Setting up a wired home network.

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Kurak

Limp Gawd
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Nov 19, 2003
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After having wireless woes with gaming and other applications, I've decided to go with an upgradeable wired solution, rather than stick with wireless.

The problem that I'm having is figuring out, just how to set it up. I went to a site called hometech.com that sells wall jacks etc, but a lot of their tutorials seem very complicated and advanced. Given the time, I could easily tackle it, but I need to get this network running quickly, and rather then invest in a structured wiring solution, I would rather just get the ethernet cables to where I need to get them, as I have no need for any other extra connections.

Anyway, my first question is, how will I address signal degredation and bandwidth loss when wiring my home? If I use a router, and string one Cat5e to a separate location, through only the port labeled "1" on the router, and then split that connection using an adapter or a hub, will each computer be limited to 50mbs instead of 100? Can I even do this, or do I need a dual wall jack and two very long cat5 (or cat6) cables?

Also, does anyone know of a good tutorial to handle this? I want wall jacks, and I want it to look nice, but I need to get my plan set before I just jump in without knowing what I'm doing. Any help is apreciated.

Any help is apreciated
 
Assuming you use a switch (not a hub), then you should notice zero loss up to 255 clients. Now that is in theory, but it holds up well.
 
We have a wired network here at my house and it is setup with 8 machines.
One machine is downstairs next to the modem, router, and Network Printer.
I have one 100" cable running upstairs to a Linksys Switch and out of that switch to a N-Way switch.
PC2, 3, and 4 are attached to the Linksys switch, PC5 is attached to the N-Way Switch.
Another network printer is attached to the N-Way Switch.
We then go from the N-Way Switch to an SMC switch in another room where 2 PCs are and 2 wires running from the SMC to an Xbox and andother PC in the ajoining room.

These are the switches in my room where everything upstairs goes to,
switches.jpg
 
Make sure you use switches, not hubs; though most gear sold today is switches. If you're going in the walls, use the plenum wiring. Its not fire "proof" but its fire-resistant. Finally, unless we're talking about super long distances, you won't notice any signal degradation (which is why mjones73 asked about distances).
 
There's no need to use Plenum rated wiring and it is a waste of your money. We've covered this about 1000 times in regards to home wiring.

I wired my whole house with 24 ethernet jacks - although it was while it was being constructed.

What I did, and I suggest to you, is used Leviton keystone jacks. I bought them on eBay and it was significantly cheaper than buying at Home Depot or other stores. You need to buy the jacks and faceplates. I also bought 1,000 feet of Cat6 cable on eBay for about $70.

You have 2 options when wiring the head end. You can either take the bare wires and wire them in a patch panel, which then connects to a switch. Or you can put an Ethernet jack on the end of them and plug them directly into a switch. Then the switch can be plugged into your router.

Take a look at this site - I used this to figure out wiring the first time I did it. However, if you buy a switch, it will tell you how to do it too. http://www.duxcw.com/digest/Howto/network/cable/cable5.htm
 
nomar said:
There's no need to use Plenum rated wiring and it is a waste of your money. We've covered this about 1000 times in regards to home wiring.
Click to expand...


Some municipalties require plenum in certain situations. It's a good idea to ask the local building inspector.
 
valve1138 said:
Some municipalties require plenum in certain situations. It's a good idea to ask the local building inspector.
Click to expand...

Where Plenum Cable Is Required


Also, those of you advocating the use of Plenum cable in house for safety reasons, take note that all the other cables you'll find in your walls use PVC jackets, not plenum. So, unless you plan to replace all your electrical, phone, and speaker wires with plenum grade, I wouldn't even worry about it.

There are extremely few situations in which all plenum is required... but even in the rare case that it is, it is generally only for businesses, not individual homes.

Of course, I can't speak for those outside the states.
 
I had this same problem because of the distance of the wireless. We decided to wire up the house with cat5.

Heres my setup:

Cable modem into router

pic2.JPG


Labeled ports to other rooms in the house

pic3.JPG


Wall jack purchased at Home Depot

pic5.JPG


Little linksys 8-port switch on desk-gives Internet to three computers

pic6.JPG


Just connect the switch into the router and all computers on the switch will have the same speed.
 
How could you post that pic of your laptop without the [H] showing? Tsk, tsk...
 
valve1138 said:
www.arstechnica.com has an article about this, good reading for a beginner.
Click to expand...
Is this the article that you're speaking of? Pretty good info there.

I'm looking at a similar thing and have no problem running cables and such. My question is this: someone mentioned getting a hub instead of a switch. What is the reason for one over the other? I'm a complete and total networking noob who previously used a LinkSys BEFSR41 DSL router for my networking needs (super easy to set up), but my new DSL modem/router (Westell 6100 series) requires a hub or switch to share my connection. Before I spend any cashola, I'd like to find out what the better solution will be. BTW, I'd like to stick with a wired system.
 
bitchnmoan, yeah, that's the article I was talking about.

in terms of switch versus hub, think of a big water pipe with multiple smaller pipes connected to it.

