Extending connectivity in the house

OU812

Hopefully this is the right form for this question.

We're having an extension built & the floor is going to be coming up partially and I was looking at using that opportunity to run some cabling to put in some network ports to connect apple TV, a smart TV, Possibly a Sonos speaker or two (if Santa brings them) as well as having a partially connected house.

There's a press under the stairs which connects to where the floor will be coming up, I was going to put the router in here with a small switch and cable out to three locations downstairs with the possibility of also running cable upstairs at a later date.

Seems simple enough, there's a mixture of drywall & solid brick walls to be negotiated as well as the wife !

Now, I'm fully aware that a wired connection is going to be faster than wireless anyway, but... I have an apple airport extreme & one (older) airport express. My alternative is to get a couple more express units & put one in each room I want to have connectivity as they will extend the wireless network. Cost would be approximately the same and negotiations with the missus would be non existent.

What would you do?

srsly78

You will want ethernet cables to connect the wifi access points together anyway. If you try to extend "wirelessly" you lose even more performance/bandwidth.

If you want a proper home network you need an ethernet backbone.

The high horse brigade

OU812 wrote: »

What would you do?

Plenty of spare cables and add a Ubiquiti Unifi UAC Pro (or two) local to where you need good wireless coverage

niallb

Any chance you have of a floor coming up run cable!

Take 2 runs of cat6 to each of the places you can reach even if you don't think you'll need it. It could be years before you get this opportunity again.

OU812

niallb wrote: »

Any chance you have of a floor coming up run cable!

Take 2 runs of cat6 to each of the places you can reach even if you don't think you'll need it. It could be years before you get this opportunity again.

That's precisely why I'm considering it. The floor is partially coming up close to where this press is in the hall. Across from it is another press that has the hot press directly above that. I have the opportunity to run cable all over the house (with some planning & a little more lifting of floorboards upstairs).

Wife isn't pushed on the idea of doing it as she doesn't see the benefit.

I've no problem running the cable and doing the dirty work with socket back boxes & chasing walls where necessary, but I haven't a clue on wiring it all - which is leading me toward the simpler "cleaner" method.

niallb

The more traffic you can get off the wireless network the better it will perform for the rest of your devices too.
If you're able to get a Smart TV and an Apple TV streaming over cable,
you'll have far fewer hassles with a few phones or laptops.

A bit of youtube will let you know if you're happy finishing it off yourself.
Even if you're not thrilled about putting the boxes on the end yet,
get the cable in place while you can and leave plenty of length on the ends for terminating them. If you haven't done it before, you might need a little for trial and error. Don't pull too tight under the floor so you can get some more if you need it.

OU812

niallb wrote: »

Any chance you have of a floor coming up run cable!

Take 2 runs of cat6 to each of the places you can reach even if you don't think you'll need it. It could be years before you get this opportunity again.

Why 2 runs?

I don't know anything about connecting cable, could I buy a load of already made cables & run them?

Where's the best place to buy cable(s)?

niallb

OU812 wrote: »

Why 2 runs?

Because the difficult and expensive bit is getting the floors up and it is no more difficult to pull two cables than one.
If you get your house back to normal and a mouse eats through your cable, having a second one in place is a big win. It also covers you for changes in normal use over the next few years.

As an example take a look at the electrical sockets in older Irish houses.
How many of them have plugboard extenders with extra sockets and length on them? This is a good example of how needs have changed from original expectations. The 2 plug sockets in the living room for the TV and a lamp - the 2 in the kitchen for a kettle and a toaster.

It's not practical to buy a load of pre made cables, you'll need to look at a roll of cat6, cat6e or cat5e cable at about €30 to €50 for 50 metrerolls.
There's one on adverts.ie at the moment for €24 in Laois. I can't vouch for the seller simply because I haven't used them personally, but feedback is very good.
Here's the older cat5e in a 300m reel for €90

Don't be too nervous about getting the cable in place.
Even if you need to get somebody in to put the sockets on the ends when you're done, you'll save a small fortune by putting the cable in yourself.
Alternatively, you could buy the cable, lift the floor and clear the path to where you want everything to go and then call in somebody to wire the whole thing.
It'll take a fraction of the time it would otherwise, and you'll be making the floor good yourself at a later date, so no time spent on clear up and making it good. An experienced installer will be able to give you a bit of advice on your particular building too. Talk to the electrician wiring your extension, and he should be able to run it in with you.

ED E

Niall is correct, lay a rake now that you have the chance. 5e/6 are dirt cheap, labour is expensive.

Spiro66

Definitely run cables rather than wifi. . If at all possible install a flexible plastic pipe as well to allow you to run future cables easily from downstairs to upstairs. Who can predict what the network cable standard will be in 10 years time.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Why not go nuts and lay in some fibre?

Cuddlesworth

ItHurtsWhenIP wrote: »

Why not go nuts and lay in some fibre?

Because nothing now or in the next 10 years will be using fibre to the desktop. It has been attempted in some enterprise environments because its got a tiny foot print but in most cases its not cost effective. Copper works just as well, transfers power if required and is scaling up to 10gigs quite well.

ItHurtsWhenIP

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Because nothing now or in the next 10 years will be using fibre to the desktop. It has been attempted in some enterprise environments because its got a tiny foot print but in most cases its not cost effective. Copper works just as well, transfers power if required and is scaling up to 10gigs quite well.

I suppose you're right ... messing around with SFPs and the like.

13 years ago when the office I worked in expanded and took on a second building about 200m away, I laid in a 12 strand fibre backbone between them. We had a comms room in each building and spread our servers evenly between the two. Unfortunately at the time the budget didn't stretch to the provision of gigabit switches so we were stuck on our old 10/100s. But 2 years later I got the budget and upgraded the switches and by god did things suddenly perk up.

ED E

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Because nothing now or in the next 10 years will be using fibre to the desktop. It has been attempted in some enterprise environments because its got a tiny foot print but in most cases its not cost effective. Copper works just as well, transfers power if required and is scaling up to 10gigs quite well.

Power is the killer. IP deskphones + PoE is just too convenient.

The high horse brigade

In home fibre is quite a bit off. They've barely even started to utilise fibre inside pc's, but that'll be next

Cuddlesworth

The high horse brigade wrote: »

In home fibre is quite a bit off. They've barely even started to utilise fibre inside pc's, but that'll be next

Nah, its wifi going forward to be honest. They are even dropping cables in offices now. Not happy about it but **** happens.

For my house, its going to be ethernet cables in the hall and landing on the ceiling with two POE powered AP's doing the house connectivity. I'll run cables from the main TV to the living room and PC but the rest will be 802.11.ac where possible.