New Build- Advice appreciated re broadband and wiring

Rufus50

Hi All,

My wife and I are currently building a new house and will be meeting the electrician in next few weeks. I am looking for any advice with regards broadband and wiring etc as I would not be too techie. I have looked online at different posts etc but I said here could be my best bet.

We have ducon slabs in our home which I have heard can block a wifi signal from going upstairs- any thoughts on this or experience would be great.

As regards TVs we hope to have 2 tvs to start off with (1 in open plan and 1 in blocked off sitting room area) and have tv points in bedrooms but hope to not use these really but good to have the option. Just wondering what people recommend to wire to these. Our 2 tvs in living rooms will be wall mounted and we want to have no wires showing.

We will have a sky box but are unsure at the moment where this will go as tv will be wall mounted over an open chimney breast. I have seen a sky box kept in another central room and a magic eye used to change channel which hides the sky box from view.

Any other info or advice would be really welcome

Cheers

tsue921i8wljb3

Rufus50 wrote: »

Hi All,

My wife and I are currently building a new house and will be meeting the electrician in next few weeks. I am looking for any advice with regards broadband and wiring etc as I would not be too techie. I have looked online at different posts etc but I said here could be my best bet.

We have ducon slabs in our home which I have heard can block a wifi signal from going upstairs- any thoughts on this or experience would be great.

As regards TVs we hope to have 2 tvs to start off with (1 in open plan and 1 in blocked off sitting room area) and have tv points in bedrooms but hope to not use these really but good to have the option. Just wondering what people recommend to wire to these. Our 2 tvs in living rooms will be wall mounted and we want to have no wires showing.

We will have a sky box but are unsure at the moment where this will go as tv will be wall mounted over an open chimney breast. I have seen a sky box kept in another central room and a magic eye used to change channel which hides the sky box from view.

Any other info or advice would be really welcome

Cheers

I would personally put Ethernet cabling to every room except toilets. Cat6 is what I personally used. Also Ethernet to one or more central ceiling points upstairs to allow wireless access point(s). That slab will kill WiFi from the ground floor.

All the Ethernet cabling would have to go to a location where there would be located an Ethernet switch. Where this location is can be up to yourself and your electrician.

It's also important to think about where the ISP cabling will enter the premises. I'd get the electrician to ensure there is large enough ducting to accommodate fibre cable entering your home in the future both Openeir and SIRO (a separate duct fron the exterior ESB box into your hom for fibre).

Consider where an ISPs router will be located in the home. In many instances it is close to a front door and gives poor wireless coverage throughout the house. If the router cannot be co-located with the Ethernet switch put an Ethernet point beside the router so you can distribute the Internet connection through the premises.

To be honest a lot of electricians won't have a clue about this and will not be experienced in networking. It is something that should be planned properly as trying to retrofit this stuff to pre built homes is a nightmare.

satguy

Yep, as above..

Run Cat6 to all rooms and hall downstairs, and landing upstairs. This will save you many headaches later on down the road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00UTYN9j0FE

simulacra75

IMHO, CAT6 is overkill. Reason i say that is that the CAT6 specification has pretty strict "rules" on cable bends, etc, which can be tricky to accommodate in house build.

Personally i would go for CAT5e. From a speed perspective CAT6 will support 10Gbit speeds whilst CAT5e will support 1Gbit speeds. Do you need a 10Gbit network in your house? If your network is only there to provide network connections in each room (for wireless access point, Netflix/Amazon Prime connections at telly, for example) then the answer is probably No.

In terms of cost, to cable a "standard" house should be around €700 - €1000 in total. This figure does not include any switch you'd need to make your network "live". Some things i would watch out for, make sure your cable installer uses "wall" cable when wiring up your network. It looks very similar to a "standard" network cable but it is actually different internally and is designed for, er, been inside the walls linked back to your patch panel/switch. I do know that some electricians do not use it and throw "regular" RJ45 cable into the walls. This is a shortcut you don't want.

I'm just after completing a new build myself and have the house networked up, so feel free to reach out and ask a question and i will try to help out. Depending on where you work, you could also run this past your IT dept and see who does their network cabling, you could employ this person/company to do your also. At least that way you'd know the work was done by a competent cabling guy.

My 2 bits.

tsue921i8wljb3

simulacra75 wrote: »

IMHO, CAT6 is overkill. Reason i say that is that the CAT6 specification has pretty strict "rules" on cable bends, etc, which can be tricky to accommodate in house build.

Personally i would go for CAT5e. From a speed perspective CAT6 will support 10Gbit speeds whilst CAT5e will support 1Gbit speeds. Do you need a 10Gbit network in your house? If your network is only there to provide network connections in each room (for wireless access point, Netflix/Amazon Prime connections at telly, for example) then the answer is probably No.

