A few random tips on network wiring for your home... lol

Ok, after just about killing myself trying to untangle, trace, and remove some wiring, I have a few home network wiring tips.

But before I start, how is it that wires manage to get tangled over time, even though with your best efforts they were not tangled when you initially set everything up?

(1) Use snagless cables. I don't care if you have to make your own with electrical tape, JUST DO IT! It seems like such a trivial thing, but it makes a WORLD of difference. One would never think they could pull all their computer equipment on the floor just with one little plastic tab. (Everything is ok though, I think).

(2) Use snagless cables. See (1)

(3) Try to use only the length you will need, plus a little slack. Don't use that 100ft cable because you had it lying around to reach something 20 ft away. I thought I had it all nicely bundled, but that bulky bundle doesn't snake through a cluster of other wires very well. See (1)

(4) They make different colored cables for a reason. Buy every single color you can. I don't care if it's feminine pink, purple, fuchsia, it will greatly help your efforts, despite my tag labels, of which I somehow switched around, so it wasn't the device I thought I was unplugging (sorry, dear I don't know why your internet is down).

(5) Take your time and organize your cables with as many twist ties or other quick attachments that you can, but make the twist ties in accessible locations so you can untwist them if you need to move or remove a cable. See (1).

(6) GO 100% WIRELESS!

 

Ha ha, agree completely. My home network is setup so that my television and hi fi are both connected up to my home server which is connected to a million other things. At one point I was seriously considering connecting it to the central heating, so I could turn it on remotely before I was heading home.

Glad I didn't. Getting rid of all those wires and going 100% wireless was probably the best thing I ever did.

Great tips though for homes that are not totally wireless yet.

 

I had my home completely wireless, however I find that speeds aren't as fast as I would like, and wireless can be a bit sketchy at times.

I bought myself four homeplugs - one directly into the router, three upstairs (Laptop, Xbox, PS3). It's the best move I've made =-P No long cables trailing around the place, only small ethernet cables from the plugs to the consoles. And perfectly stable connections =-D

 

That is another good solution. I however invested in wireless equipment that I knew had good coverage, and for example can walk my laptop through my entire house and garden without dropping more than a single bar on the coverage.

Sure speed could be a little faster; but I don't find that it cripples me.

Great thing about those homeplug things, you can now get them with a wireless home plug. So it connects to the "network" but then sends wirelessly from the room the plug is in. Great for old solid houses where wireless can sometimes struggle.

 

how much power more do you use for homeplug network, as compared to setting up more AP/routers in the home?

 

Nothing like learning from experience, eh? My home network is 75% wireless (4 systems, 3 wireless, one wired - but that's the headless desktop, aka ersatz server, that sits only feet from the router in any event) - anything else would simply not work since running ethernet cable is not an option (pseudo-concrete walls ).

 

My home was built in 1946. It is all plaster, brick, and concrete, with some pretty thick floor support beams and multiple layer 2x6 criss crossed floorboards. My home office is set up in my basement, with modem and router. I have a wire up to my main floor for to another wireless router (used as repeater, and for wired networking) for notebooks and X360. In basement desktop PCs are close enough to router, so I thought why not, except my big screen TV with X360 there on other side of the basement, wanted wired because didn't want to invest in a wireless adapter for that. Bought a wireless all-in-one laser printer about a year ago. Best thing ever.

 

OTOH, when we built this house I ran 6x cat6 and 2x catv lines to each room of the house. Each wall plate has 3x cat6 and 1x catv. Multiple wall plates in each room, more in the big rooms, 3x wall plates in the big built-in entertainment center cabinetry (and 40 amps of power!). Even ran a set of lines to the garage and to a weather-proof box on the sun deck.

Some of the big rooms don't have all of the cabling terminated out, it's just buried behind the drywall. I have digital photos of where the wires are run just in case I need to 'activate them'.

I also ran 4x catv lines up into the attic (along with a GFC 15a power line) for use with sat dishes or 'whatever'.

Doing all the work before the drywall installers came in took me about 24 hours over 2 days with one helper. Spent about $1000- on the wiring, termination, patch panels, etc, etc plus another $250- for a friend from work to help out. We 'borrowed' a Fluke NetTool from the office to help with the termination and ringing out each run. Everything tested out as gig-capable.

The builder quoted us close to U$10k to have them subcontract the wiring out.

Yes, I've got a nice wireless setup in the house too. But the basis for that nice setup is the wired network which lets me put APs wherever I need them.

 

Yeah, if I could, I would wire my house myself, both networking and AC the right way. When I finished my basement, I thought I ran enough AC, but I realize you can't have enough, especially with lots of electronics equipment. I was stupid and didn't run Cat6 like I should have. but that would have only served the basement. My next house, or if it ends up I'll be living here a lot longer, I'll do it right.

Yeah, contractors are expensive. I finished my whole basement with wall studs, drywall, drop ceiling, wiring, recessed lighting, carpet, bathroom (toilet and sink only), and laundry room for around $5000 all labor done 98% by me (dad helped a bit with plumbing). It was quoted over $20k by contractors. Best use of 10% off with Home Depot credit card I ever made! I always remind my wife she owes me $15k, but she says I owe her 9 months of my life back.

 

As far as home power goes, check out the whole house surge protectors made by GE, SquareD, and InterTech. They cost about $100 installed (by a pro) and connect right up to the circuit breaker box.

Think about all of the electronics you have in the house now; stove, microwave, fridge, washer/dryer, clock radios, air conditioner/furnace, etc. Buying $50- surge power strips, sometimes 2 or more per room, gets kind of expensive so why not cover the entire house??

 

A good point. You should also consider putting surge arrestors on the cable coaxial where it enters the house, and also on the phone line. I learned that one the hard way many years ago when I blew out the modem on the family desktop 'cause I insisted on surfing while there was a thunderstorm in the area.

 

I actually retrofitted an older house with Cat6 thoughout during a fairly extensive remodel. We only pulled down a bit of the drywall upstairs (mostly in the nasty bathroom), and all the ceiling drywall in the basement. If you can get into the attic with a hole saw or at least a 3/4" drill bit and a fish tape and can reliably use a measuring tape, it's really not that hard to wire an upstairs set of rooms to a central area. The hardest thing with most houses is finding a run that's not too near anything scary from the attic down to the basement... if you have an area like that (check near furnaces/water heaters), you're golden.

I also spent 2 years of my life cabling up businesses and repairing and installing computers, too, so I may be a bit biased when talking about "golden"