Cat6a, the right cable for this home network?

runswithascript

We are having cables run starting tomorrow to several rooms as part of an extension, and they will be taking routes where they will not be replaceable in the future without major works. I am not sure if network cable has to go in then as to not hold up plastering etc, but just in case, if anyone reading this knows the answers to my questions I would appreciate a prompt reply.

The house is single story roughly 6m x 12m and I would like to terminate each cable at a patch panel in a future office in the back garden that will have a communications cabinet 5m to 10m from the back door of the existing house. Right now our backhaul is 100mbps fibre but I believe Eircom are working on upgrades. The network is for regular home network use, streaming video, transferring files, a few APs PoE from a switch, possibly sharing live TV between satellite receiver boxes (so every TV does not need individual satelite cable), and I would also like the option to use it for CCTV and maybe even some sort of LAN KVM switch so the processing and graphics power of the main PC could be streamed to say the living room. I would like to future proof the cable but not at extravagant cost.

I was considering cat 7 initially but since read how it is not an official category, somewhat of a gimmick, and may be complete overkill.

Am I right to go with cat 6a over 7 for the requirements I listed, or should I go with cat 7? If the latter, and you can recommend a good supplier please do - most do not seem to stock it, which may support the contention that I should go for Cat 6a!

Diggerdunne

Cat 6 is fine. If it's terminated and installed properly it will give you gigabit speed. The problem won't be your cabling it will be your devices nic ports that will only be 100mb that will be the bottle neck not the cabling...

rugrat69

Yes as stated Cat6 is fine for a house as you will be able to run most applications over it. 6a supports 10gig and you opt for this for future proofing the house if you like and budget permitting. The Diameter of the cable is larger so bear this in mind for back boxes etc. Wood Communications have a good selection and should have stock of it.

jester77

I have a similar setup to what you described. I ran cat7 duplex all around the house. More convenient as each cable carries 2 connections, so only half the runs were required.

runswithascript

Thank you very much for the replies, cat6a bought and paid for. The electrician came on Friday to have a look and will start work tomorrow morning.

The electrician has concerns that the Cat6a running outside, between the back of the house and the future office, risks the cables getting damaged or wet etc. He recommended using a Krone inside at the back of the house somewhere, possible in the floor, and then a multicore up to where the office will be. I work in networking but remotely so via the command line, switch, router, and AP WebUIs, and on the phone to staff at our locations if I need cables checked or patched. Due to this I consulted one of my colleagues who installs our equipment and he advised it would have to be a special cat6a Krone, not a regular phone one, and even using one of those would present a possible point of failure. Instead he suggested the cables be run outside in a new 4inch diameter plastic sewerage pipe (the orange/brown ones), buried in the ground, and covered in a few inches of cement if possible. He also said to protect the loops of cable left at the end of the pipe we store them in plastic storage box which has a 4inch hole in it and is sealed to the drain pipe with silicone.

There is another place the cat6a cables could all run back to. Due to the shape of the house, the living room has an awkward corner area, 75cm x 55cm that would fit large shelves, or a large cupboard which when the doors are shut would be flush with the wall, then making the room square. We are going to have a pipe/trunking/conduit run between this area and the nearby wall the TV will be mounted on so that we can later run HDMI cables etc through without them being visible. We will setup a remote control extender also, if necessary. The reason I mention it is that this cupboard area, if a vent (fan powered if necessary) is run from the ceiling into the top of it, and the shelves are set up in such a way, maybe some sort of metal grill shelves, as to allow air pass through them, could serve as not only a location for living room satelite receiver, XBMC, HTPC etc, but also as a comms cabinet with a 24 port switch. The cat6a cables would of course then all be run back here instead of to the back office, which would have maybe four cables running to it instead.

I do like the idea of having all of the comms equipment in the office, as I will be spending a lot of my time there, working, studying, and just messing around with tech. It will really also be serving as a lab and workshop. I also have the guts of a CCNP lab which will be set up there in a shiny comms cabinet.

