[scud133]

We're totally remodeling a condo (walls coming off) so I have a chance to rewire the whole place. Using ATT UVerse but I still want to run RG6 coax to all the TVs just in case.


Some basics I'm trying to figure out:
1. There are only 4 ethernet jacks on the Uverse router, and I will have at least 4 TVs in the condo using all 4 of those. How do I fit my computers and such into the system if the TV boxes are using all of the jacks on the router?
2. Can I run the Cat6 to my telephone jacks or do I also need to buy a separate type of cable for the telephones?
2.5. If I have several telephones, several TVs, and several computers all using Cat6 cable throughout the condo, obviously that has to meet up at some central switch or something (they can't all plug into the router) so what kind of switch do I need to research for that?
3. Where do you buy wall plates that terminate in both RJ45/RG6?
4. If I'm getting in over my head, would an ordinary electrician/contractor be able to figure this stuff out or should I be going to a home theater specialist or something?


Please answer what you can to help me out, I've got an electrician coming in to do a bunch of wiring next week so I need to figure out what to tell him to do. Thanks everyone!

 

[RaggedEdge]

You can add a switch to your router to add as many ports as you like. Lowe's Home Improvement has everything you need, wire, wall plates, etc. Do a google search on wiring your house, you can do it, it's not hard.

 

[djc11369]

1. Yes, you'll need an ethernet switch to add more ports. Cable from one router port goes to one ethernet switch port and the rest of ethernet switch ports can be used for more devices. The switch doesn't have to be at the location of the router, it can be at an area that you need more connectivity...say a computer area or entertainment area. I mention this so you don't feel you need to run wire for each component back to the router.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....egories&ks=960


2. I'm not familiar with ATT Uverse and it's requirements. Generally speaking you could use Cat6 wire and only use 4 out of the 8 wires inside for telephone use for typical phone lines...not sure if theres something special with ATT though.

2.5 Kind of the same question as your #1 with exception of telephones? Does ATT use a special adapter that takes up one of the ethernet ports like a Vonage adapter for phone service and then a phone cable from the adapter to a telephone jack "populates" the rest of the jacks? Sorry I'm ignorant here with the service.


4. Go to monoprice.com and search "keystone" or use this link http://www.monoprice.com/products/se...ystone&x=0&y=0 . In fact that's where I get my cables/jacks/wallplates/etc. as they are much cheaper than places like Lowes...great service too. You can have a wallplate with a multitude of different connections, just get the jacks you want.


5. That probably depends on the electrician/contractor...in my area that would be a definite no. Home theater specialist in my area would be Best Buy but with that I use specialist very loosely.


Hope I helped with at least a couple of items.

 

[Matt L]

It's really not hard or difficult. Sound's like you have picked out a location to run all the wires to, the runs are called "home runs" and they all end in one location, a closet or area where everything can be connected. Just make sure you clearly label each wire.


You can use standard plastic nail on boxes or there are low voltage plaster/drywall frames, just that no box just a frame to screw the plate on to. Since the wall are open boxes are the easiest option, but if you run into a problem location you can use the frame.


Are you planning on running a phone line to each cat6/rg6 location? No need for expensive wire for the phone, modern systems only need 2 wires so just use something cheap. To run the additional network ports I'd pick up a Gigabyte switch rather than the standard 10/100 switches you see everywhere. it's about $10 more so no big deal but it will help to future proof your installation.


Home Depot or Lowes will have a nice selection of plates where you can add what ever connection you want. You will find them with 2,3 6 and more openings and you just snap the desired connection into the plate. for network connections they have a nice punch-down tool that makes a solid connection very easily.


When I redid a house I was flipping I put at least 2 connections in every room, more if there was an opening that would require a wire across it to get to a potential tv placement. there is no harm in over wiring, a much better option than under wiring...

 

[scud133]



Quote:
Originally Posted by RaggedEdge /forum/post/20789854


You can add a switch to your router to add as many ports as you like. Lowe's Home Improvement has everything you need, wire, wall plates, etc. Do a google search on wiring your house, you can do it, it's not hard.

Did that first and was overwhelmed with the responses, people talking about wiring with fiber and all sorts of crap. I really wasn't trying to waste your time

 

[scud133]

Ok it sounds like I was making this more complicated than it needs to be. Basically I just have the electrician drop Cat6 and RG6 and phone lines to the areas I want them, and he'll just combine the cable/phone like normal, but the Cat6 will all go to where the router is located.


Then I hook up all the data/PC Cat6 lines to a gigabit switch, which goes into one port on the router, and the Uverse box's Cat6 lines go to the other ports on the router.


Should be easy enough (famous last words?)

 

[RaggedEdge]



Quote:
Originally Posted by scud133 /forum/post/20790642


Did that first and was overwhelmed with the responses, people talking about wiring with fiber and all sorts of crap. I really wasn't trying to waste your time

Oops, I didn't mean for it to come across like that...I didn't mean that googling wasn't too hard...I meant wiring your home isn't hard. Sorry about that.

