Sanity check on cost to install ethernet wiring

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#1508705 9-Mar-2016 10:22

It is pretty easy to do yourself. You just want the cables labeled (ie. know where each cable goes before you start) so that when you punch them down to the patch panel, they are in some sort of order.

You can pick up a LAN test kit pretty cheap off Trademe, a Punchdown tool and cable stripper too. You aren't making patch cables, so do not need a Crimping tool.

Punching down is pretty simple, make sure at both ends of the cable you are using the same standard (PDL sockets will have colour codes for 568A and 568B, keep it consistent), the Patch Panel will be colour coded for A or B or both - these days if you mixed it up, it probably wouldn't be the end of the world as most network cards can auto negotiate (Using 568A at one end and 568B at the other means you have a crossover cable).

The first couple may take a bit of time, and it is tedious work, but will save you a lot of money. I always strip off quite a bit of the cable shield so I have a lot of cable inside to play with (I like about 5 or 6cm so I can easily untwist and place into the slots on the socket to punch down - when you punch down, that excess cable is cut off anyway).

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#1508709 9-Mar-2016 10:25

dclegg: ...I note that Cat6 is generally recommended, but would scaling back to Cat5e be that bad? It may help keep the costs down.

People will have different views on this one. I went with Cat5e for my house, because I was doing the work myself and it's easier to work with. Cat5e also has no disadvantage for my current network, as it can handle gigabit ethernet.

Cat6 is however future proofed to some extent, in that it can apparently handle 10gig ethernet over short runs (~30 metres). Presumably 10gig will become commonplace in consumer gear at some stage in the future. I understand it's also easier to send an HDMI signal over Cat6, if that's something you are looking to do.

Depending on how long and snaking your runs are, you may be able to pull a new cable through using the old, if it's necessary to take advantage of new technology. If that's the case, it matters less which option you go with.

The TCF residential premises guidelines now actually specify Cat6A, which seems like complete overkill to me. I've never actually seen or worked with the stuff, but understand it's a lot thicker than Cat6. That makes me wonder how many cables you could actually fit through your house framing to your cabinet, without breaching the code requirements for holes drilled through the top or bottom plates...

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#1508734 9-Mar-2016 11:04

So is there any practical difference when choosing solid vs stranded Cat5/6 cable? Will that impact my choice of patch panel & keystone jacks? Does it mean that the ethernet cable itself is solid/stranded? Or does it describe the actual physical make up of the individual wires inside the cable?

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#1508736 9-Mar-2016 11:07

6FIEND:

Another option...

<snip> 3) Install conduit and drawstrings into the wall cavities. Use cheap blanking plates on the walls where you intend to terminate them and run them back to your cabinet. <snip>

If you do this, be sure to make the conduit big enough to pull through multiple cables.

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#1508738 9-Mar-2016 11:09

Sideface:

6FIEND:

Another option...

<snip> 3) Install conduit and drawstrings into the wall cavities. Use cheap blanking plates on the walls where you intend to terminate them and run them back to your cabinet. <snip>

If you do this, be sure to make the holes in the framing big enough to pull through multiple cables.

Spoiler alert: While appreciated, I'm not entertaining this suggestion. Perhaps it may benefit other future thread readers though.

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#1509770 9-Mar-2016 11:41

dclegg:

So is there any practical difference when choosing solid vs stranded Cat5/6 cable?
Will that impact my choice of patch panel & keystone jacks?
Does it mean that the ethernet cable itself is solid/stranded?
Or does it describe the actual physical make up of the individual wires inside the cable?

Solid vs stranded refers to the physical make up of the individual wires inside the cable.

Stranded cable is flexible and is used for patch cables - it is NOT suitable for fixed data wiring.

"Solid" cable has four twisted pairs of wires, with one copper strand per wire, insulated and colour-coded. It is used for fixed data wiring.

Cat 6 cable is heavier and stiffer, and harder to work with, than Cat 5.

Cat 5 and Cat 6 require different wall fittings / patch panel & keystone jacks and a different push-down tool.

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#1510269 10-Mar-2016 08:01

I had another potential cost saving plan last night, that I wanted to get a sanity check on.

Currently we have our ADSL connection served via a dedicated port upstairs in a bedroom which is being used as my office. I can probably get away with having only three or four ethernet ports throughout the house to give the coverage I need.

Could I have these four ports all terminating at a four port outlet in this office/bedroom? These ports would be connected to a switch or router connected to the ADSL modem. This would do away with the need to have a dedicated cabinet installed, so I'd also no longer need a patch panel and electrical outlet installed.

The only real con I see here is lack of flexibility. It wouldn't really affect us, but would mean that any future owners would need to have this room serve as their networking hub (which is essentially how I use it now anyway).

Another potential gotcha may be ONT location once we switch to UFB. Would Chorus be prepared to install an ONT in a second story room? It is on the side of the house closet to the most probable demarcation point, but they would have to come up a level when installing.

Thoughts?

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#1510276 10-Mar-2016 08:18

dclegg:

I had another potential cost saving plan last night, that I wanted to get a sanity check on.

<snip>

Another potential gotcha may be ONT location once we switch to UFB. Would Chorus be prepared to install an ONT in a second story room? It is on the side of the house closet to the most probable demarcation point, but they would have to come up a level when installing.

Thoughts?

Not a good plan. False economy. Inflexible.

A second storey ONT is unusual, and may cost extra to install by the time that fibre reaches your street. The rules keep changing.

Personally I would plan for a ground-floor ONT.

