Wired Home Networking - Reality Check

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Ducman69

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Jul 12, 2007
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Although I am in IT, I have decided that it will likely take me ages to install a wired home LAN, and if not too expensive, would prefer to just get a professional to do it right the first time.

Question is:

1) How much should it generally cost per room to run ethernet on a new one-story house, with the router in a closet but with a plastic tube leading up to the attic (should simplify things).

2) What are good resources to find a reputable installer in my area? My neighborhood is still a work in progress, so there are construction workers nearby, but most don't speak english. Should I just have them run the wire and do the outlets, and I'll hook it up myself?

3) Should I run CAT5E or CAT6 cable, and should I provide my own hardware, or let them do it all?

I'll post pictures upon completion. :)
 
I think $100 / drop is fairly typical, but that's just been my experience.

Unfortunately my builder would not let me drop my own wiring, so yes, I shelled out for the drops.
 
archivalbackup said:
I think $100 / drop is fairly typical, but that's just been my experience.

Unfortunately my builder would not let me drop my own wiring, so yes, I shelled out for the drops.
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Thank you archival. I assume that was including all hardware?

That is a bit more than I imagined. Perhaps I will self-install after all. I see Monoprice has some good prices on hardware.
Krazypoloc said:
Where do you live? I would go with CAT6 and do at least 2 drops per room.
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Houston, TX. South West side, border of Rosenberg and Sugar Land specifically. :)
 
Like others said, cat6 would be the best. It isn't terribly hard to run it yourself unless you do not have enough attic space.
 
ocme said:
Like others said, cat6 would be the best. It isn't terribly hard to run it yourself unless you do not have enough attic space.
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I wouldn't think so either.

My only big concern is I wonder if I'd be able to pull it off myself without a helper to run the cable, and if I'd be lining up the hole to drill properly and simple things such as that.
 
Uh, it's really easy to run wire. I could do a whole house in under an hour not including termination. You just need a cordless drill (who doesn't have access to one of these? Nobody. Borrow it from a family member if you need to.), a bit (I think the one I use is like 13/16"... use whatever works for you), some staples meant for wire (I use ones meant for 12-14 gauge power wire and I can fit 2-3 CAT6 cables in it), a hammer to tap them in (borrow it or spend the $5 if you really don't have one) and that's about it. Conduit is good and would take more time but still not bad for a new house.

I'd do it for you for pretty cheap if I were in the area...

Note: do not get lazy and run the cables alongside power cables or otherwise use the same holes. It is out of code and will introduce a lot of noise into your signal.
 
Thanks, I do have a power drill, drill bits and wood hole bits (whatever they are called again), a studfinder, and a staple gun. I don't have a drywall tool, but assume its easy enough to cut.
 
Ducman69 said:
Thanks, I do have a power drill, drill bits and wood hole bits (whatever they are called again), a studfinder, and a staple gun. I don't have a drywall tool, but assume its easy enough to cut.
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Ahh, I misunderstood you. I thought this was a home in the process of being built i.e. no drywall to cut. Yes, it is easy to cut. Drywall saws are cheap - maybe $5. The usual bits to be used are either spade bits or Forstner bits.
 
Ducman69 said:
Thanks, I do have a power drill, drill bits and wood hole bits (whatever they are called again), a studfinder, and a staple gun. I don't have a drywall tool, but assume its easy enough to cut.
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Save yourself the trouble and get a drywall saw and a thin band of metal pull tape for $20.
 
OK, so consensus then is probably best do to self?

Per recommendation will do 2x CAT6 per drop, and thinking of doing four drops, two of which would just be the opposite side of the same wall.

If thats likely $400+, and parts I assume will be around $100 for self-installation, then the $300 difference for I assume 3-4hrs of work its probably worthwhile to self-install.

1000ft sounds like overkill for a 2000sqft 1story home, but this seems like a good deal: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10234&cs_id=1023401&p_id=6949&seq=1&format=2

Thanks all for the fast advice, I really appreciate it. :)
 
As an addition the suggestions already made, be sure to put pull string from each drop location to a nearby beam in the attic. Definitely helps in case you need to add additional lines to a drop in the future.
 
You can get the wire and terminators from Monoprice for rather cheap. Go for 4 or 6 socket Keystone wall plates so you can add cable or phone or whatever you need as well, or you can get blank Keystone plates to cover them to use them later. Ebay is also good for Keystone stuff.
 
Awesome!

So Im ordering:
1) [4x] Wall Plate for Keystone, 4 Hole - Ivory

2) [10x] Cat6 RJ-45 Tooless Keystone - Ivory

3) [1x] 1000FT Cat 6 Bulk Ethernet Network Cable UTP, Solid, In-Wall Rated, 550MHz, 24AWG - Yellow

4) Will go to home depot for some string

5) Network switch (since router doesn't have enough ports): D-Link DGS-2208 10/100/1000Mbps 8-Port Desktop Green Ethernet Switch 8 x RJ45 8K MAC Address Table 144KB per Device Packet Buffer Memory Buffer Memory

Total cost after shipping looks to be around $165.
 