 

[Matt L]

Hmmm... I'd have all the phone lines run to where ever the router and U stuff is, if you use U for phone they need to be there. While you can daisychain the phone lines at this point I'd run them all to the media closet as you do with the lines. I switched to VOIP, not Uverse version and could not be happier. Most of my phone lines are home runs, but I have a mix and with my VOIP setup the phones are indistinguishable from a standard phone line and only cost me $6/mo- much cheaper than the Uverse option.

 

[dandirk]

Sounds like you got an easy solution already planned. Sounds good.


In my last house I got fancy.


I ran 2 cat6 lines to each 2 jack faceplates/"outlets", where ever I wanted them.


Instead of running them all to a switch (aka etherjack plugs on the end of the run), I bought a cheap patch panel (48 jacks) mounted on a cheap rack in my "data" closet.


I then bought a rack mountable switch and mounted that just below the above patch panel. (fyi patch panel is just a bunch of jacks, you punch the raw wire to the back, and then you can plug in cables to the front)


I re-routed and split my phone line to 4 of the jacks on the patch panel as well.


I made sure I anally labeled both the jacks in the rooms and where they went exactly on the patch panel.


With this setup, any jack in the house could be easily setup for either internet or phone. All I had to do, was note the jack # in the room I wanted service then go to my "Data" closet and plug a normal ethernet cable from the corresponding jack # on the patch panel to the switch (for internet) or one of the 4 jacks on the same patch panel for phone. I could switch any jack from internet to phone and vice versa in seconds.


This was honestly way overboard, but it was nice to have network jacks in each room. Hopefully it is becoming more common with new homes.

 

[scud133]



Quote:
Originally Posted by dandirk /forum/post/20793747


Sounds like you got an easy solution already planned. Sounds good.


In my last house I got fancy........

I know about patch panels (worked at a recording studio) but I didn't even think about doing this. Sounds very handy.


One question though: lets say in your kitchen you have the faceplate with the two Cat6 jacks. You have a computer and a telephone you want to plug in. The computer goes into one Cat6 jack, but where does the phone plug in (in the kitchen, I mean)?? You can't put a small little telephone plug into a big Cat6/RJ45 jack in the faceplate.


In your data closet you can easily swap phone and computer and whatever back and forth to your heart's content with the patch panel, but how do you actually switch out the actual devices out in your rooms when they use different sized plugs? I guess they make adapters for telephones or something (??)

 

[Aluminum]



Quote:
4. If I'm getting in over my head, would an ordinary electrician/contractor be able to figure this stuff out or should I be going to a home theater specialist or something?

If you use a typical contractor/electrician/whatever, you will need to give them a primer on ethernet cable before you even think of letting them touch the stuff. Even then, you might have "that guy" who just won't get it.


Basically they have to baby it compared to what they are used to: no sharp bends, no pulling on the cable with any significant force, no stapling it down or pinching, etc etc etc.


It might be made out of copper, and the solid core type might even feel pretty close to the stuff they ram through conduit already, but it doesn't take much to mess it up.


The worst part is usually any damage done will not be visible, it will just fail to negotiate at a proper speed or at all.

 

[monsteraudio]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Aluminum /forum/post/20794654


If you use a typical contractor/electrician/whatever, you will need to give them a primer on ethernet cable before you even think of letting them touch the stuff. Even then, you might have "that guy" who just won't get it.


Basically they have to baby it compared to what they are used to: no sharp bends, no pulling on the cable with any significant force, no stapling it down or pinching, etc etc etc.


It might be made out of copper, and the solid core type might even feel pretty close to the stuff they ram through conduit already, but it doesn't take much to mess it up.


The worst part is usually any damage done will not be visible, it will just fail to negotiate at a proper speed or at all.

that's a broad statement

I don't know any electricians who even run wire like that, maybe in the old days, I would smurf it, our run conduit.

 

[Patch22]

Here are some links that might help you out:

http://www.swhowto.com/
http://www.structuredhomewiring.com/

 

[dandirk]



Quote:
Originally Posted by scud133 /forum/post/20794486


I know about patch panels (worked at a recording studio) but I didn't even think about doing this. Sounds very handy.


One question though: lets say in your kitchen you have the faceplate with the two Cat6 jacks. You have a computer and a telephone you want to plug in. The computer goes into one Cat6 jack, but where does the phone plug in (in the kitchen, I mean)?? You can't put a small little telephone plug into a big Cat6/RJ45 jack in the faceplate.


In your data closet you can easily swap phone and computer and whatever back and forth to your heart's content with the patch panel, but how do you actually switch out the actual devices out in your rooms when they use different sized plugs? I guess they make adapters for telephones or something (??)

Actually you can just plug a phone cable into a rj45... You just got to be careful not to bend the extra pins on each side of the jack because the phone connector isn't wide enough. I only had one phone and it was secondary, so I didn't really mind the delicate touch needed (too lazy to create custom cable for a phone I hardly used).