Work will start tomorrow and I am just doing up a fresh set of plans for the electrician. To save cut costs I am having the electrician cover the dry wall boxes where 30cm loops of cat6a will be left in covered with a blank face plate. I will buy a dot punch online and terminate these myself later. Right now the MDP (no socket) is in a front bedroom (bungalow house) where there is a small black rectangle-oval shaped box with a screw in the middle of it - I am not sure what this is called exactly. I am going to have a fresh telephone cable run from that to a new phone socket in the second bedroom which will serve as a temporary office, modem will be connected here for the time being. A second telephone cable will be left disconnected but run from the oval box, with the cat6a out the back garden, this cable will be connected later so the modem can be set up in the future office. The data point in the temporary (front bedroom office) will, like all other data points, be run up the back garden, but it will also have a second cat6a running to the back of the house so I can configure an AP on a data point there. That way later, when the office is built, I can disconnect the link between the front and back of house and instead connect up both points up to cables left waiting that run to the future office. Every PoE AP location will have a single cat6a cable run (not running power for these so they can be cold rebooted from the switch), and every possible place we would put a TV will have three cat6a cables, one directly into television for the Samsung Irish and British players, one for whichever satellite linux box we decide on, and one for an XBMC box. The shelves/cupboard I mentioned in the living room will have an extra 4 cables run for future devices. The satellite and Saorview cables will be run to the attic so I am going to run a cat6a cable up there in case required for satelite swtich etc. I would like to add three or four networked CCTV cameras over burglar lights/under roof gabels at some point in the future so a single cat6a cable and a power cable will be run to each point. I would also like to be able to turn future outside lights placed at these cameras on and off from my computer - do you think the single cat6a for the camera could also take care of this or should a second be run to control the lights?

Regarding one or two phones around the house, although we require an Eircom line for broadband as they are the only fiber provider here, I would like us to switch the phones over to Blueface or Skype etc, although with the option to still receive and place calls on our number. Am I correct that rather that running telephone cable to each place we might put a phone, this can all be achieved by connecting VOIP phones to network ports, once the phone line connects with the network at one point where the LAN switch is? If so should a second telephone cable be run (from where the line enters the house from the road, that small black over-rectangle box I mentioned) or is it just as good to use the one the modem is on once DSL filters are properly employed?

If you have any suggestions or can think of anything I am leaving out please advise and I will put in the plans!!

s8n

Tldr

ED E

s8n wrote: »

Tldr

This isnt reddit.



Not going to comment on all of that OP, you've got most of it covered. The ducting to the office sounds like the correct procedure, but in reality its probably overkill. I have two runs of cheap cat5 running under a wooden beam of a gate with no other weather protection. Theyve operated fine that way for 6ish years, at GigE speeds.

Dont run any telephone wires. For VDSL you want Cat5 or greater. For phones you can pick pairs from same if you need analogue phones anywhere, but VOIP is the better option like you suggest.

mass_debater

Krone is a daft idea, outdated, was fine for phone line pairs but each gigabit requires 4 pairs so it becomes a point of failure. Get an Ethernet patch panel (eventually), but in the mean time leave plenty on the cables and just use rj45 crimps on the cable ends.

Be careful of extending your main phone line feed to far from the original main socket, you are extending your distance to the cabinet and thereby losing speed. You mention moving the modem out to the shed/office, I wouldn't do that, speeds will be better closer to the point of entry

jester77

You can get poe CCTV cameras, so you could get away with only running network cables to those points. I'm a fan of ubiquiti, they do nice stuff, plus their APs are excellent.

runswithascript

The cable is being run in as we speak. I had a look at the box and it says Cat6 on it, and printed the cable itself, but nowhere that I can see does it say Cat6A. Many years ago when I ran Cat5e I think I remember the e was printed on the cable. The spark has told me he asked for Cat6a and this is what his supplier sent him, and that he thinks it is it. At this point even if it is not we cannot hold the job up for it. Would Cat6A definitely have the A printed on it? It also has on the cable ANSI/TIA 568C.2, which I have been googling but have been unable to discern if it is.

