Sanity check on cost to install ethernet wiring

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Sanity check on cost to install ethernet wiring

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Linuxluver

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#1510404 10-Mar-2016 10:33

dclegg:

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.

The D-Link DIR-890L has 3 networks (2 x 5GHz and 1 x 2.4GHz), but you only sign into it once. If one of them becomes too congested it will move the users' device to another network. So if one network is streaming hi-res video, your iPad might get bumped to a 5GHz network that isn't as busy. If the user is too far away, the device has 6 antennas and can (supposely) triangulate their location and "beam" the 5GHz wifi signal toward them to extend the range. I'm yet to fully test this.

This technology is rapidly evolving.

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dclegg

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#1510405 10-Mar-2016 10:38

Linuxluver:

The D-Link DIR-890L has 3 networks (2 x 5GHz and 1 x 2.4GHz), but you only sign into it once. If one of them becomes too congested it will move the users' device to another network. So if one network is streaming hi-res video, your iPad might get bumped to a 5GHz network that isn't as busy. If the user is too far away, the device has 6 antennas and can (supposely) triangulate their location and "beam" the 5GHz wifi signal toward them to extend the range. I'm yet to fully test this.

This technology is rapidly evolving.

I upgraded our router late last year, and that did do wonders for the coverage of our 5Ghz network. The WAF for another upgrade so soon would be quite low, I expect :-)

shk292

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#1510435 10-Mar-2016 11:08

dclegg:

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?

You'd only need a single Ethernet run from your current hub position to the ground-floor ONT position to make this setup work with UFB. That's probably still more cost-effective than wiring throughout

richms

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#1510440 10-Mar-2016 11:25

shk292:

You'd only need a single Ethernet run from your current hub position to the ground-floor ONT position to make this setup work with UFB. That's probably still more cost-effective than wiring throughout

Run 2 cables in case someone in the future may want to get a second ISP connection or a voice service delivered via the ONT provided.

Richard rich.ms

shk292

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#1510466 10-Mar-2016 11:38

richms:

shk292:

You'd only need a single Ethernet run from your current hub position to the ground-floor ONT position to make this setup work with UFB. That's probably still more cost-effective than wiring throughout

Run 2 cables in case someone in the future may want to get a second ISP connection or a voice service delivered via the ONT provided.

Agreed - but either way it needn't add much cost or complexity to the simpler solution being considered

simon14

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#1512139 12-Mar-2016 21:29

Not sure if it's been mentioned but why not just go for Powerline adapters? That then allows any power point to be a data outlet and no extra cost besides the powerline hardware

dclegg

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#1512181 13-Mar-2016 08:40

simon14:
Not sure if it's been mentioned but why not just go for Powerline adapters? That then allows any power point to be a data outlet and no extra cost besides the powerline hardware

I already (successfully) use those, and that will my fallback config if this project is outside of my budget.

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coffeebaron

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#1512598 13-Mar-2016 21:50

Sorry I haven't had a chance to reply to this thread earlier. Getting at least a few cables in now rather than a massive network build is still better than doing nothing. The key here is getting the cables from A-B in the wall now; even if its a rush job by an incompetent sparky (NB: in no way am I saying your sparky will be incompetent, or that all sparky's are incompetent). Ends can be fixed up / re-terminated etc. with a bit of time - but pulling new cables later will be a much bigger task.

If you want any help / advise, flick me a PM. If you need another quote I'm happy to advise; but I'm a bit behind on stuff right now, so I may miss your window.

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dclegg

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#1512688 14-Mar-2016 08:06

coffeebaron:

Sorry I haven't had a chance to reply to this thread earlier. Getting at least a few cables in now rather than a massive network build is still better than doing nothing. The key here is getting the cables from A-B in the wall now; even if its a rush job by an incompetent sparky (NB: in no way am I saying your sparky will be incompetent, or that all sparky's are incompetent). Ends can be fixed up / re-terminated etc. with a bit of time - but pulling new cables later will be a much bigger task.

If you want any help / advise, flick me a PM. If you need another quote I'm happy to advise; but I'm a bit behind on stuff right now, so I may miss your window.

