Switch for a new house build

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sen8or

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#93598 24-Nov-2011 19:50

I'm at the business end of a house build, sparky has been through and laid cat 5e with multiple runs to most rooms including study nook, home theatre, bedroom etc.

The coms panel is in thegarage, not sure on the brand etc, but looks like one of the signet ones (is only as deep as the wall thickness, (about 100mm I guess) and it has the ports neatly terminated in there with telephone going in etc, there are 2 power points at the bottom of the panel for powering router and a switch I assume.

What do people do in regards to the switch? I assume I need to get some sort of rackmount to go above the panel? (I can't see any switch fitting into the panel itself?) I imagine that I would only need 8 - 16 ports max, can't see more than that being used at any given time in the near future.

Being cat5e, I assume I should go gigabit switch? Is there any particular brand/model that I should go for?

Its a 4 bdrm house, I only have rj45 ports through the house, no separate phone points at all, so do I need it to be able to handle voice as well as data, or do I plug in the phone terminations directly to the relevant port on the patch panel?

Anything else I should consider?

The budget is by no means unlimited, infact, its already $15-30k overbudget on the build, so I don't want to waste money on fetaures etc that I simply won't need

Thanks
Sen

networkn

Networkn
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#549587 24-Nov-2011 20:10

sen8or: I'm at the business end of a house build, sparky has been through and laid cat 5e with multiple runs to most rooms including study nook, home theatre, bedroom etc.

The coms panel is in thegarage, not sure on the brand etc, but looks like one of the signet ones (is only as deep as the wall thickness, (about 100mm I guess) and it has the ports neatly terminated in there with telephone going in etc, there are 2 power points at the bottom of the panel for powering router and a switch I assume.

What do people do in regards to the switch? I assume I need to get some sort of rackmount to go above the panel? (I can't see any switch fitting into the panel itself?) I imagine that I would only need 8 - 16 ports max, can't see more than that being used at any given time in the near future.

Being cat5e, I assume I should go gigabit switch? Is there any particular brand/model that I should go for?

Its a 4 bdrm house, I only have rj45 ports through the house, no separate phone points at all, so do I need it to be able to handle voice as well as data, or do I plug in the phone terminations directly to the relevant port on the patch panel?

Anything else I should consider?

The budget is by no means unlimited, infact, its already $15-30k overbudget on the build, so I don't want to waste money on fetaures etc that I simply won't need

Thanks
Sen

Buy an entry level 16 port gigabit switch (You will use more ports than you think unless you have wireless as well), from dlink, netgear or any of the reputable brands. Can't really go too far wrong with a switch in this day and age for consumer purposes.

Problem solved.

sen8or

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#549590 24-Nov-2011 20:16

thanks, presumabely a rack style one (or I'll need to put a shelf up), am I right in assuming they aren't designed to go in the signet box?

Thanks again

chevrolux

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#549599 24-Nov-2011 20:57

sen8or:
Its a 4 bdrm house, I only have rj45 ports through the house, no separate phone points at all, so do I need it to be able to handle voice as well as data, or do I plug in the phone terminations directly to the relevant port on the patch panel?

Have a look back through topics on here about phone wiring. I cant remember who it was (maybe cyril7?) but they designed a phone distribution panel that will fit nicely in to your set up and allow you to patch the phone around the place. Actually i think it was signet branded come to think of it.

Zeon

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#549637 24-Nov-2011 22:00

sen8or: thanks, presumabely a rack style one (or I'll need to put a shelf up), am I right in assuming they aren't designed to go in the signet box?

Thanks again

Correct, most rack mount switches will be too large to fit in your cabinet. They are at least 19" wide, 1" high and depth anywhere up to 500mm. From what I've seen of those boxes the best bet would probably be a small 16 port. Someone on here should have some spare. I've got a spare 24 port Cisco 2900 series but it will be too big for you!

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webwat

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#550617 27-Nov-2011 17:14

The back of a smaller switch should have screw holes for wall mounting, so its just a matter of finding what type of screw works and line them up on the back of the wall cabinet. You should be able to mount the modem that way too. Probably a 6g screw has the right size head to mount the switch onto.

Time to find a new industry!