Ethernet / phone wiring

[jesteh]

I am planning to wire phone/broadband and ethernet throughout the house. That means 7 ethernet and 8 phone points (1 master).

What I am getting is cat-6a cable for ethernet and cat-5 for the phone as well as relevant connectors. Each socket will have both ethernet and phone snap-in connector within the same socket.

For ethernet, there will be a central patch panel in a small utility room which will connect to a switch/adsl modem. Cables will go off the patch panel into the walls to individual room sockets.

For phone line I am less certain I know what I am doing. I wanted to re-use the same cable runs as ethernet to save on planning/drilling separate runs so no daisy chaining. The way I was planning it is to have a master socket with ADSL modem next to ethernet patch panel and then from the master socket a junction box which will distribute signal to all other sockets connected to it.

I was planning to run cables away from electrical wires (min 15cm) but together reusing the same cable runs. Both cables are shielded.

Am I on the right track here or have I missed anything?

 

[OwainDIYer]

Use Cat 6a cable for everything, it'll be cheaper to buy in quantity.

Run all cables back to sockets on patch panel.

Use patch leads to patch the sockets to hub/switch as required.

Get another cheap patch panel (or section of the same patch panel). wire the sockets in common (parallel), label them phone.

Patch from your patch panel to this phone panel those sockets which you want to use for phone. Patch from the phone patch panel to the BT master sockets.

You can then change wall sockets from ethernet to phone as required.

You could also use a small PBX if you want intercom, hold/transfer, and to put a doorphone into the system.

 

[SteNova]

no need for shielded ethernet/phone in domestic enviroment

 

[jesteh]

Thank you. Are there any advantages to running cat 7 cables in a house? Do they give any extra bandwidth over short runs?

 

[SteNova]

you can get 10gig over cat 7

 

[jesteh]

you can get 10gig over cat 7

I thought you can get 10Gb over cat6a with runs under 100m?

 

[SteNova]

you can get 10gig over cat 7

I thought you can get 10Gb over cat6a with runs under 100m?

in theory yes, but we did a few test samples in work and only 40% were good enough

 

[jesteh]

Anyone know where I can buy cat 7 cable on a reel and gg45 terminators?

 

[plugwash]

I thought GG45 had been abandoned.

IMO if you really think you might need 10 gigabit or faster speeds in the future your best bet is to run the cabling in conduits and wait to see what happens if and when 10 gig systems become affordable.

 

[jesteh]

Could I buy 16 port ethernet patch panel and wire phones and ethernet exactly the same? Then I could just connect phones using RJ45 to RJ11 cables.

 

[plugwash]

Yes, just keep an eye on how things are wired, in particular while most phones in the UK use a RJ11 style connector on the phone end of the cable there are at least two different ways of wiring it.

 

[jesteh]

For suggestion on running conduit to replace or add more cable later if necessary, what sort of conduit should be used?

Generally speaking, whats the suitable conduit for ethernet cables to protect it getting damaged from plaster (using bonding plaster rather than boards)?

Many thanks for all the replies.

 

[OwainDIYer]

Ordinary 20mm plastic conduit will be fine.

 

[davelx]

For phone line I am less certain I know what I am doing. I wanted to re-use the same cable runs as ethernet to save on planning/drilling separate runs so no daisy chaining. The way I was planning it is to have a master socket with ADSL modem next to ethernet patch panel and then from the master socket a junction box which will distribute signal to all other sockets connected to it.

As you are not planning to put the ADSL router remote from the master socket, wire a single ADSL filter between the master and all the extensions - then you don't need filters on the individual extensions.