Thanks for the advice @coffeebaron. The builders have told me they want all this sort of work done by this week, as they're about to start installing the new cladding. So it sounds like there wouldn't be any point getting a quote from you, as your dance card is already full. :-(

webwat

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#1513106 14-Mar-2016 15:39

dclegg:

coffeebaron:

Sorry I haven't had a chance to reply to this thread earlier. Getting at least a few cables in now rather than a massive network build is still better than doing nothing. The key here is getting the cables from A-B in the wall now; even if its a rush job by an incompetent sparky (NB: in no way am I saying your sparky will be incompetent, or that all sparky's are incompetent). Ends can be fixed up / re-terminated etc. with a bit of time - but pulling new cables later will be a much bigger task.

If you want any help / advise, flick me a PM. If you need another quote I'm happy to advise; but I'm a bit behind on stuff right now, so I may miss your window.

Thanks for the advice @coffeebaron. The builders have told me they want all this sort of work done by this week, as they're about to start installing the new cladding. So it sounds like there wouldn't be any point getting a quote from you, as your dance card is already full. :-(

I think you need to confirm where you want the network hub to be, and considering how a bundle of cable will get through whatever wall/floor penetrations they need to get to that point. Theres no advantage to have it in your office if there are enough data outlets in the office. The hub interconnects all services, so it should be somewhere that it can connect to both the phone line and ONT, and often the TV wiring. As mentioned previously, an outlet next to the ONT will connect internet, and another cable to the same spot will often be required to connect the phone output of your router (usually the router has an internal VoIP service) into the exisiting house wiring for phones.

I'm available for part of this week, but short notice doesnt make it cheaper... I may need to ask another contractor to help out. 021-825214 if its urgent.

Time to find a new industry!

dclegg

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#1513132 14-Mar-2016 15:53

webwat:

I think you need to confirm where you want the network hub to be, and considering how a bundle of cable will get through whatever wall/floor penetrations they need to get to that point. Theres no advantage to have it in your office if there are enough data outlets in the office.

Ideally it'd be in the garage, but I considered terminating connections in my office due to cost considerations. That's where our ADSL port currently resides, so there should be less involved to do it there.

I'm available for part of this week, but short notice doesnt make it cheaper... I may need to ask another contractor to help out. 021-825214 if its urgent.

Well technically the only urgency is around getting access to the exposed walls. So laying the cable itself would need to be done this week, but termination of cables inside could probably be a little more relaxed.

dclegg

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#1514960 17-Mar-2016 12:10

Update: Settled on a quote from my sparkie to get what we needed done for just under $1K. It turns out my plans to have every port wired were out of budget (around $2K), so we're forgoing the patch panel and terminating all in the office.

It's not as flexible as my best case scenario, but it suits our needs perfectly, and future owners can suck it :-). They'll have data cabling to the most important rooms, and one at the far end of the house to wire in a wifi access point if neeed.

In the end I didn't need to propose this cost saving suggestion to him, as he suggested it to me before I could go there. And after talking to him about all this, I have a reasonably high degree of confidence in his ability and experience in this area.

Thanks to all for your help in this thread, including the couple of you who reached out to me privately to assist.

froob

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#1514967 17-Mar-2016 12:20

Sounds like a good outcome. I think the main thing is to have that wired backbone for wifi access points. Still miles ahead of the average NZ home wiring!

Guide: Installing Network Cabling in New Zealand Homes

dclegg

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#1514971 17-Mar-2016 12:29

froob: Sounds like a good outcome. I think the main thing is to have that wired backbone for wifi access points. Still miles ahead of the average NZ home wiring!

Yeah, I'm pretty happy.

While I wanted all rooms to be wired, including bedrooms, I was getting pushback from my wife on that one. And she was right; currently we don't have a need for ports in them (apart from the one I use as an office, and that'll be wired). My daughters far prefer to use wifi, and we don't have any Internet enabled devices in our bedroom (and nor do we have plans for any). So by having the ability to strengthen wifi coverage throughout the house, but still have ethernet in our entertainment hubs & office, I'm considering this a win all round.

The only real cost is future expandability, but that'll be a problem for the next owners to grapple with.

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