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Pentium
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Got an electrician coming in to rewire the bungalow in 2 weeks. Its all pretty ancient so every wire, socket, switch and the fuse board are being replaced. Also channelling in new sockets and light switches as whoever designed the current layout was a dingbat. I thought to myself that if the sparky is going to be channelling in stuff anyway, maybe I could get him to channel in some network cables. And just have a network socket in every room. Like you might have a TV aerial socket in several rooms.
This thought is mostly due to my distrust of wireless. Can you convince me wireless is secure and will stay secure? Can you be bothered to try? Would you wire network your house if you had the opportunity? Is this Homeplug thing any good, secure? anyone on here using it?
Our bungalow layout and the uses of the network:
Once the electrics are done I am going to board out the attic and use it as my office and storage area for my online business (only a small time business, I work full time and make about £100 a week from the online stuff, no specialist softwear used, no server). I would also be inclined to keep the router up there. I intend to use my fastest PC as a gaming only rig running winXP and not connected to the net except if I need to run a windows only based app. This will be in the attic. I will then have a PC running Ubuntu from which I hope to be able to do all my online stuff connected to the the windows box with a KVM, also in the attic. I will not be able to get planning to put in permanent stairs but I will put in a very decent loft ladder with handrail.
Downstairs I will have a Muthbuntu based rig for all multimedia requirements in the living room. Also in the living room an old but decent (1g P3 1g ram) laptop running winXP, this is mostly for the missus, I am not going to even think about converting it to ubuntu. Also its battery is shot to pieces so it has to be plugged in at all times and I am not going to be replacing it for several years.
In the second bedroom I will have another PC running Ubuntu with a myth front end so that I can get on the net without going upstairs and watch a different TV channel if I want to. Also I occasionally work on friends PC's and this will be done in this room.
In the main bedroom I may eventually put a myth box for watching TV in bed. We dont currently have a TV in the bedroom but when we get the extension done I might put said box in.
In the kitchen, same as the main bedroom.
Thoughts anyone?
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486
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If you are putting in network cables, make sure to use cat6, harder to handle, and bit more expensive, but up to 1Gb/sec transfer.
Also you will need to run the network cable seperately from the mains.
If you have MM no. 1015, my article on moving a network has some tips.
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Santa Pig
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Low voltage and high voltage should NEVER be in the same duct.
If you are going down this route, make sure the mains and network cables are seperated.Wiring a socket to every room is great, but they all have to come back to a central point.
I'd suggest your new office, somewhere in a corner as it can get messy.
Also you will have to deal with fly leads coming from the wall sockets to the devices.
TBH I would only go for key locations, like the TV, where fast streaming is a must for DVDs etc.
The I'd use wireless or homeplugs for everything else. For wireless, WPA encryption is totally secure.
Again the best place for the Access Point is the office in the loft.
Homeplugs work OK, but extention leads slow them right down and they're not cheap. EDIT - thought it was you moving the network. Nice article.
Try moving a whole Royal Mail Centre!
Dave R
XP Pro + various VMs: Q6600 @ stock, Asus V3-P5G33, 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT
XP Pro: E1200 @2.4Ghz, GA-G33M-DS2R/S2, 2GB DDR2 800, 3450 on HDMI
Mandriva S 2008: SOA Athlon 2200, 1GB DDR, 9550
Windows Home Server: S3000, ASUS V2-M2V890, 512mb DDR2 667, 1TB
4GB USB Pendrive: Mandriva 2009 - my portable PC 
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Pentium
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Hi guys,
thanks for the input.
Putting the electric cable and a network cable in the same channel had not crossed my mind, but thanks for making sure I wouldnt! How many cm's apart should they be?
Cat6, will do!
Wylie, I do not have that issue of MM but if you know where I could get it.....
WPA encryption is totally secure? Does that mean that no one can hack it from a nearby wireless device, ever? Just checking!
When it comes to the fly leads from the wall sockets I plan to put the sockets right behind where the devices will be. Except for the living room laptop.
Seen these:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/26856
If I was to put one in each room, two in the living room (one behind the TV area and one for the laptop), what tools would I need? In the past I have just bought the cables that had sockets on the end. I guess I will need to nuy a real of cat6 and some tool to attach it to the socket?
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Santa Pig
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I used ducts about 1cm wide next to each other.
As long as the wires don't touch each other.
A Krone tool to help with the wiring.WPA is absolutely uncrackable.
You need a passphrase to get on the network, after that the devices all change their passwords themselves every 30 seconds.
It's a moving target that's highly secure in the first place.
Dave R
XP Pro + various VMs: Q6600 @ stock, Asus V3-P5G33, 2GB DDR2 800, 7600GT
XP Pro: E1200 @2.4Ghz, GA-G33M-DS2R/S2, 2GB DDR2 800, 3450 on HDMI
Mandriva S 2008: SOA Athlon 2200, 1GB DDR, 9550
Windows Home Server: S3000, ASUS V2-M2V890, 512mb DDR2 667, 1TB
4GB USB Pendrive: Mandriva 2009 - my portable PC
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286
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I had Homeplug, and swopped it out for a hardwired cat6 network. I wasn't too concerned about Homeplug security (I think enough tests have been done on that to show the risks are slight). The main reasons I swopped out were speed (which was OK, but not good enough to stream Hi-def TV) and its consumption of socket points. Homeplug speed seems to take a major hit when you junction across power 'rings' and across circuit breaker boards. It also seems to dislike noisy components such as battery chargers and even surge protected sockets - noise from the zena diode?
I also thought that cat6 cabling would at least make my home more saleable even if it didn't add too much value. I kept the homeplug sockets as a standby as I could see them useful for giving medium speed access to the few areas I had missed out from the cat6 cabling.
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Pentium
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Last Login: Yesterday @ 19:38:33
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Thanks for the info.
Been looking at what to buy. And I think I need some help! The big reels of cable are too much overkill for what I need, I reckon I need about 40m tops. I dont want to spend over £100 on a 305m reel. Can I just buy several 10m cables and then use a tool to cut them and put keystones on?
2nd question, about the RJ45 faceplates, I noticed on a website that some were listed as cat6. Are they all cat6 or will this one from eBuyer do? Does not mention cat.
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/33916
Also, with the double socket faceplates, will I need to put 2 cables in the wall then? Its probably a really stupid question but I am very new at all this!
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