How much to wire my house for ethernet?
Discussion
I know, how long is a piece of string?
I really just want a ballpark number. I live in an average 3 bed terrace and I'd like to put an ethernet port in every room (7 in total). The easiest option would probably be to run it under the floors, but (very roughly) how much would this cost to do? Homeplugs are just not cutting it at the moment.
I really just want a ballpark number. I live in an average 3 bed terrace and I'd like to put an ethernet port in every room (7 in total). The easiest option would probably be to run it under the floors, but (very roughly) how much would this cost to do? Homeplugs are just not cutting it at the moment.
I have 500mbps homeplugs and get around 60mbps. I only use WiFi for phones etc as it isn't really reliable for HD video streaming.
To be honest, my existing network copes with the streaming but copying 30GB blu ray rips over homeplugs is painful. I know the next gen homeplugs are coming but I'm wondering if it would not be that much more expensive to just put Cat6 in.
To be honest, my existing network copes with the streaming but copying 30GB blu ray rips over homeplugs is painful. I know the next gen homeplugs are coming but I'm wondering if it would not be that much more expensive to just put Cat6 in.
Cant beat proper hard wiring! - I only use wireless for gadgets such as tablets etc.
I flood wired my previous house with cat5, bt and alarm wires and didn't lift a single floorboard. Basically you run everything down from the loft to the upstairs room. I then chose a particular central part of the house where I could run trunking down a bedroom wall (from the loft) which aligned with the corner of a downstairs room. Once downstairs I simply ran the wires around the top of the walls and then covered the whole lot up with plaster coving.
Most of my walls were made from hollow studwork, so created a standard square box hole at the bottom of the wall and another hole at ceiling height and simply fished the cable up - then just covered the holes with the coving. You could also consider cat5 dado trunking where you replace your skirting boards?
Difficult to give advise without knowing the style and type of house though.
I flood wired my previous house with cat5, bt and alarm wires and didn't lift a single floorboard. Basically you run everything down from the loft to the upstairs room. I then chose a particular central part of the house where I could run trunking down a bedroom wall (from the loft) which aligned with the corner of a downstairs room. Once downstairs I simply ran the wires around the top of the walls and then covered the whole lot up with plaster coving.
Most of my walls were made from hollow studwork, so created a standard square box hole at the bottom of the wall and another hole at ceiling height and simply fished the cable up - then just covered the holes with the coving. You could also consider cat5 dado trunking where you replace your skirting boards?
Difficult to give advise without knowing the style and type of house though.
The kit will cost you next to nothing, as you probably know, but it always depends on what is "acceptable" to you.
I would never have any trunking in my house and would want everything properly replastered. If you chase it all into the walls and need it plastered and decorated afterwards you could be looking at a couple of grand, which you will never see again.
I would never have any trunking in my house and would want everything properly replastered. If you chase it all into the walls and need it plastered and decorated afterwards you could be looking at a couple of grand, which you will never see again.
Without a plan of the house and where you want to put the connections it's almost impossible to give an idea of the cost.
I would suggest making a wiring diagram and working out which way your joists run, so that you can try to take advantage of that, otherwise you or someone you employ will be taking up a lot of floorboards and as you've probably already noticed they aren't necessarily the easiest things to take up!
I would suggest your current electrical wiring is probably what's causing you an issue with the performance of your home plugs. It might be worth investigating improving this.
I would suggest making a wiring diagram and working out which way your joists run, so that you can try to take advantage of that, otherwise you or someone you employ will be taking up a lot of floorboards and as you've probably already noticed they aren't necessarily the easiest things to take up!
I would suggest your current electrical wiring is probably what's causing you an issue with the performance of your home plugs. It might be worth investigating improving this.
I have no idea it what it will cost to install proper ethernet cable in your house, as mine is costing me a reel of cat5e, a patch panel, a Krone tool and various wall plates, plus many hours of my own labour to do it all - I am plastering over the channels I cut in the walls myself. No floorboards to lift as it's a bungalow.
I just wanted to applaud you for considering doing it properly, rather than using abhorrent bodges (homeplugs, wifi etc.)
BTW cat5e will support gigabit networking over the length of cable needed in a typical family home, is cheaper to buy and easier to install than cat6.
I just wanted to applaud you for considering doing it properly, rather than using abhorrent bodges (homeplugs, wifi etc.)
BTW cat5e will support gigabit networking over the length of cable needed in a typical family home, is cheaper to buy and easier to install than cat6.
Last time I saw prices for the job it was in the region of £50\port with the majority of the cable routes already open to be used (ie, not having to lift boards, chop holes and fish for cables, etc.)