Unless you're going to use the jacks at the switch side too then you also need the regular CAT6 male connectors (optional: boots) and a crimper.
 
archivalbackup said:
I think $100 / drop is fairly typical, but that's just been my experience.

Unfortunately my builder would not let me drop my own wiring, so yes, I shelled out for the drops.
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I paid my builder $400 for four drops of cat5e (the best at the time). It never worked, I had the contractor out to my house at least 3 times to look at it before he refused to come back. They put a fluke meeter on it and said "look the lights are on." They would refuse to wait there while I plugged the router in at the garrage and the laptop and computer in their respective rooms to show him the issues. Later down the road I had my ISP out to fix something and I was telling him about that and he told me that not one of the homes (he had been in) in my area had working networking jacks.

I own all the crimpers and puches and I could have done the work right myself but now it is barried in the wall. Anyway that was 7 years agao so no reason to gripe about it now.

Before anyone asks I never got the money back from the builder either. I tried but the fact of the matter was that the judge I got for small claims cort was about 200 years old and didn't understand technology. He asked me why I signed off that my home was complete if I hadn't tested the network. Hard to do when they won't let you move your stuff in until your closing date. I didn't know for months after and it (the cat5e) was supposed to have a 1 year warranty.
 
I just finsih a project like yours but on a 2 story house. I ran 1 cat 6 to the first floor family room, 1 cat 6 to family room 2nd floor, 3 cat 6 to the office, and then moved DSL/phone lines into the closet. I will post a thread with pictures of the closet. The wife really likes it now, she says the office looks very nice. The closet has an 9 port giga switch, Ooma box, router, DSL modem, media serverf and a UPS to have phone/internet if power goes out.
 
The hardest thing when running cable is keeping it tidy. Take your time, carefully plan your routes and since you are new to this, leave yourself a little bit of extra slack (a few inches) on the ends to allow for any mistakes.

You'll be fine!
 
do not order the tool less keystones, they suck, order the punch ones.
 
archivalbackup said:
I think $100 / drop is fairly typical, but that's just been my experience.

Unfortunately my builder would not let me drop my own wiring, so yes, I shelled out for the drops.
Click to expand...

I'd go with this. BUT, remember you live in a home, which is more of a pain in the ass than doing it in a commercial building with a drop ceiling. I'm assuming your house is finished, if so, they are going to have to cut holes in dry wall, and repair those.

Usually the $100 bucks a drop, is literally just for the cables/labor. It might also include the face plates, and network jacks, not sure about terminating. Also, i've seen a lot of times in the wash. DC area; the cable guys charge up to $500.00 a drop. Ridiculous. Cat 5e is probably enough, but why not go with cat6. just to have it. You gotta do the price comparisons and see if it is worth it.
 
punch keystones and patch panel all the way...

terminating many rj45 ends can be a SOB to get the order right each time, even the pre made cables you buy often have a wire crossed. A guy at work was going to vito a patch panel at his house until he got onto his 3rd rj45 termination and thought sod this!
 
$100 a drop! wahhhhh, I need to start a little business

20 drops * $100 == nicey
 
dandragonrage said:
I've used both and both work perfectly for me.
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lucky you, i ordered 100 cat5 and 100 phone, they worked, but took longer to terminate, needed adjusting, and overall waste of time.

punch down ones are cheaper and more reliable. i would not recommend the tooless to anyone.
 
marley1 said:
lucky you, i ordered 100 cat5 and 100 phone, they worked, but took longer to terminate, needed adjusting, and overall waste of time.

punch down ones are cheaper and more reliable. i would not recommend the tooless to anyone.
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I'd say unlucky you, because I wouldn't agree with anything you just said.
 
what do you think is better a physical crimp connection or just wire being held in by a crappy clamp?

the ones i got from monoprice 1/2 the time after pushing the jack down i wouldn't get good crimps, so i spent more time checking wire then using the tried and true method at a cheaper price.
 
Better? They are equal in my experience. I don't see the tool-less ones as having a poor connection. Of course, you are free to use what you want to use, but I don't think the tool-less ones are bad.
 
okay then, use what you like, i think and im sure other consultants would agree the punch down ones would be there first pick.

can you do a tool less in the same ammount of time?
 
dandragonrage said:
I haven't timed but I think I could.
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why would you want to time your self ? In reality, take your time do it professionally / properly the first time, then you don't have to return to repair/fix the issue that could have been eliminated the first time ?

Just my thought tho!

I used to run ethernet cable all the time, lots of fiber, and lots of speaker 4-6-8 conductor, lots of banana wire, and lots of hdmi cables. Loved doing concealing, was fun, every house and every job was different.

Still have all my school training books.
 
when it's done, i expect it to look like this.....this is one of my closets here at work...

patchpanel.jpg
 
Ducman69 said:
Thank you for all the response, and I wish I could post pictures of a completed job, but had to delay it.

I did download a how-to on the tooless keystones, and they are the same price, look pretty simple to do, and I have no tools:
http://www.monoprice.com/manual/How to - tooless keystone.pdf
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buy a punch, homedepot for cheap, imo better way, if you dont have a tester i would not recommend those tool less. i used them and never trusted it without a tester, majority of them had issue that i had to wiggle to get a good crimp
 
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