant that when it came to Cat5 I followed the same proceedure. However I used twin plates with one socket for the phone & one for the computer. It is worth the effort in the end.

'Can I move the phone over there?' 'Yes dear, just plug the adapter in the right hand socket of that plate.'

Mind you I lost the battle to have each socket with a number just like at work so I rely on a master planning sheet when moving jumpers. Some people are just too fussy over looks!

John

minimal-wires-

[JohnB]

Could it be that there is a danger of drilling through them since they will be unlikely to follow a marked path?

JohnB

[stefek.zaba]

In Casa Zaba, the Cat5 sockets are so labelled; but they're mostly in relatively obscure corners or otherwise discretely positioned, and all three of the wired-up rooms are 'working' rather than 'kick back and relax' rooms, so we've not had the aesthetics-versus-manageability issue.

[James Hart]

UV marker pen, the kind used for security marking things. That would enable you to mark the sockets but the missus wouldn't know you'd done it. Next time you want to ID a socket, check the coast is clear and whip out the UV light.

[john.bunting]

I like it! Could save a lot of real problems.

JohnB

[Zymurgy]

"Martin" wrote

My house was floodwired with CAT-5 before I moved in. A note not lost on me when I viewed the property.

Some of the runs were a bit heath robinson (e.g. up a conduit in the middle of the lounge wall) :-/

These go through the back of cupboards and disappear into floor voids and emerge in the attic.

Problem is, I only have 1 port per room, and sometimes I want to use desktop and laptop simultaneously (e.g. during a delicate download !)

I'm not a big fan of wireless at the moment, due to cost and security implications.

I relocated the ducting to an unobtrusive corner and wired behind the skirting.

My plaster is pretty thin, so I couldn't channel the wall.

Cheers,

Paul.

[stefek.zaba]

If you're not running Gigabit ethernet, the usual wiring schemes (10BaseT and 100BaseTX) use only two of the four pairs in each cable, and you can buy inexpensive (fiver a throw sort of cost) 'port splitters', of which you'll need one at each end, to give you two ports for each wirepair. They introduce a bit more reflection and crosstalk, but in a domestic setup where the wire lengths are far below the 100m worst-case of the spec, they should see you right for the simultaneous use of desktop and laptop.

Scarcely any more expensive, mind you, would be a hub or unmanaged switch: 10/100 8-port switches now sell for 25-30 quid a throw, and will let you connect up a suitably Large number of Ethernet talkers and send the combined traffic up the single uplink port.

HTH - Stefek