Consider how to install Cat6 cabling for your home and connect an additional room that hasn’t been wired yet.
Consider how to install Cat6 cabling for your home and connect an additional room that hasn’t been wired yet.
The current setup in the MS Paint sketch shows rooms 1 and 3 connected via Cat 5e cables, exiting from the router through wall clips. The router is linked to a phone line coming from a conduit, but it remains fixed at that location due to an after-addition extension without a conduit. Room 2 shares a wall with room 3. To upgrade to Cat6 and connect room 2, consider rewiring the house using Cat6 cables. The plan should allow flexibility in router placement, keeping room 3’s needs in mind. You might also explore using conduits more efficiently or adding a switch for better organization. The 10-meter distance between network boxes and conduit openings is a good reference point.
Your fiber connection is quite quick, capable of speeds up to 1Gbps with Cat5e technology.
Currently limited to up to 1Gbps, so you’re thinking I should probably just run room 2. My existing Cat5e cables aren’t reliable—they’re the cheapest I could find and seem worn out or thin (around 26AWG). I’m trying to do a better job this time if I already have a Cat6 roll, though I might not actually use it.
The Cat6 upgrade seems unnecessary at this point. It might just be a situation where you don’t need to fix what’s already fine. If you still want to change it, you can likely reuse your existing Cat 5 wires for the new Cat6 setup. Regarding Room2, it really depends on your specific setup. When I installed my system, everything went smoothly. I accessed the attic, drilled holes in the walls, and ran the cables down. I also added boxes by cutting through the walls. Since you mentioned concrete and conduit, it looks like you might not have those materials. In that case, adding a switch and drilling through one wall could be a simpler option.
I considered positioning the router in room 1, connecting to room 2 via Ethernet cable, and drilling a hole from room 2 to room 3. This approach keeps cables off walls and makes the connection between rooms less noticeable due to the short distance. The main advantages are reduced cable visibility and easier installation, while the downsides might include potential interference or limited space for future expansion.
The main drawbacks aren't significant unless you upgrade to a more powerful connection and your setup restricts bandwidth to a single cable. For instance, if your router only supports Gigabit LAN and offers just 2Gbit, it's best to distribute devices across several ports to balance the data flow.
Imagine having a fast internet connection and connecting multiple rooms together. If both rooms are downloading at full speed, they can split the 1Gbps equally—each would receive half, or 500Mbps. The way they choose to divide it is up to them.
Unless you're also moving files between PCs in rooms 2 and 3 at that moment, yes. You might need quicker speeds if you connected a NAS to the router and wanted smooth file transfers without slowing your broadband. However, if you mainly use the internet for browsing or streaming and rarely move files locally, it's acceptable. In such cases, placing the NAS in rooms 2 or 3 could be convenient since most routers support Gigabit speeds on their built-in ports. If you're only using the internet and don't mind slower connections when accessing clients over a shared link, you're good to go.