Ethereal_Dragon
Fully Optimized
- Messages
- 3,755
- Location
- USA
Project Phase: COMPLETED
Pics:
Rack in Progress: http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa93/ZGodzicki/Computers/rack.jpg
Rack Completed: http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa93/ZGodzicki/Computers/photo.jpg
<---~~~~~--->
Original Post
Well folks, it's time for me to start another project this time. Hopefully, unlike Project Pink, this one will actually be completed within a reasonable amount of time. This project is going to be re-wiring the phone cables & coax cables in my home. Currently, my house has TERRIBLE 4 pair phone wiring that allows me to NOT get DSL sync in my office, so I have to use the jack in the spare bedroom right next to the office. The coax is another horror, 90% of it being run on the OUTSIDE of the house, and I wouldn't doubt it is probably original with the house from back in the 70's, which would explain the bad Picture quality on all the Tv's other than the 65" in the basement (since that coax run is the ONLY one that is 100% indoors).... Sometime in the VERY near future (being hopeful here), AT&T's U-Verse TV will be rolled out in my area, and if I am all re-wired by then, all the tech has to do other than plug & play the TV boxes is to run the cables from my server rack (or I should say the spot where the rack WILL BE) to the telco NID on the outside of the house). I'd really rather not run cables outside the house... let the telco do it. The last reason is that while wireless LAN is NICE to have, it certainly isn't wired..... right now, I have TWO PS3's connected in the home via wireless, and I am pondering the possibility of a laptop purchase in the semi-near future, as is my roomie. Right now, I have done some tests, and I can stream the same video at the same time to both of my PS3's from my NAS box without any issues, which I have to admit, I didn't expect to happen. problem is, I randomly get lose connection to the router while playing online on one of the PS3's.
Basic layout of how this will work is that I have a small 'crawl space' under the stairs that is finished, and I use it to get behind the big screen. There is a small door in the wall, looks kinda funny. That is where the server rack will be, and all the cabling int he house will be a home run from there to each wall plate. The dining/unused room, office, master bedroom, roomie's bedroom, and garage will each get 1 wall plate with 3 ethernet hookups, and 1 coax hookup. The little entertainment cubby for the big screen will get 2 wall plates, with 2 coax and 6 ethernet hookups between the two. Coax will be unused (once I get rid of Comca$t, and AT&T U-Verse will be using Cat 5, so Coax is going in as a 'just in case' type of deal. If U-Verse has problems, or I just don't like it, Coax is there to fall back on, and for when I sell the house. With each wall plate in all of the rooms, I figure there will be the coax to fall back on, a port for a TV box (Cat 5), a port for a computer or game console, and a port for a phone. The Garage is getting a run, pretty much only because I want to put a phone out there, but with 3000 feet of Cat 5 cable, I might as well give it the luxory of expansion, for a small PC out there and tv box hookup, since thats where my workshop is (well, WAS, lot of JUNK in there now, need to clean it badly).
There are a few reasons that I purchased so much bulk cable, and the PRIMARY reason is that I can run 1 wall plate at a time this way... Tape 3 cat 5 cables and a coax cable together, and BOOM, run an entire wall plate in 1 run, as opposed to running 4 separate cables to the plate. Also, each box of cable is a different color, which will make termination of the cables much easier.
If you have been thinking about doing something like this, just know that it is NOT cheap.... I have a cost breakdown at the bottom, of this post, and this is going to be DIY. I couldn't IMAGINE what labor on top of this cost would be.....