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#1510282 10-Mar-2016 08:34

Sideface:

Not a good plan. False economy. Inflexible.

But do I really care? It will be more than flexible enough for our usage. The primary reason I want ethernet wiring is so we can have the best possible internet access in our entertainment hubs, and in my office. And all of these will be taken care of. I'll also have an ethernet port at the other end of the house, so I can ensure wifi can be boosted there, if necessary.

It would take away flexibility for future owners of the house, but is that really an issue I need to be concerned about? It may make the house slightly less attractive to a very, very small portion of the buying market, but I can't imagine it'd have a huge impact.

A second storey ONT is unusual, and may cost extra to install by the time that fibre reaches your street. The rules keep changing.

Personally I would plan for a ground-floor ONT.

Yeah, thats my only concern. But if we're talking about a difference of $100 or so when it comes to installation, it may not be that big of a deal.

Just to be clear, this is not my preferred solution. But one that I may consider if it means the difference between having some ethernet wiring vs none at all. Provided it is one that is technically feasible.

Its fine to use phrases such as "false economy", but the reality is this re-cladding project is very expensive. We're not even sure we'll be able to retain our house after it yet. And this wiring project is just one of many on our list of other things we'd like to do. It's also one that ranks a lot lower than others, hence such a small, and quite inflexibile, budget allocated to it.

I guess you could say that future flexibility is a feature that, while ideal, may not necessarily be one we can afford. And I'm questioning whether removing this feature should also remove the prospect of any sort of ethernet wiring at all.

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#1510287 10-Mar-2016 08:41

dclegg:

<snip>

A second storey ONT is unusual, and may cost extra to install by the time that fibre reaches your street. The rules keep changing.

Personally I would plan for a ground-floor ONT.

Yeah, thats my only concern. But if we're talking about a difference of $100 or so when it comes to installation, it may not be that big of a deal. <snip>

Can somebody who knows about ONT installs please comment on this?

I've read about non-standard install costing a lot more than $100 extra.

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#1510304 10-Mar-2016 09:19

Sideface:

dclegg:

I had another potential cost saving plan last night, that I wanted to get a sanity check on.

<snip>

Another potential gotcha may be ONT location once we switch to UFB. Would Chorus be prepared to install an ONT in a second story room? It is on the side of the house closet to the most probable demarcation point, but they would have to come up a level when installing.

Thoughts?

Not a good plan. False economy. Inflexible.

A second storey ONT is unusual, and may cost extra to install by the time that fibre reaches your street. The rules keep changing.

Personally I would plan for a ground-floor ONT.

I had my ONT installed on the 2nd story no questions asked or any extra costs involved. They simply ran a length of conduit up the side of the house and installed it as normal.

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#1510307 10-Mar-2016 09:20

Sideface:

Can somebody who knows about ONT installs please comment on this?

I've read about non-standard install costing a lot more than $100 extra.

I'd be interested to hear this too. It would literally be only a few metres elevated from the prime ONT location, so there'd be something a bit wrong if it added many hundreds to the install cost.

FWIW, the internal wall backing the area called out by 41 in this image is where the ONT would be ideally installed in this scenario. It's approximately where the ADSL port currently resides.

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#1510311 10-Mar-2016 09:25

My parents had their ONT installed on the 2nd story, no fuss. It was a pretty easy install because below the 2nd story floor was their garage with exposed ceiling joists.

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#1510389 10-Mar-2016 10:15

dclegg:

She is correct in pointing out that our teenagers prefer to use wireless in their bedrooms to access to their laptops, as they don't like being constrained in one spot. So initially the outlets probably won't get used. Yet the kids bitch and moan at me when wifi performance is poor. Our house is 271 m2, so we do have issues getting the wifi signal from one end of the house to the other. 2.4Ghz is pretty much useless in our area due to congestion, and the 5Ghz band struggles to cover the whole area.

I'm also thinking of resale value, and future use (including uses that we haven't thought of yet). But the reality is that budget is an issue, and if it is going to exceed $1000 by too much (that's my budget, but I may have a couple hundy wiggle room) then I won't be able to do it at all.

I note that Cat6 is generally recommended, but would scaling back to Cat5e be that bad? It may help keep the costs down.

I'm not much of a worrier about cost so I know the prices of nothing. :-)

One way to handle the wifi issue is to have the wired rooms poorly serviced by wifi and focus the wifi-AP location around the rooms that aren't wired.....assuming your house is laid out with living areas at one end and bedrooms at the other (fairly common). Though if people going to be using tablets / phones with wifi all over the house.....this may not be viable. I have to admit, I only own two devices that still have ethernet. Macbook Air doesn't. Chromebook doesn't. Zero for phones and tablets.

Of course if you want to keep the teens out of their closed-door bedrooms you might deliberately provide poor wifi to the bedrooms. Not a bad idea, all things considered, or building some minimal level of supervision into the 'plan'. You can wire the other rooms later if you decide to sell.

I once did this...and sold the house to a non-geek chippie...who ripped it all out after he bought the place. No use to him. He didn't even have a PC.

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#1510402 10-Mar-2016 10:28

Linuxluver:

One way to handle the wifi issue is to have the wired rooms poorly serviced by wifi and focus the wifi-AP location around the rooms that aren't wired.....assuming your house is laid out with living areas at one end and bedrooms at the other (fairly common). Though if people going to be using tablets / phones with wifi all over the house.....this may not be viable.

Yeah, not really viable for that reason. My wife loves to noodle away on her iPad while we're streaming content on the telly, and we'd also both want decent connectivity to our phones.

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