Cable print reads: XNET UTP INSTALL CABLE 23AWG 4PR 75(degrees)C CM rated ANSI/TIA 568C.2 CAT.6 ETL Verified 4K1B055-2 229M

ED E wrote: »

Not going to comment on all of that OP, you've got most of it covered. The ducting to the office sounds like the correct procedure, but in reality its probably overkill. I have two runs of cheap cat5 running under a wooden beam of a gate with no other weather protection. Theyve operated fine that way for 6ish years, at GigE speeds.

Cheers. We have actually now opted to put main comms in a large media cupboard in a wall, and we are instead now just running 4 network cables up the back garden to future office.

ED E wrote: »

Dont run any telephone wires. For VDSL you want Cat5 or greater. For phones you can pick pairs from same if you need analogue phones anywhere, but VOIP is the better option like you suggest.

VOIP ftw!

mass_debater wrote: »

Krone is a daft idea, outdated, was fine for phone line pairs but each gigabit requires 4 pairs so it becomes a point of failure. Get an Ethernet patch panel (eventually), but in the mean time leave plenty on the cables and just use rj45 crimps on the cable ends.

Krone is now off the menu and cables are running directly to back office. As above, only 4 cables up there now so it looks like we will have a patch panel in the living rooms comms, geek that I am I am really look forward to that and the 24 port switch in it!

mass_debater wrote: »

Be careful of extending your main phone line feed to far from the original main socket, you are extending your distance to the cabinet and thereby losing speed. You mention moving the modem out to the shed/office, I wouldn't do that, speeds will be better closer to the point of entry

When I read that a few days ago I was really glad you posted that great tip. When we were still running all cables up back garden to future office, on the back of your tip, I had decided to still run the telephone cable up there but also have a redundant line running to the sitting room, more or less where the old line is, so if there was a reduction in bandwidth we could just use that one. We now are just having a fresh single line running to living room comms.

jester77 wrote: »

You can get poe CCTV cameras, so you could get away with only running network cables to those points. I'm a fan of ubiquiti, they do nice stuff, plus their APs are excellent.

Cheers, we are looking at any way to cut cost, and on the back of your comment Google showed me there are a lot of PoE cameras, even infrared and nightvision, just over PoE without external power!

Bog Standard User

dusf wrote: »

We are having cables run starting tomorrow to several rooms as part of an extension, and they will be taking routes where they will not be replaceable in the future without major works. I am not sure if network cable has to go in then as to not hold up plastering etc, but just in case, if anyone reading this knows the answers to my questions I would appreciate a prompt reply.

The house is single story roughly 6m x 12m and I would like to terminate each cable at a patch panel in a future office in the back garden that will have a communications cabinet 5m to 10m from the back door of the existing house. Right now our backhaul is 100mbps fibre but I believe Eircom are working on upgrades. The network is for regular home network use, streaming video, transferring files, a few APs PoE from a switch, possibly sharing live TV between satellite receiver boxes (so every TV does not need individual satelite cable), and I would also like the option to use it for CCTV and maybe even some sort of LAN KVM switch so the processing and graphics power of the main PC could be streamed to say the living room. I would like to future proof the cable but not at extravagant cost.

I was considering cat 7 initially but since read how it is not an official category, somewhat of a gimmick, and may be complete overkill.

