Expanding home network.

[Biscuit]

If you have to surface run, then this is available in a range of colours, sizes and profiles (half round, quarter round)

http://www.d-line-it.com

You can get it from Screfix.com or TLC https://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Manufacturers/D-Line/ - who stock a larger range than Screwfix.

Its also good for hiding speaker cable, or - well any cables that need concealing!

Take yet another, "thanks"... also a very good (but expensive) product that I use

[peterb]

Take yet another, "thanks"... also a very good (but expensive) product that I use

Always happy to share solutions!

[RaTTuS]

If its flat, it isn't cat6.

Tbh, in domestic situations where the length of the run is likely to be short (unless you live in a mansion ) cat 5e is more than good enough, and smaller in diameter and easier to conceal than cat6.

However I agree that wired connection is the most trouble free if you have a number of simultaneous high bandwidth connections.

yes that is correct - but the best quality flat cables you can find - [I have some 20M flat that I use for POE + IPCamera passive injector strung outside for wildlife it works fine but YMMV]

[peterb]

Cat 6 is quite a complex construction which doesn’t lend itself to flat construction. It may be OK for your application, but you may find for more demanding data applications ther performance will drop off significantly.

There is ‘flat cat5’ which again isn’t cat5 but the construction of proper cat5 is less complex and again over short lengths you might be OK.

Depending on where you got it from, you may find that there is no difference between ‘flat cat5’ and ‘flat cat6’

[RaTTuS]

Cat 6 is quite a complex construction which doesn’t lend itself to flat construction. It may be OK for your application, but you may find for more demanding data applications ther performance will drop off significantly.

There is ‘flat cat5’ which again isn’t cat5 but the construction of proper cat5 is less complex and again over short lengths you might be OK.

Depending on where you got it from, you may find that there is no difference between ‘flat cat5’ and ‘flat cat6’

+100 yes
IP camera's don't need much bandwidth ;-p
if you do want to wire the house then proper is always best,
but with flat you can get away with running under carpet , though door ways etc YMWV

most people will not be pushing 100mbps let alone 1gbps

[GoNz0]

You can more often than not tuck cat5 under skirtings.

[Biscuit]

+100 yes
IP camera's don't need much bandwidth ;-p
if you do want to wire the house then proper is always best,
but with flat you can get away with running under carpet , though door ways etc YMWV

most people will not be pushing 100mbps let alone 1gbps

Depends how you look at it. Those who consider running cables as an option probably understand the hardware well enough to know what they should expect from the technology.

In this case, I guess you're right that an XBOX or PS4 probably wont need more than 100Mbps.

You can more often than not tuck cat5 under skirtings.

Or as I have learned OMx/OSx fibre

[peterb]

Or as I have learned OMx/OSx fibre

Indeed 10Gb/s without breaking into a sweat! (For just one pair without doing any multiplexing). Overkill for most home users though!

[shaithis]

Yup, go with cables. You can get a cheap switch for 10-20quid that has a full speed backplane (2Gbps/port, so a 6 port switch would have a 12Gbps backplane)

Connect that to 1 port on your router and plug everything else into the switch. If your low on ports and need to utilise the ones on the router, plug the lowest bandwidth requiring devices into the router.

[deejayburnout]

Being a sparky, i will probably run all cables behind the wall and stick ports in each room. i might just run a cable from the living room where the router lives and stick a port panel in the attic and drop a cable cable into each room.

I agree with the cat 5e cable being the choice as cat 6 is a pig to run and bend.

I also have some external cat 5e cable for a run to my shed. I need a port for my Serato PC where my turntables are.

Thanks for the pointers.

[deejayburnout]

So quick update.

With a day off for the carpet fitters, I dug out my Asus RT 56N with the custom firmware on it and plug this into my Vodafone broadband router and used the ASUs for the WiFi and the Vodafone for the broadband. Now have a few spare lan ports as well as back to my good old stable WiFi connection.

Thanks for the pointers everyone