Domestic jobs are usually expensive per port because the access is far more awkward than a typical modern office. It's not actually that difficult to do if you are halfway handy.
As above, CAT5e is fine and will cope with Gigabit no problem if you install it properly. I'm waiting for someone to release a CAT7 so that everyone will flock to that, "cos it's one more innit" </spinal tap>.
CAT5e is more flexible, has a tighter turn radius, and is far less fussy to get a "correct" install. Just use a good quality, branded all-copper cable, not CCA (copper clad aluminium)
or some unknown brand.
A krone tool and a basic cable tester are about the only tools you need.
edit,
Think in terms of at least 2 ports per room (possibly 4, 2 each at diagonally opposite corners), and 4-6 at locations where there is lots of stuff, eg, behind the TV. You will use many more than you think. Anywhere you already have a TV, stereo, computer, radio, etc., put two ports there.
In the future, in one corner of the room,
TV - 1 port
Bluray - 1 port
Generic TV recording box - 1 port
Games Console(s) - 1 port
Media streamer box - 1 port
and so on...
The labour to run 4-6 cables to one location is only fractionally more than running 1.
Domestic jobs are usually expensive per port because the access is far more awkward than a typical modern office. It's not actually that difficult to do if you are halfway handy.
As above, CAT5e is fine and will cope with Gigabit no problem if you install it properly. I'm waiting for someone to release a CAT7 so that everyone will flock to that, "cos it's one more innit" </spinal tap>.
CAT5e is more flexible, has a tighter turn radius, and is far less fussy to get a "correct" install. Just use a good quality, branded all-copper cable, not CCA (copper clad aluminium)
or some unknown brand.
A krone tool and a basic cable tester are about the only tools you need.
edit,
Think in terms of at least 2 ports per room (possibly 4, 2 each at diagonally opposite corners), and 4-6 at locations where there is lots of stuff, eg, behind the TV. You will use many more than you think. Anywhere you already have a TV, stereo, computer, radio, etc., put two ports there.
In the future, in one corner of the room,
TV - 1 port
Bluray - 1 port
Generic TV recording box - 1 port
Games Console(s) - 1 port
Media streamer box - 1 port
and so on...
The labour to run 4-6 cables to one location is only fractionally more than running 1.
Edited by shtu on Wednesday 18th December 10:05
marctwo said:
shtu said:
As above, CAT5e is fine and will cope with Gigabit no problem if you install it properly. I'm waiting for someone to release a CAT7 so that everyone will flock to that, "cos it's one more innit" </spinal tap>.
I know someone installing Cat7 (Class F).
<tap> CAT11, anyone? </tap>
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Netflix-4K-Vide...
Video uses less bandwidth than people think. The killer is when people try and stream lots of it over a shared\variable media like wireless or homeplugs.
Video uses less bandwidth than people think. The killer is when people try and stream lots of it over a shared\variable media like wireless or homeplugs.
Cat 6, as I understand it needs to be installed with more care and attention to details such as radii of bends and terminating the ends in the correct manner. I don't know what the cost difference is in terms of materials tho.. I guess it's started to come down in price from where it is. Whoever you get to install this will have to ensure that they follow the correct procedures, otherwise you won't get the expected throughput.
joewilliams said:
A domestic electrician would probably be the best person to ask to pull the cables.
this is not the case in my experience. I have worked on numerous sites where i have been told "it's ok, the sparky pulled all the cables through, you just need to connect them" - 80% of the time a wall needs to be chased again.in some cases pulling network cable through the same runs as mains cable can cause major headaches later on in life not only that but the network cable is no where near as tough as electrical cable so electricians tend to just yank and tug rather than being patient and gentle!
Also, a relatively new thing - if you are planning on using LED lighting run a clean supply to your router and any network equipment. Some of the cheaper LED drivers, specially the stuff from china is not shielded and causes lots of bizarre feedback through the mains which in one case reduced a BT infinity broadband to just 0.2mbps instead of 15mbps when it was given a clean supply.
Even if you just run it from a separate circuit on the consumer unit
EDIT to add
Homeplugs are ok, but should only be used for temporary situations - they are no where near as reliable as proper hardwiring.
shtu said:
http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Netflix-4K-Vide...
Video uses less bandwidth than people think. The killer is when people try and stream lots of it over a shared\variable media like wireless or homeplugs.
This is highly compressed though.Video uses less bandwidth than people think. The killer is when people try and stream lots of it over a shared\variable media like wireless or homeplugs.
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