Am I right to go with cat 6a over 7 for the requirements I listed, or should I go with cat 7? If the latter, and you can recommend a good supplier please do - most do not seem to stock it, which may support the contention that I should go for Cat 6a!

cat 7 is overkill (not to mention that most routers/lan cards dont support more than cat 6 speeds)

tbh cat5e is more than enough but cat 6 is future proofing (you'll be a long time dead before cat 7 will ever be needed)

cat5e = upto 1gb/s transfer speeds
cat6a = upto 10gb/s transfer speeds
cat7 = upto 70gb/s transfer speeds

rugrat69

The cable you outlined is Cat6 only not 6a and will not support 10gig if ever required.

runswithascript

rugrat69 wrote: »

The cable you outlined is Cat6 only not 6a and will not support 10gig if ever required.

Actually I have just read from a few places that it supports 10G up to 50 metres...

INOCsolutions

Good that you were able to purchase a good Cat6a cable. This should be fine based on your setup, and everything seems okay on your end, and don't run any telephone wires.

runswithascript

INOCsolutions wrote: »

Good that you were able to purchase a good Cat6a cable. This should be fine based on your setup, and everything seems okay on your end, and don't run any telephone wires.

Thanks for the reply, but if you look again you will see we ended up with Cat6, not Cat6a.

moc moc a moc

rugrat69 wrote: »

The cable you outlined is Cat6 only not 6a and will not support 10gig if ever required.

It's not designed/rated for 10gig, but that doesn't mean that it will not support it over relatively short distances such as between rooms of a house.

BigEejit

I installed cat6a in my house before we moved in, purely because I thought it would future proof my networking.

However, most of the kit in my house cannot even get half way to saturating gigabit connections so the chances of me properly needing 10gb is remote. I would guess that the built in ethernet port in most desktops or laptops would use way too much cpu running at full belt.

As for PoE cameras, I got mine from aliexpress and they have worked just fine for the last year. I got 2 x Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I delivered via DHL for about USD $100 each (not stung for import duties ). You can flash these with TrendNet's firmware if you like as they rebadge them in europe. I got a unmanaged Dlink POE switch (4 ports POE and 4 standard gigabit ports) for about 25 euros off ebay.

Finding a decent NVR that isnt full of security holes is another challenge ...

ED E

BigEejit wrote: »

However, most of the kit in my house cannot even get half way to saturating gigabit connections so the chances of me properly needing 10gb is remote. I would guess that the built in ethernet port in most desktops or laptops would use way too much cpu running at full belt.

The overhead in LAN interrupts is very low, your CPU will barely notice it. Maxing out gigE isnt that difficult if you have a fast array to write to.

Problem with 10G is that its so bloody expensive atm. A 10G nic is the same price as a 10g enabled mobo :pac: We'll see that change within 3yrs Id say but right now its overkill. Worth proofing for when cabling still IMO.

runswithascript

As comms stands:



Making shelves out of these from IKEA, three side by side, hacksawed to fit a depth of 75cm and a width of 45cm:



Vents to fit 360mm x 120mm cutout where three 120mm fans will be placed, in either exhaust and intake vent or one or the other:

BigEejit

What else are you putting on the shelves that require active cooling? I would have thought that unless it was completely enclosed no fans would have been required.

jester77

BigEejit wrote: »

What else are you putting on the shelves that require active cooling? I would have thought that unless it was completely enclosed no fans would have been required.

It looks like it is next to a fireplace, so maybe for this reason.

runswithascript

BigEejit wrote: »

What else are you putting on the shelves that require active cooling? I would have thought that unless it was completely enclosed no fans would have been required.

Well apart from a 24p switch, which unfortunately is going to have to be wall mounted unless I find a nice one that will fit 45cm in width, satellite receiver, NAS, overclocked PC, games consoles, and any other electronics we might ever connect to the TV. There's a pipe running from the wall, where you can see an opening in it on the left hand side, to the comms cabinet so no visible cables!

Cabinet is going to have a door on it and be as sealed as possible. May just put fans behind the exhaust vent on top, rather than on the exhaust and intake.

jester77 wrote: »

It looks like it is next to a fireplace, so maybe for this reason.

We have not used that for a long time as there is a pot bellied stove elsewhere but it is nice to have the option!