Cat6a cable everywhere, um, now what?

[IanR]

1 hour ago, LnP said:

He said it was because metal foil VCL interferes with the wifi. Is this overkill?

 

As mentioned, the foil is only on the external walls, so doesn't interfere with internal Wi-Fi. It does stop the signal from getting outside the house, so plan for an external AP if you want Wi-Fi in the garden. I have two Unifi AP's internally and they give very good coverage across a 465m² footprint. The outside AP extends to 100m with line of sight, and around 40m - 50m with obstacles (outbuildings and hedges) 

[SteamyTea]

As I was a bit of a trendsetter over a decade ago when I ditched a fixed line and went 'mobile only' like 30% of households are now, and as you can get 5G for £12/month, why is anyone (except if you live like the mountain men in Deliverance) getting a fixed line and all the infrastructure to shift it around the house?

[Alan Ambrose]

Lots of the countryside doesn’t have 5G or sometimes any mobile signal at all (Cornwall, last time I was there).

[SteamyTea]

15 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

Lots of the countryside doesn’t have 5G or sometimes any mobile signal at all (Cornwall, last time I was there).

As I said, The parts of Cornwall (Down the Lizard) is Deliverance land.

 

 

[Pocster]

18 minutes ago, SteamyTea said:

As I said, The parts of Cornwall (Down the Lizard) is Deliverance land.

 

 

I believe the film was actually filmed in Cornwall and they used real locals in it to get that authentic feel …

Burt Reynolds I think was immortalised in his role when universally he was just cast as the comedy cool guy I.e cannon ball run .

Showed he could act in deliverance . Superb film even if it is about Cornwall 

Edited August 11 by Pocster

[SteamyTea]

6 minutes ago, Pocster said:

filmed in Cornwall and they used real locals in it to get that authentic feel

Boogie Nights was originally going to me called Newquay Nights

 

 

[scottishjohn]

well getting time to sort a network  etc 

I am  not a computer nerd

so have little idea of what i need 

 my intial thoughts are a 24way prewired hub  theniwil need oconnect to aphone line or router of some sort 

the house has been wired for this already ,but the sparky has said its not his job  and that he knows little of these things 

I have about 20 wires all terminating in the plant room 

 a point in the loft with mains supply for a router 

so tom ysimple mind iam assuming they all go into the box and at the wall sockets ijust connect what ever i want to them

last time i got involved with this sort of thing it was the 80,s for the computer system in my garage with multiple terminals etc 

 

 so tell me boys what i need 

 simply please 

[Alan Ambrose]

Fairly simple. Yes, a 24 or 48way hub. Plug all the wires into the hub, doesn't matter where. You may need to crimp plugs on them if they don't already have them (or call a nerdy teenager). Use the 'B' wiring scheme ( https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Technical/Networking/Networking.htm ). Buy a cheap cable tester unless you've done similar crimping before. Plug one similar network cable in from the router. Label the wires with a shrink wrap labeller if you're keen - invent your own labelling scheme.

 

Assuming you have full fibre and an OpenReach-installed ONT - plug that into the external port of the router with a shortish network cable. Or if you have FTTC etc plug the phone cable into the external port of the router.

 

Now you need to set-up the router with your external ISP logon (you have ordered internet service right?). The same nerdy teenage will help.

 

Then test the basic firewall operation:

 

https://www.grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

 

choose proceed and all service ports and check they all show up green. Run a speed test ( https://broadbandtest.which.co.uk/ or similar) and check what you've got.

[joth]

On 06/08/2024 at 12:57, Tom said:

Thanks all, really helpful. For now I guess I'll just get a cabinet so the sparks has somewhere to take the cables to. Here's a picture where it'll go, the cables and power can come down from the trunking above, marked in green. Does anyone have any specific recommendations for wall mounted cabinets?

 

Late reply, but that trunking is not ideal for CAT6a cable feeding the whole house, as 

a) there's not going to be much space in it if you have 96 cables as some here suggesting LOL. (Or even 50 cables)

b) it's generally not considered best practice to run data and mains together in parallel

 

Not strictly a regs violation and CAT6a should be shielded to minimize interference issues so you may be fine, but if anyone designing from scratch I'd recommend splitting mains and data to separate trunking

 

[Tom]

19 hours ago, joth said:

 

Late reply, but that trunking is not ideal for CAT6a cable feeding the whole house, as 

a) there's not going to be much space in it if you have 96 cables as some here suggesting LOL. (Or even 50 cables)

b) it's generally not considered best practice to run data and mains together in parallel

 

Not strictly a regs violation and CAT6a should be shielded to minimize interference issues so you may be fine, but if anyone designing from scratch I'd recommend splitting mains and data to separate trunking

 

Thanks Joth. I did raise a concern at the start of the install re putting the data and AC wires in the same trunking, but it seems they weren't too concerned. Not that I found that very reassuring! Is there a way of assessing interference with the CAT6a before I make the final payment?

[Pocster]

I have in some situations mains and cat cables running together . No interference or issues with this that I can detect .

[joth]

2 hours ago, Tom said:

Thanks Joth. I did raise a concern at the start of the install re putting the data and AC wires in the same trunking, but it seems they weren't too concerned. Not that I found that very reassuring! Is there a way of assessing interference with the CAT6a before I make the final payment?

Ideally a TIA CAT6a certification test (while drawing full load on the electrical equipment sharing that trunking, which if PV might mean doing it on a sunny day lol)

But if this wasn't in the original contract I can see them at most giving you a basic cable verification (buzz) test

https://www.fullcontrolnetworks.co.uk/questions/copper-cable-tester-your-options/