Hardware being used:
RJ-45 crimpers (have had these from a while ago, not figuring them into the price)
1000 Feet Cat 6 cable
500 Feet Coax
Coax cable Stripper
Coax cable crimper
100 RJ-45 cable ends
Cable Fish (100-200 feet)
110 punch-down tool
(Got from Home Depot about 6 months ago, ~$300, have to find reciept)
7 x White Keystone Flush Wallplate 4 port - $6.16
7 x White Co-ax F Coupler Keystone - $8.75
21 x Cat 5E Keystone Jack - $48.93
($10.70 shipping)
2 x 1U 24 Port Cat 5e RJ-45 Patch panel - $72.49
1 x 1000 feet Grey Cat 5e cable - $55.95
1 x 1000 feet Purple Cat 5e cable - $55.95
($20.69 shipping)
1 x 2U 24 Port Blank Patch Panel - $23.17
12 x F connector wall plate insert (for Coax patch panel) - $20.15
1 x D-Link DGS-1024D - 24 Port 10/100/1000 Switch - $196.36
Cost thus far: $819.30
Still need:
POSSIBLY more Coax, not sure if 500 feet will cut it
Coax & Ethernet cable tester
19" Server rack to mount patch panels, switch, and Network Attached storage boxes, minimum of 10U rack needed
Estimated End Cost $1200.00
Stores used:
Home Technology Store
Sewell Direct
FireFold.com
LAN Shack
Newegg
Micro Center
Pics:
Rack in Progress: http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa93/ZGodzicki/Computers/rack.jpg
Rack Completed: http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/aa93/ZGodzicki/Computers/photo.jpg
<---~~~~~--->
Original Post
Well folks, it's time for me to start another project this time. Hopefully, unlike Project Pink, this one will actually be completed within a reasonable amount of time. This project is going to be re-wiring the phone cables & coax cables in my home. Currently, my house has TERRIBLE 4 pair phone wiring that allows me to NOT get DSL sync in my office, so I have to use the jack in the spare bedroom right next to the office. The coax is another horror, 90% of it being run on the OUTSIDE of the house, and I wouldn't doubt it is probably original with the house from back in the 70's, which would explain the bad Picture quality on all the Tv's other than the 65" in the basement (since that coax run is the ONLY one that is 100% indoors).... Sometime in the VERY near future (being hopeful here), AT&T's U-Verse TV will be rolled out in my area, and if I am all re-wired by then, all the tech has to do other than plug & play the TV boxes is to run the cables from my server rack (or I should say the spot where the rack WILL BE) to the telco NID on the outside of the house). I'd really rather not run cables outside the house... let the telco do it. The last reason is that while wireless LAN is NICE to have, it certainly isn't wired..... right now, I have TWO PS3's connected in the home via wireless, and I am pondering the possibility of a laptop purchase in the semi-near future, as is my roomie. Right now, I have done some tests, and I can stream the same video at the same time to both of my PS3's from my NAS box without any issues, which I have to admit, I didn't expect to happen. problem is, I randomly get lose connection to the router while playing online on one of the PS3's.
Basic layout of how this will work is that I have a small 'crawl space' under the stairs that is finished, and I use it to get behind the big screen. There is a small door in the wall, looks kinda funny. That is where the server rack will be, and all the cabling int he house will be a home run from there to each wall plate. The dining/unused room, office, master bedroom, roomie's bedroom, and garage will each get 1 wall plate with 3 ethernet hookups, and 1 coax hookup. The little entertainment cubby for the big screen will get 2 wall plates, with 2 coax and 6 ethernet hookups between the two. Coax will be unused (once I get rid of Comca$t, and AT&T U-Verse will be using Cat 5, so Coax is going in as a 'just in case' type of deal. If U-Verse has problems, or I just don't like it, Coax is there to fall back on, and for when I sell the house. With each wall plate in all of the rooms, I figure there will be the coax to fall back on, a port for a TV box (Cat 5), a port for a computer or game console, and a port for a phone. The Garage is getting a run, pretty much only because I want to put a phone out there, but with 3000 feet of Cat 5 cable, I might as well give it the luxory of expansion, for a small PC out there and tv box hookup, since thats where my workshop is (well, WAS, lot of JUNK in there now, need to clean it badly).
There are a few reasons that I purchased so much bulk cable, and the PRIMARY reason is that I can run 1 wall plate at a time this way... Tape 3 cat 5 cables and a coax cable together, and BOOM, run an entire wall plate in 1 run, as opposed to running 4 separate cables to the plate. Also, each box of cable is a different color, which will make termination of the cables much easier.
If you have been thinking about doing something like this, just know that it is NOT cheap.... I have a cost breakdown at the bottom, of this post, and this is going to be DIY. I couldn't IMAGINE what labor on top of this cost would be.....
Hardware being used:
RJ-45 crimpers (have had these from a while ago, not figuring them into the price)
1000 Feet Cat 6 cable
500 Feet Coax
Coax cable Stripper
Coax cable crimper
100 RJ-45 cable ends
Cable Fish (100-200 feet)
110 punch-down tool
(Got from Home Depot about 6 months ago, ~$300, have to find reciept)
7 x White Keystone Flush Wallplate 4 port - $6.16
7 x White Co-ax F Coupler Keystone - $8.75
21 x Cat 5E Keystone Jack - $48.93
($10.70 shipping)
2 x 1U 24 Port Cat 5e RJ-45 Patch panel - $72.49
1 x 1000 feet Grey Cat 5e cable - $55.95
1 x 1000 feet Purple Cat 5e cable - $55.95
($20.69 shipping)
1 x 2U 24 Port Blank Patch Panel - $23.17
12 x F connector wall plate insert (for Coax patch panel) - $20.15
1 x D-Link DGS-1024D - 24 Port 10/100/1000 Switch - $196.36
Cost thus far: $819.30
Still need:
POSSIBLY more Coax, not sure if 500 feet will cut it
Coax & Ethernet cable tester
19" Server rack to mount patch panels, switch, and Network Attached storage boxes, minimum of 10U rack needed
Estimated End Cost $1200.00
Stores used:
Home Technology Store
Sewell Direct
FireFold.com
LAN Shack
Newegg
Micro Center