With a hub, if water comes from one smaller pipe it goes to all the other smaller pipes.

With a switch the water coming from one smaller pipe goes only to the other small pipe it is intended for.

Switches are much more efficient as directing traffic. Plus, switches cost less or the same as a hub, if you can actually find a new hub for sale.
 
is your internet through bellsouth bitchnmoan?? we got some wetells round here that were weird, i ended up havin to use routers on them they were annoying to set up but after one call to linksys when i had a prob they were able to straighten it out...
 
Bitchnmoan said:
Is this the article that you're speaking of? Pretty good info there.

I'm looking at a similar thing and have no problem running cables and such. My question is this: someone mentioned getting a hub instead of a switch. What is the reason for one over the other? I'm a complete and total networking noob who previously used a LinkSys BEFSR41 DSL router for my networking needs (super easy to set up), but my new DSL modem/router (Westell 6100 series) requires a hub or switch to share my connection. Before I spend any cashola, I'd like to find out what the better solution will be. BTW, I'd like to stick with a wired system.
Click to expand...

Get a switch. There is no reason to use hubs anymore, as consumer grade switches have been so cheap as to almost make hubs extinct.
Basically, here's an analogy of a hub and switch.
Say you want to talk to Joe. You're in a big room full of people. A switch is like using a phone to call an old style operator, who then plugs your connection in to Joe's cell phone line, and you two talk. Point to point connection, no interference.
So in the same scenario, a hub is like wandering around the room shouting "Hey is Joe here?" There are probably other people shouting too, looking for other people to communicate with. Lots of confusion, people can't hear each other over the noise (ethernet collisions).
A switch only sends traffic back and forth to the two machines that need to communicate (mostly). A hub floods all traffic out to all devices connected to it.
 
Wow - thanks for the help. Looks like the egg has a LinkSys switch for only a few bucks more than a LS hub. Guess I know which way I'll be going then.

Bignasty - no, it's now through CenturyTel up here in WI. In Atlanta I was using Earthlink - the Zyxel modem was just a plain ol' modem so I got the BEFSR-41 router to share. Apparently, the Westell modem doubles as a router (but with only one connection port), and when I tried to connect the -41 to it, nothing would work. I guess these 2 routers don't want to automatically play nice. Either way, looks like I'll be hitting up NewEgg for a switch this evening.

Again, thanks for the help.
 
Bitchnmoan said:
Wow - thanks for the help. Looks like the egg has a LinkSys switch for only a few bucks more than a LS hub. Guess I know which way I'll be going then.

Bignasty - no, it's now through CenturyTel up here in WI. In Atlanta I was using Earthlink - the Zyxel modem was just a plain ol' modem so I got the BEFSR-41 router to share. Apparently, the Westell modem doubles as a router (but with only one connection port), and when I tried to connect the -41 to it, nothing would work. I guess these 2 routers don't want to automatically play nice. Either way, looks like I'll be hitting up NewEgg for a switch this evening.

Again, thanks for the help.
Click to expand...
Century Tel - thats gotta be Southwest Wisconsin. I'm from that area and still live near by. Hell, I'm probably in that area enough to come by and help you if you need it.

You can probably use your BEFSR as a switch, you just need to turn off all the DHCP and routing stuff.
 
Standard Cat5e cabling is fine, it's shielded so there is no reason to get anything with extra shielding for a home application.

Also, you'll want to use a switch at the root of your network, but if you have 2 computers in 1 room then you can just use a hub. A switch would be far too much unless you had a couple busy servers on the hub (which they shouldn't, anything with that much traffic should be closer to the root switch).
 
Party2go9820 said:
Century Tel - thats gotta be Southwest Wisconsin. I'm from that area and still live near by. Hell, I'm probably in that area enough to come by and help you if you need it.

You can probably use your BEFSR as a switch, you just need to turn off all the DHCP and routing stuff.
Click to expand...
LOL - good call. West Salem, to be exact. We just got up here Saturday before last and moved in on Memorial Day.

I'm going to print the user guide now and read up. If there's a simple way to use the existing hardware, so much the better. Thanks for the suggestion, as I had not realized that it might be possible to dumb-down the router into a switch.
 
When it comes to residential wiring you really cant do to much damager. FYI longest run you can have with Cat5 is 100meters or 380ft roughly. When it comes to Jacks/Faceplates goto a local hardware store and get whatever is cheapest. Most Jacks nowadays have the color codes for 568A and 568B (use B ) on the jacks so unless you are color blind its pretty simple. Good Luck.
 
Yeah i have gotten several of the westell wirespeeds and curently am using the 8 port linksys router/switch with it, there are some settings you have to tweak on each box, i cant remeber exactly what i had to do but the support guy at linksys was very knowledgeable and apparently had received this issue before!!! good luck...
 
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