How much ethernet to run?

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feo

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I'm running ethernet to different points in my house.

The phone line/router is right in the centre of the house. I wanna run ethernet to:

- PC (at the back of the house)
- TV room (at the back of the house)
- main living room which has a Boxee Box, Roku and maybe a PS4 soon.

How do I work out how many cables need to come in?

Will a switch work where I need more than one wired connection?

I want my network to be as fast as possible, future proofing now.
 
feo said:
I'm running ethernet to different points in my house.

The phone line/router is right in the centre of the house. I wanna run ethernet to:

- PC (at the back of the house)
- TV room (at the back of the house)
- main living room which has a Boxee Box, Roku and maybe a PS4 soon.

How do I work out how many cables need to come in?

Will a switch work where I need more than one wired connection?

I want my network to be as fast as possible, future proofing now.
Click to expand...

In my case I, I took my cables through the roof.

I measured from ceiling to the floor and all along the floor to the next wall and up to the device in to the various rooms. I took my roll of cabling and pulled it through the roof to the room I wanted to access and added about 2 meter for me to play with in order add the RJ45 connectors.

I'm using a switch in my TV room and have no issues. So I have one line going to TV room, but have 3 devices connected and several other cables running to other rooms via a 2nd switch close to my router.

Ensure you go with Gigabit router and switches and CAT 5e at the very least. CAT 6 if you really want future-proof. Not sure if we will reach those CAT6 speeds anytime soon.

I suppose you could run one cable from the router to a switch in the roof and direct it from there, but it could prove to be a schlep should you need to reboot the switch or plug out a cable, unless you can plug out the power cord maybe.
 
the answer is always more. i have run six to the back of my TV. tv,htpc,amp,xbox. so i currently have 2 spare... for now.
if you are going through the effort of conduiting or even ducting, why not just run a few extra cables now, it is not that expensive.
 
Cat5e can support up to 10Gbe so in terms of cabling that should be plenty of future proofing.If you simply need to connect devices then one cable run to each location will be fine and then you can use a switch or a wireless access point at that location to create more connections. Just make sure you use gigabit routers and switches and it will be plenty fast enough for now.

If you want to run HDMI over CAT5 or 6 you might need to run one or 2 additional cables for that.
 
OK, thanks for the replies so far.

Basically, I want to confirm that if I run a single cable to each area and then split it further to make more connections with a switch, this won't sacrifice speed, right?
 
it will sacrifice speed. the link between the main switch/router and the switch in at the other end of the cable has a sync speed, say 1Gbps. if you connect two devices to that link they will both connect at 1Gbps sync speed but the throughput capacity will be shared between them. run another cable, better yet, run another 5.
 
Ok for 2 of the points where the conduit was already put in, I'm not sure how many cables I can squeeze in there, maybe 2.

On a related topic, do you get thinner ethernet cables?
 
Beachless said:
Cat5e can support up to 10Gbe so in terms of cabling that should be plenty of future proofing..
Click to expand...

No it can't. Cat 6 can support 10Gb in some cases, but the official standard for 10Gb is Cat6a. 5e only supports up to 1Gb.
 
TJ99 said:
No it can't. Cat 6 can support 10Gb in some cases, but the official standard for 10Gb is Cat6a. 5e only supports up to 1Gb.
Click to expand...

Yes it can but only up to 45m which is plenty for a home network.
 
You will have plenty bandwidth on a gigabit network I dont know why you would need any more.
if you have space for 2 a backup wont hurt but you wont need it.
 
Beachless said:
You will have plenty bandwidth on a gigabit network I dont know why you would need any more.
if you have space for 2 a backup wont hurt but you wont need it.
Click to expand...

As mentioned above, HDMI over ethernet cable might be a reason to run extra drops, but they would not be connected to the switch in that case, and should go directly to the other viewing location, as I understand it.

Other than that, you are unlikely to be transmitting Gbps traffic to more than one device at a time, so a switch in the living room will probably suffice. It may mean more things plugged in in the cupboard, but short patch cables can help keep that tidy (just make your own).

My 2c (but then, I only have 100Mbps to the back of my entertainment center :-) )
 
HDMI over ethernet is definitely an option for the TV area but I need to read up on it, the most I can run is 2 cables to there given that the conduit is so small.
 
Beachless said:
Try Wikipedia or a networking book.
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I did. They all say Cat6 is the minimum requirement for 10Gb and then only in limited lengths. Which is why I'm asking you, the first person to ever say otherwise, to give some evidence of their claim.

This type of cable is used in structured cabling for computer networks such as Ethernet over twisted pair. The cable standard provides performance of up to 100 MHz and is suitable for 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX (Fast Ethernet), and 1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet). 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX Ethernet connections require two wire pairs. 1000BASE-T Ethernet connections require four wire pairs. Through the use of power over Ethernet (PoE), up to 25 watts of power can be carried over the cable in addition to Ethernet data.
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http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat5e
 
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10GBASE-T 2006 8P8C copper category 5e, 6, 6a or 7 twisted pair - 55 m (cat 5e or 6), 100 m (cat 6a or 7) Can reuse existing cables, high port density, relatively high power

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/10GBASE-T#10GBASE-T

Im sure I have seen it in a book as well but its not oficially suported in the ieee standard.
 
feo said:
I plan on running CAT6, hopefully that will fulfill my needs.
Click to expand...

As some of the other posters have said even 100mb works fine but that is borderline for running a few devices. 1000mb will be plenty for a home network.
We are just disagreeing on something you will obviously not have to worry about since you are running cat6 and a home network.
Enterprise wise cat5e would never be considdered for 10g but for home use it would be fine imo.
 
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