You could also easily enough replace the smaller phone plug with a large etherjack one. Chances are if you are doing that kind of setup on your own, crimping a custom cable(s) is easy)

 

[Matt L]



Quote:
Originally Posted by scud133 /forum/post/20794486


One question though: lets say in your kitchen you have the faceplate with the two Cat6 jacks. You have a computer and a telephone you want to plug in. The computer goes into one Cat6 jack, but where does the phone plug in (in the kitchen, I mean)?? You can't put a small little telephone plug into a big Cat6/RJ45 jack in the faceplate.


In your data closet you can easily swap phone and computer and whatever back and forth to your heart's content with the patch panel, but how do you actually switch out the actual devices out in your rooms when they use different sized plugs? I guess they make adapters for telephones or something (??)

No, you just buy a phone jack and pop it in the plate If you know which wire is which you simply connect that wire in your wiring closet to the phone system. There are many different connections you can pop into the plate, speaker wire connections, RCA plugs, and coax to name a few....


http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...04&cp_id=10426

 

[scud133]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt L /forum/post/20796889


No, you just buy a phone jack and pop it in the plate If you know which wire is which you simply connect that wire in your wiring closet to the phone system. There are many different connections you can pop into the plate, speaker wire connections, RCA plugs, and coax to name a few....


http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...04&cp_id=10426

Thanks, but I would rather have uniform jacks throughout the whole house (RJ45). So if I decide to move a telephone or computer from one side of the room to the other, if I had a smaller RJ11 jack in the wall plate, I would have to unscrew the wallplate, disconnect the wire inside, and move that RJ11 jack over to the other side of the room.


Sounds like I can just plug the smaller phone cable right in to the RJ45, even if it's not a perfect snug fit. But does that mean the backside of the RJ45 (where the twisted pairs are punched in) needs to be wired differently than for ordinary Cat6 operation?


Or can I literally swap PCs & phones between any Cat6/RJ45 jack to my heart's content? (assuming of course I also swap their corresponding destinations in the data closet)

 

[MrBobb]



Quote:
Originally Posted by scud133 /forum/post/20796979


Sounds like I can just plug the smaller phone cable right in to the RJ45, even if it's not a perfect snug fit.

Exactly.


This is quite common. In fact the precise wiring schema is: A single-line phone RJ11 (smaller 4-pin plug) uses the middle two pins, so when using a CAT5/6 jack then you just use pins 4-5, because when plugging in the smaller RJ11, the lock tab will automatically center you little plug into your bigger jack.


BUT THIS IS DETAIL u don't need to lose sleep over for now. For now, enough to say YES go ahead use a CAT run for phone. Worry about how to terminate once you have the whole house wiring figure it out.


By WHOLE HOUSE wiring I mean NOW, (1) decide how many jacks you want in each room/wall. (2) Where is your HUB, where all the cables converged, this is your WIRING CLOSET (so to speak), typically where your phone/Internet service comes but not written in stone.


If you have a home theater, this is the time to think about where is the TV, where is the equipment feeding the TV, where are the speakers? If the walls are out, this is best time to wire that too.


Lastly, it would be REALLY nice for your home theater to have a dedicated power tab, SEPARATE from all your other appliances/lights etc. OPTIONAL. This, you need electrician.

 

[mbahr]

I suggest, as others have, that you get a gigabit switch.


You can get by WITHOUT it being a "managed switch" and this drops the price a lot. You may wish to consider something like this: D-Link 8-port Gigabit Switch At this kind of price don't even think about going slower than gigabit.


The suggestions on wiring are very good. Leviton makes some nice adapters that allows you to combine coax and RJ-45 connections in one face plate (see the link that Matt provided). These things are readily available online or at your local home building supplier.


Have fun!


-Mike

 

[aaronwt]

I use the Commscope faceplates here. We use them at work. I can have a six port, single gang plate and have any combination of Cat5e/Cat6 or coax jacks. It's certainly a space saver.


The moe connections the better. I have a hodge podge of 14 gigabit swicthes as well as gigabit port Access points and gigabit port bridges. I wish I had put in plenty of extra Cat5e wiring in ten years ago when I went gigabit. instead I had to add cabling and add again. But I guess back then there was no way to know that I would end up with around seventy devices on my network ten years later.

 

[scud133]

Ok so here's my plan:

• Cat6 and Coax drops to keystone wall plates in every room in the condo
• These all come together in the utility closet/home run (12 Cat6 cables)
• In the home run, the Cat6 all go into a patch panel. I then patch the lines from the rooms to either 1) router, via gigabit switch or 2) out to telephone line, depending on what I need.
• The Coax all come together to an 8-way splitter, which might possibly have an amp before the splitter, if needed. (7 coax cables)

I guess the only other challenge is actually locating the incoming lines for telephone and cable. I assume the incoming phone lines will connect to some sort of punchdown hub (which I will connect to the Cat6 patch panel).