big boxes of cable

[Mike K]

I just picked up a 500ft. box of Cat5e cable. I am going to have an in-wall network. I can' t wait till its finished. I' ll try to remember to post pics but that might be in a long time since I am working on the whole attic. Maybe if there is some cable left over I might try to make my own cable for the computer to the wall. A 500ft. box cost $50 and a 1000ft. box cost $155

 

[AMD'er]

sounds to me that you have your hands full tring to run an inwall network on a completed home. there is nothing worst than tring to find the WIRE behind the Sheet Rock. And then if the wire gets snugged during the process, you have to pull it all the way out and resend it through the wall.

BTW I hate to admitt, I'm about to go through the same process and I really hate it. I would rather go wireless but hate the specs.

 

[PolyPill]

When my house was built we had the cat5e used instead of phone wire, and there's 2 drops in every room. I suggest to anyone that's planning on building a new house to go hat route, saved me a whole lot of time and work. Now if they only made an affordable IP phone system for homes.

 

[Tweak]

If you have central air, an easy way to network is to send the wire throught the cold air return. Thats what my brother and I did in our house.

 

[Kingslayer]

Here is a tip that saved me a lot of frustration. It's something I still use everytime I run wire on a complete home.

Go to Walmart, K-Mart, Target, or your local fishing store. Get a small spool of 4lb test monofilament fishing line. Get a few 4 ounce ball sinkers and a few 6 ounce pyramid sinkers. When you go to the attic to make the drops in the walls (or above the cieling in a drop cieling home) drop the line down the hole, sinker first of course. If you hit wires or other obstructions pull the ball sinker out and tie the heavier pyramid sinker on. Take it down to the obstriction and then lift it up and let it freefall onto the obstruction. It's heavy enough to power through the obstruction and light enough not to damage things like electrical connection boxes.

Works like a champ, and if you get snagged up, the 4 lb. test is easy to break.

 

[fade2black]

Get a fishtape. They woulk great and have many uses around the house. The fishing line and sinkers is a great tool too. It's not that hard, just gets frustrating sometimes

- Fade

 

[Mike K]

thanks Ill try the fish weights if I get into any trouble. Last night I just ran the wires above the ceiling. The ceiling is still open so it was easy.

 

[MoPMatrix]

Were in the process of puttin our new house up =)
And its right at the wiring stage =)
Were guna be runnin cat5 from my room (the one with the router)
And spider out to all the other rooms, with 1 rj56 jack in each room....
Gunna be so nice =)
Just have to buy the cat5, My dad can get it from his electriton for 70bux for 600feet, that a good price?
We would run it and terminate it our selves...
Can't wait to move, be able to plug the laptop in anyware, livin room watchin tv, bathroom
/me ponders the power....

 

[MoPMatrix]

BTW: are there diff grades of CAT5?
like better qual?
Im guna be doin gamin from all the machines and dont want high latencey cuz of crap cat5

 

[fade2black]

BTW: are there diff grades of CAT5?
like better qual?
Im guna be doin gamin from all the machines and dont want high latencey cuz of crap cat5

CAT5 is the grade. It comes in two flavors, plenum and PVC. You need to use plenum unless you are running all your cable through conduit. PVC is for patch cables, etc. It all has to do with fire codes.

- Fade

 

[MoPMatrix]

k, thx

 

[Big Mike]

FWIW Cat 5e is better than "standard" Cat5, its a revised spec for up to Gigabit over Copper i believe, also I seem to remember seeing Cat 6 was out finally, but it may be cost prohibitive. Gig over copper should be plenty for a home, and if the runs are straight forward you could always use the old stuff to pull through the new cable...also you want Plenum grade cable to do inwall wiring, its stiffer and has a stronger sheath. I also think current electrical codes require its use.

 

[Mike K]

cool I got Cat5e
MopMatrix I think that price is average, like I said I got 500ft . for $50.
Also whats with my pic at the the top. I attached a pic not a file.

its back to normal now but a lot of people already downloaded it