Hi,
this summer will see me finally installing a wired network in our house. As two of the endpoints nearly on opposite ends (basement left side and attic right side) and because there are limited ways to place the cables, some cables will be fairly long. Due to oddly located conduits, the three longest runs from the main switch would be parallel for something like the first 20 m, unless I would place another switch close to the point where these are splitting directions.
Currently DSL, fiber with up to 1000 Mbit is in the house. I think 600 is realistic, but the provider is so far unwilling to activate it. They seem to be pretty confused, as they point to missing permissions for digging as roadblock.
The switches will have to be bought, I’m open to suggestions.
A professional is going to make the final work. He knows what we have, but is currently too busy to do the legwork (pulling cables) and sometimes hard to reach.
Don’t overthink it! Pretty much any switch will work, and it doesn’t much matter whether you use an additional switch or additional cables. Your devices will find each other and the internet easily enough.
Virtually all switches have gigabit ports, so they shouldn’t be a bottleneck for an internet speed of a gigabit or less. Cat5e (not just Cat5) cables will fine. They can be used in runs of up to 100m. You could use a shielded Cat6 if the cables run parallel to other wires such as mains power cables, but better to keep these separate if possible.
I was thinking more of the speeds you were hoping for inside the property. How hard is the running of the cables? How many devices etc. are likely to traverse between switches? Will all sources be streamed from the internet or do you have local data for video and audio?
Cat6 should mean you are future proofed as at the distances you are talking about, providing you use quality cables, will be capable of up to 10Gbps. In terms of whether you should shield the in-wall cables, then in my view, that depends on the switches you use… They need to be grounded if you start using shielded cabling.
I would personally go for option 2, but consider running a pair of cables between switches instead of just a single cable as then if a cable has problems you don’t have to start re-running cables. Then, if you choose the right switches, you can use both cables for links between them.
Grounded and managed switches should allow for decent control of various network settings and if it’s a professional install shouldn’t be too difficult. My recommendation would be something like the current Cisco Catalyst 1300 series and choose models that are grounded and fanless.
You will get lots of different answers and opinions I suspect
