Help/Advice for Network

[haha49]

I wish we could just run jacks to the bedrooms but we don't own our house. Also with our ceiling tiles, they are about 2-3" from the floor joists so it was a lot of pull over this support, move over, pull over...etc. With the hole in the floor, I had to run the cable through, then terminate it because the connector wouldn't fit through with the tv cable already there. I will have to remember the weighted route though when we get our own place.

wired every bed room basment were all the tvs are.. with phone wired network and satlight... ran them all at the same time and its nice once its down you can run the wires around the floor boards if you dont want to put them through the walls and you can tape over them so you dont trip on them if they have to go over carpet or if you pull the modleing off you can stick it under the rugs,, then pull it out when done..

[x88x]

When I have to run a cable across a carpeted room, I just use a thick flathead screwdriver to squeeze it under the molding, between the carpet and the wall. The molding keeps it in place, and it's nice and out of the way.

When running cable through a drop-ceiling, you want to watch out for fluorescent lights. If you pass the cable too close to the fixtures, the signal gets muddied. A couple years back at a place I was volunteering, we ran into this problem; with the cable running over a fluorescent light fixture, it cut the speed from 100Mbps to about 20, IIRC. It may not have been quite that drastic, but it was a lot.

[Airbozo]

At a couple places I worked (Amoco Oil, McDonnell Douglas, SGI, we used to compete in the "Drop Ceiling Toss" and the "Raised Floor Toss" (among other things). Money was involved as well as drinks... (yes we got bored on the midnight shift). Lots of fun. The lower the ceiling/floor the better. Good times!

To add to the florescent light issue (which I have seen with networking, video, and sound), if you must be near any lights or power lines, cross them perpendicular for the least effect.

Thanks for the info guys I am also working on a similar issue at my house. I actually looked into a wireless GB router that has 2 wireless networks plus a 4 port wired one. On the "N" network, I will put my htpc and on the separate "G" network I will put my Laptop. They are separate networks so streaming movies will not affect the SO's NHL Game Center Live Hockey games! The router also has a USB port for storage or a printer. There are a couple of companies producing these routers and I have seen them on sale for under $100. The wireless card for the htpc is ~$70.

[SgtM]

Your switch is backwards. It should be behind the router.

Here's my suggestion. Wire everything that's not a portable device. GigEthernet isn't a requirement, but if you can afford the hardware and cat6, then go for it.

[x88x]

Actually, from what I've heard and seen, Cat5e can carry 1GigE just fine. Though if Cat6 isn't any more expensive, definitely go with that.

[slaveofconvention]

Cat 5e can carry gig but only over shorter distances, cat 6 is better for longer runs - my house is cat5e wired and i have gig np everywhere but the longest run is probably about 20 metres

[Outlaw]

Your switch is backwards. It should be behind the router.

Here's my suggestion. Wire everything that's not a portable device. GigEthernet isn't a requirement, but if you can afford the hardware and cat6, then go for it.

whoops, you are correct, the blue line is stopped early. It is hooked up correctly though.

We are just using standard cat5. When the pc's connect it shows gigabit. We haven't had any issues streaming vid from the main to the htpc.

[Luke122]

Cat5e CAN run gig, BUT...

As mentioned above, longer runs wont be reliable at high speed. Also, though it might register as 1gigabit, chances are the speed wont be that high, most likely around 300mbit.