In terms of cost, to cable a "standard" house should be around €700 - €1000 in total. This figure does not include any switch you'd need to make your network "live". Some things i would watch out for, make sure your cable installer uses "wall" cable when wiring up your network. It looks very similar to a "standard" network cable but it is actually different internally and is designed for, er, been inside the walls linked back to your patch panel/switch. I do know that some electricians do not use it and throw "regular" RJ45 cable into the walls. This is a shortcut you don't want.

I'm just after completing a new build myself and have the house networked up, so feel free to reach out and ask a question and i will try to help out. Depending on where you work, you could also run this past your IT dept and see who does their network cabling, you could employ this person/company to do your also. At least that way you'd know the work was done by a competent cabling guy.

My 2 bits.

I would have agreed with you if your point was about Cat6a or Cat7 where there's shielding involved but I used Cat6 in a new build and didn't find it overly difficult to manage.

9726_9726

Cat5a would do but you might as well use Cat6.

Make sure the spark knows to lay it out in a star configuration, as in an individual cable from each data point all the way back to the switch location!

Some sparks seem to think you can daisy chain cable from one outlet to another!

At major locations, e.g. TV points, no harm in having two Cat6 cables and a double outlet.

simulacra75

Saige Proud Squirrel wrote: »

I would have agreed with you if your point was about Cat6a or Cat7 where there's shielding involved but I used Cat6 in a new build and didn't find it overly difficult to manage.

Fair comment, i was thinking of CAT6a when i made that statement. Apologies

naughto

You need two types of cable. RG6 for satellite connections and Cat5e for computers. Cat6 is the newer standard for computer cables but is rated for 10Gb which you won't need around the house. Cat5e is rated to 1Gb which is enough. I'm assuming that Cat5e cable will be cheaper than Cat6 but if they are similar in price then by all means go with Cat6.

To you main TV point I would run 4 Cat cables and 4 RG6 cables. This allows you space for Sky connections and smart TVs plus games consoles. To other tv points I'd run two cat and two RG cables. Remember that for TC points in the bed rooms you may want to put them up high as you will probably end up mounting flat screen TVs on the wall if you do put in TVs in the bedroom.

I would work out were you are going to mount your satellite dish and run 8 RG cables out to this point with plenty of slack so the you can put an octal lnb on your dish.

Do you know how you will be getting broadband? Via telephone or wireless. If wireless I would run a cat cable out to a potential mounting point for this. This keeps your cabling neat and no need to drill holes later.

Are you getting a landline? If so run a cat cable down to the entry point for this.

All the cables should run back to an easy access point for patching as you needed it.

Other things to consider. Wiring for alarm. Cables for this could also go back to your central point. Surround sound? Do you want this for your main TVs? If so run speaker cables to your speaker locations now, even if you don't used them for a while.


Ian currently In the middle of building my own house have the electrician in at the minute.

naughto

Messy

The Cush

naughto wrote: »

To you main TV point I would run 4 Cat cables and 4 RG6 cables. This allows you space for Sky connections and smart TVs plus games consoles. To other tv points I'd run two cat and two RG cables. Remember that for TC points in the bed rooms you may want to put them up high as you will probably end up mounting flat screen TVs on the wall if you do put in TVs in the bedroom.

I would work out were you are going to mount your satellite dish and run 8 RG cables out to this point with plenty of slack so the you can put an octal lnb on your dish.

CT100 type satellite grade low loss cable would be recommended over RG6, a stiffer more durable cable less prone to damage during a build. (http://www.satcure.co.uk/tech/cable.htm)

An alternative to the 8 cables from the dish would be 4 from a quad or quattro LNB on the dish and 1 cable from a Saorview aerial to an attic mounted multiswitch feeding multiple TV points around the house.

Irish Steve

The multiswitch in the attic is a viable option, but be aware that there are issues with multiswitch and Sky Q, which uses a different style LNB, and that is not compatible with some multiswitch units. There can also be issues mixing Sky Q and non sky receivers, due to the LNB type.

While not absolutely on topic, be aware that Comreg have issued a recent paper warning that the latest standards for home insulation are having detremental effects on mobile phone signal coverage. At present, I'm not aware of a repeater for home use on mobiles, but that time may come, given the pressures on mobile phone usage, especially smart phones.

The Cush

Irish Steve wrote: »

The multiswitch in the attic is a viable option, but be aware that there are issues with multiswitch and Sky Q, which uses a different style LNB, and that is not compatible with some multiswitch units. There can also be issues mixing Sky Q and non sky receivers, due to the LNB type.

A dSCR multiswitch connected to a quattro LNB on the dish will work for both SkyQ and legacy receivers.

Irish Steve wrote: »

At present, I'm not aware of a repeater for home use on mobiles, but that time may come,

Manufactured in Waterford - https://www.stelladoradus.com/product-category/home-mobile-signal-boosters/

Rufus50

Thanks to everyone who has given info and advice. Much appreciated!!!