Suggestions for my proposed home network

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timmmay

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#951500 13-Dec-2013 10:37

True.

andrewNZ

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#951507 13-Dec-2013 10:57

hamish225:
timmmay: Not sure why anyone would need 10GE at home. I did put in Cat6, just because I could, but mine are relatively short point to point runs not a full fitout.

you wouldnt right now, but im just talking about future proofing. im sure if you went back in time and told someone in the 90's to put in cables for gigabit ethernet they'd have said the same thing, might as well get it all done now.

I honestly think you're better off wiring for what you need now or plan to need in the short term. Just make sure you can replace that wiring easily if you need to. Good cable routing, reasonable size holes, wiring to every room, that sort of thing.

There is no guarantee that cat6 will be any good for what you need in the future. Unless you can get it cheap, or you're planning on using something that specifically needs it, I wouldn't bother.

Edit: If you'd "future proofed" in the 90's, you'd have installed cat5 (not cat5e) which is no good for gigabit networking. Cat5e was introduced in @2001.

sabrewarri0r

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#952265 14-Dec-2013 19:14

Ignoring the Cat5/6 debate for now.

Ok, so this is where my noobness comes into play.

We're still only on ADSL2+, fibre hasn't been run to our area of Auckland yet. I suppose I could always move onto VDSL.

At the moment we tend to get up to:

Online PS3 gaming
Streaming TV and Movies
The odd online PC games but I seriously need to upgrade my PC so this is limited at the moment

In terms of the home network what determines if you need gigabit speed?

RunningMan

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#952269 14-Dec-2013 19:21

sabrewarri0r: In terms of the home network what determines if you need gigabit speed?

What you are wanting to do within your home i.e. not dependant on the outside world.

If most of what you want to do is each device communicating to and from the internet, then a 100Mb/s switch will be fine. If on the other hand you are moving large amounts of data between devices inside your home (multiple HD video streams, backups etc.) then you may want to go faster.

With wired networks inside your home, 3 basic things will influence the speed - client device capability (what network card does it have), cabling (Cat5e, 6 etc.) and the actual switch that everything connects to.

With WiFi, it's similar - client capability, AP capability, wired connected to AP, interference.

Of course, if in the future you get a significantly faster internet connection (200Mb/s UFB is starting to appear now), then a 100Mb/s LAN will start being a bottleneck.

linw

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#952323 14-Dec-2013 20:25

Not that a 200Mb/s internet connection means you will get anywhere near that download speed!!

If you are starting from scratch you might as well use a gigabit switch/router as they are not expensive. If you already have 100Mb/s, it costs little to upgrade later.

RunningMan

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#952346 14-Dec-2013 20:52

linw: Not that a 200Mb/s internet connection means you will get anywhere near that download speed!!

Getting OT, but you haven't seen this thread then ;-)

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=90&topicid=137870&page_no=2

HP

Shop now for HP laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

linw

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#952427 15-Dec-2013 08:19

Yes, I've seen that but I was thinking of real tasks like streaming or downloading from servers other than local speed test servers. Like a MS update of 15MB took a few minutes yesterday on my fibre connection!

webwat

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#955815 21-Dec-2013 14:09

hamish225:
timmmay: I thought Cat5E did gigabit? This link suggests it does. Though no real downsides other than a slightly higher cost, and it's less flexible.

it does do gigabit, but what i mean is when they have something faster than gigabit, like 10g or something, that wouldnt work on cat5

Cat5 does not do gigabit (or at least its not supposed to with out a high bit error rate) but you can't buy it anymore. Cat5e does Gigabit, its at the edge of its performance but ok if installed carefully without being crimped/kinked or anything. Cat6 does Gigabit comfortably and 10Gig up to 30m or 50m, just as easy to install if you can keep minimal wire exposed for termination. Cat6A does full 10Gig. Cat7 is shielded and needs special everything, don't go there.

Gigabit is only useful if you do big local data transfers, especially movies etc, such as with a networked printer, NAS or home theatre setup.

Time to find a new industry!

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